No need to read this-I'm just ranting!

Yesterday morning I was leaving Briarcliffe RV Park in North Myrtle Beach. After pulling out of my site I pulled over on one of the main roads at the back of the park to hook up my toad. After hooking up, a motor home pulled up behind me and there wasn't quite enough room for him to get by, so I started walking to him  to see if he could wait a couple of minutes for me to finish or if he wanted to me to help him squeeze by, by going up on the grass a little bit. He didn't wait for me and started to pass me by going up on the grass. I waved OK to him and backed against the driver's side of my toad. He didn't pull far enough up on the grass and instead of taking it slow he SPED up as he passed me. The rear of his motor home scraped against the bicycle tires on the back of my toad. He came within 5 inches of hitting me. I truly thought his rear end was going to take me out. My life whole flashed before me, except major parts of the 60s and 70s we're missing. Another camper came running over because he thought I had been hit.

This afternoon.
I will start this off by admitting I was unaware of this Florida law. I know not an excuse. As I was driving south on I-75 I saw two police cars on the shoulder. Look like they we're ticketing somebody. I put my directional on to move left, but traffic wasn't letting me in, so I moved as far from the police as possible when I went by the police vehicles. Shortly after that one of the police vehicles pulled me over for not moving to the next lane or slowing down. He was not open to discussion and just wanted my documents and came back and gave me a ticket. Maybe it was a trap because he got to me pretty quick. I guess he didn't see my directional showing I wanted to move over or he didn't have a radar gun to check my speed, because when driving my motor home I rarely go over 60 and the speed limit there was 70 mph. When I saw them I hit the brake to remove cruise control and slowed down some more and couldn't have been going faster than 50 or 55. I always try to move left when I see someone on the shoulder just for safety reasons. I know I wasn't going more than 60 before I slowed down because I also have an engine governor which won't allow me to go over 60......and she sits right beside me!
OK rant over.

"I also have an engine governor which won't allow me to go over 60......and she sits right beside me!"

I got one of those too!  But her 'squeak speed' changes somewhat unpredictably. 

Bet you're wishing you had a dash cam.....

The FL law says to pull over if at all possible and slow down (20 mph under the speed limit) if you can't, but of course that's all a judgment call. Maybe the judge will listen to your story (he may have a squeaky wife too). Or maybe not.

Here is the FL DMV explanation of the law:
http://www.flhsmv.gov/safetytips/moveovertips.htm

Dash cam would have been nice.

Gary, thanks for the link. I'll check it out today.

Minnesota has the same law.  I'm not sure about the 20mph thing, but if you can't pull over, you better back off the speed enough so the patrol knows you slowed down considerably.

Iowa has the same law, and I think it is a good one, and what irks me is when I am in the right lane, and drivers in the left lane wont let me to move over to the left lane, as I do when I am in the left lane and see a vehicle on the side of the road, even if is it not an emergency vehicle.

Paul

As someone whose job put me at emergencies on the side of the road on occasion for 31 years the key is to slow SIGNIFICANTLY. ESPECIALLY with a rig that moves as much air as an RV. If you can't move over SLOW DOWN, WAY DOWN. You and I don't know what's going to happen that makes the emergency worker have to move suddenly or reflexively.

Just my personal opinion, anyone who doesn't slow way down if they can't get over deserves a ticket and an invitation to help pick up the body of someone hit by a car. That's a special experience you'll never forget. Think about it, do you really think the LEO was looking for your turn signal to see if you were trying to get over or was he concentrating on doing the job at hand?

I'm sorry you got a ticket, but if this post and the comments encourage people to slow down for ANYTHING beside the road, emergency worker or just a broken down car, then it's worth it.

Ken

Reading the two parts of the original post, kind of like viewing a similar story from two different points of view.

Bet you would have ticketed that MOTORHOME which scraped by you if you could have, whether he had his signal on or not!

Texas just adjusted their law to be 20 under or move over this year. Prior to that it was 10 under the posted limit.

Ive been slowing or moving over for emergency vehicles for years... Ever since the late 80s when I was driving up I-5 in Oregon by Salem, and the OSP had pulled some guy over. Rather than go to jail, he decided he was going to run for it... right across all four lanes of high speed traffic. Luckily he didn't get hit due to the quick reflexes of a lot of drivers. But it only took that one time to realize what could happen. 


Caryl

Many states have the pull over or slow down if you can not law.. Did not know how far you were supposed to slow down.

However, This I have said: There is a time and a place to argue with a police officer.. IT IS NOT ON THE STREET.

It is usually described somewhere near the bottom of the ticket however.

I always try to get over but I get vehicles that will jam up on my left and not let me do so.  Many times by then I can't get slow enough and I
just break into a cold sweat trying to make sure I don't hurt anyone. 

If its far enough away from me and I see it I will start moving over quick as I can.  I see people purposely go by vehicles broken down driving like a bat out of *****.  They are really lucky they haven't hit anyone.

Another thing we are seeing more of here is people driving at a slow speed in the left lane blocking traffic, that is maddening.  But nothing to do with the above, just aggravating.

Sorry to hear about the ticket but I'm glad to hear you didn't get hit or injured by the first guy.

John From Detroit said:

However, This I have said: There is a time and a place to argue with a police officer.. IT IS NOT ON THE STREET.

It is usually described somewhere near the bottom of the ticket however.

Click to expand...

When I said "he wasn't open to discussion" I didn't mean to imply that I was arguing with him. I wasn't.  :-X He was just very curt.

"Another thing we are seeing more of here is people driving at a slow speed in the left lane blocking traffic, that is maddening."
That's been happening for a long time.

TheNewhalls said:

"Another thing we are seeing more of here is people driving at a slow speed in the left lane blocking traffic, that is maddening."
That's been happening for a long time.

Click to expand...

Folks driving slow in the left lane has been a problem since I first started driving in 1970 (Good Lord has it been that long). I remember my Driver's Education Instructor in 1969 lamenting those that held up traffic by driving slowly in the left lane.

I've been stuck behind motor homes in the left lane and that in and of itself is maddening. What business does a MH have driving in the left lane during heavy traffic hours...None in my estimation, except in very rare circumstances. Goes for semis too. I believe every state should have the laws for trucks and autos towing as California does.

So just maybe that MOTORHOME driver is planning to turn LEFT shortly and does not want to try and push back in that left lane???

In the jurisdiction where I live, they just made it law this summer that we have to treat tow trucks on the side of the road with their lights flashing the same way we do emergency vehicles...all to prevent people being killed doing their jobs. Last summer here a young lady working a summer job as a flag person in a construction zone was hit by someone and killed..what a shame!

Same thing here....last summer....in Utah...had just entered the freeway from a fuel station...saw the flashing trooper lights ahead on right shoulder.....I began moving to the left lane as soon as I saw the left lane was clear....I was going maybe 45 or so as I had not yet got up to speed....I was about half way across the center line merging into left lane as I passed his car. He had no one pulled over...just sitting there with flashing lights on!
As soon as I could see him in my right hand mirror, he pulled out and got me for a 135 dollar ticket AND on line traffic school...another 45 bucks or so. What a racket.

I had a GA resident tell me, if you can't get over, you better slow down enough that you don't rock their vehicles or you'll get a ticket. Dang! A 1-ton towing a 40' fiver or a 40' MH can rock a vehicle at 20 mph . . . Could they then get you for the "minimum speed limit" thing?  :-\

I understand the frustration here but I cannot remember how many times I gave pulled into the left lane along with all other vehicles because of emergency vehicles on the shoulder only to gave some fool come roaring around us all in the right lane.


They really need the capability to prevent this.