How to pick rabbits at night?

[lordhawhaw]

How can you tell if the car in front or behind you is not an unmarked LEO? Any tips if you want to speed at night?

[dpatel01]

Familiarize yourself with what patrol cars are in your area.

Over here, I only see crown vics so I have the shape of the taillights memorized although I have mistaken some grandpas in Grand Marquis to be LEOs, only to find out they're civilians as I slowly pass them. Check the license plate and see if its a government car.

For those that are driving behind you, become familiar with the headlamp design of the cars that are being used in your area. The crown vics here are pretty easy to spot at night, and most of the cars designs so old that most of the public here doesn't buy one, its just become a government fleet car.

Other design elements are the black grille and black rear fascia although these two would be hardier to spot at night.

[RW'07]

Have been doing all 48 states, lots of marked and UNmarked police cruisers, just one example of something that you don't see too often on the roads, a fully black, fully tinted, fully unmarked Chevy Malibu MAXX (the one hatchback) doing I-5 south of Seattle, WA... running Ka and a video camcorder on the dash... bon apetite :wink:

[Super Dave]

How can you tell if the car in front or behind you is not an unmarked LEO? Any tips if you want to speed at night?

In my state usually the license plate has a police emblem and the car (or SUV) has of course at least 1 antenna on the roof. Not easy to see at night, especially if they come up behind you.

But in my driving experience it seems that a lot of times I can tell it's an unmarked simply by their actions. Any vehicle coming up behind me faster than me at night I slow down until I get a clean ID, I also notice when they are riding in the slow lane exactly at the speed limit waiting for others to come flying by, I notice when every car passes them they speed up a little bit to pace for a few seconds, I look for "clumps" of cars that probably have noticed something I haven't yet, and hopefully my rabbit smokes him out 1st...And usually an unmarked car is very clean, no stickers, nothing damaged on the vehicle, all lights working, etc. That sort of thing...

[ELVATO]

At night, it's rather hard to spot true unmarked cars, especially when they have "normal" plates, and are driving "non-cop" cars.

[Esoterica]

There is no way to tell, period, its a measured risk you take.

Here's what I do, so far its helped and I haven't had any problems so it must work at least a little.

Driving at night as you know isn't as good as driving by day, you just have to accept that fact that you can't hammer down and stay there.

You do have advantages though, there are less LEO's on patrol at night than during the day so the risk is minimized right there. Unless your driving in the city, then you have more or as many at least just out looking to stop anyone for any reason to do field sobriety tests (one of many reasons why I hate drunk drivers).

My biggest objective at night is to closely watch other cars ahead of me, if the people ahead are passing another set of tail lights its safe that that isn't a LEO they are passing. Many people are afraid to pass a LEO even if he's going below the PSL. The chance that its me up there is pretty remote, I'll pass LEO's 5 over all the time even if they are only going the PSL as long as they are out moving. If they are stationary I won't pass by 5 over, if they are stationary they are looking solely for a victim, mobile they are looking to get home, get to the donut shop, or looking for extreme targets.

20 over the PSL at night can get you cooked, you come up too fast on the cars ahead of you and even if it is a LEO way up there you'll be too obvious at night. I'll do 10 over the PSL at night when I'm within notice range of unidentified tail lights up the road ahead of me. As I get closer to them I'll slow down to just 5 over the PSL or at least 5 over what they are doing ahead of me. I'll try to guess then if its a possible LEO up there or not. Some vehicles are obviously not LEO's, like if its a pick up truck with a ladder rack or trailer behind it, or identified at closer range as a small compact car. If you know for sure its not a LEO, stay in the lane they are in and smoke up on them, you use their headlights to prevent a potential LEO further up from noticing how fast you're coming up from behind.

Pass them and start looking up the road for the next set of tail lights, just approach them the same way. If once closer to them you can't positively confirm its not a LEO, then keep it at about no more than 5 over what ever they are doing as you approach up on them for a closer look. If it is a LEO up there stay as far back as when you first noticed him, the further back the better, but no need to slow down beyond the point of falling back, if he wanted you that bad he'd already just get you, so he's letting you cruise a little over, take advantage of it the best you can.

Its just like climbing a rock face though, some obstacles are easy and you can climb them faster, some become a little more difficult and you slow down enough to be able to over come them.

The LEO's where I live at least in both Nevada and California drive too wide of a range of different vehicle types to be able to rely on just thinking you can identify a particular type and be safe.

[hockey005]

i always look in my RVR at other peoples headlight so see if it a crown vic...crown vics have 2 yellow lights in between the headlights and the grill

[nascar]

One tip... Never speed if you are the only car. You're the only target and once the officer hits you with I/O anything... You're toast.

And never be the nut passing everyone.

[Z1NONLY]

I look for cars that are obviously not worried about getting tickets. I call it "aggressive driving language."

Back when I learned to hunt deer, I noticed that you could hear people coming a mile away but animals, like deer, moved like gohsts. I was surprised at this but I shouldn't have been.

Humans aren't worried about getting eaten by anything, they are at the top of the food chain and just CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP, about their mary way. The deer take a few steps and check..... another step and look..... etc etc etc. This behavior allows them to blend in well with the rest of the noise out in the woods.

Any car that is just CLOMP CLOMP CLOMPING along in my rearview with no regard for getting a ticket gets my attention. Half the time its a young driver that just thinks they will never get caught, but other times it's cops.

Also, and this is a big one, any car that is shadowing me, at any distance, gets my attention. They may want to use me as a rabbit, or it could be a LEO pacing me. Whenever available, I try to find an easy to identify rabbit to cover my six and keep track of him and any cars that pass him.

And, as always, beware any car not moving near the interstate. At night, I observe oncoming headlight patterns from a distance and look for anything that interrupts them. Just a momentary flicker from an approaching car on I75 alerted me to a stationary FHP car sitting in the median with no lights of any kind. Not too long after slowing down to identify what was in the median, I got my answer even before a visual ID. BAM!!... I/O Ka band. :wink:

[jimbonzzz]

On the highway, when you first get on, drive close to the PSL, until another car passes you. Let him get up ahead a bit, then follow him matching his speed... he's your rabbit. When another car passes, do the same thing... repeat as necessary