About how much distance should there be between you and your rabbit?
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About how much distance should there be between you and your rabbit?
as far away as possible, just close enough to see his brake lights
I try to give 1/4 to 1/2 mile, when possible.
depends how thick traffic is. every once in a while I notice others following me 1/2 a mile back trying to keep up but rarely does anyone follow me for long because of traffic. *shrugs*
IMveryHO, there's no fixed answer.
As with bunny, I feel that this has to vary depending on surrouding conditions (traffic/weather/road), as well as may vary according to local enforcement practices.
If you have a good detector, I'd say around 1/2 mile or more, to the point that you should be able to barely see him in the distance as to figure out whether or not he's still ahead of you or took some exit and now you're exposed.
Remember your detector's doing the looking, not you, and following in the range of a rabbit where a cop can see you is not gonna do much good.
I was curious what people's answers would be because I've heard two things on the subject. First, the greater the distance, the better chance you have of getting some advance warning of IO radar without being the target yourself. Second, the closer you are, the greater the chance you'll have of picking up "splash" from a lidar gun aimed at the vehicle ahead of you. I'm guessing that IO is the more manageable threat here. Better chance of picking that up when someone else is being targeted rather than laser. Any flaws in that thinking?
While admittedly it's hard to follow a rabbit very long or hold him at a good distance with the dumbass traffic we get around here (zero lane discipline whatsoever), I definitely follow closer than that, more in the eighth to quarter mile range. The fact is, if they're using CO, I don't need the rabbit. The only purpose of a rabbit is to draw LIDAR and IO hits, and if I'm gonna pick those up, I don't want to be back half a mile. The WORST thing I can think of doing would be to follow a rabbit at 50% over the limit, let the rabbit get pinged while I'm way too far back to get the reading, and then zoom by LEO, never having slowed down, right as he's making his U-turn and getting ready to pursue the rabbit. Oh, look who's the most vulnerable target now...me!
With the rabbit closer in, I can pick up on the first hit, and even if that means he's gonna see me VERY soon after the rabbit, at least I'll be slowing down in that two seconds until he sees me, plus another two seconds to aim and get a reading.
I drive in Oklahoma and from reading all the post in here its totally different from most of the other northern brothers. Running on the highway my rabbit changes regularly. I keep one in sight at the distance I like, catch him and pick another. Works for me,no tickets in years, the CB is a big help in OK, its wide open and truckers help alot.
I don't see to many new post in the CB section, they are one of the best counter measures you can use.
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Originally Posted by TSi+WRX
X2, My ideal amount varies by all the the aforementioned by TSi-WRX... I do always keep their brake-lights in my sight though.
That's difficult to imagine happening with a V1, laser aside (in which case, you actually do want to be as far back as possible to capture laser splash.Quote:
Originally Posted by JDS
I always try to find a rabbit who has a radar detector. Most of the rabbits with radar detectors assume that they are invincible.
What is more difficult nowadays, compared to years ago, is that radar detectors now are rather hard to see at night. Years ago most radar detectors had a nice bright red or green LED which you could see from quite a distance at night. Thus I would simply pace far enough behind my rabbit, somewhere around 1/2 mile, yet still identify my rabbit by his telltale red or green LED. My point here is that you should never loose track of your rabbit -- especially at night!
Anyway, trailing by about 1/2 mile behind a rabbit is good enough to keep tabs on your rabbit yet avoid being picked off. Obviously you will have to close the gap in heavier traffic conditions, yet run the risk of being nailed.
Same here trying to find a rabbit with a RD.Quote:
Originally Posted by MEM-TEK
One time shortly after I got the Bel last yr I had a couple of out-of-state cars traveling together using me as their rabbit. As we were going along about 20 over PSL I got a Ka hit and slowed down to PSL, as one of the guys behind me comes around to the front of the pack, slows down to PSL too, and about two miles later 5 staties coming from the opposite direction passed by. This stranger was nice enough to provide cover for me, i guess in return for using me as the rabbit. :)
I never seem to be able to find anyone who likes to drive at the same speed as me. Traffic is rather consistent for the most part around here so instead of just focusing on one particular person ahead of me and pacing with them I instead just keep a close eye out on all the brake lights up the road ahead of me. This is usually a good indicator that a LEO is likely up ahead possibly without even having his radar active.
I also watch for large clumps of cars here. This is almost always an indicator that there is a LEO in that pack somewhere. The cars normally tend to remain spread out, but when people keep catching up to a PSL driving LEO they start bunching up behind or close to him with everyone obviously afraid to pass.
I think the LEO's are aware of how obvious this makes them though, often once too many cars start bunching up around them they'll pull off and wait for the herd to leave him before coming back out on the road.
Yeah, it's not easy to find a rabbit going PSL+30. :lol: Self-rabbiting probably isn't the most logical idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by Esoterica
Interesting points here. I never had the patience to use a rabbit even when I was driving naked (without radar detector and clothe). When traffic isn't an issue, most rabbits here never seem to drive faster than 10 over PSL. With the traffic here, I guess there are always other cars in front of me. Of course I pass them soon enough. I'm a serial rabbit monogamist. 8) I'm also a weave in between the passing and right lane kinda driver. Don't worry, I use my turn signal and never cut off others. I'm actually a very defensive driver. I don't trust anyone but myself. :)
Of course, a skilled LEO would toast me with i/o. Fortunately, I don't think they are that good here, or I have been extremely lucky. As for laser, I'm trusting my jammer. :wink:
I think your new term for classifying our personality types fits well :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by lacning74
You obviously do not live in a big city though. If you did you'd learn in a very short amount of driving time why we do not use our turn signals to make lane changes. Doing so means you'll never be able to get over into your lane of choice, all the aholes out there will pull up and prevent you from getting in front of them as soon as they see that signal coming on.
Someone else I read once tried to make the point that speeding is dangerous, even if your a very skilled driver and the problem is that other guy speeding near you who likely isn't.
My thoughts on that are speeding then becomes even safer for me because I'm spending less time next to other less skilled drivers and more time putting them back in my rear view mirror. A person by no means has to be speeding to be a bad/dangerous driver, the less time your within proximity of them the lower your chances of their bad driving becoming an issue for you. When ever I encounter an obvious bad driver I have three choices, drive even slower than them to fall back, risk driving near them and constantly having to ficus on a counter move to avoid mistakes they make, or drop down the pedal and just get as far away from them as possible. I choose the later, even if I slow down and let them pull up a head of me then I still likely have to deal with a potential accident by them occurring up the road in front of me, making them a history lesson by placing them in the rear view mirror gives me better odds at their bad driving never becoming an issue for me.
So speeding does have safe advantages to it.
In fact, that vehicle who isn't speeding and doing fricking 10 under the PSL in the left lane is likely anything but "just a safe driver", its more likely they feel they are driving well out of their comfort zone and even more dangerous than someone who is speeding.
I like that term. "Self-rabbiting". ;) Serial rabbit monogamist is a cool term too. Depending on traffic conditions and number of potential rabbits, I could be a rabbit monogamist or polygamist.Quote:
Originally Posted by zr1
Most of my driving is in pretty heavy rush-hour traffic, so if I'm able to speed at all I have plenty of rabbits. Usually an upcoming trap leads to everyone slowing down before I'm in the danger zone.
But on the less-common weekend highway trip in light traffic, I'll try to keep a rabbit maybe 1/4-1/2 mile away at least, or more if I can keep them visible. On a long, flat straightaway where you can see a long distance, you can have a rabbit quite a ways away. Of course, in this scenario you will probably be able to eyeball traps long before you reach them.
On more curvy or hilly stretches, it's good to have the rabbit closer so you can see what he does when he crests the hill or goes round the curve and sees something before I can. But, a majority of the time I have not one, but several potential rabbits (even non-speeding cars up ahead tend to brake when they see a cop).
Excellent points. Esoterica, I'm using your line of reasoning to explain to the next cop, if ever, who pulls me over that I was just speeding to prevent an accident. :)
I actually live in NYC, and it is true that yellow cabs especially will speed up if you signal towards their lane. :x On the highways, there is less of an issue. Honestly, though, there is not much time between my signal and my swerve, I mean merge, for it to be a problem. If you nudge close to their lane while signaling, they'll usually let you in. If you hesitate, forget about it. If they do manage to block my attempt, I take a deep breath, let them pass, and then plot my counter-maneuver.
I agree with the reasoning. If I'm going faster than everyone, then physics tell me that I will never be hit from behind, thus cutting my accident probabilities by half. Logic I live by! :D
rabbit? more like "the pack" - any rabbit doing only 15-20mph over the PSL will have a large following. So your distance back is determined by where you want to be in the pack. My answer is when you see a pack approaching from behind - let it roll.
Here in South Jersey there are no rabbits, in the morning rush on I-295 between Trenton & Cherry Hill everyone drives between 70-90 anyway and when its slower during the day (non-rush hour) everyone still does 75-80 :wink:
Oh wait, a friend of mine who drives a civic with a Cobra, thinks hes invisible to police, so he does 110 all the way up 295, I usually use him as a rabbit.... :twisted:
At first glance, I thought he was driving a Cobra. :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Djonemore
so that is why there is always a group of people behind me. a year ago my friend kept freaking out. we drove from oakland to LA down I-5 and he kept telling me he would see this lexis out of the corner of his eye looking back and he said the person in the lexis was following me and might be a stalker. i just kind of laughed at him. then he told me the person was going to all the same gas stations as us. i finally asked him to point the car out at a gas station and he pointed to it. i was like, 'lets go over there and say hi' and he FLIPPED out. he was soo paranoid. i had to explain to him that because i was going around 110 or so mph the entire trip people would be following me so they could avoid getting a ticket. he didn't quite get it. *sigh*Quote:
Originally Posted by zappy
"Wolf packs" carry their own dangers.....
Drivers who are not skilled - or courteous - enough to follow in such a close formation is a potential problem, as is "improper equipment" (having an SUV looming right behind you, when your car can get down to speed in less than a quarter of their braking distance, is just one such illustration).
The other is the possibility of the entire pack being hunted down by a speedtrap. :shock: Yep, I've seen it happen.....
I think most posts already covered it, but another factor depends on what you are driving and what the rabbit is.
I will state the obvious.
If you are driving the fluorescent attention getting sports car then distance is virtually a moot point. If the rabbit is discrete family sedan type not being obvious about speeding, the longer the distance the better, and it may be a moot point.
If you are in the family sedan discretely following a fluorescent sports car with a flagpole wing, you could probably be only two car lengths away.
Another factor is how much attention you are paying to rabbit and surroundings. The more attention you are paying to both, the further away you can be with the same odds.
On the open highway I like to have the tail lights mostly in view. If there is other traffic around they should also flash taillights if they spot or react to something. My speed and distance varies with terrain and traffic on the open road, sometimes need to get closer for a better view, other times the rabbit gets away for a short while.
At night mostly and some times during the day, with 20-30 cars per mile and a rabbit PSL +10-15, I have had a LEO skip the rabbit, but I was far enough away that I picked up the interval or he skipped us both. The best was a 3/4 mile rabbit and a ~1.5 mile LEO. I saw brake lights as my RD went off.
Multiple rabbits are always best so check for rabbits behind when you find the first one. That is also a good check for a pacing LEO. I was saved by waiting once.
Like say, for instance, a fire-engine red sport bike? In theory, of course. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pkquat
i had that happen once. it was funny. i was driving down the grapevine and on my cellphone asking for instructions on were to go. as I was talking to him on the phone every single car, one at a time, got pulled over. There was at least 6 cops. I wasn't paying enough attention and i was in the center lane going the slowest because I was on my cell phone. Anyways, by the time the conversation ended on the phone I looked around and realized there was no cars around me. I then realized I was going 85mph in a 35mph zone (i think if I remember right) and I slowed down. If there was one more officer on duty at the time I would have gotten a ticket. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by TSi+WRX
Maybe they pointed you out and you didn't see them as you were giving directions - however you do say you were going slower than everyone else, but hey thats a pretty good excuse! Oops sorry officer I didn't know you were pointing at me!
Don't forget VASCAR and pacing. I want to be close enough to hopefully get a radar alert and/or see his brake lights, but far enough back to see a cop react to him before spotting me. I try for around 1/4 mile, but sometimes a bit closer. It can get difficult to judge the rabbit's speed if he's too far out. This weekend I let a rabbit get too far ahead and lost a perfectly good 95-100 MPH rabbit in traffic. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by JDS
True, but there's so much crap on CB the last decade or so that it gets really tiring to listen to. It doesn't seem to be as useful a tool as it used to be. Either that, or my tolerance has just worn thin for it! :?Quote:
Originally Posted by fire65