The designated rabbit - how much distance?

[jdong]

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.

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.

[MEM-TEK]

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.

[dpatel01]

I always try to find a rabbit who has a radar detector. Most of the rabbits with radar detectors assume that they are invincible.

Same here trying to find a rabbit with a RD.

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.

[Esoterica]

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.

[zr1]

I never seem to be able to find anyone who likes to drive at the same speed as me.

Yeah, it's not easy to find a rabbit going PSL+30. Self-rabbiting probably isn't the most logical idea.

[lacning74]

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:

[Esoterica]

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.

I think your new term for classifying our personality types fits well

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.

[kpatz]

Self-rabbiting probably isn't the most logical idea.

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.

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).

[lacning74]

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.

[djrams80]

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!