# Teslas being targeted by highway patrol?



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

I might have been too hasty in the thread "Florida Drivers With Window Tint - Heads Up" to pin down a specific cause. I believed the Florida Highway Patrol cop who told me they were cracking down on windshield tint (that's not the only thing he told me that wasn't true, but that's another topic).

The reason I say that is because in the last month or so, the Florida Highway Patrol has been giving Teslas a lot of attention of the unwanted kind. I guess it's fair enough considering that Teslas are powerful and fast vehicles, and they're becoming much more common. But, like with a lot of misconceptions about Tesla owners, I fear they believe we're all driving around $100k+ supercars and can afford to pay for lots of extra tickets and higher fines.

Is this happening in any other states? Or just in Florida?

I had two additional close brushes with the FHP since the window tint incident: 

- I had to accelerate past a truck to merge onto I-4 without having to jam on the brakes and shove into a much smaller space behind it. The merge lane in that spot is really stupid - it's short, and then the lane you merge into ends again, so you need a lot of space if there's a truck. As soon as I did that, I FHP appeared right on my tail, and even changed lanes at the 2nd merge right along with me in a synchronized maneuver that convinced me I was busted and there was nothing I could do. I think the only reason he didn't pull me over is it was pouring rain outside and there were a lot of exits to cross.

- Had another that came up close behind (close like all you can see are the roof lights in the rear view mirror) and followed me for a couple of blocks after accelerating quickly from a light that just changed, until he realized I wasn't going over the speed limit, and then he finally passed me.

It feels a bit like I've been driving a bright red loud Ferrarri instead of a black Model 3...


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

I haven't had any issues.

Waze saved my butt last Friday though. I was on a two-lane highway, stuck behind one of those big logging trucks. I was finally coming up on a passing zone, but Waze showed a police car ahead, so I just stayed behind the truck. Sure enough, there was a state trooper running radar right at the end of the passing zone!

And this is why I added a phone mount in order to run Waze in addition to Tesla navigation.


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

There is an undivided 4 lane near me. A while back I pulled out quick across the 2 west bound lanes and headed east. There were cars heading east but there was an opening, and even though the speed limit is only 45 mph, I don't like to dilly-dally. Once out, I hit TACC which was set to 50 mph. I had a NYS Trooper on my tail in just a few seconds. But 50 apparently wasn't fast enough to be worth the bother, so he turned around and headed back.

This was probably not targeted at the car, but rather the acceleration. I don't know where he came from, but he sure saw the quick takeoff and assumed I would continue at that speed. They patrol this section often, maybe even continuously, so I'm usually pretty cautious. I haven't heard of any targeting in my area, but I have heard of Tesla owners getting ticketed for speeding, and in once case the owner sold his Model S because he had too many, and was near having his license suspended.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

garsh said:


> And this is why I added a phone mount in order to run Waze in addition to Tesla navigation.


For some reason in and around Orlando (as opposed to travelling between cities) Waze isn't really reliable. And the newest version constantly flashes the screen and demands attention...to display ads.


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## IPv6Freely (Aug 8, 2017)

garsh said:


> I haven't had any issues.
> 
> Waze saved my butt last Friday though. I was on a two-lane highway, stuck behind one of those big logging trucks. I was finally coming up on a passing zone, but Waze showed a police car ahead, so I just stayed behind the truck. Sure enough, there was a state trooper running radar right at the end of the passing zone!
> 
> And this is why I added a phone mount in order to run Waze in addition to Tesla navigation.


I had nearly the same thing happen to me, except I was not running Waze and a highway patrol standing beside his motorcycle tagged me trying to pass the guy. Fast enough that he literally put his arms up at his sides in a "WTF are you doing? You're not even going to try to slow down?" gesture. I was pulled over even before he got his lights on.

Double unfortunate that the speed limit here is 65 but traffic flow is 80, even when theres highway patrol there. They won't even look at you if you're doing 80. But you do 85 and BOOM, it becomes "30 over" and the fine SUCKSSSS. (This is why I hate speed limits and think dangerous driving or whatever law is in your area should just be used more - if I'm only doing 5 more than the flow of traffic, while passing... come on. You could argue that doing 80 in a 65 when everyone else is also doing 80 is actually safer than doing the speed limit. But that's another discussion...)

At one point I was using Waze while commuting. I don't have it on a mount or anything, I don't even turn on nav on it. I just open the app and set it to only report hazards and police via audio, if I recall. I don't commute anymore now with WFH so I stopped doing it but probably shouldn't have.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

JasonF said:


> For some reason in and around Orlando (as opposed to travelling between cities) Waze isn't really reliable.


The reports waze provides are completely dependent on other users doing the reporting. So waze isn't as useful on lightly-travelled roads.


> And the newest version constantly flashes the screen and demands attention...to display ads.


I haven't noticed any change in behavior.
It only puts up ads when the car is stopped.
If you're seeing ads while the car is moving, then there's probably something wrong with your phone's GPS or accelerometer.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

IPv6Freely said:


> You could argue that doing 80 in a 65 when everyone else is also doing 80 is actually safer than doing the speed limi


Doing 80 in a 65 to keep up with traffic is one thing, passing cars that are doing 80 in a 65 is another.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

garsh said:


> If you're seeing ads while the car is moving, then there's probably something wrong with your phone's GPS or accelerometer.


It's definitely intentional design from the nature of the ads - as I'm driving it flashes and nags me about visiting a McDonalds or Taco Bell I'm getting close to.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

FRC said:


> Doing 80 in a 65 to keep up with traffic is one thing, passing cars that are doing 80 in a 65 is another.


In my observation, every cop has a hard limit for speed in mind (depending on location) where they consider it "no excuse" and will throw the book at you for getting near it. Even if there's a rock landslide chasing you down a hill, if you pass that hard limit, you'll definitely get an expensive ticket, probably with a court appearance, and maybe get arrested. Some of them have a very _low_ number in mind.

What's strange about the sudden interest in Teslas from FHP is I previously used to be able to cruise past them at exactly 80 (in a 70 zone) because it was a badly kept secret that they would ignore anything 80 or under. Now that I know they're watching for us, I set Autopilot at 78 instead.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

There was a time when Georgia State Patrol could not ticket you using radar if you were within 9 miles of the speed limit. I'm not certain if this is still true, but my offset is set as if it were. My displayed speed is 2 MPH higher than actual speed, so I've set the offset at +11. In nearly 70k miles having passed hundreds of roadside patrolmen at +11, I don't think I've even gotten a second look. Most patrolmen are looking for unsafe driving which may in fact be tied, in their minds, to a specific speed(say +15 of +20).


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## pjfw8 (Apr 28, 2016)

FRC said:


> There was a time when Georgia State Patrol could not ticket you using radar if you were within 9 miles of the speed limit. I'm not certain if this is still true, but my offset is set as if it were. My displayed speed is 2 MPH higher than actual speed, so I've set the offset at +11. In nearly 70k miles having passed hundreds of roadside patrolmen at +11, I don't think I've even gotten a second look. Most patrolmen are looking for unsafe driving which may in fact be tied, in their minds, to a specific speed(say +15 of +20).


They are attracted by frequent lane changes and passing on the right on the interstate. As my state patrol buddy says, "When everyone is speeding you go for the low-hanging fruit." (As a judge I have heard many excuses. My favorite was "but judge the cop said I was doing 80 in a 65. When I looked down I was only doing 78". Me: "The ticket is for 78 in a 65 zone, which you admit. Anything else?")


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

FRC said:


> There was a time when Georgia State Patrol could not ticket you using radar if you were within 9 miles of the speed limit.


In PA, only State Troopers can use radar (might be changing soon though). You have to be going at least 5mph over the limit to be ticketed.
Local police can only use VASCAR, and you have to be going at least 10mph over the limit to be ticketed.
However, any police car can pace you (travel the same speed behind you) and ticket you for any amount over the limit with that method.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

JasonF said:


> Had another that came up close behind (close like all you can see are the roof lights in the rear view mirror) and followed me for a couple of blocks after accelerating quickly from a light that just changed, until he realized I wasn't going over the speed limit, and then he finally passed me.


That's called Pacing. Police can use that method to detect if you're speeding.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

garsh said:


> That's called Pacing. Police can use that method to detect if you're speeding.


When he saw me accelerate ahead of the other cars, he probably expected me to continue accelerating until I was definitely above the speed limit. He came from way back somewhere (wasn't directly behind me at the intersection), and maybe was sure that by the time he caught up, he would have definite cause. But then he didn't.

Ironically it was pure coincidence that I was going below the speed limit at that moment. I was crossing under a bridge that had a set of highway entrances/exits, and just past the bridge, people tend to enter that road, and then cross all 4 lanes to turn left at the next intersection. Sometimes dangerously slowly. Even the 50 mph speed limit is too high for that.


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## IPv6Freely (Aug 8, 2017)

FRC said:


> Doing 80 in a 65 to keep up with traffic is one thing, passing cars that are doing 80 in a 65 is another.


I don't disagree. That's exactly why I got tagged. I'm just saying that if traffic is doing 80 and won't even get you a look, a ticket that says "85 in a 65" looks a lot worse than it is.


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## lance.bailey (Apr 1, 2019)

HUGE thanks to @garsh for me avoiding a ticket yesterday due to waze sitting on the charge pad. not navigating me, just sitting there. Alert came up, i tuned down the speed and I waved very politely at Officer Speed Trap as I went by.

Hey Elon - waze integration would be *great*


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## IPv6Freely (Aug 8, 2017)

lance.bailey said:


> HUGE thanks to @garsh for me avoiding a ticket yesterday due to waze sitting on the charge pad. not navigating me, just sitting there. Alert came up, i tuned down the speed and I waved very politely at Officer Speed Trap as I went by.
> 
> Hey Elon - waze integration would be *great*


Yep, that's exactly what I do. I don't use it for nav at all.


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## Blooman (8 mo ago)

JasonF said:


> I might have been too hasty in the thread "Florida Drivers With Window Tint - Heads Up" to pin down a specific cause. I believed the Florida Highway Patrol cop who told me they were cracking down on windshield tint (that's not the only thing he told me that wasn't true, but that's another topic).
> 
> The reason I say that is because in the last month or so, the Florida Highway Patrol has been giving Teslas a lot of attention of the unwanted kind. I guess it's fair enough considering that Teslas are powerful and fast vehicles, and they're becoming much more common. But, like with a lot of misconceptions about Tesla owners, I fear they believe we're all driving around $100k+ supercars and can afford to pay for lots of extra tickets and higher fines.
> 
> ...


Maybe it's the colour?


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## TomT (Apr 1, 2019)

FRC said:


> There was a time when Georgia State Patrol could not ticket you using radar if you were within 9 miles of the speed limit. I'm not certain if this is still true, but my offset is set as if it were.


Still true unless it is a special use zone such as school, construction, etc..


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