hahahaha, street racers aka rice rockets beware !

 

You'd probably get tagged for an Exhibition of Speed for that :banana:

 

Yes I believe there is something they can hit you with if you accelerate 'unsafely', which sounds pretty open to interpretation to me.

 

dang that sucks but i still dont think that would stop street racers from racing.

 

what sucks?

 

They will cite you for Exhibition of Speed - it's a big ticket in Cal. Used to only give this to motorcycles that popped a wheelie or raced around in traffic at the speed limit. Now they give it to anyone they think is annoying but not speeding.

 

My guess is that these laws are more pointed at areas, which are throughout California, that have a heavy street racing problem, like the south-east bay, san diego, and some parts of the LA basin. I.e. its one of those changes to the law which give law enforcement an edge they've been asking for already. In areas where those laws are not heavily enforced (because the illegal activity is not as heavy), the police response probably will not change much.

btw - afaik, getting up to the speed limit quickly without spinning your tires is not illegal. of course, that's up to the judge.

jason

 

AHahah I got one of those, but contested it (and won). I ripped a wheelie across Ralson Blvd, being an immature showoff for the chicks in the car behind me. Funny thing, the ticket was dismissed 1 day before my court appearance. It turns out the cop couldn't make it to court and the court was trying to clean up the docket. Lucky bastage!

 

You dont have to be racing for you to be ticketed as such.

 

See, that's what scares me about CA. You could be ticked for street racing if someone was trying to challenge you, and you don't even respond. All you do is have to be in the general area of some streetracing jackassery, and they can ticket and fine you. Stupidity at it's greatest.

 

uhh the fine?

 

Tried that approach and lost.

 

i think that is great

 

Yeah Exhibition of Speed and Tailgating or Following too Closely are completely open to interpretation.
Technically, you can exhibit Speed without Speeding, but it should have been written up as Exhibition of Acceleration if that is what they were after.
A good lawyer should be able to get you off if you were just accelerating to the speed limit. All cars have different rates of acceleration, and there is no standard limit of how fast you can accelerate and still be legal, so there is no way any driver of any number of cars could be expected to accelerate within some unknown standard limit to prevent a ticket.
Though they may site you if you weren't racing, it is not at all fair and right since they added the law for racing.
If my wrx is at a light next to 2 old people in underpowered cars, chances are pretty good Ill be through the intersection before they get much into it without trying to go fast. Yet if someone sees this event they might assume I took off and write me a ticket quite unjustly. One key point might be to get the officer to admit you weren't speeding and to put your speed on the ticket. You could then use that in court against them showing the 0-60 time for the WRX and pointing out if you had accelerated quickly, you would have been speeding before the officer even thought to pull you over. Heh.
Many people do themselves in by saying something about accelerating quickly to the speed limit or something that implies they were trying to get to the limit fast, which is then used against them.
You might be better off with, "Huh?? I press the go pedal until the the speed O meter says what that sign says thar and let up. Am I driving wrong or something?"

There are also no written official guidelines at all for Following Too Closely.
You could be a 1000ft a way and get cited and found guilty if you had nothing to prove you were that far away like a video, since the officer is 70% in the right over you. The law reads like the General Speed Law and should be just as easy to get out of, but officers love to tack it onto other tickets and many people don't bother fighting it. Just don't admit to anything and you always have a better chance of getting off.
"You were pretty close to that car in front of you.."
"Yeah it was a bit close but he slowed suddenly" - Admission of guilt
"I had enough room to stop if he hit a brick wall" - Bold but not guilty
"I was paying attention and keeping enough distance to stop if needed" - Textbook not guilty, the officer could disagree with you, but that is what the court is for.

Remember the distance doesn't actually matter since there is no written into law guideline. You could have been an inch away as easily as a mile, which is what makes this a bad law.

Same thing with Exhibition of Speed. In court you can ask what the rate of acceleration is that divides the guilty from the not guilty in Exhibition of Speed.
Chances are the judge will stare at you dumbly for a minute and then fall back to citing the text of the law. (you can also ask them to read the text of any law to you as written).
This one gives you the best out probably
(c) No person shall engage in any motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway, and no person shall aid or abet in any motor vehicle exhibition of speed on any highway.
Since exhibition of speed is never defined, beyond that.
Obviously, cities and counties may have their own versions of the Exhibition of Speed laws - LA and San Diego do, so their text may be worded differently than the State CHP code, be sure to research the code you are cited for before gong to court.
The CHP have jurisdiction around Highways all over, but they only write you up based on the State VC, so if CHP cites you in town for Exhibition of Speed, and the laws differ in that city, you may have a good chance.

 

wow, someone please delete Mikkyo's great response and replace it with +1s