Forget the pretext stuff. I’m a Chicago pedestrian, and I can tell you based on personal experience that there are lots of people driving around with large objects – CD discs are popular – hanging from their mirrors. And as a pedestrian, if I look toward the driver and can’t see him behind the mirror display, I know he can’t see me either.
Three cheers for the cops writing these tickets. Junk hanging from mirrors is in fact a serious hazard to pedestrians.
Litigator, I agree the basic rule is good, but it is also notoriously abused. Incidentally, if you work in Va and that becomes a problem for a client, there was a case recently that severely curtailed this ruling, in the western part of the state. i wish i could say more, but i don’t remember alot about it. its worth looking for. the basic idea is if the object is small enough by your stereoscopic vision, you can literally see around the object by combining what you see in both eyes. so really small stuff don’t actually obstruct anything.
But like i said, of course having too much crap in your front window is a problem, too.
This is nothing new. I’ve been pulled over by a sheriff who said I crossed the center line when I definitely did not. I am sure it was because I was leaving a large party and he decided to cut corners thinking he would have a DWI arrest. Boy was he pissed when he realized that I hadn’t been drinking, and was incredibly rude to me. This was a long time ago, but I still won’t even drive through that county or ever do business there, knowing how they operate.
3 Comments
Forget the pretext stuff. I’m a Chicago pedestrian, and I can tell you based on personal experience that there are lots of people driving around with large objects – CD discs are popular – hanging from their mirrors. And as a pedestrian, if I look toward the driver and can’t see him behind the mirror display, I know he can’t see me either.
Three cheers for the cops writing these tickets. Junk hanging from mirrors is in fact a serious hazard to pedestrians.
Litigator, I agree the basic rule is good, but it is also notoriously abused. Incidentally, if you work in Va and that becomes a problem for a client, there was a case recently that severely curtailed this ruling, in the western part of the state. i wish i could say more, but i don’t remember alot about it. its worth looking for. the basic idea is if the object is small enough by your stereoscopic vision, you can literally see around the object by combining what you see in both eyes. so really small stuff don’t actually obstruct anything.
But like i said, of course having too much crap in your front window is a problem, too.
This is nothing new. I’ve been pulled over by a sheriff who said I crossed the center line when I definitely did not. I am sure it was because I was leaving a large party and he decided to cut corners thinking he would have a DWI arrest. Boy was he pissed when he realized that I hadn’t been drinking, and was incredibly rude to me. This was a long time ago, but I still won’t even drive through that county or ever do business there, knowing how they operate.