Some hypermiling techniques illegal in my state!

[theclencher]

Minnesota Statute 169.39 COASTING.
(a) The driver of any motor vehicle when traveling upon a downgrade shall not coast with
the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

... But I can hold the clutch in, or do it uphill or on level ground!

169.15 IMPEDING TRAFFIC.
No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal
and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or
in compliance with law or except when the vehicle is temporarily unable to maintain a greater
speed due to a combination of the weight of the vehicle and the grade of the highway.

... can't go too slow if others are piling up behind me I guess!

169.71 WINDSHIELD.
Subdivision 1. Prohibitions generally; exceptions. (a) A person shall not drive or operate
any motor vehicle with:
(1) a windshield cracked or discolored to an extent to limit or obstruct proper vision;
(2) any objects suspended between the driver and the windshield, other than sun visors and
rearview mirrors and electronic toll collection devices; or
(3) any sign, poster, or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, sidewings,
or side or rear windows of the vehicle...

...Junk hanging from rear view mirror= ILLEGAL! Remember all those stupid yellow "Baby On Board" signs?... ILLEGAL! Mexicans with their last names in Old English Lettering across the back window... ILLEGAL!

also:

*wipers are required (but oddly enough, by the state's definition, wipers are required on motorcycles with windshields too and I ain't never seen that!)

*mufflers are required on all motor vehicles (why do I never see the straight-pipe Harleys pulled over for muffler violations???)

*rear view mirrors not required at all unless there is a trailer or load or feature of the vehicle obstructing driver visibility to the rear! (Bye bye driver's side mirror!)

Something weird: I don't need a helmet to ride my motorcycle but I do need one to ride an electric-assisted bicycle!

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by theclencher

... But I can hold the clutch in, or do it uphill or on level ground!

I call that shifting r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

[Sludgy]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Minnesota Statute 169.39 COASTING.
(a) The driver of any motor vehicle when traveling upon a downgrade shall not coast with
the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

That means that my F350 must be illegal, since the auto tranny has a one way clutch that prevents the truck from being in gear. It allows the truck to coast unless you push in the "tow/haul" button.

Oops, I hit the submit button early.....

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by Sludgy

That means that my F350 must be illegal

I had a huge argument one day with the cops at the vehicle inspection centre when i wanted to relicense my Honda road/trail bike.(in western australia)

One of the ADR rules was that the rear indicators had to be 20cm away from the edge of the of the centre mounted stop light.
Ime sure we have all seen road trail bikes with smashed off indicators , so i did the smart thing and fitted a pair of enduro bike indicators.

They were small and tucked up tight against the frame , and when the bike is layed over (as in a spill) they would not contact the ground and break.
I though this was better than a broken indicator.

Unfortunately Mr Plod didnt agree and demanded his 20cm book rule.

Now where this gets interesting is that my brother had exactly the same bike model as well and his factory fitted (and approved) indicators were only 10cm from the tail light (which should be illegal).
So i said that I would fit the same ones as those and they said they would not pass it without the 20cm spacing.

I replied that that is what the factory fitted and the Oz government approved , they said ?NOT TRUE?

I was quite agitated by then.

Then i said ..?hey , what about all the new road bikes that have combination tail and indcator lamps in the rear fairing , do they ALL not comply ?!?!?



Still they demanded the 20cm rule , THEN ,,, they said , and ?Oh yeah ,,your rear mud flap should extend down to below the rear axle line.?

I just about went ballistic ...?On a road trail with 12 inches of suspension travel ..That would mean my rear mud flap is 75cm long !!?

Anyway ...

I retuned later with the indicactor lamp assy's stuck out on plastic sticks , and a long rubber mud flap (that flew in the wind at speed like a flag , useless) and I said the the guy ?You realise I'me going to cut these off when I get home don't you?

Apart from this one time , i have had good experiences with the law.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Yeah, the laws here in MN are a bit goofy. A buddy and me have made his auto-cross car "illegal" because there is no means of de-fogging the windshield if it should fog up. Then again, he only drives it during the auto-cross season.

Thank goodness we don't have those emission inspections anymore though!

[cfg83]

Hello -

My friend got a ticket for coasting in LA in neutral in his Jeep. I'll have to get his story.

CarloSW2

[onegammyleg]

How would Plod even detect that your in N ,,especially in a Jeep with the more than normal road noisy tires that usually cover the engine sound anyway.?

On my old Holden Jackaroo (isuzu trooper) you couldnt hear the engine over the tires.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by onegammyleg

How would Plod even detect that your in N ,,especially in a Jeep with the more than normal road noisy tires that usually cover the engine sound anyway.?

On my old Holden Jackaroo (isuzu trooper) you couldnt hear the engine over the tires.

Probably by admission of guilt, as in" "but officer, I was only coasting in N."

Me: Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do that.
Doctor: Well don't do that. Now go pay your bill.

[diamondlarry]

No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal
and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or
in compliance with law...

This sounds like it applies to someone doing the speed limit on the interstate. Some people in Georgia organized a demonstration of what happens when you go only the speed limit. They had enough people to cover all of the traffic lanes and caused a back-up of several miles. They got ticketed for obstucting traffic even though they were observing the posted speed limit. WTF?!

[Spule 4]

Coasting is very dangerous and illegal in much of the US, a friend's father is nearly paralyzed due to someone doing this and loosing control of the car and hitting them head-on.

However, some cars do it, mostly two strokes of the past, for very obvious reasons!