I'm in NJ and was driving on Route 24 today when I saw something really weird and thought maybe someone would know what it could have been. Each side of the highway is 3 lanes and on the opposite side there was one police car with his lights on in the center lane....directly behind him was an unmarked police car with his lights on, and behind that one were 3 more with their lights on, one in each lane. They couldn't have been driving any faster than 20 miles per hour and traffic couldn't pass and was building up behind them. It was pretty obvious that none of the cars behind them were involved in whatever was going on. It seemed like the most bizarre thing to me but I guess there could be a perfectly normal explanation....does anyone know what this could have been??
2007-03-02 13:38:11 · 5 answers · asked by Grace1228 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Exercise of power.
2007-03-02 15:29:44 · answer #1 · answered by uab_skinhead 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I'm in NJ too...I have seen this tactic before on the Turnpike up near Newark.. going south. Sometimes there are huge backups at tolling places or - just normal traffic or an accident - like that. What you saw were police managing the traffice behind them to slow them down until the problem ahead can be resolved.
It really is a pretty good way to do it, if you think about it.
I have also seen something similar on the Garden State Parkway near the shore exits in the summertime.
2007-03-03 01:15:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is sometimes called a "rolling roadblock", a technique used to slow down and/or safely stop traffic on multi-lane highways.
I'd bet there was some kind of hazard or situation down the road that they were trying to allow time to get cleared up.
Could also be used,sometimes, depending on how the risk was assessed, to create a blockade to stop a vehicle behind them. The risks involved make this unlikely though.
2007-03-02 21:54:40 · answer #3 · answered by John B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Ca. we call that a round robin. There was probably a spill further up the road that you didn't see. The cops you saw were holding up traffic so the highway guys could safely clean the spill off the road.
2007-03-02 21:42:59 · answer #4 · answered by johN p. aka-Hey you. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are many reasons for this, but basically it was to slow down the traffic in a controlled manner.
2007-03-02 21:46:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋