Careful getting around that police car!

Today I came across a driving situation in which there was a police cruiser at a traffic stop on the opposite side of the road ahead of me. That's not particularly unusual, but it is definitely something to pay attention to!

There were a few other factors in this particular situation.

1. The traffic stop was on a curve on the opposite shoulder where it was not clearly visible until I came upon it.
2. There was a pedestrian walking on the shoulder across from the traffic stop on the shoulder on my side of the road.
3. The pedestrian was watching the traffic stop, not the oncoming traffic (me).
4. There was traffic about to pass the traffic stop from the opposite direction.

Here is a mildly complex setup that is an accident hazard. Why? Any time there is more than one road hazard in close proximity, the chance of an accident goes up.

Normally I would give the traffic stop as wide a berth as possible by moving my car to the extreme right of the paved roadway, crossing the white line on the right side of the road. That wasn't possible this time because of the pedestrian.

It is the responsibility of the traffic coming up behind the traffic stop (the traffic opposite me, in this case) to slow down and make sure it is safe to proceed before passing the road hazard that is completely or partially blocking their travel lane. All too often, however, such drivers eagerly cross the double yellow center line while still at a high rate of speed to pass by the blockage, regardless of what traffic is coming at them from the other direction. I think drivers tend to assume that the oncoming traffic will move way over for them. And they may be correct about that, but then again they may not be! And then what happens?

A talented driver coming up behind the traffic stop in this case would not only see the traffic stop, but would have scanned the rest of the scene and noticed the pedestrian walking on the left side of the road, and noticed that the opposing traffic may not be able to give a wide berth. A non-talented driver would just plow on through and become an active road hazard himself.

Today, I consider myself lucky. While the driver behind the traffic stop did not slow down as much as I would have liked, he did slow down some and only started entering my lane (crossing the double yellow line) once I had gotten past the pedestrian.