There are few unofficial rules of the road and one of biggest is don’t pass a police officer unless it’s necessary.

Orlando’s News 6 focused on this subject as part of their “Ask Troop Steve” segment and the former state trooper and public affairs officer for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor vehicles confirmed the obvious – you can indeed pass a police officer.

Of course, he also suggested this isn’t the wisest move. As he explained, it’s not the “brightest idea” but you should be fine as long as you’re not doing anything illegal such as speeding.

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Steve Montiero then noted why most people don’t pass cops in the first place – it draws attention to them. As he noted, there were countless times in his career that he’d be passed by a distracted driver. He says these people were basically screaming “Pull me over.”

Despite this, Montiero said he was passed plenty of times while traveling below the speed limit. The former trooper didn’t pull those drivers over, because they hadn’t done anything wrong.

In essence, it comes down to common sense. You shouldn’t go out of your way to pass a police officer but, if they’re going under the speed limit, you should be fine as long as you don’t speed either. That being said, passing a police officer will likely cause them to pay attention to you, so you’d better abide by the law and make sure your vehicle is in proper working condition.