All that says is to KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS like we have been saying.

 

It also says the left lane is not an excuse to speed.

 

Well police disagree, because it is actually illegal to drive in the left lane when you’re not passing regardless of whether you are going the speed limit or not.

 

Your self righteousness about speed limits does not provide you with a special exemption to park int he left lane and hold up traffic. We get it, you live life like a 1970's driver's ed safety video and fun is an allergen.

 

No, you don't get it. First, who says I park in the left lane? In fact, I usually don't drive in that lane, unless there is a left-hand exit ahead I need to take. Some drivers, however, do, and I am only explaining it from a legal point of speed limits.......what the state codes say. Second, I myself usually like to say to the right behind slower traffic, because it usually decreases (but does not eliminate) the chances of your windshield or front-end picking up a rock or piece of debris from the vehicle ahead. Third, most of the people who drive like the old safety-films are still alive...I would say, yes, that's fun.

 

One infuriating habit I don't think any of us have discussed so far is people in parking spaces backing out in front of you without looking first...or using their rear-cross-traffic alerts. I have had several near-misses from that, thanks to the automatic-braking system in newer vehicles and my own still-decent reactions/reflexes for my age.

One hint that this may (?) happen is if you see the vehicle parked ahead of you with their white back-up lights on in the rear....it shows that the vehicle is in reverse, and may (?) back out into your path. I always go very slow if and when I see that ahead of me, just in case...but you can still have an impact or near-miss even at crawling speed.

 

Thats why I back into parking spaces.

 

hed probably still drive 25 mph on the freeway if a sign told him to

 

Well, perhaps you should come up to D.C. and see the traffic here. There are times you can't average 25 MPH in Beltway rush-hour traffic....or even half that speed.

Since you live in Houston, the traffic there is bad enough as it is, although not as bad as D.C.

 

I'll bring up one more bad and annoying driver action..... and then probably won't have much more to say in this thread.

......People who are NOT handicapped/disabled, yet park in close-in spaces that are marked for Handicapped-stickers only..Yes, i realize that sometimes the legitimate stickers that hang from the windshield mirror-mounts get lost/stolen/misplaced, and that is why they are not always displayed in the windshield when legitimate vehicles are there (some vehicles, of course, also have handicapped license-plates). But, just as often, it is scofflaws that steal these spaces for one of two reasons....either they are too lazy or self centered to walk a little, or they like the fact that these Disabled spaces have very wide areas on one side that do not let other vehicles park close-by....that, of course, lessens the chances of door-dings.

I myself have a legitimate Disabled Sticker for my windshield, but, most of the time, even though I meet the legal requirements for one, I can still walk fairly decently, with or without a cane, for a few hundred feet.....I'm certainly in better shape than a lot of other people who have the stickers. So, even though I can legally park in these spaces..... and often do, out of respect for those who are MORE disabled than I am, I will sometimes leave the special spaces for them, particularly if there are only a few of them available, and I'll just go ahead and park in a regular space and walk a little more. I am a firm believer in courtesy.








(not my plate....shown for reference)

 

In general I drive pretty slow through parking lots especially where there are a lot of cars on the left and right side. I don’t trust people backing out slowly and looking. Also, too many incidents I’ve heard of where someone clearly backs out and hits someone and insurance says both cars are at fault. Plus people walk between cars and you have to be care of them too.

While we are on the subject of parking lots, one thing I hate is where there are one way parking lanes and the parking spaces are slanted so you can clearly tell they are one way plus they have arrows on the ground that says so and only stop signs in one direction at the end of the lane. My gym parking lot is like this and when I drive the correct direction it drives me crazy when someone is driving the wrong way right at me. I ain’t moving and I make them either back up or cut through where there are no cars to the correct lane. It’s not that F’ing hard people.

 

It takes a special kind of low person to take a handicapped space when they don't have a handicapped tag...

 

It happens.....although, fortunately, not that often. I see scofflaws sitting in fire-lanes and No-Park-Zones a lot more often.....and, at the Rec-Center where I swim indoors, almost every day.

Believe it or not, where I live, the local Fire Department itself often does this, even when it is not responding to a fire or other emergency. Perhaps (?) it is because those big fire-trucks are so clumsy and hard to park, and they obviously can't just be stuffed into any normal parking-space. One classic example of this, that I see quite often in the middle of the day, is when the local fire-fighters stop at the grocery store with their big trucks to go in and get their lunches or do some shopping. They will leave the trucks in the fire-lanes in front of the store, go in, do their shopping, check out, and then come back out and either sit there and eat or drive away. Of course, given the fact that these fire-fighters are sometimes heroes and save human and animal lives in fires, the store-managers and frond-end loaders don't say anything. Other drivers (not the fire-department) also do this at stores where they have a pick-up order waiting...they will just pull up and sit there while waiting for their order to be brought out. At the Rec Center, instead of parking, families constantly pull up all day long to the front door in the No-Parking lane and just sit there, waiting for their kids or passengers to unload or be picked up.