RX_330

So I was driving from West Michigan back to Ann Arbor (GO BLUE!) and there was this VW Jetta in the left lane. And he stayed there. For a long time. And he was going about 72mph (speed limit here is 70). He was barely passing any cars and if he was he was taking forever. There were many opportunities where he could have moved to the right lane to let the long line of cars he was now holding up. Of course, I could have taken those opportunities myself and just passed on the right, but it would have been close to cutting off some cars on the right in order to do so.

No amount of flashing my high beams did anything and he even had the audacity to spray his windshield washer fluid to annoy me (which didn't work because we were going too fast for the fluid to fall back down and hit my car lol). We even passed several signs that said "KEEP RIGHT, EXCEPT TO PASS | IT'S THE LAW".

We eventually hit a stretch where the right lane was clear for a couple of miles. I took the moment and blew by him on the right. I kept an eye on my rearview for a while and he STILL was in the left lane.

Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

Sadly, the mentality of many drivers is to also be stubborn, which compounds with their ignorance, lending to a dangerous situation. You see it time and again, where even after a driver clearly realizes they are being unreasonable or just wrong, their arrogance gets the better of them, and something silly/unnecessary ensues (wrong and strong). Some people have trouble enough admitting they are wrong, but this only increases when isolated behind the wheel.

While I'd love to see a law like this passed for pretty much all states, I agree with mmarshall, in that it will be a tough one to push. As stated in the article, it exist as a glaring contradiction to an established speed limit, creating some pretty obvious issues when you mix both laws with drivers who already have trouble interpreting current laws/practices, both written and unwritten. Its going to embolden reckless drivers who want to go faster for the sake of speed, who wanted just one more reason to justify their habits, while I have serious doubts the police would be able/willing to reliably enforce the law, as opposed to just pulling over those exceeding the limit in the left lane (who aren't necessarily being reckless). The public is absolutely convinced that speed is the enemy when it comes to perceived safety, and it would take one hell of a push to convince them that proper lane discipline can safely account and integrate faster speeds into our daily commutes...by itself, I don't see this law doing it.

Also, there is no consistent law for most of the US, which doesn't help to reinforce good driving practices. Here in MD, you can legally drive in the left lane, or all lanes for that matter, going the speed limit (the rolling roadblock), and its completely okay to do so. In parts of the state, you have signs stating "slow traffic should keep right", but its not consistent or reinforced at all.

The only way I see this working, is pretty much in line with what has been previously stated-- raise the speed limit, while making this law. But neither of these will really fix the root of the problem...why not increase the difficulty of license testing, and educate/emphasize something more critical than 3-point turns and parallel parking when it comes to tests? If states want to get serious about safety, I'm thinking they should start with just who gets a license in the first place, followed by who gets to keep one (granted this is also easier said than done).

lexmenow

Last night coming from Atlanta there was a slow poke in the fast lane. He was holding everyone up. I was directly behind him and he was doing speed limit 70. I was mad as hell. As I looked in my rear view to see the long line and noticed this Charger behind me and when I looked closely I noticed it had hidden police lights. I got over and let what I believe was a cop get in front of me. I then got back in the fast lane. The Charger kept flashing his lights and was on the slow pokes butt. We rode a couple of miles then his lights came on and he pulled the guy over. It was hilarious. People need to get over.

mmarshall

That kind of nonsense (cell-phones, texting, newspapers, hair dryers, etc....) goes on in all of the lanes, not just the left one. In fact, I've even been next to drivers, stopped at an intersection, smoking a joint....I could tell by the shape/texture of the cigarette and the glowing head.

IS-SV

Sadly, driving in America is often like that.

But to stay on topic, often the lamest drivers tend to park in the fast lane for no good reason. They really don't understand the concepts of lane discipline and defensive driving.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

There is no need for this law. It won't solve the problem. Do what the Germans do - give tickets for passing on the right. In Germany it is always illegal to pass on the right. It's also illegal to violate right of way by parking in the left lane (which also will result in a huge ticket).

At the root of it all is a fundamental disregard for observing rights of way. Passing should only happen on the left, and if you are being overtaken, you need to move right no matter your speed. Your left lane intransigence only increases risk to everyone on the road. The Germans understand this and spend a great deal of driver training on fundamentals - right of way. I marveled at how few stop signs there are in Germany, and believe me, they only have 10 -15% of the number of stop signs we have here. In the US we abuse stop signs for speed control and to enforce priority/secondary rights of way which would be completely unnecessary if we just taught and enforced following right of way rules.

The whole reason for road rage in these situations is the person violating the right of way is perceived as arrogant - like the clever boy in the Solara who pulled in front of 1sick on the way back from Charlotte just as Mike was closing on him to pass on the left. Add to this our clever boy decides to hit the brakes as Mike rolls up on him (it was unavoidable unless Mike wanted to brake very hard). All because this guy didn't look in the mirror, didn't anticipate we would close on him quickly (we weren't going THAT fast), and then got all huffy about it to the point of being a complete jerk and trying to instigate something. At last sight he was pulling off the road, more than likely because his wife was either verbally or physically abusing him for driving like an idiot. None of this would have happened had he just looked in the mirror, observed right of way, and let us pass. Too many people have my wife's attitude - if your behind me, deal with it, I'm going to do whatever I please. I've been working on that for 10 years to no avail. My apologies to anyone following her.

EZZ

In so-cal, passing on the right is standard fare. In general, you seen the left lane being a bit faster than the others but since everyone is driving at 75+, people tend to weave around the slower cars. So-cal people drive FAST compared to most other places.

Danimal

Possible solution?

wmb0000

I think all state should adopt the law of "left lane is for passing only".

Right now is the best time for it anyway with almost all the city and states needing money. Have them give out tickets and eventually people will learn.

karasha

iTrader: (5)

What can be even more annoying, is say we have the slowpoke in the left lane just being a rolling roadblock on our two-lane beltway. The person behind him is trying to get him to move over, but chances are that poor driver has some huge jacked up 4x4 truck on their butt, which causes them to have to slow down to increase distance between them and the person in front of them, because it's the defensive thing to do. This causes road rage not only at the person in front of them for being a road block, but also to the annoying tailgater behind them.

It becomes a bad cycle. Most people here in Houston travel 75-80mph in the left lane and boy if you are holding them up, be ready for some serious road rage/brake checking/a nice middle finger/rolling down the window and having some obscenities thrown your way.

<VENOM>

oddly enough I noticed the bigger the pickup the faster they travel, if they can push the cars over to the right the better for them.

personally I've grown tired of the drivers who sit in the left lane, they don't have the courtesy to move over, going 2 mph over the posted limit in the left, I find myself weaving right to left constantly, but seeing how the troopers have the same driving style I accept it

I've also noticed the Georgia driver also does not know how to make a left against traffic, they don't know how to pull to the middle of the intersection, I'm guessing those are also the ones who sit in the left lane

IS-SV

Sadly, that's the state of freeway driving in much of the US.

<VENOM>

Not to get off topic, but driving from either NY or ATL, especially on the 2 lane highways in most of virginia, NC, SC, the lane hogs who hold the limit in the left and pace the traffic in the right is ridiculous, trying to make good time and still maintain a respectable 15mph over the limit, gets hard, and sometimes a frustrated burst to 90-100 to get around someone, it could take 20 minutes to get around someone in the left because of all the truckers, only then to start over, and then the guy you passed is now pissed he no longer owns the road and rides your *** only to realize he can't maintain my speed

Back on track, in Georgia, I noticed that Expeditions love to sit in the left lane, and every time I pass one it pulls out and follows me, I hate typical Expedition drivers, from what I have experienced, here and NY

mmarshall

You don't pass Troopers who are doing the limit (even in the left lane), do you?

<VENOM>

Yes I have, in fact many times I have passed troopers who did the exact speed limit, Im not gonna change my driving style and risk being hit cause a dozen drivers are driving behind a cop, a time when I was in Jersey a cop pulled out and 3 car in front of me completely slowed down to 40, normal speed on the road was 60-65, I had a window and blew threw it, by the cop and by the morons, and what did I see in my rear view, the cop pulling the 3 idiots over who decided to tailgate him, instead of just safely merging to the left and keep going as he got on/in.