Traffic commuting to the Valley (county, used)

[quakinator]

I agree it isn't difficult to understand the Alaska law, my point was that Alaska has inhabitants from every lower 48 state and the laws in each vary greatly. I venture to guess that less than 5% of Alaskans are aware of these laws and most simply use what was normal in their state since there is no federal transportation law regarding this.

Floyd stated that he thought it wasn't required unless there were signs, I was showing that his statement was remembered incorrectly, but that Alaskans (and one could extrapolate that most every state has this same problem, because I know Utah is the most frustrating states I have ever driven in- Alaska was great comparatively) are likely just unaware of the actual law.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by quakinator

I know Utah is the most frustrating states I have ever driven in- Alaska was great comparatively

Wow! Really? I have driven all over California, Minnesota, and Nebraska for years, and Alaska was by far the worst of the four states that I experienced. If you think Alaska's drivers are "great" when compared to Utah drivers, then I most definitely want to avoid driving in Utah.

Alaska gets approximately 850,000 tourists during the summer months, and only about 20% (170,000) come from the lower-49 states. The rest come from other countries, and some come from countries where they don't drive on the same side of the road, much less have similar traffic laws.

Alaska also gets around 250,000 tourists during the winter months. It is so much easier to take the tourists money, then blame the appalling traffic on them. After all, Alaskans cannot drive this badly, can they?

[Marty Van Diest]

There are signs on the Glenn Highway that state slower traffic keep right.

Confession time....on at least three occasions I have experimented on the drive to Anchorage to see if I could go all the way there without changing lanes. I got in the left lane, set my cruise control for 69mph and relaxed. I have made it all the way to Muldoon at least once without changing lanes. That means that everyone in the left lane was going faster than I was and some people were forced to pass me on the right. I haven't made a habit of it for fear of getting shot but it sure made for an easy trip into town. If there was no way to pass on the right I gave up and moved over for the impatient people who wanted to drive more than 5mph over the speed limit.

[warptman]

I drove Salt Lake and survived, that place is crazy!

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by quakinator

What's the common sense reason for slow traffic occupying the left lane?

First, I have noted the quoted Alaska Adminstrative Code 13 02.050, which apparently was changed in 2001 to be as shown. It definitely does make the left lane the fast lane, which was not true prior to that. I was unaware that it had been changed.

It is a poorly thought out difference. The original reasoning was correct, which is that if left egress is possible then vehicles necessarily must be allowed to decelerate/accelerate to/from slower speeds as they exit/enter the left lane on the left side. And vehicles must be allowed to anticipate an upcoming turn if they are not precisely sure where it is. The exceptions in the current code allow slower speeds only when actually making a turn. If a driver thinks that the right place is just ahead and slows down, only to discover it is not the right place and then speeds up it is a citable offense! (The fine is $75 and two points on your drivers license.)

The other effect is that drivers in the left lane believe they can expect an obstruction free lane, and that when approaching any vehicle from the rear that it, by law, must be going faster than vehicles in the right lane. Clearly that is a dangerously false assumption.

The other objection that I have to it is that it means one driver's actions can legally require another driver to change lanes. Changing lanes is perhaps the point at which most accidents happen on highways, and a defensive driver changes lanes only when there is no other option. The fact that another vehicle is approaching from behind at a high rate of speed is not a valid reason, from a safety standpoint, for changing lanes!

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by quakinator

Floyd stated that he thought it wasn't required unless there were signs, I was showing that his statement was remembered incorrectly, but that Alaskans (and one could extrapolate that most every state has this same problem, because I know Utah is the most frustrating states I have ever driven in- Alaska was great comparatively) are likely just unaware of the actual law.

Actually though I was not remembering incorrectly, but was remember what it once was and I did not know it had been changed. At one time or another I've been through several drivers ed courses for emergency vehicles (taught by various folks such as AST and the Fairbanks Police Deptarment), and because my particular domain was on the Richardson Highway (Salcha) that law was important due to the 22 miles of divided highway between Eielson AFB and Fairbanks.

During the 1990's they tried very hard to force the "left lane" bit on the last 5 miles, from about Badger Road on into Fairbanks. But every time it met with public resistance because there are several points, including some with no entry or exit lane, where left turns are allowed. On at least two different occasions they even posted signs saying slow traffic keep right, and both times they had to remove them too. I highly suspect that Fairbanks is where that change in the AAC originated.

[bkyhi]

Originally Posted by Glitch

Alaska gets approximately 850,000 tourists during the summer months, and only about 20% (170,000) come from the lower-49 states. The rest come from other countries, and some come from countries where they don't drive on the same side of the road, much less have similar traffic laws.

Alaska also gets around 250,000 tourists during the winter months. It is so much easier to take the tourists money, then blame the appalling traffic on them. After all, Alaskans cannot drive this badly, can they?

Wow some numbers. Hawaii gets approx 7.6 MILLION visitors annually, most of them staying on the island of Oahu. Of these about 4M or so are from the US the rest are international with the bulk from Japan, but Europe and Australia are also high on the list. MANY of them rent cars. There are a lot of older visitors also. Discount some of the numbers for visitors on business vs vacation - but they frequently combine both. Consider that with the number of local drivers and you get some pretty heavy traffic in such a small place. I've seen probably just about anything a visiting tourist may do while driving. Including actually stopping in the middle of a highway to take a picture, driving on the wrong side of the road, entering a freeway exit etc.....

On the other islands where the pace of life is slower and the number of people and cars is lower - things are much better.

But in my opinion, the bulk of the bad drivers are local to Hawaii. Some people actually wait on the Freeway on-ramp waiting to be allowed in.

I suspect the same is true for Alaska. I would also assume that many visitors arriving by cruise ships in Alaska never actually drive anywhere.

[hemidude]

I take it Alaska doesn't use a lot of salt on the roads or do they mix some in with the sand? Man, it's all over the place down here in OH, WV, PA, and MD but it does get rid of the slick stuff right quick.

As for the left lane, it's supposed to be a passing lane only, not a drive at your leisure and block traffic lane.

[HighlandLady]

No salt in our area and I believe I've only seen sand spread once this season.

[Barkingowl]

They spread ashes in my part of NC.