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Not to justify tailgating, but it seems that people riding in the left lane don't really get the idea that you want to pass them if you don't get close enough to them.They just assume you are content going the same speed as they are and will not move over. When you flash your brights or left blinker, it seems like people take it even more personal than the tailgating itself. So you really can't win (unless you make a Ricky Bobby-type attempt to pass them as soon as there is a small space that opens up in the right lane. Safe, right?) Hell, some people will not move over whatever you do.
Tailgating is bad and unsafe, but if people would just follow the "keep right except to pass rule", there would be virtually no need for tailgating or there would be minimal tailgating (small two lane roads will always have this problem). Unfortunately, we live in a world where no one gives a damn about what's going on around them and they would rather talk on a cell phone or text while driving in the left lane at 10 under the limit with their left blinker on for 10 miles riding the brake pedal.
Tailgating is wrong just like left lane entitlement/babysitting is also wrong. We need drivers education reform in this country. It seems it is too easy to get a license without actually learning how to drive and obeying the rules of the road.
How many times do you see some idiot riding in the left-most lane on an empty 6 lane freeway? This is pure stupidity and unacceptable. What is everyone's fascination with THAT lane? What makes it so special? It is supposed to be for passing only, but it seems like people are attracted to it like they get paid a dollar per mile to ride in it.
This.
I am bolding some parts because a few of you think I am also trying to justify tailgating.
My point with my previous post was that people need to move over to the right if they see someone behind them approaching. Ideally BEFORE they even get close enough to tailgate you. If they have gotten close enough to tailgate, YOU were the one that took too long to get over.
BTW, if you're in a situation where there isn't a chance to move over due to high traffic, try and give it a bit more gas if you are within the limits to and find the nearest open chance to move over. Or you could put YOUR hazards on to throw them off and perhaps he'll back off and give you some space. This may actually show them you're paying attention and know he wants to pass.
Either way, there needs to be some kind of communication of acknowledgement and respect for each other.
Not to justify tailgating, but it seems that people riding in the left lane don't really get the idea that you want to pass them if you don't get close enough to them. They just assume you are content going the same speed as they are and will not move over. When you flash your brights or left blinker, it seems like people take it even more personal than the tailgating itself. So you really can't win (unless you make a Ricky Bobby-type attempt to pass them as soon as there is a small space that opens up in the right lane. Safe, right?) Hell, some people will not move over whatever you do.
Tailgating is bad and unsafe, but if people would just follow the "keep right except to pass rule", there would be virtually no need for tailgating or there would be minimal tailgating (small two lane roads will always have this problem). Unfortunately, we live in a world where no one gives a damn about what's going on around them and they would rather talk on a cell phone or text while driving in the left lane at 10 under the limit with their left blinker on for 10 miles riding the brake pedal.
Tailgating is wrong just like left lane entitlement/babysitting is also wrong. We need drivers education reform in this country. It seems it is too easy to get a license without actually learning how to drive and obeying the rules of the road.
How many times do you see some idiot riding in the left-most lane on an empty 6 lane freeway? This is pure stupidity and unacceptable. What is everyone's fascination with THAT lane? What makes it so special? It is supposed to be for passing only, but it seems like people are attracted to it like they get paid a dollar per mile to ride in it.
I agree that people need to learn that the left lane is for passing, but tailgating is a problem here on all roads....2 lane roads, four lane roads, divided highways, and Interstates. You cannot blame tailgating on a few people hanging in the left lane on the Interstate.
Many times on Barrett Pkwy, a road with a posted 45 mph limit, I'll be doing 50 or 55 mph, and the morons are still weaving in and out and trying to do 60 mph, 65 mph, or even faster. Same thing on a two lane road with a 35 mph limit. I do 40 mph and morons are tailgating me. Should I be doing 45 mph? 50 mph? 55 mph? What would be fast enough? It's as if there is no limit for some of these people. They want to go as fast as they physically can.
There's no excuse for tailgating...ever. Just because the guy in front of you is going "too slowly" in your estimation, you sitting on his ass is still unsafe at any speed. And if the guy in front of you is going faster than the posted limit, then what do you want?
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
2,118 posts, read 6,383,002 times
Reputation: 3548
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mossberg
Not to justify tailgating, but it seems that people riding in the left lane don't really get the idea that you want to pass them if you don't get close enough to them. They just assume you are content going the same speed as they are and will not move over. When you flash your brights or left blinker, it seems like people take it even more personal than the tailgating itself. So you really can't win (unless you make a Ricky Bobby-type attempt to pass them as soon as there is a small space that opens up in the right lane. Safe, right?) Hell, some people will not move over whatever you do.
Tailgating is bad and unsafe, but if people would just follow the "keep right except to pass rule", there would be virtually no need for tailgating or there would be minimal tailgating (small two lane roads will always have this problem). Unfortunately, we live in a world where no one gives a damn about what's going on around them and they would rather talk on a cell phone or text while driving in the left lane at 10 under the limit with their left blinker on for 10 miles riding the brake pedal.
Tailgating is wrong just like left lane entitlement/babysitting is also wrong. We need drivers education reform in this country. It seems it is too easy to get a license without actually learning how to drive and obeying the rules of the road.
How many times do you see some idiot riding in the left-most lane on an empty 6 lane freeway? This is pure stupidity and unacceptable. What is everyone's fascination with THAT lane? What makes it so special? It is supposed to be for passing only, but it seems like people are attracted to it like they get paid a dollar per mile to ride in it.
, albeit perfectly centrist.
You bring up many excellent points. I'll just say that it seems like people ride in the left lane because they think subconsciously that it moves faster, is less congested and they don't have to deal with people merging on to the highway, which is .... AH! WORK! People might have to put down their cell phones and pay attention for a second.
That's why I prefer the right lane, myself. Sure there's people merging on but 99% of them scoot right over into the passing lanes, leaving the right lane wide open!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz
Whenever I run into someone slow in the left lane, it's usually a senior citizen.
That's a bit of a sterotype, wouldn't you say? It's not just about someone going SLOW in the left lane, it's about staying in the lane when they aren't passing other cars. And likewise someone could be going slow in the left lane and well under the speed limit, but as long as they are passing cars and not becoming a rolling roadblock, I'm perfectly OK with that. I don't expect everyone to want to speed. Because there are so many hogs camped out in the passing lanes, it is pretty much inevitable that a slow moving vehicle will need to use the lane farthest to the left to pass. How often do you get stuck behind an 18 wheeler in the left lane going 10 under because some d-bag in an RV towing a Kia doing 15 under is occupying the middle lane?
This and comments from Joe just prove that America is a society of "me me me/its my way or the highway" kind of mentality when it comes to driving habits and that is what is hurting all of us.
By not moving over for said tailgater, you are putting yourself in danger as well as being selfish. I'm sure more than a few of us have thought "this idiot behind me is way too close. He's got no business doing what he's doing and it pisses me off so I think I'll make him mad and not let him pass or better yet, slow down a bit because he has no business going that fast in the first place."
I shake my head in disgust at this kind of mentality.
In addition, due to the lack of enforcement of such laws as "slower drivers keeping right" leads to more clogged roads and more frustrated drivers which cause more accidents. This, in turn, leads to road widenings and waste of good space including pollution, etc, etc.. Don't contribute to the cycle!
All that said, I do realize I'm painting a broad brush. However, this seems to happen quite often it seems. Not everyone is guilty of the above, just a good number.
BTW, if the driver behind you flashes his lights at you, it is more courteous than the alternative of moving right of you and cutting you off. Better that you move over to the right and let him pass... as said earlier, you avoid a more dangerous situation and that guy will get whats coming to him. And anyway, how else is the driver behind you going to communicate to you that he wants to pass??
Let me clarify something here...I was only talking about a situation on a 2-lane road where someone is following too close, and someone said you should pull over and let them pass. That sounds ludicrous to me. I don't feel the need to be completely passive in that situation and concede the road to some lunatic. I was certainly not talking about driving on the connector and not letting someone go around me - I'm not even sure how that can happen with so many lanes anyway. I don't ride in the left lane and block anyone from going by - that was something someone else accused me of saying. Evidently some of the things I posted were misunderstood.
I shake my head in disgust at the people who comment without reading or understanding what was said.
GOOD. Maybe now some of these people who think it's their constitutional right to drive in whatever manner they choose will have to account for their behavior.
My absolute favorite example of this is when people tailgate me on 75 north right after the 285 interchange. Come on, dude, you've got seven freaking lanes to choose from. It won't hurt my ego one bit if you go around me (even though I was already doing 65 in a 55 and was nowhere near the left lane).
You want to do 80? Fine. Just keep a safe distance from me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ja1myn
But that would be impossible if you're only going 70...
You mean it would be impossible for someone to violate the speed limit by 15 mph without tailgating when the car in front of them is only violating the speed limit by 5 mph?
Or put it inside the perimeter and add 10 mph to each.
GOOD. Maybe now some of these people who think it's their constitutional right to drive in whatever manner they choose will have to account for their behavior.
My absolute favorite example of this is when people tailgate me on 75 north right after the 285 interchange. Come on, dude, you've got seven freaking lanes to choose from. It won't hurt my ego one bit if you go around me (even though I was already doing 65 in a 55 and was nowhere near the left lane).
Good point...there is no need to move over for someone when they have a choice of empty lanes to choose from to the left.
I am putting myself in danger??? I am being selfish??? I'm not the one tailgating. I'm not the one creating an unsafe condition by driving so close to the car in front of me. Many times when I find myself in this situation, (a) I am not able to move to the right due to traffic (or I am already in the rightmost lane) and (b) there is no significant gap between me and the car in front of me. Thus even if I could safely move over and let the idiot behind me go ahead, he would just be tailgating the car in front of me. So all I've really done is passed along the dangerous situation, not prevented it.
As long as you're going a reasonable speed--as in, not 55 mph in the left lane--and it's not a two-lane road, then I couldn't agree more. I had a driver get pissed at me a couple weeks ago because I was stuck in the left lane and literally could not move over. I moved over as soon as I could safely do so, but I was not about to give into this hothead who believed that he was legally entitled to what was not his and cause a wreck in the process.
Slowpoking on two-lane roads is an entirely different story, however. If you want to go well under the speed limit, don't get butthurt when people start getting mad at you. Do the responsible thing--pull over, let the faster drivers pass, and then proceed on your way. Almost no slowpoke I have seen does this, which is not good, considering that many two-lane roads in this state go several miles without any passing areas.
Last edited by toll_booth; 09-16-2012 at 11:12 AM..
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) Hell, some people will not move over whatever you do.
, albeit perfectly centrist.
People might have to put down their cell phones and pay attention for a second.
It's ridiculous, but there are some people in this thread very passionate about it.
