Slow driving in fast lane (San Antonio, Austin: safer, self moving, ticket)

[austinnerd]

Jeez:

1 It is not legal to drive over the speed limit, even if you're in the left lane
2 It is not legal to allow vehicles to queue up behind you, _regardless_ of what speed you're going
3 You _can_ get ticketed for driving below/at the speed limit
- as in #2 above
- if conditions warrant driving slower, e.g. ice, lack of visibility, etc

All this other jibber jabber about entitlement, not acknowledging responsibility, whether going 5mph over the limit being a sin, Tim Tebow is pretty meaningless.

I would hope that folks would simply exercise some common sense and courtesy out there on the road. That, more than dogmatic adherence to some philosophy, legal or not (sad will be the day when laws become the basis for how we decide to interact with each other) will help make the roads a safer place.

[Gorfml]

if your in the left lane and someone wants to get by...get your ass over or just just being a jerk...end of story...

[ognend]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Well, that's a non sequitor - or a bigoted statement. Only you know for sure which.

However, we are in agreement that people who are driving below the speed limit should move over to the right when it is feasible and safe (though they shouldn't have to slow down to do so to accommodate the patience-challenged person behind them wanting to "go fast").

What we do not seem to be in agreement on is the simple fact that if no one felt it was their right to speed, and therefore no one violated the speed limit, there would be no problem, and that the people who do feel entitled to do so are the defining cause of the problem that does exist. Those are the very people who insist that everyone else is causing the problem they, themselves, are causing, and should accommodate them in doing so.

Now, can you explain to me just how this is rational thinking?

Has nothing to do with, in practice, letting the road hogs by so that they will be picked off by the law enforcement up ahead and clear the way for everyone else (yes, I've seen this done, often, and it is very satisfying when you pass them by the side of the road with the nice officer, I'll admit). Has everything to do with a basic attitude towards life of taking responsibility for the consequences of one's own actions (that has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with being an adult).

In theory you may be right. In practice, traffic moves at speeds it does. You are either with it or you are holding it up. Then there are plenty of situations where it would be perfectly safe for you to move over but for some reason you will not (and you are still going the speed limit). Why not? Reasons range from cell phone conversations, ignorance, entitlement mentality (yes...), stupidity, selfishness, God only knows...

When it comes to getting "picked off" by the "nice officer" - that is a matter of choice. I have yet to see someone get pulled over for passing an 18-wheeler at 75-80mph in a 70mph zone and get ticketed. The officer who does that either has nothing better to do or he does not understand the difference between enforcing the letter of the law and the spirit of the law (yes, there is a difference).

I think the nice officer should also pick off the people who hold up the left lane at 65mph. I have to admit I have never seen this happen either

OD

[pythonis]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

if your in the left lane and someone wants to get by...get your ass over or just just being a jerk...end of story...

if we have to obey the speed limit then so do you. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to speed.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by pythonis

if we have to obey the speed limit then so do you. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to speed.

You can obey the speed limit one lane over to the right too, no?

[Gorfml]

Originally Posted by pythonis

if we have to obey the speed limit then so do you. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to speed.

move to north korea...

[ciscotree]

Originally Posted by pythonis

if we have to obey the speed limit then so do you. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to speed.

How can anyone say this isn't self entitlement?

It's not up to you how fast everyone goes.

edit: by the way, you don't have to go the speed limit. you choose to do so.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

if your in the left lane and someone wants to get by...get your ass over or just just being a jerk...end of story...

Yep...

Just this morning around 6 am I travelled north to Austin on a stretch of about 30 miles. Traffic was light and there was plenty of space in left lane. I counted no less than 8 occurrences of folks sitting in the far left lane going at 65-70 mph, with at least 1/4-1/2 mile of empty lane in front of them. These folks made everyone else pass them in the right lane. If that's not creating a hazard, I don't know what is

Re: speed limit - around Oltorf St. the speed limit changes to 60 mph. The traffic wasn't heavy, I was in the middle lane going 65mph and people were passing me (to my left) at 70mph or more. Clearly, the traffic moves at speeds it does.

At least on one instance there was a guy in front of me going 60mph in the left lane, passing someone else going 60mph in the middle lane...

OD

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by ciscotree

How can anyone say this isn't self entitlement?

It's not up to you how fast everyone goes.

edit: by the way, you don't have to go the speed limit. you choose to do so.

Are you people advocating your God-given right to speed even listening to yourselves?

It boggles the mind. It really does. Where WERE your parents when you were growing up? Who the heck taught you to drive and the rules of the road, and can we get them fired?

"I wanna" is not a valid reason for speeding and thinking everyone should get out of your way so that you can. That's childish reasoning, if reasoning at all.

No, it's not up to me how fast everyone goes. That's why we have speed limits, that it is up to how fast everyone goes. That's not "self-entitlement", that's obeying the rules of the road and expecting everyone else to do likewise.

Again, stated repeatedly, I move over if someone comes barreling up behind me as if their manhood were somehow tied to the accelerator pedal, and I don't care about speeding. I do care about the fact that there are people out there on the road with the attitude that if they don't like a particular traffic law, they certainly shouldn't be expected to obey it and that people who do obey it and get in their way are the ones that are unreasonable.

That is a prime indicator of a bad, bad, bad driver and it's scary to read these forums and realize how many of them there are out there on the roads. No telling what other traffic laws (or laws in general) they think shouldn't apply to them because they are somehow "special" (no, no matter what your Mommy told you, the world does NOT revolve around you and your wannas).

Speed if you want. At least, though, man up enough to admit that you're the one deliberately choosing to do something illegal and potentially dangerous to you and others and that no one else is responsible for your agonizing pain if you are not allowed to do so for some brief period of time.

While we're at it, I assume that no one here that whines and moans and beats their breast because people driving the speed limit aren't going with the flow of traffic wouldn't be doing this whining if the traffic, as a whole, is driving at the speed limit or less, and that they would, themselves, then be driving with THAT flow of traffic? Wouldn't be doing your dead level best to weave in and out of traffic, cursing madly, in order to go faster rather than driving with the flow of traffic?

Hmmmm. Didn't think so.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

that's all I need to come with mrs 11,500 posts on some random message board. you are a bigger danger to the safety of drivers than any drunk teenager could ever be...

besides, your po

Would you care to spell out exactly how, given that I move over for faster drivers, rarely spend time in the left lane, observe traffic laws in general, never tailgate or weave in and out of traffic in order to "be first" or "go faster", although I do drive a little over the limit myself, that I, personally, am a danger to the safety of drivers to such an extent?

Or are you so infuriated at the very idea that you might actually have to take responsibility for your own actions that you're reduced to the argument ad hominem (and a pretty pathetic one, at that)?