Austin drivers (Howe: motorhome, living, license plates)

[cory81]

Are Austin drivers smart enough to stay out of the far left lane to let the faster traffic go by?

Here in Denver it's 50/50. In Washington DC, they're pretty good.

[mandib]

not usually.

[AustinGuy]

No, I'd say Austin is much worse than your average city for that problem.

[Jaipur]

Nope! lol

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by cory81

Are Austin drivers smart enough to stay out of the far left lane to let the faster traffic go by?

Here in Denver it's 50/50. In Washington DC, they're pretty good.

We stink here! and it bugs me big time

[atxcio]

Unfortunately, that is a quality Austin drivers lack. Expect to be annoyed by people driving slow in the left lane.

[artsyguy]

you think that is a problem? what about bad drivers and speeders ...those are the worst.

[Mckellyb]

Nope...but it's a problem everywhere, and in Oregon, it's so much worse, if I described it, you'd not believe me.

I understand, now, why over the years, I've seen so many vehicles with west coast license plates driving at higher-than-average-traffic speed in the right lane.

Speeding will be less and less of a 'problem' as fuel becomes more and more expensive. Speeding, as long as it's with the overall flow of traffic, isn't much of a problem in causing accidents. It's the rogue moron going 93 when everyone else is going 70 who's the problem. It's not speed, per se, which causes problems, it's difference in speed. If the agreed upon speed is 40, fine. If it's 90, that's fine, too. However, regardless of speed, you've gotta pay attention, and it's obvious to me, driving has become the secondary, or lower, priority when people are in the driver's seat of automobiles. Yell at the kids, chase something on the floor, eat, be on the phone, whatever...all more important than paying attention to where you will be in the next five seconds, and what may happen between now and when you get there.

The term 'bad drivers' covers a disturbing, to me, percentage of the driving populous. I used to drive for a living, a tour bus, and I continue to be shocked more people don't die purely from not thinking ahead. They're not necessarily stupid, just ignorant as all get-out.

Then again, we have out-of-state plates on both of our cars, so we're, by default, "bad drivers". Yeah, whatever. Once you've driven a 58' long combination of a 40' diesel motorhome and tow car through both NYC and SF, you don't get fazed by pretty much anything.

Sorry for the rant. I've driven probably close to a million miles, pretty much all over the N. American continent, two wheels, four wheels, six wheels, and ten wheels, yet to this day, I can't believe how poorly people pilot 4-6 thousand pound projectiles. I guess what surprises me is it isn't getting better, but worse.

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

you think that is a problem? what about bad drivers and speeders ...those are the worst.

I am a good driver and a speeder

[TexasHorseLady]

One thing that is important to remember is that "slower traffic keep right" means traffic driving slower than the speed limit is to keep right, not that the speed limit is nonexistent in the lefthand lane. All too many people seem to have the mistaken impression that if they're in the lefthand lane they have tacit permission to drive as fast as they want, and that's just not the case.

This is not to say that I never speed; that's hardly the case, and I wouldn't pretend that it is, it would be hypocritical for me to do so. However, I never try to pretend that it's the other person's "fault" and that they are doing something wrong if they are driving at the speed limit in the lefthand lane; it's my fault for thinking that the laws of the road don't, or shouldn't, apply to me, and pretending that they're the ones causing the problem because I want to set the speed as higher than the posted limit doesn't change that and would just make me look foolish. (Now, if they're poking along in the lefthand lane below the speed limit, that's another matter, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've observed that occuring in my entire driving career of some 42 years.)

I, personally, prefer to let the people who have such a misconception go zooming by in the lefthand lane, myself - then I go on past and refrain from waving as they are sitting by the side of the road talking to the nice man in the uniform, having taken the fire for me in their hurry to get someplace 15 seconds faster than I will. (Or, not quite as satisfying, pulling up next to them at the traffic light because they made SO much better time than I did by going so fast.)

Mostly, on a 3 lane road, I drive in the middle lane, letting the speed demons pass on the left and letting people merging onto the freeway do so without worrying about me coming up on them (or me having to worry about what they'll decide to do).