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why do you think you deserve the left lane just because you have a heavy foot, i agree with fast traffic in left lane but somebody doing 85 in a 70 deserved to be there just as much as those that want to do 90
Didn't realize the other thread started in December! It's not that I recently was annoyed by a slow left lane driver, it is a daily occurrence.
Let's face it if you are going 55 in the left lane on the tollway you have a chance of getting rear ended, most everyone goes 70+ and many go 80+.
I just don't understand those people that are stubborn and won't move over even though they KNOW it causes lines of traffic and road rage
Without a doubt, most of the people camping in the left lane that are REALLY going only 55 are either impaired in some fashion or doing it intentionally out of some psychological control need.
I rarely see someone being a mega tool like that.
One time I did see it was in a 50mph 2-lane road where a woman who was obviously foreign was chatting on her cell phone going 30mph alongside a city work truck so nobody could get by. Went on for about 2 miles.
Its their own fault for tailgating not the left lane "blockers" fault... Jeff Gordon wannabes are more of a danger to those around us. if everyone went the speed limit you wouldnt have to worry about left lane blockers and tailgaters.
Right. But there's a whole set here that absolutely cannot, or will not, grasp that if THEY obey one part of the law - the speed limit - then people driving the speed limit in the left lane will be no problem for them, and people driving below the limit who are obeying the law will be in the left lane.
In other words, if everyone obeyed BOTH parts of the law instead of picking and choosing, there would be no long lines of cars and no tailgating.
However, the speed demons insist that "in the real world" people break the law by speeding and so it's all the fault of those who are obeying the law, conveniently leaving out the part that "in the real world" people also drive in the left lane without speeding (sometimes even passing others), and that BOTH parties, themselves included, are violating the law, and if one should obey the law, the other should, as well. If they (the speeders) are not willing to obey the law, but insist that those who prevent them from doing so should obey the law, they're nothing but hypocrites.
It's sort of like a burglar being outraged that someone has locked their door, thus getting in the way of him (the burglar) stealing from them. Actually, it's JUST like that.
Bottom line, if someone is driving the speed limit in the left lane, the person who is causing the problem is the person who is choosing to break the law, the speeder, and they have not a leg to stand on when blaming the person obeying the speed limit for breaking the move right law.
Only speeders are breaking the law. It may say slower traffic but that doesnt mean those in the left lane have carte blanche to do whatever speed they want. You still have to obey the posted speed limit regardless of what lane youre in.
Im guessing this thread is because the OP had to slow down for someone recently and it made him mad?
That is not true. Drivers who go below the posted minimum speed limit are too. You also have to obey the signs "Left lane for passing only", "No traveling in left lane" and "Slower traffic keep to the right" no matter how slow or fast you are going.
I'm sure you realize that only on duty law enforcement officials are legally allowed to decide what drivers are breaking the law.
why do you think you deserve the left lane just because you have a heavy foot, i agree with fast traffic in left lane but somebody doing 85 in a 70 deserved to be there just as much as those that want to do 90
If it safe to move over, why not change lanes for fifteen seconds and then move back over?
No i'm not, they can just wait for me to make my pass and then they can go drive as fast as they like.
If everyone went 55 in the Chicagoland area it would add time to peoples already miserable commute. Let's face it, most everyone goes faster than 55 on the highway. Many states have left lane/passing laws and I would say most, not all, people realize it is a common courtesy to move over if you can safely do so. I wish those stubborn people would understand that.
Right. But there's a whole set here that absolutely cannot, or will not, grasp that if THEY obey one part of the law - the speed limit - then people driving the speed limit in the left lane will be no problem for them, and people driving below the limit who are obeying the law will be in the left lane.
In other words, if everyone obeyed BOTH parts of the law instead of picking and choosing, there would be no long lines of cars and no tailgating.
However, the speed demons insist that "in the real world" people break the law by speeding and so it's all the fault of those who are obeying the law, conveniently leaving out the part that "in the real world" people also drive in the left lane without speeding (sometimes even passing others), and that BOTH parties, themselves included, are violating the law, and if one should obey the law, the other should, as well. If they (the speeders) are not willing to obey the law, but insist that those who prevent them from doing so should obey the law, they're nothing but hypocrites.
It's sort of like a burglar being outraged that someone has locked their door, thus getting in the way of him (the burglar) stealing from them. Actually, it's JUST like that.
Bottom line, if someone is driving the speed limit in the left lane, the person who is causing the problem is the person who is choosing to break the law, the speeder, and they have not a leg to stand on when blaming the person obeying the speed limit for breaking the move right law.
Again, many speed limits seem to be artificially low and most, not all, people go faster. Why wouldn't you be considerate and move over if it was safe to do so to let someone pass?
The left lane is the passing lane, afaik, in all 50 states (this applies to non-urban / rural / open space stretches, so differentiate with congested urban core stretches of multi-lane highways where all lanes tend to get used for traffic flow). For people who are saying that it varies by state, give concrete examples.
What varies by state and locale is the enforcement of the law. In Arizona, on the interstate, you will be pulled over and ticketed if you impede traffic in the passing lane, even if you are going the speed limit, and even if the cars you are impeding are speeding - they will let the speeders go (within reason, of course), and pull you over instead. I know this for a fact because it happened to me - the posted limit was 75, and I was doing 74/75 and got pulled over for not speeding up and/or getting over to the right. I did not get a ticket, but I got chewed out, and I learned my lesson.
On the autobahn in Germany, the crux of the law is that it is illegal to pass a car to the right; i.e., all passing must be done in the left lane(s). The way the law is interpreted by most drivers is that slower traffic stays to the right, faster traffic to the left, but in reality what the law says is that if you want to pass someone, you MUST do it in the left lane. On the autobahn, if you are slowpoking in the left lane, cars will flash their lights to force you over to the right BECAUSE it is illegal for them to pass you on the right.
What I find so ridiculously dangerous in the US is that drivers are forced to pass to the right of slowpokes in the passing lanes. It is freaking Thunderdome. I wish we enforced the law here the same way they do on the autobahn - it has nothing to do with the fact that on rural stretches there, there is no posted speed limit, and drivers can speed. That is another facet of the autobahn that would probably not work well here except in the wide open spaces out West (and the truth is that these unposted stretches of the autobahns are fairly limited in Germany, and only the far left lane is unposted). But the principle of the autobahn - all passing to the left - is what we need to emphasize in our laws here, and cops should enforce it.
The left lane is for passing, only, particularly on the open road (when traffic bunches up in urban areas, all lanes tend to be used to support traffic, and there isn't much passing that can be done anyway). The fact that cops don't enforce the law doesn't mean that it is not the law. And I have lived in a bunch of states, and driven in all but a couple of states, and again, afaik, the "left = passing lane" is a universal law that is unevenly enforced.
Last edited by Westbound and Down; 05-07-2014 at 06:34 AM..
Westbound and Down, there've been enough discussions about this very topic on C-D that I have, indeed, researched the statutes in Texas. There's two statutes that apply - slower traffic move right AND speed limit statutes that state that anyone driving should not drive more than the speed limit.
In addition, there's another statute that pertains to left lane for passing only. It states that the Texas Department of Transportation can designate stretches of highway to be left lane for passing only and if they do those stretches must be signed with a particular verbiage. In addition to that, there is case law that if the sign is far enough back, left lane for passing only no longer applies. Certain police officers have thought as you do, and had their drug arrests resulting from such stops handed back to them as invalid stops because the sign was five miles (or even, in one case, 27 miles!) back and they pulled someone over for driving in the left lane without passing and found drugs, only to have that bust invalidated because they didn't know the law.
In those discussions, there have been other examples given of other states where it's not The Law All The Time. That's why I wrote as I did above; I suggest doing some research yourself, but remember, you need to find ALL the parts of the law, those applying to speed limits as well as those applying to slower traffic move right and left lane for passing only, in order to get an accurate picture, if that is, indeed, what you're looking for.
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