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If you are driving faster then the traffic in the right lane, you have a perfect right to stay in the left lane. As a matter of fact, even if you are not driving faster then the traffic to the right, but you are going the speed limit, you still have a right to stay in that lane in most cases.
You people are just making up your own rules to suit your own needs.
Yeah, you do have the right to stay in the left lane if you are driving slower than traffic to the right AND you have drivers behind you who clearly want to go faster BUT you are going the speed limit.
It also makes you an annoying, passive-aggressive, controlling twit. In many states, drivers have the right to talk on phones and text while driving. Does that mean they SHOULD do it? We have the right to go around saying whatever we want to people, no matter how rude or offensive. Does that mean we SHOULD? We have RIGHTS to do many things that we darn well shouldn't unless we're hell-bent on making a point and/or being jerks.
YOU are trying to suit your own needs. If you are going slower than traffic to the right, and there are drivers behind you that want to pass, then you should move to the right. Period. Why is that such a problem?
This is probably the most dangerous thing I ever see during freeway travel. Yokels who slow down and hit their brakes on freeway on ramps. It simply freaks everyone out including the cars on the freeway.
If you hit your brakes on freeway on ramps in the Twin Cities area there is a good chance you'll cause an accident.
In all 50 states when you see me merging I'm coming and you better make a spot. It's not difficult, take your foot off the gas for 2 seconds and I'll merge right in and everyone wins. It's morons who speed up or think they don't have to let people on that cause most of the problems.
With that said, it depends on the design of the on ramp, some states I know have these ramps that were built in the 60's when people still were trying to figure out freeway ethics. But I've been known to take the shoulder and spray cars with gravel LOL.
And if you're in an accident because you won't yield to freeway traffic, you will likely be found at fault. Here's the applicable law where I live:
"10. Failure to yield; criminal offense. A person commits a Class E crime if the person operates a vehicle past a yield sign and collides with a vehicle or pedestrian proceeding on the intersecting way." (M.R.S. Title 29-A, §2057)
"To avoid disrupting traffic flow or 'cutting off' other drivers when you merge, try to adjust your speed to accommodate vehicles already on the freeway. You must yield to other vehicles when you are merging." (Page 69 of the book, page 76 of the PDF, emphasis added)
I don't think I've ever seen a yield sign on a highway onramp in Colorado. I saw a couple in Illinois and thought it was weird that it was even necessary.
I've always understood it was the responsibility of the traffic entering the highway to safely merge. I was taught in driver's ed, if there is traffic entering the highway, it is courteous of me to move to the left one lane, or to maintain my speed. The person entering the highway needs to be looking for traffic in the highway, and adjust their position and speed accordingly to enter safely. If I change my speed at all in an attempt to be courteous, I may confuse that person entering the highway who was adjusting their vehicle to my speed.
That's how I was taught, anyways, and it seems to work.
Curious. For those that think it's OK to stay in the left lane and block speeders, what if...
The person behind you does something irrational like try to pass you on the berm of the road. Then looses control and crashes, rolling the car and killing himself and his family in the car.
Would you feel good about not letting him pass? You did just instigate the death of a speeder and terminate his gene-pool perhaps saving lives in the future.
If you thought that this could happen, does that make it premeditated murder? If you do it over and over, does that make you a serial killer?
Improper placing of blame. If an irrational speeder acts irrationally and attempts an insane pass, then dies, then he committed suicide and that's the end of that. And, he would have died soon doing something else, and probably taken somebody else with him. The blame for our sample speeder for the death of him and his family rests solely with him. Case closed.
While this might make sense to you the result will be the opposite - you are creating a high risk on the road with your behavior!
The traffic you create behind you could delay an ambulance which is restricted too far back for you to hear or see.
Even if you are holding back only one car, what gives you the right to police the roads and play with people lives??? How do you know if the car behind you does not have a reason to speedup (someone in labor, bleeding, etc)?
The person behind you will be forced to pass you on the right (unsafe) and unwisely you are the cause of accidents.
Please understand that your reasoning is wrong and you will be part of future accidents weather you want that or not.
Someone in labor or driving someone in labor should not be driving at 95 MPH and risking their baby's life. So once again, I am correct to impede the progress of an insane speeder. Secondly, if they are driving with their flashers on, I will yield. And that goes for other drivers. If the flashers are on, I consider it an emergency and I will yield. However, I will not, once already doing 80 and exceeding the speed limit by a safe but substantial amount, routinely move over for people who wish to destructively speed at 95 MPH. Not happening. Never happening. Don't care about opposing opinions.
Citizens prevent illegal acts in many venues. The road does not get a dispensation. Driving 95 MPH on American roads is a criminal act that is reflected in the severity of the punishment should one be found guilty of it. All citizens should act to slow such a vehicle by conservative blocking strategies. I will do my part.
I guess the nuts and bolts of it is that it's more difficult to drive than ever. Sharing the roads with 16 year olds with poor judgment, sharing the roads with 86 year olds with slow reflexes. Panicky drivers who freak out if there is a cop ANYWHERE on the highway. People who use their brakes or down the ON ramp. Those with poor vision, and those with poorly operating vehicles. Oversize cars, rush hours, and egos.
And to think I want to live in Southern California....
blah blah blah speeding is against the law, blah blah blah impeding the flow of traffic, blah blah blah keep right except to pass, blah blah blah.....
Maybe so, but I wish some of the gutless wonders who intentionally hog the left lane or pace other cars to keep others from getting by them, would try the same tactic in person. Not from the perceived safety of their car.
George Carlin said it best: Everyone going slower than me is an idiot and everyone going faster than me is a maniac.
George Carlin ALWAYS said it best!
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