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Yes, but most police do not actively enforce it. Fortunately, states are starting to enforce it better. Impeding traffic by being slow in the left lane creates a ripple effect that creates accidents and encourages road rage - keeping slow traffic out of the left lanes should be better enforced. It gets better when you pass them on the right and they flash their brights and honk and wave at you, like you did something wrong.
While I've got the soap box out; if you're tooling along right at the truck speed limit and there's a truck that can't seem to pass, PUH-leeze step on the gas enough to move ahead of him so that he's not having to jump out in the left lane. Most large fleet trucks are governed to around 65 mph. And boy is that frustrating to have a car in front of you that barely maintains a pace ahead of you...
I agree with everything you said but I think this is the most important. I believe this is one of the biggest causes of trucks "clogging" the left lane. Passenger vehicles generally are not traveling at the constant speeds the trucks are so when I used to come up behind passenger cars in the right lane while trucking I would always maintain my speed (if I could) and pass them on the left and go back to the right.... and half the time the a**hole I just passed would speed up, pass me and then get right back in front and slow down again. This is very frustrating and I call it "playing leapfrog".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crew Chief
While there are truckers that could use better judgement when passing (And I'm being charitable here...) There's usually a "rest of the story" and this situation is no different.
In defense of truckers I have to say people should realize that when approaching an upgrade any loss of speed may well force a trucker to shift down and back-up thru 5 or more gears and take quite some time to regain the lost speed. Multiply that lost momentum by many hours on the road and the time lost can be significant.
One of my biggest peeves are the truckers who will cause what I like to call a "clusterf#ck" on 2 lane interstate highways. You end up with one truck in the right lane and people racing up to it to cut off those in the left lane waiting for the offending trucker to get out of the way. At the end you just have 2 backed-up lanes of traffic and a bunch of po'd motorists! The classic "clusterf#ck" can last for many many miles.
Honestly, what chaps my backside is that people can possibly be so ignorant, stupid, or both. I mean, this is taught in driver education, but it's not practiced. And what's more, it's not even a matter of courtesy. It's a matter of just getting the **** out of the way so the rest of the world can pass.
I'm more patient with trucks because they don't have the power-to-weight ratio of cars... not even close. So I'm OK if they need to take some time to pass, as long as they're making progress. That goes for cars too; some are faster than others. I get that part and I know that not everyone can rocket past other traffic. But its' like... at least make an attempt!
My peeve about the whole thing is the ignorant SOBs who feel that it is their job to control the behavior of other traffic. When traffic piles up behind them, they slow down to teach others a lesson, control others' speed, or whatever. What warped mind thinks like this?
Back when I had beliefs and attended a church. One of the members was directing a song, he ended by suggesting the members go out and drive 10 miles under the limit to teach others patience. I have heard this in other churches as well, but never from a reverend, father or pastor just from members.
Back when I had beliefs and attended a church. One of the members was directing a song, he ended by suggesting the members go out and drive 10 miles under the limit to teach others patience. I have heard this in other churches as well, but never from a reverend, father or pastor just from members.
In this day it sounds like a good way to attend a few funerals doing that!!!
Then there's the flip side to the complaints in this thread...
A few weeks ago, I was driving in to jury duty on a Monday morning. I was in the left lane, going 5mph over the posted speed limit. The right lane was full of slower traffic which I was trying to get past (eventually) but in front of me about four car lengths was another vehicle so I could not exit the left lane, nor fully pass the people in the right lane.
A man in a large pickup truck suddenly zoomed up behind me and flashed his brights. He was extremely close, but I had nowhere to go as I was now completely boxed in. I guess he decided I was being an arse and he sped up enough to tap me on my bumper, and then immediately swung over onto the lefthand shoulder and grass median, and passed me on my left (and I'm occupying the far left lane).
Then he swerved sharply in front of me, clipping the driver's corner of my front bumper with his rear bumper, and then deliberately locked up his brakes. From tap to brakes it had to be no more than ten seconds.
Yep, I hit him full in the rear. As soon as that happened, he hit the gas and jetted off around the cars in front of me, again on the lefthand shoulder. I've got about $1500 damage to the front of my truck, and another $400 from the tap to the rear. He didn't have a license on the back of his vehicle, and none that I could see anywhere else so all I had to give to the highway patrol was a color and type of vehicle. Nobody who witnessed the road rage attack stopped to offer to be a witness.
Not everyone who is in the left lane is there to block your way.
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