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Florida to Illinois road trip, left lane bandits, enforcement of slower traffic keep right laws, road rage, truckers, passing lanes, tailgaters, written and unwritten laws of the highway
Because trucks are often restricted to the right lane, many people choose to use the left lane because the pavement is smoother. I am NOT one of those people, unless the right lane is REALLY chewed up -- which is no fun at all on a motorcycle, but if I'm in the left lane and a faster car comes up behind, I always move to the right.
While I'm not for retaliation against these left lane drivers (although I've done it in my years of driving), this type of driving is not a matter of style, but of ignorance or worse and is a major contributor to road rage.
No - road rage is NOT the result of people obeying the laws. It is the result of the conflict that arises when people who REFUSE to obey the laws (like "speed limits") are bothered by people who do. The real conflict is in the heart, and almost certainly, the heart of the aggressive person - almost always the speeder, since that is one of the expressions of aggression.
I had a man tell me that I FORCED him to pass me, in a no passing zone on a curvy mountain road, because I was driving the (full) speed limit and wouldn't move over and drive on the shoulder, which is illegal. No - NOT going to accept responsibility for that . . I didn't "force" him to speed, I didn't "force" him to tailgate, I didn't "force" him to pass, legal or not. HE made all of those decisions, not me. Not only that, but he was in SO much of a HURRY to get past me that he stopped me down the hill and "chewed me out good!" Now - I can't help but wonder, if he was in such a hurry, why did he have time to stop and rag on me??
His anger (and yours?) is not MY fault - maybe it was his mom or dad, or a school bully that set him off, but it wasn't me. I just drove the way I'm supposed to.
When someone is just dawdling along in the left lane I just zoom in past them in the right lane, as does everyone else. It's illegal, to my knowledge, to pass on the right here in PA, but it's also illegal to use the left lane except to pass. If a cop pulled me over I'd ream him out for not enforcing the other law, which is what causes so many of us to endure road rage. It doesn't help that Scranton's population is very geriatric either, and we all know how most senior citizens today drive!
So, you'd ream an officer out for giving you a ticket for speeding RATHER than to the person who is obeying the speed limit in a lane that you don't think he should be in? But from whence does the conflict (the source of the road rage you mention) come? Does it come from everyone obeying the speed limits? If you were driving the speed limit (of your own volition) behind someone who was also driving the speed limit, would you be "enduring road rage?" (that makes it sound like THEY are responsible for your volatile temper).
Aren't you, and they, SUPPOSED to be driving the speed limit? So, what is the source of the conflict? Is it driving the speed limit in the left lane, or is it SPEEDING? And why do you expect them to obey one law, when you feel you have the liberty to break another? Not to mention that even where it IS the law for slower traffic to keep right (it isn't in my city), I'd bet the speed limit signs outnumber the keep right signs 5 to one, or more. If people quit speeding, which they are not supposed to be doing in the first place, the conflict would disappear.
And how much time do they cost you anyway? If someone is driving 65 and you want to drive 75 and can't get around them for a full MILE (almost never), they (or more accurately, the law) will have cost you an humongous amount of time - 7.4 seconds! Wowzers! But who knows, they also MIGHT have kept you from spending a half-hour at the side of the road with red and blue flashing lights behind you . . and saved you many dollars as well.
Solution to your having to "endure road rage?" SLOW DOWN. "Smell the roses," so to speak. And even consider THANKING the person who helped you do that and may even have kept you from getting a ticket - or maybe even from getting in an accident!
I don't think most Americans think of the left lane as a passing lane because they weren't taught that. It's not the law in the US. People can drive in whatever lane they choose. This isn't Germany or the autobahn. We have different rules. Land of the free and all that.............
When someone is just dawdling along in the left lane I just zoom in past them in the right lane, as does everyone else. It's illegal, to my knowledge, to pass on the right here in PA, but it's also illegal to use the left lane except to pass. If a cop pulled me over I'd ream him out for not enforcing the other law, which is what causes so many of us to endure road rage. It doesn't help that Scranton's population is very geriatric either, and we all know how most senior citizens today drive!
Are either of those laws? In all the states I've lived in, there was no law that said the left lane was only for passing or that drivers couldn't pass on the right. Never heard of those laws or any cop pulling someone over for those things. Older people may think that there are such laws, but people under 50 have never heard of such laws. Can you tell us in which states those laws are in effect and enforced?
So, you'd ream an officer out for giving you a ticket for speeding RATHER than to the person who is obeying the speed limit in a lane that you don't think he should be in? But from whence does the conflict (the source of the road rage you mention) come? Does it come from everyone obeying the speed limits? If you were driving the speed limit (of your own volition) behind someone who was also driving the speed limit, would you be "enduring road rage?" (that makes it sound like THEY are responsible for your volatile temper).
Aren't you, and they, SUPPOSED to be driving the speed limit? So, what is the source of the conflict? Is it driving the speed limit in the left lane, or is it SPEEDING? And why do you expect them to obey one law, when you feel you have the liberty to break another? Not to mention that even where it IS the law for slower traffic to keep right (it isn't in my city), I'd bet the speed limit signs outnumber the keep right signs 5 to one, or more. If people quit speeding, which they are not supposed to be doing in the first place, the conflict would disappear.
And how much time do they cost you anyway? If someone is driving 65 and you want to drive 75 and can't get around them for a full MILE (almost never), they (or more accurately, the law) will have cost you an humongous amount of time - 7.4 seconds! Wowzers! But who knows, they also MIGHT have kept you from spending a half-hour at the side of the road with red and blue flashing lights behind you . . and saved you many dollars as well.
Solution to your having to "endure road rage?" SLOW DOWN. "Smell the roses," so to speak. And even consider THANKING the person who helped you do that and may even have kept you from getting a ticket - or maybe even from getting in an accident!
Good post! It's not the law where I live either. Speeding however is against the law and so is 'reaming out a police officer'. I don't believe anyone who says he would that. We have police officers in my family and they tell me they are quick to give a ticket to anyone who is nasty or tries to argue with them and much less likely to give a ticket to someone who is nice. It's common sense, isn't it?
Ignorance is at an all time high in the US (don't believe it? read through this forum) and left-lane drivers are but one example of the largely "me-oriented" society we live in now.
Are either of those laws? In all the states I've lived in, there was no law that said the left lane was only for passing or that drivers couldn't pass on the right. Never heard of those laws or any cop pulling someone over for those things. Older people may think that there are such laws, but people under 50 have never heard of such laws. Can you tell us in which states those laws are in effect and enforced?
If you live in Maryland (as your location says you do), there isn't much of a "keep right" law. You're only required to keep right if you're going more than 10 under. But that's the exception, not the rule. The vast majority of states have some form of "keep right" law.
I support these laws. Slow left-lane drivers impede traffic and encourage dangerous right-hand passing. How hard is it to reserve the left lane for faster traffic?
Ignorance is at an all time high in the US (don't believe it? read through this forum) and left-lane drivers are but one example of the largely "me-oriented" society we live in now.
Are you referring to to people who ride slightly over or at the speed limit in the left lane? Or the people who spend most of their road time speeding in the left lane and give it a courtesy title of 'passing' while getting angry at anyone who dares get in their way? Both are in the wrong IMO.
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Are you referring to to people who ride slightly over or at the speed limit in the left lane? Or the people who spend most of their road time speeding in the left lane and give it a courtesy title of 'passing' while getting angry at anyone who dares get in their way? Both are in the wrong IMO.