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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
Just got back from a FL to IL roadtrip.
What is UP with all the left lane bandits here in the US? I am convinced that MOST american drivers just will not accept the concept of the left lane being for passing drivers only.
They will sit in the left lane, do the speed limit, and will NOT move over for faster traffic. They get all upset, and perturbed when you wish to pass them.
PEOPLE: IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL! We just want to go someplace faster.
Along the highways, there are many signs for slower moving traffic to stay in the right lane. And signs that say, left lane is for passing only.
PLEASE - stay out of the left lane unless you are moving faster than traffic (and I mean much faster, not 1 or 2 miles faster!!!), or are passing. Then when you pass, get BACK over into the right lane.
Am I the only person who gets aggravated by this? Sorry - after 1200 miles of dealing with the U.S. left lane bandits, I need to vent...
Just got back from a FL to IL roadtrip.
What is UP with all the left lane bandits here in the US? I am convinced that MOST american drivers just will not accept the concept of the left lane being for passing drivers only.
They will sit in the left lane, do the speed limit, and will NOT move over for faster traffic. They get all upset, and perturbed when you wish to pass them.
PEOPLE: IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL! We just want to go someplace faster.
Along the highways, there are many signs for slower moving traffic to stay in the right lane. And signs that say, left lane is for passing only.
PLEASE - stay out of the left lane unless you are moving faster than traffic (and I mean much faster, not 1 or 2 miles faster!!!), or are passing. Then when you pass, get BACK over into the right lane.
Am I the only person who gets aggravated by this? Sorry - after 1200 miles of dealing with the U.S. left lane bandits, I need to vent...
I agree 200%!!! Having lived in Der Land of Der Autobahn, I especially hate Left Lane Bandits...I believe enforcement of "Slower traffic keep right" laws ought to be stepped up. It would reduce "road rage" and therefore accidents as frustrated drivers try to get around the bandits. WLW radio's Mike McConnell had an official from the National Motorist's Association recently to promote "Left Lane Courtesy Month (June) Very good show. But Mike STILL had idiots call in to say that if they were doing the speed limit, they have a RIGHT to be in the left lane. They just don't get the science of traffic flow.
Soap box time: As a trucker, I see every day that both lane restrictions and split speed limits make our highways MORE dangerous, not less. Lane restrictions limit a trucker's ability to move over for merging traffic and create unnecessary lane changes as they move over for merging traffic then move back to get out of the way of faster trucks (Indy's I-465 and Atlanta's I-285 are really bad examples of this restriction) On a hill, if my trailer is empty and I can run the speed limit, why should I be stuck behind slower trucks (AND cars)??? Ticket drivers (of ANY vehicle) that camps out in the left lane. On hills, post minimum speeds for the left lane(s) Perfect situation: I-40 in Albuquerque, NM; Eastbound lanes are posted with minimum speeds and it works better than mandating lanes for certain types of traffic.
I agree 200%!!! Having lived in Der Land of Der Autobahn, I especially hate Left Lane Bandits...I believe enforcement of "Slower traffic keep right" laws ought to be stepped up. It would reduce "road rage" and therefore accidents as frustrated drivers try to get around the bandits. WLW radio's Mike McConnell had an official from the National Motorist's Association recently to promote "Left Lane Courtesy Month (June) Very good show. But Mike STILL had idiots call in to say that if they were doing the speed limit, they have a RIGHT to be in the left lane. They just don't get the science of traffic flow.
Soap box time: As a trucker, I see every day that both lane restrictions and split speed limits make our highways MORE dangerous, not less. Lane restrictions limit a trucker's ability to move over for merging traffic and create unnecessary lane changes as they move over for merging traffic then move back to get out of the way of faster trucks (Indy's I-465 and Atlanta's I-285 are really bad examples of this restriction) On a hill, if my trailer is empty and I can run the speed limit, why should I be stuck behind slower trucks (AND cars)??? Ticket drivers (of ANY vehicle) that camps out in the left lane. On hills, post minimum speeds for the left lane(s) Perfect situation: I-40 in Albuquerque, NM; Eastbound lanes are posted with minimum speeds and it works better than mandating lanes for certain types of traffic.
MS has the majority of the left lane bandits. The old coots like to drive in the left lane as well as the red-necks and the well-to-dos. They love it as long as they are irritating someone.
I usually tail them for a little while and if they don't get the clue or refuse to move out of the way cut them off, sometimes throwing up the middle finger if they really pissed me off.
In Missouri these passing lane slowpokes are really bad and to a lesser extent, Ohio. These people are incredibly arrogant, self absorbed and just plain pig headed when they fail to realize they are compromising road safety when they fail to cruise in the right hand lanes on the highway. In Connecticut when this happens people that want to pass will more or less move your azz right out of the passing lane.
My father reared me to obey the written and unwritten laws of the highway and insisted that I not become a silly 'female driver'. So I had the passing lane principles drilled into me before I ever had a license. I follow them almost religiously, whenever it's possible in city highway driving and definitely when hitting more open stretches. It isn't that hard to do.
It is beyond annoying to get boxed in when some slowpoke is going 50 in the left. Time feels like it absolutely stands still. (But my biggest beef are the erratic drivers, in ANY lane, who drive 60, then 80, then 60, then 80.)
But geez! Tailgating and flipping people off?! I really feel sorry for the drivers who think getting somewhere 10 minutes quicker, when it isn't a matter of life or death, is SUCH a big deal. Not everyone was taught to swiftly pull over to the right and though I wish they had been, driving in an equally rude or aggressive fashion, even if the left lane bandit appears to be intentionally hindering the flow, is not solving the problem. Might make a person feel better, but that's about it.
Sure, there's evidence our conservative speed limits are not keeping people safer and I already know I'm a bit too dense to understand the science of traffic flow or how road rage can be blamed on everyone else's driving but never my own. But I still like my chances going 65 or obeying whatever the posted speed limit is rather than some Hurry Up And Get There type careening into me at 90 mph after riding my bumper. I see this on Dallas' roads all the time. So I feel a bit vindicated when I catch up with a speeding car, 20 minutes later, and he/she is getting a big fat ticket.
People typically don't flip someone off or throw a total hissy in the express check out lane when a person has more than 10 items or turn around and whack a dude in the face for talking too loudly in a movie, but get behind a slow car on a road trip?? Another story. I agree that a driver who is offended by hints they need to move over is foolish. But no more so than the idiots on my local highways who feel it is owed to them, 100% of the time, to cruise as fast and recklessly as possible because the left 'belongs' to them.
My father reared me to obey the written and unwritten laws of the highway and insisted that I not become a silly 'female driver'. So I had the passing lane principles drilled into me before I ever had a license. I follow them almost religiously, whenever it's possible in city highway driving and definitely when hitting more open stretches. It isn't that hard to do.
It is beyond annoying to get boxed in when some slowpoke is going 50 in the left. Time feels like it absolutely stands still. (But my biggest beef are the erratic drivers, in ANY lane, who drive 60, then 80, then 60, then 80.)
But geez! Tailgating and flipping people off?! I really feel sorry for the drivers who think getting somewhere 10 minutes quicker, when it isn't a matter of life or death, is SUCH a big deal. Not everyone was taught to swiftly pull over to the right and though I wish they had been, driving in an equally rude or aggressive fashion, even if the left lane bandit appears to be intentionally hindering the flow, is not solving the problem. Might make a person feel better, but that's about it.
Sure, there's evidence our conservative speed limits are not keeping people safer and I already know I'm a bit too dense to understand the science of traffic flow or how road rage can be blamed on everyone else's driving but never my own. But I still like my chances going 65 or obeying whatever the posted speed limit is rather than some Hurry Up And Get There type careening into me at 90 mph after riding my bumper. I see this on Dallas' roads all the time. So I feel a bit vindicated when I catch up with a speeding car, 20 minutes later, and he/she is getting a big fat ticket.
People typically don't flip someone off or throw a total hissy in the express check out lane when a person has more than 10 items or turn around and whack a dude in the face for talking too loudly in a movie, but get behind a slow car on a road trip?? Another story. I agree that a driver who is offended by hints they need to move over is foolish. But no more so than the idiots on my local highways who feel it is owed to them, 100% of the time, to cruise as fast and recklessly as possible because the left 'belongs' to them.
Good post!
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Just say NO...
