left lane slugs take note

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Rushmore

Driving down to Sarasota National yesterday, something occurred to me. Talking about 41 and talking about 75 is like a conversation about birds, and one person is discussing their parakeets and the other is discussing condors.

OK, I guess I should have said apples and oranges, fine.

Anyway, my point is that the aggressive driving on 41 seems much more dangerous, with the turns and stops. The left laners, while annoying, are not generally as egregious here, because a.) there are so many more reasons to need to be in the left lane (i.e."turns"), and b.) we're probably not going to see a helluva lot of open road anyway.

Conversely, on 75, the speeding driver is not nearly as dangerous (no stops, no real turns), and the left laners are REALLY annoying because there is so often all that open road in front of them.

I would hope that any law could differentiate between the two, as I honestly believe that speeding on 41 is much more dangerous than doing so on 75, and that left-laning on 75 is much worse than it is on 41.

See how reasonable I am?

ATTA-BOY Rushmore!
That is a good differentiation - I agree with that, and only considered RT 75 and bigger highways in my logic as well - in my earlier comments.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by gettinoutofjersey

and i gotta say as bad as jersey drivers are they dont hog the left lane like down here. drive fast, yup.

NJ TPK = American Autobahn.

Like I said, for me, the biggest gripe is the arrogance to hold a person up on purpose when you have NO IDEA why the person needs to get by. It could be a sick family member in the hospital about to die, late for a wedding (It happens), a pregnant wife in the passenger seat possibly having a miscarriage etc etc. Just move over, it's okay, the worlds not going to end. Really, it's not. We will all feel better in the end.

[wondermint2]

This proposed law will apply to all roads and not just major highways like I-75. There is an exception to the proposed law that says you are exempt "if you are about to turn left". What exactly is meant by "about to turn left"? 1 block? 1/2 mile on I-41? 1 mile on I-41? I think this will lead to a lot of interpretation by police and be hard to uniformly enforce. Generally speaking when I turn North om I-41 (to go to Walmart in Osprey) it is a 2.9 mile trip. Since Walmart will be on my right side I just stay in the right lane for the entire trip. Now coming back home is another story. Because when I'm traveling South on I-41 I will need to turn left off of 41 in Nokomis. Usually for this return trip home from Walmart I just stay in the left lane the entire time because it's only 2.9 miles and I don't want to go through the hassle of trying to fight traffic (as I approach my turning point on 41) to do a lane switch from right to left. However I am very cognizant that I'm in the left lane and make an effort to be sure to keep my speed up. Now only one time I've driven on I-75 (to Englewood) and I just stayed in the right lane. If you read the article in the Herald-Tribune closely - the Florida Highway Patrol and the AAA Motor Club have not thrown their hat behind the current incarnation of Senator Bennett's proposed law - so even if it does eventually pass it likely will face some modification from the current version.

[paradiddle]

Originally Posted by Rushmore

Paradiddle, you negated every point you wanted to make by actually TAKING PICTURES WHILE DRIVING. Did you make that post while you were driving, too?

Negated? hows that - please explain. I'm kinda stoopid.

I was also texting, surfing my facebook, downloading videos and watching a DVD at the time. Whats the problem? Get real........

Not all that difficult to pick up my little Kodak and take a shot without looking thru a view finder. A picture is worth a thousand words. Like all the blathering that goes on in these forums.

[Rushmore]

Originally Posted by paradiddle

Negated? hows that - please explain. I'm kinda stoopid.

I was also texting, surfing my facebook, downloading videos and watching a DVD at the time. Whats the problem? Get real........

Not all that difficult to pick up my little Kodak and take a shot without looking thru a view finder. A picture is worth a thousand words. Like all the blathering that goes on in these forums.

Fair enough, but I sort of had this picture of you traveling at 75 MPH, fumbling in the glove box for your camera, doing the settings, and looking through the view finder.

<end blathering>