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That's all I'm saying and that, to me, is the spirit of what the sign verbiage you posted really is. That's what the "Keep Right" was intended to be. If you're going to go slower than the speed of traffic or the posted speed limit, keep right. I'm 100% ok with that. But people on here are saying "Noooooo it means if I want to go faster than the speed limit you shouldn't be blocking mee!!" That's NOT the spirit of the law, because you're then violating the speed limit.
Let me see if I can get this across. I don't want you to keep right so I can go by at illegal speeds. I want you to keep right because it makes for predictable safer driving, and I want you to pass a car quickly and get back over because I want you to be safer and less likely to be involved in a crash.
The idea that we should be able to drive hundreds of miles at the same speed and in the same lane oblivious to everything else around us is silly, and extremely unsafe. We need to be aware of our surroundings while driving, not on autopilot. We need to adjust our speed and lane to the conditions. And one of those conditions is if you are overtaking a car that's only going 1 or 2 mph slower than your preferred speed, whether it's the speed limit or 10 over or 10 under. Another is because like it or not we are not in an ideal world and some people ARE going to speed, and keeping to this convention will keep YOU safer from such maniacs!
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Originally Posted by revelated
So then they say "speed limit doesn't apply in a passing lane!!!" without realizing how ignorant that sounds. It's not a free pass to break the law.
I wouldn't ever suggest this is the case. But I would suggest it is SAFER to break the law and get around the car your are passing than it is to ride there next to it for miles. Similarly, I would suggest it is safer that we all follow one convention which is to keep right, which is not a punishment but simply a nod to having some consistency. It is safer regardless of speed. It is safer even if you and everyone else are going the speed limit, which in theory should mean nothing is gaining on you. Why? Well hell, a police car or ambulance could still go by at speed higher than the limit, because that is allowed in certain circumstances, and they shouldn't have to weave in and out of unpredictable traffic. You could have a runaway vehicle that exceeds the limit. You could have any number of scenarios in which people predictably keeping right will help to avoid accidents. And in the end, that is what is most important right?
Instead we have this emotional crap about "OMG speeders!!!" You know what? YOU can't personally fix the speeders with your driving. But you CAN personally keep YOURSELF safer with your driving if you keep right except to pass. Really.
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
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I'll agree that I will be in the right lane except to pass~ but if I am within several seconds travel time behind a car and I am moving faster than the car ahead I AM passing. And as was pointed out to me by a magistrate that limit posted is the MAXIMUM allowable safe speed on the road and even one MPH over makes you a lawbreaker putting others in peril just like armed bank robbers. His next words were "actually the speeders are worse because a lot of them have children riding with them and they are teaching their children by example that laws are not made for them to obey."
Since then I feel that speeders are actually teaching their children to be criminals by example.
The keep right law has no relevance to the speed limit. What some don't seem to get (or, let's face it, don't WANT to get) is that they are prattling on about the keep right law being sacrosanct, while at the same time saying the speed limit law is irrelevant and meaningless.
Again, you can't have it both ways. Either the keep right law means nothing and drivers can obey it or not and you can't whine about it, AND the speed limit law means nothing and drivers can obey it or not and you can't whine about it, OR, both the keep right law and the speed limit law are valid and all drivers must obey both or quit their whining.
Bottom line is, you want to pick and choose which laws you want obeyed based on your personal preferences. If you (generic) want to insist that people obey the keep right law, then you must obey the speed limit (and vice versa, of course), or be exposed as a whining hypocrite. All the blustering in the world won't change that or make the hypocrisy one whit less obvious.
Well, I never once argued that it was OK to violate the speed limit. In fact, I believe I said that the left lane should be totally devoid of cars if everyone in the right lane were doing exactly the speed limit (because nobody would be passing anyone). But there is another word of wisdom that my driver's ed instructor gave me years ago: don't get into pissing contests with idiots, best to just let them be on their way. That way, when they wreck, they will hopefully be far enough away that you won't be a part of it. You have nothing to gain whatsoever by antagonizing them, but there is a whole hell of a lot you could lose. I'll take alive and kicking over dead and right any day.
There is also the margin of error in your own speedometer to consider. Depending on the age of your car, it might be off a few miles an hour. That car going just slightly faster than you might not actually be violating the law--unless you have your speedometer calibrated at regular intervals, you cannot be certain that it is right on the money.
I'll agree that I will be in the right lane except to pass~ but if I am within several seconds travel time behind a car and I am moving faster than the car ahead I AM passing. And as was pointed out to me by a magistrate that limit posted is the MAXIMUM allowable safe speed on the road and even one MPH over makes you a lawbreaker putting others in peril just like armed bank robbers. His next words were "actually the speeders are worse because a lot of them have children riding with them and they are teaching their children by example that laws are not made for them to obey."
Since then I feel that speeders are actually teaching their children to be criminals by example.
Which, though Draconian, is exactly why it doesn't make sense to say the left lane is off-limits to people going the exact speed limit. Because in a normal situation, EVERYONE should be at or below the speed limit, not exceeding it and therefore not driving faster than that limit, regardless of lane.
Given that, if everyone is going the speed limit, there should be no need for anyone to pass anyone else, because to do so, you'd have to break the law. Therefore, there's no logic in keep right OR left OR middle except in situations where people are going too slow in the left lane - in which case I'm ok with them moving, but the same argument could be made for any lane. The fix is to make sure people are going as close to the speed limit as possible without exceeding it, and to get in the lane that is most effective based on when they're exiting. If my exit is 20 miles away, I'm impacting people riding in the far right lane. If my exit is 2 miles away, I'm impacting all lanes by going to the left lane when I'm just going to have to cram back over a few minutes later.
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Originally Posted by greg42
But I would suggest it is SAFER to break the law and get around the car your are passing than it is to ride there next to it for miles.
You can't be serious. I sincerely hope you don't get any authority when cars start flying around.
I find it interesting that there are people on here who set conditions (beyond the actual laws themselves) on whether or not either law should apply. What exactly is it about the word "law" that they don't understand, or think is applicable only on this kind of road or that kind of road? The speed limits (laws) themselves are adjusted based on the kind of road and conditions by the authorities who are charged with doing that. In no statute that I've ever read does it say "speed limit laws may be adjusted by the drivers depending on their personal preferences and beliefs". If someone here knows of such a statute, please, please, PLEASE link to the actual statute itself - I'd love to read it.
I find it interesting, no, scratch that. I find it boring to read the same horsecrap from you over and over again. The discussion is about keeping right except to pass. The speed limit law is irrelevant to that. Just do it.
I have been doing 74 in a 70 (as to not go over the 5mph threshold) in the MIDDLE LANE of the interstate and people will still get right up in your @## just because they want to go 90 and you are in their way. I am not going to put my life on the line or risk a ticket and higher insurance rates because YOU want to be wreckless and speed...
That would be the point. If someone's riding your ass or coming up hot, just move over. Who cares if they get a ticket? If someone wants to go 100 down the freeway who am I to stop them?
I find it interesting, no, scratch that. I find it boring to read the same horsecrap from you over and over again. The discussion is about keeping right except to pass. The speed limit law is irrelevant to that. Just do it.
I'm sure you do find it boring - scratch that, threatening. Why? Because you want to speed and you want everyone to get out of your way and you want everyone to think that's the way it Should Be or, if not that, not notice the blatant hypocrisy that always pops up in this topic - otherwise, you'd get bored with the everlasting repetitiveness of some of the other posters on this topic, too. And in case you hadn't noticed, the two things are irrevocably linked in all of these discussions, because of that very fact.
On I691 in our area there is a lane for the slower traffic to stay in..the key word here is SLOWER. I have been to the left of this lane in the "average speed lane" and have had impatient folks who can't pass me on the left due to excessive traffic, fly by me in the SLOW lane. How to cause an accident REAL fast...fly by the good drivers in the SLOW lane. My pet peeve is impatient drivers who knowingly could cause an accident and don't care. Everyone be especially careful next week...4th of July weekend is approaching fast and all the crazy drivers with a few beers under their belts will be out. UGH
If they can pass you on the left, its because there is room for you to move into that lane because you are not passing anyone.
Stay right EXCEPT to pass....it is the law in many states. So that means if you are not passing anyone MOVE OVER.
I'm sure you do find it boring - scratch that, threatening. Why? Because you want to speed and you want everyone to get out of your way and you want everyone to think that's the way it Should Be or, if not that, not notice the blatant hypocrisy that always pops up in this topic - otherwise, you'd get bored with the everlasting repetitiveness of some of the other posters on this topic, too. And in case you hadn't noticed, the two things are irrevocably linked in all of these discussions, because of that very fact.
Failing to obey passing laws is just as much breaking the law as speeding.
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