Why is the left lane always the slowest? (vehicle, drivers, speeding)
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Well, I've noticed the worst offenders of this are....
Older folks who look confused and lost
Young and middle aged people with cell phones either at their ear or propped up on the steering wheel, which also causes the weaving into lanes almost causing an accident.
Semi trucks (the middle of the week is the worst for tractor-trailer congestion on the freeway) all trying to jockey for position and pass each other.
Two or more occupants in the vehicle, in which the driver is carrying on a conversation with their passengers and not paying attention to the road
People that are obviously intoxicated...sadly this is a huge problem where I live.
People who are actually nodding off while driving.
I live in Northern California, and this problem is huge on interstate 5, since the 5 is a major artery from Mexico to Canada. Law enforcement?? Almost non existent since I haven't seen a CHP car on the freeway in literally months.
Every day I notice this. I always thought that the left lane on an interstate was for either faster moving traffic, or for passing. Lately it seems that people are just cruising along beside the slower moving traffic and the semi trucks, forcing people to pass in two right lane to get around them.
Is this something not taught in driver's education anymore?
Lots of rookies darting in and out....pass on the right, dart into the left lane, slam on brakes, the whole left lane lurches to a slower pace while the moron plots his next move.
Once the traffic clears, rookie can't keep up and fades into the right lane. Left lane moves along as planned.
The left lane is regarded by most here as the lane for those who want to pass everyone on the road and drive as fast as they like. It fills up fast, so the overflow passes everyone in the right lane at scary speeds as well. The overflow from those two lanes bullies the drivers in the center lane tailgating them aggressively. If you drive within the law here in SW Florida you are taking your life in your hands. Watch your mirrors. If you don't you could well be run over from behind.
Never have I felt closer to another man than when I find that one other like-minded driver on the freeway in light traffic. You usually spot them initially going 85-95mph in the middle lane - left lane is wide open. You have confirmation when they pass using the left lane, and promptly move back right, even if slower car might be visible in the distance ahead.
Get behind that car - do not tailgate. Since you're already driving just like they are, it won't be long before they notice you and feel comfortable around you, since they know what you're going to do, and you they. Now you're working as a team, the road is yours (ok well you know what I mean I'm getting carried away).
On one epic drive back to Detroit from Chicago in the middle of the night, there were 4 of us averaging 95mph almost the entire way. Taking turns leading, never getting too close to semis, even being gentle (as possible) with the space cadets in the passing lane. There was much flashing of brake lights and high beams when we all finally parted ways just outside Metro Detroit (wipes tear).
I've lived in both Illinois and Alabama and I noticed that people hogging the left lane is much more prevalent in Alabama. In Illinois, a lot more people would use it to pass and then move right again. Here they just cruise in it. I've had to use the right lane to pass more than the left (and this is going just at or maybe 5mph over the posted speed limit). I wish this state would crack down on that kind of thing. The interstates are already congested and annoying. If some of the morons doing that got tickets, things might flow more smoothly.
But in regards to the question... I think people just don't care.
I know in Houston the far left lane is almost always the slowest even on a freeway that's 4 or more lanes each way. The main problem is we give out drivers licenses like candy and don't make people take real driving lesson and test like they do in german or the uk. Its very expensive to get a license in Europe.
Here in Houston (and probably in most major cities) you might as well accept the fact that you will just have to get in where you fit in - there really is no "fast" lane here. There are too many people from too many parts of the country/world in this city now (especially due to the influx over the past 5 or so years).
Not all (or should I say most) have not taken any driving course, exam, etc....they just went to the DMV on Dacoma, paid their $25 and got their license. There is one thing in common amongst all of us though -we all bring our idiosyncracies, fears, good and bad moods, drunkeness, third world country, Mario Andretti-I-own-the-phukkin-freeway-so-GET-OUTTA-MAH-WAYY attitudes on the roads at any given time. Mixing all that up 24/7/365 sometimes ends with disastarous results, as shown in numerous YT videos of road rage (I also attribute the road rage to over medicated, GMO'd filled foods that most willingly gobble down every day).
Before you enter your vehicle, may as well get yo' mind right and pocket that mighty ego - drive defensively in order to protect you and your cargo (family members and pets) from A to B safely. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we do not own the freeway and it is not ours to dictate how people shoulda coulda woulda driven on any particular day. People are gonna drive in the fast lane at 59mph, enter and exit doing 35mph, cut you off, not use turn signals, do 100+mph right past cops sitting on the shoulder and the cop is going to keep talking on his cell phone, etc etc
When my 16 year old daughter finished driver's ed, I went driving with her on the Interstate. She went into the left lane and held the 65 mph speed limit. A guy in a huge F-250 tail gated her and it scared her. I made her move over.
I told her that if she wanted to do just the speed limit, always stay in the right lane. People in the left lane rarely stay at just the speed limit and the cops don't enforce it.
Usually, theory and the real world are different.
Common sense isn't all that common. One of my ex-girlfriend's parents drove like that. Got on the freeway and beelined for the fast lane at 65. Why? They didn't want to get hit by a car merging on the freeway. You can tell your kid they're driving like an idiot pretty easily but telling your parents is harder. I certainly wasn't going to tell my girlfriend's parents they drove like idiots and needed to move over. It wouldn't have helped anyway. They had two kids that already told them that anyway. I hated driving with them and usually if we went out to eat or something I'd meet them there and make up an excuse of having to run errands or go back in the office to finish up some work. Upside is they were pretty old-fashioned so if the dad wasn't there I could always get the keys and drive so it was really only her dad's driving I had to put up with. I still had to drive at or under the speed limit but at least I could do it in the slow lane.
Maybe this isn't normal, but a lot of towns on the interstate in my area have signs as you go through towns that say "Through traffic keep left", to allow people to merge from the onramps. Maybe that is because we have a lot less traffic here than most other states. And out on the freeway between towns, it isn't all that unusual to go 20 or 30 minutes without seeing another car going in the same direction as you.
So I haven't really seen this effect here. Every now and then, the left lane is slower than the right (most of our interstates only have 2 lanes), but that is pretty rare. Our biggest problem is large trucks going up hills, and one truck is moving 5 mph faster than the other, so the right lane is going 40 up a hill behind a truck, and the left lane is stuck going 45 up the hill behind another truck who is "passing",
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