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The law is also that you can't go faster than a certain speed. I think most people complaining about "slow" cars in the passing lane are upset that those cars are limiting how much they can speed. If the cars in the left lane are going the speed limit or faster, they aren't impeding anyone who is following the law. Of course people don't really follow the speed limit, but it's not any less legitimate of a law than the law about staying out of the passing lane. The difference is that the passing lane law usually only matters if you're already breaking the speed law.
I've never had trouble achieving the speed limit in the left lane here in CT. If you are complaining about left lane hogs (which are a problem by themselves), then you're probably breaking that other, ever so insignificant law... Speeding.
Waaaahhh this guy won't let me go 30 freaken mph over the speed limit!! If you're behind a guy going 10-15mph over the speed limit, then you've got nothing to complain about.
The law is also that you can't go faster than a certain speed. I think most people complaining about "slow" cars in the passing lane are upset that those cars are limiting how much they can speed. If the cars in the left lane are going the speed limit or faster, they aren't impeding anyone who is following the law. Of course people don't really follow the speed limit, but it's not any less legitimate of a law than the law about staying out of the passing lane. The difference is that the passing lane law usually only matters if you're already breaking the speed law.
There is another difference: You are not authorized to play speed police by parking in the left lane. That is a job for the actual police, should they choose (or not choose) to enforce it.
My going 10MPH over the speed limit in order to pass someone going 10MPH under the speed limit in a reasonable amount of time, is not going to put you at any risk, or inconvenience. You, however, going 10MPH under the speed limit in the passing lane "just because it's legal" is going to put me and everyone behind me at an inconvenience - AND at risk because people don't expect anyone to go under the speed limit in the passing lane - so they now have to put their brakes on - in the passing lane - which causes a domino effect behind them, which is one of the main reasons why highway driving is so frustrating sometimes. You get to the front of the line only to discover there is no accident, or blow-out tire, or police pull-over. The only reason traffic was backed up for the last two miles is someone chose to drive immediately beside someone in the lane next to them, playing speed cop, driving UNDER the speed limit, thus creating the backjam. Or perhaps they weren't doing it on purpose - they were too busy texting and driving to notice that their speed kept changing from 70mph to 50mph. Or yelling at their kids in the back seat. Or reading the newspaper (I actually witnessed this a couple of times).
If you're in the left lane, it's because you are in the process of passing someone or exiting on a left-lane exit. No matter how fast or slow you're going, that is what the left lane is for. The right lane is for local traffic and people who aren't needing/wanting to pass someone.
I think the people who continually argue the "but you shouldn't be speeding" card do so because they prefer to drive in the left lane and don't really give a damn about other people, including the two miles of traffic at a near-stop behind them. They're probably also the ones who are too busy texting to notice that they're creating the traffic jam.
I think the people who continually argue the "but you shouldn't be speeding" card do so because they prefer to drive in the left lane and don't really give a damn about other people, including the two miles of traffic at a near-stop behind them. They're probably also the ones who are too busy texting to notice that they're creating the traffic jam.
I frequently stay in the right lane except to pass, but sometimes the right lane is just filled with people that are going too slow. I hardly ever go more than 10mph over in the right (15 in left). When I made the argument you refer to, I am referring to people who do 80 in a 55. These people who have just GOT to drive at insane speeds and tailgate everyone they come across.
The left lane is usually traveling at a reasonable speed. Unless the guy in the left is doing something like actually going the speed limit or maybe only a little over, then you have little to complain about UNLESS your intent is to continually break the law by driving recklessly.
The law is also that you can't go faster than a certain speed. I think most people complaining about "slow" cars in the passing lane are upset that those cars are limiting how much they can speed. If the cars in the left lane are going the speed limit or faster, they aren't impeding anyone who is following the law. Of course people don't really follow the speed limit, but it's not any less legitimate of a law than the law about staying out of the passing lane. The difference is that the passing lane law usually only matters if you're already breaking the speed law.
If you want to be a police officer, go to the Connecticut POST website and submit an application. Otherwise, it's not up to you to regulate another motorist's speed. Disobeying the "keep right, pass left" law makes you just as much of a problem on the roads as those ignoring speed limits.
If you want to be a police officer, go to the Connecticut POST website and submit an application. Otherwise, it's not up to you to regulate another motorist's speed. Disobeying the "keep right, pass left" law makes you just as much of a problem on the roads as those ignoring speed limits.
The same could then be said about someone "policing" another person in the left lane.
The same could then be said about someone "policing" another person in the left lane.
I'm not forcing anyone in the left lane to move faster. Left-lane hogs, however, force people in the left lane to move slower. This has happened to me several times in the last year:
I'm in the right lane. Incoming traffic is merging from an entrance ramp to the highway, and they're not up to the speed limit - they're working on it. So I head to the left lane to give the incoming people room to speed up, and to give me a chance to pass them. Except just as I get to the part of the highway that's at the end of the onramp, the guy in the left lane in front of me, has decided to play traffic cop and slows down so I *cannot* pass the people entering the highway.
Meanwhile, all these people on the right are now speeding up, and in fact they're going faster than I am - which they're not supposed to do but this guy in front of me refuses to move over OR speed up. That wouldn't be so bad, I could always illegally pass HIM on the right, right?
But nope - I finally have room to get to the right lane, and this guy speeds up, making it impossible for me to pass him on the right either, unless I want to go over 80MPH.
So okay - maybe he just simply realized he was going too slow, and sped up to where he was intending to be when he got into this lane. So I get behind him again, to pass the next group of slower traffic on the right. I start to speed up in my attempt to actually pass some people on my right, and he slows down again. That makes me touch the brakes because that forces me to be just too close to his rear bumper for comfort. This in turn causes the people behind me who were also trying to speed up so they could pass people on our right, to tap their brakes. Which causes someone - at some point - near the end of our cluster of cars - to tap harder. Which causes major 2-mile traffic jams on the highway.
This isn't a rare occurrence. It is common in Connecticut, happens on a daily basis, and in some stretches on an hourly basis.
These are the people who need to get to the right and stay there. Or pull over to the side of the road and finish their cell phone conversation.
I'm not forcing anyone in the left lane to move faster. Left-lane hogs, however, force people in the left lane to move slower. This has happened to me several times in the last year:
I'm in the right lane. Incoming traffic is merging from an entrance ramp to the highway, and they're not up to the speed limit - they're working on it. So I head to the left lane to give the incoming people room to speed up, and to give me a chance to pass them. Except just as I get to the part of the highway that's at the end of the onramp, the guy in the left lane in front of me, has decided to play traffic cop and slows down so I *cannot* pass the people entering the highway.
Meanwhile, all these people on the right are now speeding up, and in fact they're going faster than I am - which they're not supposed to do but this guy in front of me refuses to move over OR speed up. That wouldn't be so bad, I could always illegally pass HIM on the right, right?
But nope - I finally have room to get to the right lane, and this guy speeds up, making it impossible for me to pass him on the right either, unless I want to go over 80MPH.
So okay - maybe he just simply realized he was going too slow, and sped up to where he was intending to be when he got into this lane. So I get behind him again, to pass the next group of slower traffic on the right. I start to speed up in my attempt to actually pass some people on my right, and he slows down again. That makes me touch the brakes because that forces me to be just too close to his rear bumper for comfort. This in turn causes the people behind me who were also trying to speed up so they could pass people on our right, to tap their brakes. Which causes someone - at some point - near the end of our cluster of cars - to tap harder. Which causes major 2-mile traffic jams on the highway.
This isn't a rare occurrence. It is common in Connecticut, happens on a daily basis, and in some stretches on an hourly basis.
These are the people who need to get to the right and stay there. Or pull over to the side of the road and finish their cell phone conversation.
Or you could just stay in one lane and stop erratically trying to pass people. When you're in a situation where you are speeding, and the other person is in the left lane hogging, you are BOTH in the wrong. You have no room to complain, period.
Or you could just stay in one lane and stop erratically trying to pass people. When you're in a situation where you are speeding, and the other person is in the left lane hogging, you are BOTH in the wrong. You have no room to complain, period.
I guess you aren't interested in actually reading what people write. I'll summarize my own post:
The people in the right lane are entering from the road, to the on-ramp, to the highway. They are NOT going the speed limit yet. They're going VERY SLOW and in the process of speeding up to get to the speed limit.
I want to go the speed limit (or higher, sure - but at the very least, the speed limit, which I am allowed to do, by law). In order to do that, I need to get into the left lane - the passing lane - and pass those people coming onto the highway at slow speeds.
I cannot pass those people if the person in the left lane slows down. Now, I'm stuck in the passing lane, going slow, and the people in the right lane have already sped up, and are now passing me and that guy, on the right. Which they're not supposed to do. But THEY have no choice either, because this idiot in front of me is choosing to ignore the fact that he is in the PASSING lane, and comply with the expected road ettiquette - which is to pass people on the left and when you're done passing them, get back over to the right.
Or you could just stay in one lane and stop erratically trying to pass people. When you're in a situation where you are speeding, and the other person is in the left lane hogging, you are BOTH in the wrong. You have no room to complain, period.
Except, it's legal to switch lanes and pass and it's not legal to sit in the left lane. As a motorist, if you're not passing anyone, it's your duty to travel right - end of story. I'm not sure why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.
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