[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

I'm not so sure that's true when you're talking about speeds like 80 or 100 unless it was a police car or other emergency vehicle with a siren.

It's absolutely true. It's not a civilian's job to play cop.

[Cambium]

Honestly, I'm not gonna read through these posts...I just wanted to say THANK YOU FOR STARTING THIS THREAD!! You dont own the road so move over people!!!!!!

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

I'm not so sure that's true when you're talking about speeds like 80 or 100 unless it was a police car or other emergency vehicle with a siren.

The laws in every state I know of don't say anything about speed. You're not supposed to hold up a driver who wants to pass.

[goldenband]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

The laws in every state I know of don't say anything about speed. You're not supposed to hold up a driver who wants to pass.

You're making it sound as if the law is "you must get out of the way of whomever wants to drive faster than you", but I think the reality is more complicated than that. The standard used by the Uniform Vehicle Code is that you're supposed to move if you're "proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing". It doesn't say, however, that if someone wants to drive 100 MPH, you have to get out of their way!

This page at MIT has a summary of the laws in different states. (Note the bit at the bottom about the New York judge who says that "he would not convict drivers for blocking speeding traffic"!) And here's a similar chart (http://www.slcatlanta.org/QoM/2009/QuesFeb09a.html - broken link) specific to the South, from the Southern Legislative Conference. Speed is very much a factor in many of these laws, whether it's absolute (above/below/at the speed limit) or relative (to the regular flow of traffic).

There's really no unanimity -- between states, or within them -- as to whether the left lane is for passing, for steadily driving ~10 MPH above the speed limit, or both. On a road like the Merritt, I think everyone wants to be in the left lane, because the right lane is subject to unpredictable entries by incompetent drivers. Constantly changing lanes is a danger in itself -- many drivers aren't really competent to do much of that either! In a perfect driving world, no heavily traveled highway would have any less than three lanes, but the special/protected position of the Merritt rules that out (and has been discussed here at length). It's basically an untenable situation.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

It's absolutely true. It's not a civilian's job to play cop.

What I was thinking was what Goldenband put a lot more eloquenty, not "playing cop".

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by goldenband

It doesn't say, however, that if someone wants to drive 100 MPH, you have to get out of their way!

Allowing civilians the freedom to judge whether or not the speed of an approaching vehicle is acceptable when deciding which lane to choose is not only dangerous, it's against the law. 7 Wishes - it's most certainly "playing cop".

The law, in black and white, is "keep right except to pass." The only instance where it becomes gray is when approaching a left exit.

[Iska]

If you're frustrated with the Merritt and don't absolutely have to take it, switch to I-95 as I did several months ago. My commuter stress level has since gone down dramatically.

[JayCT]

I have not seen any signs in Meriden which identify Route 15 there as the Merritt. It is the Wilbur Cross Parkway there until it connect to the Berlin Turnpike. As for why the ramps are so short on the Merritt, it is because the roadway was designed in the 1930's and the world was a very different place. Cars did not travel at the speeds they do now. The Merritt was one of the first highways with a landscaped center median and it was designed as a more relaxing route than Route 1 which at the time was the road that connected the shoreline towns. Jay

[goldenband]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Allowing civilians the freedom to judge whether or not the speed of an approaching vehicle is acceptable when deciding which lane to choose is not only dangerous, it's against the law. 7 Wishes - it's most certainly "playing cop".

The law, in black and white, is "keep right except to pass." The only instance where it becomes gray is when approaching a left exit.

Can you quote exactly which part of the law you're referring to? It's pointless to have this discussion unless we refer to the law as written, not what we think (or have been told) the law is. I've checked the CT motor vehicle statutes (http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/pub/Chap248.htm - broken link), and I can't verify your claim, nor does the MIT page I linked earlier agree with you. (In fact, the statutes seem frustratingly vague on many points -- there's no definition of "passing", for example.)

Now if you're saying that you think we should "keep right except to pass", that's a separate issue. On the one hand, there's a lot to recommend the idea, and many people do agree with you; on the other hand, the CT statutes specifically say that we should "[drive] as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane" when on the highway -- and on a two-lane highway like the Merritt, "keep right, pass left" will lead to a LOT of lane-changing. Since I think many drivers aren't competent enough to change lanes safely in traffic, that idea troubles me.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by goldenband

Can you quote exactly which part of the law you're referring to? It's pointless to have this discussion unless we refer to the law as written, not what we think (or have been told) the law is. I've checked the CT motor vehicle statutes (http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/pub/Chap248.htm - broken link), and I can't verify your claim, nor does the MIT page I linked earlier agree with you. (In fact, the statutes seem frustratingly vague on many points -- there's no definition of "passing", for example.)

Now if you're saying that you think we should "keep right except to pass", that's a separate issue. On the one hand, there's a lot to recommend the idea, and many people do agree with you; on the other hand, the CT statutes specifically say that we should "[drive] as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane" when on the highway -- and on a two-lane highway like the Merritt, "keep right, pass left" will lead to a LOT of lane-changing. Since I think many drivers aren't competent enough to change lanes safely in traffic, that idea troubles me.

I'm referring to signs on the roadways instructing motorists to do so.