With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility....Quote from Spiderman's Uncle I belive

 

[quote=Stangette;906513]What if there are five lanes and each one is bumper to bumper? Where do you go when you are already going 20 over like everyone else? (There is no pavement to be seen between the cars.) Law says stay in the "Driving Lane" except to pass, but this is not always what the situation is.

What do I do? This is what I do...I move over. But let me put a finer point on it:

If I am not moving (which also happens a lot here) and someone is right behind me in bumper to bumper 6 lanes across traffic...then they are not tailgating.

If I am going 5 mph..stop and go...and you have the same set up...same thing.

But if traffic is moving and someone comes up behind me (no matter how fast I am going) and I am blocking them...I get over. End of story...I get over....period.

Listen again to the set up...they have room to come up behind me..that means that there is no traffic behind me..they are going faster...it really is so simple.

It doesn't matter how fast I am going...if I am blocking traffic then I need to have my drivers license cut up into a 1000 pieces because I don't know how to drive.

[calming down]

Some people say, "he is not going anywhere in this traffic...so screw him".

Nope..I get over...then let him pass...and guess what, if the guy in my new lane is going to slow...then I get over to...where?...anyone?...the left lane...which should be free because people should not be blocking it.

It is not rocket science.

Nothing personal...I just suffer through 3 hours of driving every day that should take 1 hour. No offense.

 

I only partially agree here. On the Autobahn in Germany, I would 100% agree with you. But in North America, posted speed limit is the final letter of the law. The person is not obligated to pull over into the right lane to let you pass if he/she is doing the legal posted limit and you want to go 100 MPH.

So in a sense, it does matter how fast you are going.

 

I personally hate it when people go the speed limit in the left lane. And it's usually some pos import, or a minivan. I always move over when someone comes up behind me, unless there's a semi or something in the way. Other than that, I always get out of the way! What I hate the most is when there's two people on a two-lane highway, going the same speed ( usually below the speed limit) right next to eachother!!

 

Yeah.. That's what we truckers call "drag racing"

 

I agree. I usually pull over, too.

All I'm saying is that while we may hate it when people stick to the limit in the left lane, we have no legal rights in that situation in North America. Technically, the person who wants to pass at high speed is breaking the law. So you're being "courteous," but in a sense you're also indirectly aiding and abetting, too.

Example >> Let's say you're going 80 MPH in the left lane (significantly faster than the posted limit), and some guy comes up behind you doing 110 MPH - do you still feel obligated to pull over, or do you immediately think, "What an idiot!" and NOT pull over to let him pass?

At what point do unsafe speeds outweigh courtesy?

 

I don't know. Some people have some pretty strange ways of getting past you, even when you can't move over. Like the ones that drive on the shoulder to get around you! Or turn halfway onto an offramp, and then swerve back onto the freeway right in front of someone else. I think I'd move over no matter how fast their are going because they'll find another, more dangerous way if they're desperate and stupid enough to try and get by. If they wanted to get pulled over, or worse, then let them. I know it sounds mean, but if they don't even have the brains to slow down to a somewhat safer speed, then they shoudn't even have a license or behind the wheel of a car.

 

Yep, there is always that angle, too. I agree, it's better to pull over. I was just pointing out that there is no legal precedent in North America that requires drivers to go faster than the posted limit while travelling in the left lane - so while people might be annoyed, they technically have no right to be.

This is not Germany.

 

Off topic from the original thread, but I thought this website had some interesting information regarding left lane usage.

 

That would be Uncle Ben.

I love the rice he makes too...

 

From experience, in MD the right lane is the fast lane.

I try to only pass in the left lane. I feel like a sitting duck driving in it by myself or as the first car in a gap.

 

Ron, be careful with her ...but nice kill anyway ,(I must say I really like your interior)

 

I can't get mine to anywhere near 60 mpg.

 

The first statement - true - I don't have that attitude - If, there is a way for me to get out of their [the aggressive Driver behind me] path, I would as they have decided to do it anyway they can.

If all the lanes are moving just at posted speed and they are all clogged, then there is no where to go. But, to just be calm and roll with the flow.

Others don't see it that way and get aggressive. Then, purport attitude that since they are forging thru, they can have their way.

If I drove during rush hour, perhaps then, would find myself in the same situation as you. I choose to come in earlier to avoid that mess and have an enjoyable ride. Safety is worth more to me than being irritated with rush hour. The amusing aspect of rush hour in Houston is, in departing at as little as 30 minutes earlier, a lot of it can be avoided.

Others roll up to me at a light and ask - "How can you drive the speed limit in that car?". My kind reply is " It is responsibility and comes with the territory in driving fast cars for years". Not to assume that because I can do this, that everyone else can. Others do not know that I have driven Sport cars all my life and have never driven a regular commuter vehicle.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollywood_North GT

Yep, there is always that angle, too. I agree, it's better to pull over. I was just pointing out that there is no legal precedent in North America that requires drivers to go faster than the posted limit while travelling in the left lane - so while people might be annoyed, they technically have no right to be.

But here in Georgia...the law states that you should yield to faster moviing traffic by moving to the right.

It is posted....on signs...all over the interstates.

So...technically..yes...I do have a right to be annoyed...because they are ignoring both the rules of the road...and common courtesy...and common sense.

 

Yielding to faster moving traffic does not supercede the speed limit. Emphasis on the word "limit." The rule of law is that if you want to go slower than the limit in the right lane, then you should certainly allow people in the left lane to pass you. But those same people are not allowed to travel faster than the posted limit.

Now, we all know that few people go the limit, much less under it, but if a cop spotted you coming up behind someone in the left lane at 90 MPH, and the person in front of you was only going 60 MPH, who do you think the cop would pull over - the guy obeying the limit who hasn't pulled over into the right lane and allowed you to pass...or YOU for flagrantly violating the speed limit at 90 MPH?

Hint: You're the one who will suddenly find themselves slowing down on the right side.

 

Some of the western United States have hiway signs that plainly state it is illegal to be in the left lane except to pass.

 

Maybe I'm blind, but I'm not seeing it in the pic.....

 

Sorry: its not there, just one of my file photos

 

[quote=Hollywood_North GT;908804]Yielding to faster moving traffic does not supercede the speed limit.

You are talking about apples and oranges...what does breaking one law have to do with obeying another?

That is like saying, "Sure I steal cars...but I don't cheat on my taxes."

If you are impeding traffic by blocking the left lane you are breaking the law. Period.

Now, we all know that few people go the limit, much less under it, but if a cop spotted you coming up behind someone in the left lane at 90 MPH, and the person in front of you was only going 60 MPH, who do you think the cop would pull over - the guy obeying the limit who hasn't pulled over into the right lane and allowed you to pass...or YOU for flagrantly violating the speed limit at 90 MPH?

Interesting you bring that up...my mother (a flagrant abuser) has been known to block the left lane in Atlanta traffic. One day, as she was going 80 in the 55 mph left lane, a cop pulled her over. He said, "Did you realize that you are illegally impeding traffic. You need to get out of the left lane."

One of the rare examples of usefull traffic inforcement.

But sill, she keeps parking her butt in the left lane, blocking traffic, endangering others, being rude and inconsiderate. I love her, but her driving really sucks.