How many left-lane slowpokes have been fined under new Va. law?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Here's the problem: I like to stay at 60, tops, and never drive in the left lane. But I have to exit the Beltway onto the Dulles Toll Road (coming from Tysons), and it's on the left. I can't wait until the last minute to move into the left lane, since the left laners are the most aggressive and block up the spot, so I have to get in at least 3/4 mile ahead. I then have the left laners on my tail, even at 60, for the 40 seconds I'm in the lane.

Surely they won't ticket if there is a left exit up ahead, and "slower" drivers (meaning those who drive within 5 miles OVER the speed LIMIT) won't get tickets. In fact, I'd rather see them ticket the impatient left laners who tailgate because the want to go 70.

Put on your left turn signal so they know that you're exiting.

Yes, I definitely do that.

Right when you get in the left lane.

Yes, I do....I have my signal on as I move into the lane and then leave it on to let them know I will exit left. They still tail me. Annoying (and dangerous).

Pro tip for dealing with tailgaters: run the windshield washers. The backspray sends an unmistakable, yet still deniable, message.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I hope they will be enforcing laws against speeding just as much as this new law.

People are more likely to die in a high speed crash than in a lower speed one.

OK, thanks, vigilante. Stay right and MYOB.

So, are you saying the police should not ticket people driving more than 10 mph over the speed limit? Do you think the left lane should be where people can just drive as fast as they like?

Plenty of people are saying both groups are dangerous and both groups should be ticketed. Slow drivers are taking personal offense to the idea that they are behaving as dangerously as the fast drivers because they believe that 1) slower driving is safer driving, 2) they are TRYING to drive safely, hence the slow speeds and 3) at worst they are simply passively encouraging those people driving dangerously (speeders) to slow down and be more safe.

So they have this whole vision of themselves as not JUST a not dangerous driver who shouldn't be at fault but in fact the SAFEST of drivers who are simply trying to make everyone more safe.

Sorry slow drivers, this is a ridiculous vision of yourself. Driving slow in the left lane causes accidents, it just does. It is a circular behavior in that the slow drivers and the fast drivers need to both be doing something wrong to create the situation but that is the reality. If you know this statistic and you choose to drive slowly in the left lane than you are driving dangerously. There is no reason why you can't choose another lane. If my kid steals another kid's toy and the other kid kicks them both children have done something wrong and both children are punished.

I think everyone agrees that cars moving 5-10 mph under the speed limit can be dangerous and that is against the law and they should be ticketed. People who are driving 15+ mph over the speed limit are also dangerous and should be ticketed.

People driving 65 mph in a 55 zone in the left lane should not be ticketed so some one can drive 70+ in a 55 zone. That person is already over the speed limit and should get a ticket for that, as well as those trying to drive even faster. That's at least 15 mph over the speed limit and is getting into reckless driving territory. No one should sit in the left lane, that's for sure, but no one should be driving more than 15 mph over the speed limit on the beltway.

Here's the reality of the roads. On a road like the beltway where the speed limit is 55, you're going to have cars going an average of 50-70MPH in different lanes. Some outliers are going to be trolling along at 45 and some are going to be shooting by at 85. If all of those speeds are contained in the lanes with their compatriots, its a fairly safe driving experience. If someone going 60 decides they feel entitled to use the left lane and prompts the people going 65-70, and the crazies going 85, to go unsafely around them, knowing full well this will happen regardless of whether or not it is legal, they are driving as unsafely as the unsafe passer. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Not one poster here is saying the 70-85ers shouldn't be ticketed. Not one. But a person choosing to ignore the reality of those drivers and choose a path that endangers ALL the other cars on the road, including their own and all the other safe speed drivers, then they are no different then the speeder and should be ticketed as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they will be enforcing laws against speeding just as much as this new law.

People are more likely to die in a high speed crash than in a lower speed one.

No shit. How did you figure that one out? However, slow and timid drivers are often the cause of crashes as everyone is trying to avoid them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The thing I don't get about the rule is that we aren't supposed to go over the speed limit. So, I don't understand how someone driving 55 can get a ticket for being in the left lane and going too slowly. Because the alternative is speeding which is also against the law.

I don’t quite understand this other. “Speed of traffic” and “speed limit” are often in confliction. Which are we supposed to be observing again?

Keep right, Pass left. And worry about yourself.

That's what people said when I tired to ask this before. I am still trying to wrap my head around how this works. Either you're speeding or you're going too slow. It's a catch-22.

People think that "speed limit" means "you have to drive at least this fast, but you usually shouldn't drive more than 10 mph faster"

That's what I'm confused about. I thought a speed limit was the max speed not minimum. The law makes my brain hurt.

Oh boy!! Where are you from? Are you a new driver here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope they will be enforcing laws against speeding just as much as this new law.

People are more likely to die in a high speed crash than in a lower speed one.

OK, thanks, vigilante. Stay right and MYOB.

So, are you saying the police should not ticket people driving more than 10 mph over the speed limit? Do you think the left lane should be where people can just drive as fast as they like?

I think you stay in the right lane until you need to pass. And then after you pass you move back into the right lane. You let the police worry about the speeders. It’s not your job to police them.

[Anonymous]

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It’s not your job to enforce the max speed of other drivers.

DP. I didn't perceive the PP saying that it was.

It is a conundrum. You're not allowed to go faster than the speed limit. You're also not allowed to go slower than drivers around you. What are you supposed to do if the drivers around you are going faster than the speed limit?

Stay right, pass left. It’s really not that hard. If you think it is it might be time to retire the keys.

[Anonymous]

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But there people who are going to drive “more than 15 mph over the speed limit.” There just are. Why do you want them behind you and then going around you unsafely? Why not just stay more to the right and stay away from them? Why do you need to be in the left lane at all, unless exiting, when you think that someone driving 70 in a 55 should be ticketed?

Well, you might be driving the speed limit, trying to pass somebody who is driving more slowly than the speed limit.

In that case, pass quickly and then get back over. You don’t get to spend the next ten miles in the left lane just because you passed someone once.

Basically this law is for people who want to drive faster than the speed limit in the left lane.

No, it’s a law to help people who don’t understand the very basic driving etiquette of “stay right, pass left”. Some dummies don’t get it so they had to pass a law to help them figure it out.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wish Maryland would pass this law. I'm from Maryland and I have never understood why Marylanders don't comprehend that the right lane is for driving and the left lane is for passing. If someone wants to go faster than you it is your duty to move to the right.

Maryland does have a law but it’s one of the weakest left lane laws in the country. They introduced a better one last year and this year but it doesn’t look like it passed.
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmmain.aspx?pid=billpage&tab=subject3&id=hb0965&stab=01&ys=2018rs

I guess they enforce that as often as they enforce driving with phone in your hand.

[Anonymous]

I am someone who firmly believes in staying to the right. BUT the highways around here are bumper to bumper 24/7. I can't stand how people tailgate the left lane when no one is going the speed limit and no one is going anywhere fast. 66 is a good example of this. I too would like to be going 10mph over the speed limit (or even going the speed limit) but you just can't.

[Anonymous]

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But there people who are going to drive “more than 15 mph over the speed limit.” There just are. Why do you want them behind you and then going around you unsafely? Why not just stay more to the right and stay away from them? Why do you need to be in the left lane at all, unless exiting, when you think that someone driving 70 in a 55 should be ticketed?

Well, you might be driving the speed limit, trying to pass somebody who is driving more slowly than the speed limit.

In that case, pass quickly and then get back over. You don’t get to spend the next ten miles in the left lane just because you passed someone once.

Basically this law is for people who want to drive faster than the speed limit in the left lane.

No, it’s a law to help people who don’t understand the very basic driving etiquette of “stay right, pass left”. Some dummies don’t get it so they had to pass a law to help them figure it out.

It's not clear why people can't drive in the left lane.

[Anonymous]

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But there people who are going to drive “more than 15 mph over the speed limit.” There just are. Why do you want them behind you and then going around you unsafely? Why not just stay more to the right and stay away from them? Why do you need to be in the left lane at all, unless exiting, when you think that someone driving 70 in a 55 should be ticketed?

Well, you might be driving the speed limit, trying to pass somebody who is driving more slowly than the speed limit.

In that case, pass quickly and then get back over. You don’t get to spend the next ten miles in the left lane just because you passed someone once.

Basically this law is for people who want to drive faster than the speed limit in the left lane.

No, it’s a law to help people who don’t understand the very basic driving etiquette of “stay right, pass left”. Some dummies don’t get it so they had to pass a law to help them figure it out.

It's not clear why people can't drive in the left lane.

Because you're going to get a ticket!

[Anonymous]

So what’s the point of having a speed limit if it should apparently be disregarded at will? Because for the person above who said they consider it the maximum - ie LIMIT - you *should* be driving at any given time, that is also my understanding (and I assumed everyone else’s as well). But apparently that makes me a new driver, even though I’m from around here and have been driving for over 15 years. Strange. I will be honest - this new law is very confusing to me.

There seems to be a lot of anger here toward drivers going the speed limit, which I can’t seem to understand. I don’t frequently encounter anyone on 66 or 495 going literally 45 mph when the lanes are clear, so I think you guys are all being a little dramatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the point of having a speed limit if it should apparently be disregarded at will? Because for the person above who said they consider it the maximum - ie LIMIT - you *should* be driving at any given time, that is also my understanding (and I assumed everyone else’s as well). But apparently that makes me a new driver, even though I’m from around here and have been driving for over 15 years. Strange. I will be honest - this new law is very confusing to me.

There seems to be a lot of anger here toward drivers going the speed limit, which I can’t seem to understand. I don’t frequently encounter anyone on 66 or 495 going literally 45 mph when the lanes are clear, so I think you guys are all being a little dramatic.

You are not going to get an answer. You’ll get some variation of the same response being posted to every question, which is- it’s simple, drive right, pass left, if you can’t do that stop driving.

[Anonymous]

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But there people who are going to drive “more than 15 mph over the speed limit.” There just are. Why do you want them behind you and then going around you unsafely? Why not just stay more to the right and stay away from them? Why do you need to be in the left lane at all, unless exiting, when you think that someone driving 70 in a 55 should be ticketed?

Well, you might be driving the speed limit, trying to pass somebody who is driving more slowly than the speed limit.

In that case, pass quickly and then get back over. You don’t get to spend the next ten miles in the left lane just because you passed someone once.

Basically this law is for people who want to drive faster than the speed limit in the left lane.

No, it’s a law to help people who don’t understand the very basic driving etiquette of “stay right, pass left”. Some dummies don’t get it so they had to pass a law to help them figure it out.

But if somebody is driving along at the speed limit in the left lane, and you're behind them in the left lane driving along at or below the speed limit (right? because otherwise you'd be breaking the law), why do you care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the point of having a speed limit if it should apparently be disregarded at will? Because for the person above who said they consider it the maximum - ie LIMIT - you *should* be driving at any given time, that is also my understanding (and I assumed everyone else’s as well). But apparently that makes me a new driver, even though I’m from around here and have been driving for over 15 years. Strange. I will be honest - this new law is very confusing to me.

There seems to be a lot of anger here toward drivers going the speed limit, which I can’t seem to understand. I don’t frequently encounter anyone on 66 or 495 going literally 45 mph when the lanes are clear, so I think you guys are all being a little dramatic.

+1... because, as the replies illustrate, many of the posters on this thread ARE the people who feel entitled to drive 20+mph over the speed limit and that you should get the F out of their way when they do - and they are now using this law to criticize people they deem slow pokes (which are rarely the people doing 45mph but instead ae those doing 65mph with the flow of traffic as PP mentioned)