Why are people in this region left lane campers?

[Anonymous]

GET OUT OF THE WAY. If you're not passing in the left lane and there are people behind you, move over. Why is it so hard? The amount of times you drive and get stuck by someone going slow in the left lane is infuriating. It causes sooooo much traffic when people cannot pass because some moron is going slow in the left lane or is going the same speed as other cars and is creating a wall. Get the heck outta the way. You also cause higher risk for accidents, because now everyone has to weave in an out of traffic to get around your a$$ since you're clogging up the flow of traffic. People around here probably have the lowest driving IQ I've ever seen anywhere in this country. It's worse here than LA, NY, and Chicago. Why are there so many oblivious people around here in the roads? Lack of testing by states and DC?

[Anonymous]

They’re all native Ohioans

[Anonymous]

Maybe they learned to drive in the UK ?

[Anonymous]

Not an advocate of doing this, but in my experience driving in this area (I'm 55) the majority of times I see this happen is when the left lane driver is driving way over the speed limit (not 5 or 10mph but 15-20+mph over). And I'd be willing to bet that speeding is a far higher cause of driving accidents than left lane drivers.

But overall, yeah - people should get over when its safe to do so.

[Anonymous]

When there is traffic in every lane, I'm staying in the fastest lane that is moving. I'm not sitting in slower traffic because you want to go faster and neither is the line of cars in front of me. We all want to move faster than we are, you aren't special

[Anonymous]

I think it is because of the merging situation. Cars that are in the right and middle lanes tend to be merging out of the highway and onto the highway and people in the left lane or just traveling straight. They just want to stay there so they don’t have to deal with the merging and they’re not getting off anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: And I'd be willing to bet that speeding is a far higher cause of driving accidents than left lane drivers.

I think most Americans would bet with you. It may be hard to tangle out the factors, but I'm not as sure as you.

[Anonymous]

I live in central Virginia and it's terrible here. We regularly drive west on 64 and someone will camp out in the left lane going the speed limit. I have no idea what they are thinking. I grew up in NJ where you do NOT stay in the left lane unless you're going so fast that no one can catch you.

Then this summer we drove in Italy and oh boy, they make New Jersey highways look like children driving go-carts. I constantly saw people get right up to the bumper of the car in front of them. At least the slower driver always got over.

I'm definitely a fan of driving cultures that emphasize getting over so people can pass. I think that hogging the left lane because maybe at some point you might pass a slow tractor or something is a terrible sin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When there is traffic in every lane, I'm staying in the fastest lane that is moving. I'm not sitting in slower traffic because you want to go faster and neither is the line of cars in front of me. We all want to move faster than we are, you aren't special

THIS! It's infuriating that I'm already going faster than the two left lanes and cannot go any faster (there are cars in front of me and traffic everywhere). If I move over, where do you think you're going? Plowing into the car in front of me?

We do not need to leave the left lane open and further clog up the right two lanes just as a person courtesy to you. You think we don't all want to go faster? Traffic is what it is.

Oh yeah, and stop tailgating while you're at it.

[Anonymous]

Oh, I know I’m going to be attacked because of this, but I promise you I don’t drive in the left lane, and rarely use the beltway but what is the purpose of the speed limit, which you’re not supposed to go above, when everybody expects you to go faster on the highway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because of the merging situation. Cars that are in the right and middle lanes tend to be merging out of the highway and onto the highway and people in the left lane or just traveling straight. They just want to stay there so they don’t have to deal with the merging and they’re not getting off anytime soon.

This. Between merging traffic, break-downs, and exit-only lanes, the right lane can be a mess.

Also, you are not entitled to a clear road free of traffic. The rest of us are adjusting our speed to other cars: you can too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in central Virginia and it's terrible here. We regularly drive west on 64 and someone will camp out in the left lane going the speed limit. I have no idea what they are thinking. I grew up in NJ where you do NOT stay in the left lane unless you're going so fast that no one can catch you.

Then this summer we drove in Italy and oh boy, they make New Jersey highways look like children driving go-carts. I constantly saw people get right up to the bumper of the car in front of them. At least the slower driver always got over.

I'm definitely a fan of driving cultures that emphasize getting over so people can pass. I think that hogging the left lane because maybe at some point you might pass a slow tractor or something is a terrible sin.

But can they get over? Normally what I see is that traffic is so thick that no one can get over. Plus, the person in the left wants to go faster, they just can't because of traffic.

The tailgater is irrational in thinking that if they tailgate that the person in front of them will go faster. Go faster where? There's a whole line of cars in front of them and all around.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the time it’s because people are idiots and/or on their phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, you are not entitled to a clear road free of traffic. The rest of us are adjusting our speed to other cars: you can too.

The point is that on any highway that's not terribly congested, driving properly (using the left lane for passing only) means that NO ONE needs to adjust their speed to other cars. The "drive in the right lane, pass in the left" takes care of that problem entirely! Everyone can drive at their desired speed!

(It's not Ohioans, I learned to drive there. I blame Maryland.)

[Anonymous]

This is frustrating but there is something more frustrating.

When a lane of traffic is blocked in town and people stop way before the closure to try to move over.

This makes the back up so much longer and often messes up the intersection behind you. USE ALL THE SPACE. Proceed to the closure and then zipper into the remaining lane. Yes some people will be jerks about the zipper but two wrongs don’t make a right.