Why do you REFUSE to pass left/drive right?

[Anonymous]

I noticed this on I-95 when I did that commute from DC to Mannassas. Helluva drive.

Anyway, plenty of people seemed to do drive too slowly in the left lane, but dispropirtionately it appeared to be folks from countries where there are no such cultural norms for driving. I'm thinking most of Central America, where driving speeds vary depending on the desires of the driver and the condition of the car -- not which lane or side of the road you're on.

Made me crazy when I just wanted a fast commute to work!

[Anonymous]

SAM2 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is how I feel exactly. If I am actively passing cars in the right lane, and I'm not going to stick myself behind one of them because you want to go 80 and I'm only going 70. I am aware that you want to drive faster (you make it perfectly clear) and as soon as I have an opportunity to move over without getting stuck behind someone going slower than me, I will! Until then, wait your turn!

I can understand it if you're driving 65 and actively trying to pass someone who's doing 60. In that situation, I'm happy to wait my turn -- I'll slow down from 70 to 65, wait for you to pass the other car, and let you move over to the right to let me by. But I often see people driving 65 who are in the left lane, and slooooooowwwwly creeping up to pass a car that's doing 64 in the right lane, while huge lines form behind you. If you're in that situation, I think you need to be a little more active in your passing to justify sitting in the left lane.

I've gotten used to flashing my lights at left-lane squatters, but only about half of them will move to the right even then.

Is there some law I'm missing that indicates the speed limit for the left lane is above 55 mph in area with a 55 mph speed limit? And how many cars do you have to pass before you are just traveling in the left lane?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord does this bug me! I'm from PA and we have a law on the books that you can't obstruct passing in the left lane that's actually enforced in a lot of places(!). Hence, on PA-driver laden roads, you get a lot of people sticking right like they are supposed to, and highway driving is a pleasure. (I-99, I-80).

Sadly, on roads like the turnpike and I-70, there are a lot of Maryland drivers who don't follow this rule AT ALL. Drives me nuts now that I'm a MD-er, because I don't want the PA drivers to assume I'm clueless like the rest of them because of my license plate!

I wish the cops would enforce this law a little more. And heck, I'm sure that MD and VA have similar laws on the books. Wouldn't it be great if people were actually considerate on the roads? Oh, to dream!

And I wish that the police would give more tickets to people traveling at 60 mph on a 55 mph road. I guess we can both just dream.

[SAM2]

Anonymous wrote:Is there some law I'm missing that indicates the speed limit for the left lane is above 55 mph in area with a 55 mph speed limit? And how many cars do you have to pass before you are just traveling in the left lane?

Well, I'm thinking of I-95 north of DC, where the speed limit is 65, not 55. But regardless, I don't see what the speed limit has to do with anything here. My frustration with left-lane squatters has nothing to do with what the law allows or doesn't allow. Yes, I suppose you're within your legal rights to drive even 45 mph (10 miles below the speed limit) in the left lane. But that's a jackass move to block other cars. And it's still a jackass move no matter whether you or the other cars are going below or above the speed limit. Would it kill you to show some common courtesy and let other cars pass?

It's very similar to how some people get on the Metro and just stop right inside the doors, blocking everyone else behind them from getting onto the train. Just like you in the left lane of the highway, there's no law requiring those Metro riders to move to the center of the car, and I suppose they're within their legal rights to stop and stand wherever they want. But they're still being inconsiderate jerks when they do that.

Please don't be that person. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Well I think it is a jackass move to go 20 mph over the speed limit.

[SAM2]

Anonymous wrote:Well I think it is a jackass move to go 20 mph over the speed limit.

Fair enough -- so do I. But where we conflict is when you (or someone like you) sits in the left lane and appoints yourself the queen of what the "appropriate" speed limit should be for everyone else to follow. Should it be the posted speed limit exactly? 5 miles over? 5 miles under? Why don't I get to decide what's the appropriate speed?

If you sit in the left lane and force everyone to maneuver around you, you're creating a more dangerous situation than those people who are just driving faster than you are.

[Anonymous]

My girlfriends and I were driving up to NYC for a girls weekend. My friend, who was driving, was just driving down the left lane the entire way (it was like 12am, so the highway was empty). Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore, and I asked why she was driving in the left.

Her response? "I always drive in the left lane. Is that wrong?"

She had no idea that people drive right and pass left! No idea! She grew up here, been driving here for 15 yrs, took drivers ed with me in high school, yet had no idea that it was frowned upon to cruise in the left lane.

I guess some people really don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drives me crazy. It is jerky behavior, as if to prove a point. I'm going 55 (or whatever) and I set the rules.

PP said the cars in the left lane were doing 60. Given the driver culture in the area, that means they were probably going 65. The cars "stacked up behind" were probably doing 70+.

While it may look like the driver in the left lane going 5 mph over the speed limit thinks "I set the rules", it's actually the fact that we as a society set the rules. What's the posted speed limit through there, anyway? Got a problem with the law? Write your congressperson.

[Anonymous]

SAM2 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I think it is a jackass move to go 20 mph over the speed limit.

Fair enough -- so do I. But where we conflict is when you (or someone like you) sits in the left lane and appoints yourself the queen of what the "appropriate" speed limit should be for everyone else to follow. Should it be the posted speed limit exactly? 5 miles over? 5 miles under? Why don't I get to decide what's the appropriate speed?

What should the upper limit of the speed of cars on the road be? Should it be the posted speed limit?

Um... Yes.

Jesus, have we really come to this point in society? It's no wonder we've got douchey assholes doing 15 mph faster than the posted limit in my residential neighborhood past the kids trying to walk to school in the morning. After all, who on Earth gets to decide these things?

[SAM2]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drives me crazy. It is jerky behavior, as if to prove a point. I'm going 55 (or whatever) and I set the rules.

While it may look like the driver in the left lane going 5 mph over the speed limit thinks "I set the rules", it's actually the fact that we as a society set the rules. What's the posted speed limit through there, anyway? Got a problem with the law? Write your congressperson.

Right, but we as a society also assign the police to enforce that law; we did not elect you to the highway patrol. Got a problem with someone you think is driving too fast? Call the police.

[Anonymous]

SAM2 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drives me crazy. It is jerky behavior, as if to prove a point. I'm going 55 (or whatever) and I set the rules.

While it may look like the driver in the left lane going 5 mph over the speed limit thinks "I set the rules", it's actually the fact that we as a society set the rules. What's the posted speed limit through there, anyway? Got a problem with the law? Write your congressperson.

Right, but we as a society also assign the police to enforce that law; we did not elect you to the highway patrol. Got a problem with someone you think is driving too fast? Call the police.

Got a problem with someone that's stealing a purse? Don't trip 'em up; call the police!

[Anonymous]

Ohhh...this is a serious pet peeve of mine as well. The GW parkway IMO is the WORST. I don't mind (as much) the drivers in the left lane who are going a bit over the speed limit cruising along (as long as the go over to the right lane if somebody comes up behind them), but what I HATE are the left lane drivers who are going the EXACT SAME SPEED as the driver in the right lane. So you can't pass them at all. This just pisses me off.

I don't know what it is about the GW Parkway, but people are seriously in la-la land while driving on it. PLEASE PEOPLE - some of us live off the parkway and use it to commute!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ohhh...this is a serious pet peeve of mine as well. The GW parkway IMO is the WORST. I don't mind (as much) the drivers in the left lane who are going a bit over the speed limit cruising along (as long as the go over to the right lane if somebody comes up behind them), but what I HATE are the left lane drivers who are going the EXACT SAME SPEED as the driver in the right lane. So you can't pass them at all. This just pisses me off.

I don't know what it is about the GW Parkway, but people are seriously in la-la land while driving on it. PLEASE PEOPLE - some of us live off the parkway and use it to commute!

Ok, I have to admit, I do this *all* the time. heh.

The posted speed limit through here in some spots is, what, 45 mph? You've got cyclsts and joggers trying to cross the road, but drivers are going 20-30 mph over the speed limit, and blowing through crosswalks. And of course, there's no police presence whatsoever. The solution?

Rolling Citizen's Roadblock! w00t!

[SAM2]

OK, I think I understand now why some people choose to squat in the left lane blocking traffic -- they consider it their responsibility and right to police the speed limit for others, and will refuse to get out of the left lane no matter how much traffic they are blocking. Thanks for the education; I had not realized people think like this.

Here's my plan: Next time I manage to get around one of these people refusing to leave the left lane, I will maneuver back into the left lane just in front of them. And then I will put on my flashers, and slow down (gradually and safely, of course) until they are forced to move over into the right lane where I think they belong. I consider myself completely justified in doing this, because I am promoting public safety for everyone.

[Anonymous]

SAM2 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there some law I'm missing that indicates the speed limit for the left lane is above 55 mph in area with a 55 mph speed limit? And how many cars do you have to pass before you are just traveling in the left lane?

Well, I'm thinking of I-95 north of DC, where the speed limit is 65, not 55. But regardless, I don't see what the speed limit has to do with anything here. My frustration with left-lane squatters has nothing to do with what the law allows or doesn't allow. Yes, I suppose you're within your legal rights to drive even 45 mph (10 miles below the speed limit) in the left lane. But that's a jackass move to block other cars. And it's still a jackass move no matter whether you or the other cars are going below or above the speed limit. Would it kill you to show some common courtesy and let other cars pass?

this is some pretty entertaining verbal ju-jitsu.

PP is talking explicitly about folks who drive the speed limit in the left lane. (which I almost never see. usually it's someone doing 5+ faster than the posted limit, but not quite the 15-20+ you and the others would like). so you change the venue: now we're not talking about roads w/ a speed limit of 55, but of 65. And now you try to shift the focus to people doing 45 mph in the left lane on an interstate with a posted speed of 65.

that's a fanciful scenario...

Anyway, in my experience, the road-ragers like yourself are pissed off, not because a car in the left lane is going slower than the (upper) speed limit. Or even that the car in the left lane is going *at* the speed limit.

You guys are pissed off that the car in the left lane is *speeding*--often by a singificant factor--just not speeding quite fast enough for you. It's hilarious, BTW. Oftentimes, that driver in the left lane *is* passing cars to their right--just not with the total disregard for everyone's safety that you guys would like.

And when you come up, roaring on their bumper, flashing your lights, of course I'm going to take my sweet time getting out of your impulse-control challenged tantrum-throwing way. You say it makes you incredibly angry? Well, that's not really a shock.

I'll let you in on a secret: usually that's the whole point.