It’s culturally appropriate to flash your lights, but not honking.

Also if you see an 18 wheeler with their turn signal on to come into your lane it’s appropriate to flash your lights so they know it is safe to move into your lane in front of you. Most a-holes speed up because they don’t want to be caught behind a tractor trailer.

All I really care about is what is safest for me, so I drive pretty fast but also defensively. People going slow in the passing lane ime are usually impaired in some way - they’re texting, they’re tired, at a minimum they’re hopelessly stupid. I just wait until I can pass them quickly on the right, with my head up and a hand on the horn for if they start to drift. Just zip past them. If I’m first in line to wait for that opportunity and someone starts tailgating me, I’ll often move over. They can tailgate the slow person. I’m not here to fix or punish other drivers, I just want to get where I’m going quickly and in one piece.

Road manners have vanished. I have people behind me honking and flashing their lights when I’m above the limit in the SLOW lane.

I'm a pretty chill driver and even I get irritated if you honk at me. Culturally, that is never the safest option in the US.

If I see somebody coming up behind me and I can't get over before they reach me (because I'm passing someone else), I may put on my right signal to show I'm trying. But if they roared up out of nowhere I assume they'll pass on my right before I can do anything so I'll just wait it out.

Anonymous wrote:I think capital punishment should be on the table for people who stay in the left lane and drive the same speed or slower than cars in the right lane.

So extreme. You can't be taken seriously.

Tailgating (“being close”) and speeding are far more likely to cause an accident than passing on the right. Your horn is for dangerous situations.

Just pass on the right.

You can’t really control how others drive. You’re not the traffic police. Ignore, stay behind, or go around them. The horn is to alert someone about an impending dangerous situation. Your lights are to allow you to see the road.

Anonymous wrote:Go the speed limit. I can count on one hand when someone has been going below the speed limit in the left lane with open road in front of them.

You don’t get to make up your own traffic rules. Slower-moving traffic in the left lane is required to yield to faster moving traffic. This rule is not constrained by speed limits.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the UK and france where it's very much a given that the far right (or left in the case of the uk) lane is for passing only. If someone sits in that lane then it's entirely acceptable to honk at or flash them to move over. I've noticed that in the US it's not culturally acceptable to do this, so cars 'sit' in the fast lane going too slowly, feeling no social pressure via things like: the car in the lane to their right going at the same speed or faster, or a car behind them being close. As a result, cars pass them on the right which is SO dangerous and results in crashes, deaths.
would it not be better to just honk/ flash than pass dangerously?

Honking is unacceptable and dangerous in that situation. A brief flashing of lights is a normal and accepted way to communicate to the driver that they are going slower and should move right.

People sitting in the left lane is obviously a problem - we all hate those people.

But a much more common problem are the aggressive drivers who tailgate and swerve the first sign of a car in the lane ahead.

The problem culturally is that not all “lane sitters” are built equal. The guy who is going 49 in a 65, is a problem. Hell the guy going 65
In the left lane is a problem.

The guy going 82 in the left lane, is not the problem. It’s the guy who is screaming up behind him at 92, getting six inches from his bumper and then swerving, no signals across two lanes, and shooting past the people in the middle lane, that is the problem.

Don’t be that guy. Use the left lane for passing and if someone is in it, who is not going as fast as you but is still going at or above the speed limit, give them a second to get out of the way. The reason we pass on the left - napoleonic politics aside - is that the driver being passed can see you better.

I think capital punishment should be on the table for people who stay in the left lane and drive the same speed or slower than cars in the right lane.

Go the speed limit. I can count on one hand when someone has been going below the speed limit in the left lane with open road in front of them.

Pretty much that's what you get in VA on every road. Clueless VA drivers going well below the limit seemingly lost in their own area holding everyone up. Just pass them any side you wish. They have no idea what's going on.

I honk but generally people don’t respond. I was behind a car going 45 on 395 southbound. Totally oblivious.

I grew up in the UK and france where it's very much a given that the far right (or left in the case of the uk) lane is for passing only. If someone sits in that lane then it's entirely acceptable to honk at or flash them to move over. I've noticed that in the US it's not culturally acceptable to do this, so cars 'sit' in the fast lane going too slowly, feeling no social pressure via things like: the car in the lane to their right going at the same speed or faster, or a car behind them being close. As a result, cars pass them on the right which is SO dangerous and results in crashes, deaths.
would it not be better to just honk/ flash than pass dangerously?