Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads of the Washington area every rush hour, how many tickets get handed out for driving "too slow" in the left lane or staying in the left lane when the right lane is open? I'm going to guess the number is about zero per year. It does not seem to be a priority for the police.

The cops should seriously start ticketing cars blocking intersections, especially during rush hour. This is a very real thing that creates more traffic back-up than necessary. There's a social cost to this selfishness and it would be a great source of revenue for the states.

OH YES. This would go a long way toward alleviating stress at rush hour. I don't understand why they don't do this. They could write 50 at a single intersection in an hour. At $100 each that would be $5,000. I'd even be in favor of cops with a handheld camera & mail the ticket so they wouldn't have to hold up traffic.

In McLean we have two very busy intersections where gridlocking happens daily from 3:30 - 6:00. Everything has been exacerbated by the Hot Lane construction and building in Tysons. After sitting through two light changes because no one could cross the intersection due to gridlocked cars, I wrote our Supervisor and asked that the police be posted out there during rush hour and just hand out ticket after ticket to the gridlocking cars as was done in the 80s in NYC (completely eradicated the problem). I was told that the presence of a police car created even more disruption at the intersection. I countered with the logical response - so park a motorcycle. Hide the cruiser. Do it just for one week so all the commuters going through these intersections understand they will get big tickets if they gridlock. No response.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people need to learn to use your horn. Shame the ones that are so blatantly inconsiderate to others. Easy.

No, somehow, I don't think this is much of a deterrent as getting $200 ticket in the mail with a photo of you sitting in the middle of the intersection with a rush hour time stamp. Additional infractions will incur higher fines and then license revocation. Right now, there is no punishment. I'm not a fan of California, but with the sheer numbers of cars there, you don't see cars blocking the intersection when the light changes - ever!

PP. Because you get fined with big kid numbers $$.

Anonymous wrote:You people need to learn to use your horn. Shame the ones that are so blatantly inconsiderate to others. Easy.

No, somehow, I don't think this is much of a deterrent as getting $200 ticket in the mail with a photo of you sitting in the middle of the intersection with a rush hour time stamp. Additional infractions will incur higher fines and then license revocation. Right now, there is no punishment. I'm not a fan of California, but with the sheer numbers of cars there, you don't see cars blocking the intersection when the light changes - ever!

If you think the south is more polite, you need to get out more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed on a recent trip to NC, drivers did use the left lane for passing and move to the right if you came up behind them. When I drive north thru Jersey and NY, drivers tend to park themselves in the left lane at 60 mph. Maybe southern drivers are more polite and mindful of this, but around here, forget it.

OP here, where my mom lives in upstate NY, people move for other drivers, too.

I wish VA would post signs along the left lane - "slower traffic move right"

I love driving in Upstate NY. People move over for you, they don't ride your ass, and they don't pass on the right. And they can drive in the snow too!

I went to Colgate and this is so, so true.

You people need to learn to use your horn. Shame the ones that are so blatantly inconsiderate to others. Easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads of the Washington area every rush hour, how many tickets get handed out for driving "too slow" in the left lane or staying in the left lane when the right lane is open? I'm going to guess the number is about zero per year. It does not seem to be a priority for the police.

The cops should seriously start ticketing cars blocking intersections, especially during rush hour. This is a very real thing that creates more traffic back-up than necessary. There's a social cost to this selfishness and it would be a great source of revenue for the states.

OH YES. This would go a long way toward alleviating stress at rush hour. I don't understand why they don't do this. They could write 50 at a single intersection in an hour. At $100 each that would be $5,000. I'd even be in favor of cops with a handheld camera & mail the ticket so they wouldn't have to hold up traffic.

Anonymous wrote:Considering the hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads of the Washington area every rush hour, how many tickets get handed out for driving "too slow" in the left lane or staying in the left lane when the right lane is open? I'm going to guess the number is about zero per year. It does not seem to be a priority for the police.

The cops should seriously start ticketing cars blocking intersections, especially during rush hour. This is a very real thing that creates more traffic back-up than necessary. There's a social cost to this selfishness and it would be a great source of revenue for the states.

The best drivers I've ever seen were in Turkey, where there is a complete lack of lane discipline. I'll never forget two incidents when I was driving there.

The first one was when I pulled up to an intersection with a light. I was the first or second person there, and stopped behind the line in the middle of my lane. Then a car pulled up in the lane next to me. Then a scooter pulled between us. Then a third car pulled up to the right of the car next to me, on the shoulder. Then two scooters and a motorcycle pulled up on my left and another one on my right. Then a car came to a stop behind me, but crossing my lane and the next one. This continued until it was a complete jam up. But miraculously, when the light turned we all went, and it was fine.

The second one was on a 6-lane highway with no divider, when I was on a steep downhill that was leading to a steep uphill. As I was traveling downhill at 60 mph in the middle lane with moderate traffic around me, there was a buggy of some sort coming the opposite direction in what, for him, was the right lane, also going steeply downhill. He was going maybe 25 mph. A bus was overtaking in the oncoming middle lane, going maybe 40, with cars driving in the oncoming left lane, at maybe 50-55 mph. Suddenly a second bus starts to pass the first one, forcing the car traffic over the middle line into my left lane. Then one of the cars in that lane decides to pass, with the oncoming traffic now 5-abreast on a 6-lane highway. I had no escape route to the right and we're hurtling toward eachother at 100+mph (not to mention that there's also traffic on my left. I thought we were going to die. But the passing car was really zipping, as was the bus, and everyone got by and moved over without incident.

I was there for 6 weeks, and came to appreciate that the Turks were stone cold paying attention, driving as if their lives depended on it because they did. I never saw a single accident, and what people did was far more predictable, once you got into the mind set that there are no rules other than every man for himself.

Whether or not it is a priority for the police does not give you a right to take your penis troubles out on the rest of us.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads of the Washington area every rush hour, how many tickets get handed out for driving "too slow" in the left lane or staying in the left lane when the right lane is open? I'm going to guess the number is about zero per year. It does not seem to be a priority for the police.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because youre holding up traffic being a rules lawyer. If you'd just move aside to the right and let the speed demons pass, you can hop right back over and continue to put-put down the road in peace.

But isn't the "rule" that you should always drive on the right if there is room to. That is, if the highway was empty you should be driving in the right lane. I thought you could be ticketed (in some state at least) for driving on the left when the rest of the road is empty.

A PP mentioned Europe. In most of Europe its taught that way and you can be ticketed for blocking the fast lane.

When I was in California, I heard that if you at going to slow for the conditions/speed limit and holding up 5+ cars, you can be ticketed.

... ...are going too slow for the conditions ....