Left lane squatters

[UncleEd]

Well, you left lane passers all got here in plenty quick time to blow off your saved minutes reading and posting.

 

[rcnixon]

My sister is brilliant--incredibly high IQ, and a very nice woman. But she gets in the left lane, sets her speed five mph below the posted limit, and stays there. I don't ride with her anymore, and I've warned her that there are loonies out there who might force her off the road or shoot her. She won't listen. "It's their problem," she says. I gave up mentioning it years ago. We're a stubborn family. Apparently we have a streak of insanity too.

New Jersey has too many faults to list (I am a native) but "keep right except to pass" used to be pretty strictly enforced.

Russ

 

[joeintexas]

The only time it really bothers me is when someone in the left lane is going slower than the flow of traffic and people are passing them on the right, can't be a very safe situation for anyone. Can't say I have ever considered shooting anyone over it though. Actually, if someone in the left hand lane poking along is the worse thing that happens to me today then I had a pretty good day.

 

[BigCityChief]

^I'm with you, joeintexas.^


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[imashooter2]

Must be nice to live where both lanes aren't an endless line of cars 10 feet apart.

 

[Smoke]

Repost from a different thread on the same topic

I used to make a point of letting other drivers know I thought they were idiots when they did something I didn't approve of on the road.

Then one day I pissed off the wrong meth head and he chased me halfway through Tacoma trying to run me off I 5. He got ahead of me about 2 exits north of Ft. Lewis and started slamming on his brakes to try to get me to rear end him.

I waited till he passed the next exit and then I took it. He proceeded to drive up the embankment to continue the chase. I pulled into a gas station and made it inside before he got there. The only reason he didn't kill me is because as he walked in the door of the station the attendant came out from behind the counter with a baseball bat.

When the Tacoma PD showed up I gave them a complete description of him and his vehicle including license plate and the attendant corroborated my story (at least as much as he saw) the police refused to even bother following up on it.

The point to this story is if you trifle with people you don't know long enough you will eventually win what I like to call the Psycho Lottery and run into someone like this.

If I see someone driving like that in the passing lane I go around them and let it go.

 

[finesse_r]

It is a passing lane when traffic allows. When traffic is near bumper to bumper in both lanes it is just another lane. Just when the traffic becomes heavy enough to justify the full use of both lanes is a little gray area and requires some judgement.

Also remember over 50 million people immigrated to this nation as adults in the last few decades, either legally or illegally and they did not get high school driver education nor were they taught the rules of the road as children.

Add to that the migration of people from NYC and Chicago where many of them never learn to drive or own cars and you have tens of millions of poorly educated drivers on our over crowed highways. That is in addition to the drunks, drug addicts, texters, the truly stupid, and our own just don't give a blank bunch. So be careful out there on those highways.

It is not like it was when you were driving that 57 Chevy down the Gulf freeway or some other nearly empty highway.

All the overcrowding and stress from poor driving habits has left a ton of short tempered folks on our highways and some of them are about ready to explode. I suggest you not light their fuse.

 

[jbull380]

I guess it takes something a little more substantial to rile me up. I don't get what what the big deal is. I've been a member of one forum or another since 2003 or so and without fail this topic comes up and almost causes digital virtual homicide. Makes for an entertaining read.

 

[Rastoff]

Must be nice to live where both lanes aren't an endless line of cars 10 feet apart.

This is one reason I live where I do. Not a lot of traffic. Still, I run into these idiots every day.

I live in the mountains. Mountain driving means lots of twisty roads. The freeway is designed so that traffic can travel the speed limit even with the curves, on clear sunny days. Where you need to slow down it is usually marked. That doesn't matter. They still drive in the left lane, refuse to move over and are constantly on the brakes when a corner comes up; which is regular.

 

[mbliss57]

I sympathize with your original position that people should use the left hand lane of a 4 lane or larger highway for higher speeds and for passing. I would much prefer to see a law passed against people that "get behind them and flash their lights, even if the right lane is open." The first is ignorance or passive aggressive behavior and not good. However your behavior is actively aggressive, and far more reprehensible, especially when you have an empty right lane and all you have to do is pass them. I hope you don't carry concealed with a temper like that.

That is one way road rage incidents get started. People who find a minorly bad situation and escalate it to the next level.

I most strongly disagree. The law is very clear that muti-lane highways have a left lane for Passing Only. Failure for a driver to ignore/ disobey the law is not passive aggressive. It is aggressive and against the law. The law is also clear it is illegal to pass a vehicle on the right. So let's not go all soft hearted for law breaking people you call passive aggressive. They need to be ticketed (as in Europe). Flashing your lights is not aggressive it is using your right to warn them that they are in violation of the law and need to comply. Blowing your horn is no longer allowed. The lights are a quiet solution and an international signal of that violation.
The slow poke/ law breaking driver (passive aggressive as you call them) is the guilty party. It's high time the US highways got these people educated in driver etiquette / law compliance so all can drive without road rage and with order and decency.

 

[Squarebutt]

And how about the folks that zoom down the ramp and expect you to move over instantly so they can have your spot? I see it more here in the northeast. They get peeved when I look straight ahead and ignore them.

 

[Stubborn Dutchman]

Signs are only effective if people read them (and heed them)!!

I must have missed that sign once. Back in 1965 I was driving on the thruway
in upstate N.Y. on my way to Basic Submarine School at New London. Anyway, about 2:00 a.m. I passed a car. The road was mostly deserted that late and I was a little slow moving back over into the right hand lane. Just my luck, a state trooper pulled me over and gave me a ticket for "failure to keep right". I was hoping the Navy uniform would have got me off but he wasn't about to give me a break. At least he was polite about it.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

When you pass the slower driver on the right, pull in front of the vehicle, slow down and use that moment to clean your windshield. This also works for tailgaters.

In Louisiana, driving in the right lane is required except to pass in the left. There is an exception in congested areas like large cities.

I have encountered situations where while in the left lane, there was no room to move over to the right lane. I will move to the right when I am no longer passing traffic on the right.

 

[hoosierone]

Remember when you are using the right lane to pass a mindless putz be careful that said putz doesn't decide just then to move over. I've seen it.

Also, IMO hitting your windshield washers is an act of aggression. I've been well behind people who are putzing along, waiting to get a chance to pass them and they give me the washer treatment. Good way to get a road rage incident going if you do it to someone not as forgiving as me.

 

[Smoke]

I'm sorry but what exactly does hitting your windshield washers do to affect the guy behind you?

I mean I get it he gets a spritz but if something that miniscule causes him to rage out on you he was going to anyway

 

[Smithpride]

Get the heck out of the left lane unless passing. Also, don't forget that some going fast may be off-duty or undercover law enforcement responding to a situation. There are a lot of those in Texas.
Also, someone may be having a true emergency. Where we live there is no ambulance service, so my wife or I's first choice is to scoop and go 25 miles to the nearest hospital if possible. You can dang bet we'll be speeding to get there.

 

[BearBio]

And how about the folks that zoom down the ramp and expect you to move over instantly so they can have your spot? I see it more here in the northeast. They get peeved when I look straight ahead and ignore them.

Any major city: L.A., Seattle, Spokane, etc.

 

[the ringo kid]

This has been something that has thoroughly pissed me off for the last 50 years or so. I have often fantasized about keeping a box of ball bearings on the seat next to me, and then when I finally get past the slow left lane driver, casually dropping the bearings out the window. I've never done it but I dream about how nice it would feel as I would watch their windshields shatter and them pulling off the road in disbelief.

BBs are cheaper and more plentiful and--you cant get much of a fingerprint off them to do any investigation any good. Anyway, they can cause more minor but most irritating damages too.

 

[the ringo kid]

I'm sorry but what exactly does hitting your windshield washers do to affect the guy behind you?

I mean I get it he gets a spritz but if something that miniscule causes him to rage out on you he was going to anyway

I dont know if this is what the Op means but--the car behind you will get some residue from the windshiels washer liquid..

 

[RobertJ.]

As an ex- driver ed. instructor, I've followed this thread with some amusement.

I've concluded that the speed limit is the most widely ignored law in this country. I've seen fuzzbuster discussions right here on this forum. Now what kind of a law abiding citizens need one of those? How many participating in this discussion regularly drive faster that the posted limit?

If everyone followed the speed limit, the conflict would almost end. But that's not likely, now is it?