Rant: Keep Right Except to Pass?

[PaPa34]

Or the right lane apparently !

Slow down, enjoy the trip. Driving is not a competitive sport, at least not on the highways.

The left lane is considered to be a traffic lane - not a passing lane - in many if not all states. Someone who is doing the speed limit in the left lane is under no obligation to get out of your way.

Similarly I was stopped by a trooper a couple of years ago for moving over into the left lane to allow a vehicle to enter the interstate. He was "very" intent on making sure I understood that it was "not" my responsibility to aid another driver's access to the roadway and if he saw me do it again he would ticket me for it.
I guess courtesy is sometimes a matter of perception !

 

[Noah Zark]

Similarly I was stopped by a trooper a couple of years ago for moving over into the left lane to allow a vehicle to enter the interstate. He was "very" intent on making sure I understood that it was "not" my responsibility to aid another driver's access to the roadway and if he saw me do it again he would ticket me for it.
I guess courtesy is sometimes a matter of perception !

I would have made it clear in no uncertain terms that you were driving defensively. The reason lies in the answer to the question: "Why do state and local governments waste $$$ installing "Yield" signs?" Answer: Because 99% of drivers either do not know the meaning of "Yield", or they drive with empty yield fluid reservoirs in their vehicles.

Noah

 

[Beemerguy53]

Last week drove from PA to TN and back on bidness and had to travel between Cincinnati to Youngstown, OH on the way both directions, on Interstates 71, 76, and 80.

No offense, but why izzit that many (not all, but a fair percentage) of folks in the great state of OH do not abide by the rule to keep right except to pass? I wish I had $10 for every "left lane bandit" that felt compelled to drag race whatever vehicle was in the right lane for MILES.

I was taught to "get out, get the job done, and get back over" when I was a driving student in the late 60s. And it's not like I tear up the pavement speeding, either. I set the cruise about 68 in a 65.

It seems as if the OH Highway Patrol is missing out on a revenue source by concentrating on speeding and not stopping folks for failure to keep right except to pass for dozens of miles.

Nothing personal against OH residents. I used to be one. My beef is the behavior.

As you were.

Noah

Great rant, Noah...but be glad you don't live here in the Peoples' Republic of Maryland!

In Maryland, the left lane of a divided highway is reserved exclusively for the use of:

1. SUVs driven by soccer moms talking on their cell phones, driving at 5 mph under the posted limit.

2. 90 year-old "snowbirds" heading to or from their winter homes on Florida, driving 10 mph under the posted limit.

3. Passive-aggressive nitwits who delight in angering other drivers by driving at exactly the posted speed limit.

In Germany, they have a word for inconsiderate drivers who hog the left lane...it translates in English to "pedestrian"...

 

[jims69camaro]

Actually the problem would be solved if they just made interstates with three lanes [...] I know I'm in the left lane and I'll get over as soon as I can-but when I'm doing 75, you're tail gating me, and I'm trying to pass a line of cars doing 55-60, I'm NOT going to get over just to let you pass me. [...]

if this were the solution, then we wouldn't have any problems in NJ with people failing to keep right. most major arteries are at least 3 lanes wide. the problem is that people get into a lane and then stay there - regardless of their speed or effect on traffic around them.

me, personally, i do not like to be in the left lane and only use it if there is no other option. LEOs like to sit in the center and use their radar to clock you. i'd much rather be in the right lane, furthest from the center, and cruise along. since the morons don't use the right lane except to enter and exit the highway, it usually is clear of traffic and i am camouflaged by the other drivers if i choose to exceed the speed limit.

i honestly don't know what the solution is. but you might as well stop having people study the driver manual since they forget all that they learned as soon as they get their license. the best part about this situation is when LEOs actually enforce the law and write tickets - boy, to the recipients froth at the mouth, "doesn't he have real crime to solve, why did he write me a ticket for something that 'everyone' does?" shut up and pay the fine, moron.

 

[NFrameFred]

Slow down, enjoy the trip. Driving is not a competitive sport, at least not on the highways.

The left lane is considered to be a traffic lane - not a passing lane - in many if not all states. Someone who is doing the speed limit in the left lane is under no obligation to get out of your way.

This may be the law in some states but I find the attitude self-centered and somewhat arrogant. While we are not "obligated" to do many things in society the application of a bit of common sense and manners makes things work well for everyone. If I'm in the left lane and someone obviously is in more of a hurry than I, I simply move over at the first opportunity and let them have the road. I don't feel the need to be everybody else's conscience and 'police' the roads I'm on to regulate the traffic around me. And in many states the law IS that slower traffic keep to the right and it is recognized that passing many times involves going a bit faster than the "speed limit". There are a lot more to the dynamics of the safe flow of traffic, especially on interstate highways, than doing the 'speed limit'. The increased glut of big rig trucks on the interstates and their monopolization of all available lanes in hilly country in some states immediately comes to mind.

 

[gunlovingirl]

In Nashville, the left lane is the right turn lane, and vice versa!

 

[DeadAye]

Years ago I was driving from Norfolk, VA to Whiteville, TN and back every other weekend. Took 14 hours, almost to the minute, EVERY TIME. I had a Dodge pick-up. I also had a CB WalkieTalkie for these trips.
At some point we needed some tools on the job - the tools were in Memphis. I live near Memphis, so I volunteered (it's a Tennessee thing ). I flew to Memphis and rented a car to go back. The WT wouldn't work from inside the car so I stopped at a Radio Shack and bought an outside antenna and put it on the trunk of my rental car - A white Grand Marquis...
I had the left lane all to myself all the way back to Norfolk! Cars and trucks would move over to the right way up there. The trip took 11 hours! Three hours faster, just from not waiting on TheLeftLaners!
I now own my very own white Grand Marquis with several antennas on it (I'm a ham radio operator). I've had it for about 5 years now, and it still works great!!!

 

[enfield]

This may be the law in some states but I find the attitude self-centered and somewhat arrogant. While we are not "obligated" to do many things in society the application of a bit of common sense and manners makes things work well for everyone. If I'm in the left lane and someone obviously is in more of a hurry than I, I simply move over at the first opportunity and let them have the road. I don't feel the need to be everybody else's conscience and 'police' the roads I'm on to regulate the traffic around me. And in many states the law IS that slower traffic keep to the right and it is recognized that passing many times involves going a bit faster than the "speed limit". There are a lot more to the dynamics of the safe flow of traffic, especially on interstate highways, than doing the 'speed limit'. The increased glut of big rig trucks on the interstates and their monopolization of all available lanes in hilly country in some states immediately comes to mind.

Yeah, I'm self-centered and arrogant. I'm not alone.

There are no exceptions to the speed limit when you're passing. Ask a cop.

I'm not going to duck into a line of trucks doing 55 in the right lane to let some nitwit doing 80 pass me.

Also, when I'm tailgated, I slow down.

 

[BarbC]

I ALWAYS let the folks doing 80 pass me. They're my radar detectors.

 

[enfield]

I don't need a radar detector - I set the cruise control at 3 to 5 over and enjoy the trip.

 

[feralmerril]

In my part of the country we dont seem to have THAT big of a problem that you all are talking about with cars. I notice it more with the 18 wheelers. They are good at getting side by side to pass and finding out they aint got the beans in this high mountain country. I literaly have seen them block traffic for five miles or so, straining to pass the other at about a half a mph faster than the other! We live off I 15 probley one of the best known routes for truckers nation wide. The very worst is those rental trucks that people get to relocate on the cheap and dont know how to drive. About three weeks ago I had one block traffic a good 12 miles. I wanted to pull him over and choke him out!

 

[FirebirdV8]

Letting faster cars pass on the left is at the least a courtesy and in AZ is the law. We still have the slower vehicles move right signs. Alot of them are on I17 N going up "the hill" from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Just trying to maintain the speed limit is a big enough challenge when you run across someone who feels it is their right to go 10 under and block traffic for the 10 cars behind them.

 

[BruceM]

Hey enfield, I know what you're talking about. I mean, what the hell, posted speed limits are merely suggestions anyway and the left lane is mislabeled because "everybody" knows that it's really for unlimited velocity travel. We also know that everybody's right to speed trumps others right to obey the limits-rationalizing it by using the "left lane is for faster traffic" justification.

Our friend who does 26 miles every day on the Illinois Tri-State should relate what the posted speed limit is on that stretch. Clue: the max is 55 mph but the majority in the sprawling metro area is actually 50 mph although you'd never know that by casual observation.

In a perfect world where everybody travels uncongested multi-lane highways, the keep right rule makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, for the majority of us, driving habits are formed based on what we do most-traveling urban multi-lane freeway systems where multiple lane are provided for moving large volumes of traffic and not for expediting passing maneuvers of those in the conga line on the right.

I actually sympathize with those who cuss the "homesteading left lane lewy's" who get out there going slower than posted limits or have the speedo needle glued right on it when they could be over to the right. That said, those who decide to break the rules by going 10, 15 or more mph over posed limits and then cuss those who don't get the hell out of their way because they're breaking the "keep to the right" rule-well, at that point, the rule is there ain't no rules and those who choose to do that are on their own. Or possibly they feel that they can selectively follow which rules they want-sort of like my son's selective memory loss.

Incidentally, why do they call them FIB's-it's their attitude.



Bruce

 

[viceunit]

As an OH resident I know exactly what you mean. Those left lane riders are probably the same ones who enter the freeway on the entrance ramp doing 35 mph trying to blend in with 65 mph traffic. They have no sense of the efficient flow of traffic.

 

[Strato]

Like Caj said, when I get around the cars I'm passing I'll get over. Getting 2 inches from my bumper at 80+ won't make me go faster but it could be a good time for a brake check. I think a lot of states stopped enforcing "left lane for passing only" when the stats were reported on how many accidents were caused by lane changes.

 

[WR Moore]

It's too easy to get a drivers license in this country. Besides those peeves mentioned:

The idiots who believe they have a devine right to a lane when using an entrance ramp. [Had one in my blind spot while driving our big horse van and almost put him into a bridge abutment until he realized I couldn't see him.]

The ones who either ignore a turn signal (Clue: the big rig is gonna come over, regardless!) or drive for miles with theirs on.

The folks who fail to accelerate when using on ramps, or worse, stop at the end looking for a slot in traffic.

 

[mtgianni]

I don't need a radar detector - I set the cruise control at 3 to 5 over and enjoy the trip.

In MT in a 75 MPH interstate most MHP ticket at 8-10 over. The exception is the gang of 5 which will ticket @ 2 -4 over and float around the State. I am still frequently passed by out of State plates when I cruise @80. I will flash my lights and curse the drivers going down the Continental Divide at 50 in the left lane [posted 75] and there are more than a few.

 

[DeadAye]

Lead - Follow - Or Get Out Of The Way

You never know why that guy is going 90! He might be a bit cranked up because you won't get out of his way so that he can get the kid in the back seat to a hospital before the peanut he ate actually kills him.
He probably isn't though - So stay in his way. Heck - It ain't your kid anyway.

I'm from NW IN - My wife's family is from here. My brother-in-law was driving and just flat wouldn't move over to let an ambulance (lights & sirens on a 2 lane curvy road) by. *I got just as much right to be on this road as they do* was his opinion. He moved over when I pointed out that at least I KNEW FOR A FACT they weren't trying to save MY mom's life.

THINK PEOPLE!!!

 

[Strato]

Lead - Follow - Or Get Out Of The Way

You never know why that guy is going 90! He might be a bit cranked up because you won't get out of his way so that he can get the kid in the back seat to a hospital before the peanut he ate actually kills him.
He probably isn't though - So stay in his way. Heck - It ain't your kid anyway.

No, it's the same idiots every day driving with their seat so far back they can barely see over the dash, thinking they have the right to go 30 over the limit and that the world has to get out of their way. I get as mad as anyone at slow cars in the fast lane but when I'm already speeding to get around slower traffic I'll be out of the way soon enough. In the meantime stay off my bumper. If someone wants to endanger their own life that's fine, but don't drag me into it.

 

[dacoontz]

You guys have no idea how bad it could be. Come here to Utah sometime for the worst left lane drivers in the country. This state is infamous for this.