One man's message to left-lane slow pokes

King 5 News ^ | Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | KEELY CHALMERS / KGW.com and KING5.com Staff

[deks]

Could you tell me more about this “obstruction of vision” violation? Is it new...I searched the Virginia DMV site and could not find anything about it. I have some decals on my windshield and I cannot afford a huge fine like that.

[Lijahsbubbe]

I have no problem whatsoever changing lanes if I am in the left lane and not going fast enough for someone. If I’m not in a hurry, I’ll drive the speed limit or go with the flow of traffic in the right lane.

However, I’ve noticed it’s getting out of control with people tailing me in the RIGHT lane. It’s so bad that my ninteen year old stopped taking the freeway on the way to work because people tailed her constantly.

[Grunthor]

I’m willing to except the consequences.

Are they?

[cherry]

I hate that too...here you are going over the speed limit and they want you to go even faster.....I 'm not doing it.....

but I hate the most is when you have 2 drivers side by side, each going the exact same speed, and nobody can get by anybody......

dolts......I don't think they do in on purpose its just that people are so oblivious to the rules of the road.....that, or they're almost always on their cell phone.....

[theDentist]

Left lanes are for slow pickups and SUVs, no kidding.

Is that the law, or just how it's turned out?

[elkfersupper]

instead of trying to preserve a neighborhood, instead of putting in the effort to fight for where they grew up, people would just move farter and farther out.

"Smart Growth" is U.N. Agenda 21.

Nice to see proponents of that trash on Free Republic.

[Lady Jag]

I asked as a Mass. conservative who is increasingly stupified by Bay Staters’ behavior and is planning on escaping the asylum.

[garyhope]

Wouldn’t work in Texas, too many fast pickups being driven by cowboys and cowgirls with guns.

Or is that too many pickups being driven too fast or at least fast.

[garyhope]

“but I hate the most is when you have 2 drivers side by side, each going the exact same speed, and nobody can get by anybody......

dolts......I don’t think they do in on purpose its just that people are so oblivious to the rules of the road.....that, or they’re almost always on their cell phone...”

True, many slow drivers in the way are on their cell phones.

More people should use their rear view mirrors. More people should just get out of the way.

[Lady Jag]

Nothing to do with legislations, the driving pattern has turned itself around somehow.

At first I thought it was passive-aggressive behavior, big SUVs and the bigger pickups would slow left lane driving to less than the limit and line up with other slow drivers to create rolling road blocks. Eventually, most vehicles drifted to the left lanes to the point where the right lane can be empty and faster traffic can please itself.

I’m usually driving the limit or more and don’t particularly care for this setup, with the entrances now being in the fast lane, but it’s just the way it is.

[AzaleaCity5691]

Just because the U.N believes in something doesn’t make it bad, and just cause I believe in something doesn’t mean I’m a shill for the U.N

I think the U.N believes that in general, children should not be murdered. I believe children should not be murdered, does that make me a shill for them then?

Smart Growth is not a conservative or liberal, Republican vs Democrat issue. It’s entirely a preference issue, and I personally prefer smart growth because I have seen what the opposite does. You know, i don’t have to drive far to work (though I coulda retired probably a few years ago, and I move more in that direction as each day passes by)

I have liked that, I can literally wake up 20 minutes before I have to be in, and I cannot be late. That’s a luxury most people don’t have, but it is a luxury they have voluntarily given up. The truth is, most Americans expect the government to do everything for them, specifically, public schooling. Almost all housing decisions are made by public school quality. Admittedly, we’ve always been in a position where we never had to rely on public schools, but we haven’t always been this well off. Privatr schools here are relatively affordable, and well, they are the one thing that keep affluent people in the city.

But the truth is, most people can afford private schools, but they would have to forgo things like, the trendiest neighborhood, or the newest car, or the latest gadget or all that other stuff. Most people just don’t value education that much. I know that when I use to drop the kids off at school, you’d see alot of nice cars in the parking lot dropping off their children. But you’d also see rundown junksters dropping off their kids. These families had made the decision that a good education was worth more than a nice car.

My son had a friend in grade school who’s parents didn’t even have cable, they both drove cars that had been made in the 1970’s, and well, they were just barely getting by. But they made the decision that having a slightly better living standard was not worth hurting their children’s education, so they bit the bullet and sent their kids to private school. They understood what was important, and those people had all my respect in the world. They wanted their kids to have a better life than they had so they sacrificed for it.

Most people, aren’t like that, they want to have their cake and eat it to. They think that the government should pay for their kid’s education, their healthcare, and everything else under the sun. People in this country no longer know what’s really important, and I honestly think we have become spoiled as a nation. And the worst thing is, for the most part, our klds constitute the “entitlement generation” and I have very little faith that they’ll help turn this country back to what made it great.

[elkfersupper]

You have just outed yourself as a leftist.

The policies of the U.N. (i.e. encouraging and fostering socialism, fascism and "benevolent" dictatorships like Castro's cuba) has done more to lessen the quality of life worldwide than any other movement or organization.

Your reference to children is classic. If I have to give up one more thing "for the children", I'm going to start throttling the little trolls.

The only people that can possibly stake out their little piece of ownership in this country near their work, keep it and keep that job are government employees-specifically "Planners", architects,retirees, or aging trust fund babies. Which are you?

I have spent the last 20 years fighting the "Smart Growth" advocates, and will hopefully be able to spend the next 20 years doing so.

They are dangerous in the extreme, and must be stomped down in order to preserve the spirit of this country.

Live in your beehive, ride your bicycle, walk to whatever you need if you wish; just leave the rest of us alone to fend for ourselves without you and your central planning apparatchniks.

By the way, and finally:

[AzaleaCity5691]

Ok, I believe that the reason we need to win the election next year is so we can appoint a Supreme Court that will undo everything Earl Warren did, and somehow, you accuse me of that?

We are just going to have to disagree on this one. And incidentally, I don’t live in an area that in anyway adheres to smart growth. This area was developed in the 50’s, except for our street, there are no ditches, the only sidewalk is on the main boulevard, and these two previous things make this area very prone to flooding.

And your line about how the only people who can “live near their work” is just a bunch of complete crap. Before the real estate boom, the average price of a house in the city limits, of the average, middle class home, was just over $100,000. Ours was considerably higher, because we’ve been somewhat successful, and my desire to be able to go fishing in my backyard overrode my wifes desire to live with a bunch of yuppie snobs in the richest district in town.

My school board seat and my state house seat are both represented by black Democrats. Because I don’t vote in my primary, I effectively have no voice in who represents in those offices, because in districts that have those demographics, general elections don’t really mean anything. In our old neighborhood, it was the exact reverse, as it was the most Republican area of the city. But, same Republican area of the city didn’t have waterfront property on the cheap 5 years ago. I will say this, we do have a Republican state senator now, where we didn’t before last year’s election. The problem is, because of black population growth in areas to the north of here, we’re going to have a supremely hard time holding that.

The only thing that seperates in city neighborhoods, and out of city neighborhoods is public school composition, and I’ll be the first to admit, without the private schools, there’d be no whites left in the city. We certainly wouldn’t live in this neighborhood if we were forced to use public schools, because all of the schools this area is districted for are among the states worst. Thus is the advantage of success in this country, you don’t have to rely on the government to educate your children. And I personally don’t think anyone should.

The average private school tuition at the elementary level, in most of our Catholic schools, is $350 a month. Now, I’m not saying that’s not alot of money, but I kind of think that’s something most people can actually afford to pay. But, they depend on the government to do for them what they can do themselves.

Once again, you don’t have to live in the city limits, and our city is not the exact poster child for smart growth, in fact, it’s the exact opposite. But, we also know that if we are going to gentrify areas that have been abject slums for 40 years, we are going to have to try to incorporate a smart growth aspect or else, these areas will remain slums.

And as for your argument of leftism. I’m not the one who is using class warfare to make their point, of the poor “average” person, against the well-heeled powerful. A man named Marx actually made that idea the basis of his political philosophy, a philosophy that has led to the death of millions. I’ve never advocated class warfare. And class warfare, the idea that you should resent someone because they’ve been more successful than you, that is the archetypal belief of leftism. And populism is nothing more than a disguised form of leftism.

But I’ll just agree to disagree with you on this point. We’re obviously from different parts of the country, where different social mores prevail. I taught my kids that the South was right in the war, many people teach the exact opposite. It’s all part of what makes the country great.