Posted on 11/04/2009 8:43:59 AM PST by ExGeeEye
Assume the statutory speed limit of 70 MPH; the tendency of the local constabulary to ignore violations up to 5 MPH over; A stream of traffic in the right-hand lane averaging 68-72 MPH; and a certain sense of scofflawry and haste on my part that may rise to the level of a ticket without tipping over into the “reckless” category; and the fact that I am therefore in the continuous process of "passing on the left" all of those law-abiding drivers in the right lane.
A question: exactly how fast must I be going before I must make way for a non-emergency vehicle intent upon hitching ride in my trunk?
Someone once told me that 20-over is an acceptable maximum. That’s 90 MPH. I had to ask, "are you serious?"
You are supposed to move over as quickly as you can but I do not see that driving 90 mph to “get out of the way” as an acceptable way of doing so.
Get out of second gear and get out of the way.
Why should you block another somewhat-law-abiding citizen’s right to determine their own speed limit?
If you are driving slow enough for someone to get that close, you don’t belong in the left lane.
Beep Beep, Beep Beep, his horn went beep beep beep.
If you can safely pull out of the way, you should.
Not about the speed limit. Slower traffic, keep right, period - at least on a limted access, divided highway.
Not about the speed limit. Slower traffic, keep right, period - at least on a limited access, divided highway.
IBTP?
If you're not passing, GTF out of the passing lane.
A--holes who live in the passing lane piss me off.
They think they are oh-so-important compared to everybody else.
I think George Carlin said it - everybody going slower than me is an idiot, everybody going faster is a maniac.
I hate freeways. I'll take the two lane side road any day of the week.
the law states you pull over and let the red lights pass.......NOT speed up - PULL OVER and STOP.
I was driving an ambulance on the highway with a CPR going on in the back.......an idiot was matching my speed blocking me in in the passing lane.......after a hand gesture on my part indicating my lights......and my siren was going....he sped up to over 90 and disappeared......guess he thought he was more important than my patient. my only regret was that I couldn’t get someone on my radio to come arrest him. he was one of the biggest jerks I ever encountered.
does THAT answer your question?
As an aside, I took the autobahn driving test a while ago.
It is illegal to be passed on the right.
Note, it is not illegal to pass on the right, but to be passed on the right.
Germans are odd people, but they know how to drive on the highway.
Exactly. Doing otherwise forces people bent on hauling a** into other lanes of traffic, weaving in and out, cutting off other drivers to get around... the squatter.
Crap lane discipline causes a LOT of problems, because young drivers these days ASSUME people are going to squat, and don't even bother with the passing lane - they just pass on the right, in their fartcan equipped turbo Civics.
It doesn’t matter,
even if you are going 90mph in the left and someone behind you wants to do 95mph then you should move over.
The OP did specify "non-emergency."
If you’re in the left lane and slowing somebody down, get out of the left lane and let them go by. Period.
If you’re concerned more about safety and the orderly, predictable flow of traffic, you’ll move over for an overtaking vehicle, rather than playing rolling roadblock to prove a point.
I have a cousin who is a civil engineer for the NC DOT, and he has some interesting terms for traffic flow. One of them is “friction.” “Friction” is bad. “Friction” gets people killed. It’s caused by widely variant speeds on the highway, and people passing in lanes closer to onramps, where they’re unexpected.
Another one of those terms is “slinky effect.” If you’ve ever wondered what’s happening, when you get stalled in traffic for no apparent reason, this is the cause. It’s an echo from an accident or even a distraction on the shoulder, from hours before. It takes a while in heavy traffic, for the stopping and starting to even out, and it can radiate back down the highway for miles.
You should pull over for any emergency vehicle that’s behind you, no matter how fast you’re going. Part of his safety in driving fast to the emergency is a wide open lane and field of view in which to travel in, not a potentially unpredictable obstacle traveling at high speed right in front of him.
As for others who think the left lane is for them to drive unencumbered, no. I’ll stay in the left lane if there’s slower traffic to my right and I’m traveling significantly but safely faster than them. That doesn’t mean I’m going to step aside for every Tom, Dick and Harry that think there is no speed limit. If you want that right, drive an ambulance.
an emergency vehicle without lights and sirens going do not require you to pull over at all........DUH!
and another thing,
It’s usually not one slow @§§¶0!£ in the left lane that’s the problem, the problem is the 2nd, 3rd, etc. cars that end up behind him/her/it who believe that because that 1st @§§¶0!£ is driving slow, it’s OK for them to be @§§¶0!£s and also drive as slow.
If you are not doing anything to get around the 1st @§§¶0!£, you are blocking me and everybody else from getting past him/her/it,
If you are unwilling to go around get the hell out of the way.
No - you too, have to go with the flow of traffic. In heavy traffic, you’re not going to get a free and clear left lane. Live with it.
ok, I got it......you want to know if you should dominate the passing lane.......hmm. my SOP is to let the jerks pass me who want to race ahead attracting the cops and get a ticket......why should I slow them down? I usually go the speed limit or less than ten over.......so, I often find myself in the passing lane, however I make it a point not to sit there.
oh, move to the boonies.......it’s great - you have the highway to yourself!
This is why "HOV" lanes that sit largely empty on the freeway, like they do around here, are dangerous. If the main lanes are slow, the occasional HOV going by at high speed is a definite hazard.
No, I understand I’m not the only one on the road. It’s you who seems to not understand that. When traffic is heavy, traffic is going to fill all the lanes, and when it slows down, that means even the left lane is not going to remain open for you to keep going 70. That’s just the way it is.
nah, move to the boonies where I live. open roads as far as the eye can see. love it.
Oh wait... maybe I misunderstood you... Maybe you’re suggesting the boonies as a way to avoid those people... if so... good idea :~)
Need more coffee :~D
Gotcha ;~)
Get out of the left lane, period. No matter how fast you are going.
People who cruise in the left lane for no reason are mentally retarded.
Slower traffic keep right. If you aren’t willing to do up to 10 mph over the traffic in the right lane in order to pass, ease up and fall in behind.
1-2 mph differential is unacceptable.
Again: Slower traffic keep right.
I understand what you’re asking. In that situation (since I’m in the passing lane, and I’m passing) I move to the right when I’m no longer passing, or perceive that I can do so safely and conveniently.
In some states the left lane if for passing only. I know that sometimes all the lanes are filled and passing only doesn’t hold true. My theory is move over let the guy through so he can trip the radar up ahead and keep it clean for you.
I visited my daughter last year in San Jose....she advised me not to rent a car as I wouldn’t want to drive there. I scoffed at that, but had to agree after riding with her on the thruways.......YIKES!
>>>>>They think they are oh-so-important compared to everybody else.<<<<<<
No, they are simply oblivious to certain unwritten laws and behaviors that make this a civilized society.
>>Germans are odd people, but they know how to drive on the highway.
The Italians do, too. I was there last year, and people there “get it” on the roads. People aren’t talking on their cell phones, they aren’t applying make up, they aren’t reading the paper, they aren’t fiddling with their Crackberries. They are paying attention and *driving*.
I loved it.
But what if the people in the right lane are only doing 65? Does this mean that I should slow from 90 to 65, at the whim of the "faster" guy behind me?
Good for you. The key phrase there is "significantly but safely faster" than those in the other lanes. I live in Dallas, and if I slowed from 75 to 55 everytime someone else wanted to go 76, I'd never make it to work on time.
Note that I'm talking freeways here, not the wide open interstate.
” I hate freeways. I’ll take the two lane side road any day of the week.”
I hear you,I love them, too! I want to see America.
My answer is no... You shouldn't have to move over on the whim of someone who wants to drive without limit. Jumping back and forth between lanes that are going widely different speeds is what causes accidents. There is no right to expect the left lane is going to be free and clear in heavy traffic, and I don't think anyone traveling more than 10 mph faster than the flow to the right is safe, so you probably shouldn't be going 90, either.
On certain highways I will cruise in the left lane if the traffic is light. This is because tractor trailers have beaten the right lane into pieces and I'd rather not have the road do the same thing to my car.
LOL. My grandchildren would agree with you there. Actually I was quoting 90 from someone else's comment. I'm big on safety, and tend to take it easy overall.
Slower traffic keep right.
Have the courtesy to move to the right long enough to let them pass.
One of my pet peeves is someone in the passing lane that drives along as though there is no one else on the road.
Late one night while en-route to Lafayette Ca from LA, on the 5 going 90, a late model Camero, in the right lane, caught up to my 911 slant. We drove side by side at 120 for a long while until blocked by a pair of slower cars in the same pattern. We slowed and settled into following at a safe distance.
About 5 minutes later, as we crested a hill there was a CHP sitting on the side of the road, pulled onto the hwy, passed my cohort and I, then pulled over the slower moving cars.
The Camero again pulled up on my right, we shared a brief OMG!!! glance, then I turned off at the 580 interchange.
No answer to your question. Sorry.
Courtesy works both ways, and the public roadways are not that asshole's private playpen.
I don't find that rude. It is to let the driver in front know that faster traffic is approaching, since it is often difficult to determine the speed of traffic in a rear view mirror. It also gives the front driver time to begin a safe lane change before the faster vehicle arrives.
I find it extremely rude and arrogant.
It is to let the driver in front know that faster traffic is approaching
I'm scanning front, instruments, and mirrors. I don't need some wanker flashing his lights at me ... I already see him.
I spend 2.5 hours every workday traveling in moderately heavy traffic, on 4-lane divided highways, at speeds well in excess of the posted limits. I see a lot of cars, and a lot of drivers. I'd say about 99% of these drivers know how to get along ... the real hazards to the rest of us are not the left-lane slowpokes. Such creatures are almost nonexistent.
The real hazards are the headlight-flashing tailgaters and the lane-weavers.
These foul folk should be taken out and shot.
I find it extremely rude and arrogant.
It is to let the driver in front know that faster traffic is approaching
I'm scanning front, instruments, and mirrors. I don't need some wanker flashing his lights at me ... I already see him.
I spend 2.5 hours every workday traveling in moderately heavy traffic, on 4-lane divided highways, at speeds well in excess of the posted limits. I see a lot of cars, and a lot of drivers. I'd say about 99% of these drivers know how to get along ... the real hazards to the rest of us are not the left-lane slowpokes. Such creatures are almost nonexistent.
The real hazards are the headlight-flashing tailgaters and the lane-weavers.
These foul folk should be taken out and shot.
I had an ambulance materialize behind me on a state road recently. He was so close to me that I could not see his rooftop lightbar in my rearview mirror. As it was daylight, I didn’t have the sense that his lights were on. Most ambulances have the lights in the grille as well, but this one didn’t. It was a bit of a fluke, but maybe your circumstance was similar?
That’s kinda how I feel. That picture is related to an article I posted a couple of years ago.
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