The Left Lane/Right Lane Thunderdome Thread

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Really? I like it when I find a speeding buddy. Even better when there's 3-4. You know you've got a good speeding buddy when you take turns leading and risking the ticket.
Being at the back also has it's risks. I've twice seen the rear guy get nailed, shortly after passing an on ramp.

I usually only do 120-125 on Highway 2, which is usually below the give-a-crap threshold of the RCMP. Haven't been pulled over by a sheriff, so I presume for them too. So don't usually need to worry about having someone around to spread the risk of getting 'sniped'. Convoys are nice when driving through crappy weather though

[EVERLAST]

I drive like a maniac unless there's some one else in the car to judge me.

I think the air in the car is blue most of the time as truckers and pirates wouldn't use my language .

So, if you are in the left lane slowing people down and there is more than 2 cars being held up behind you its emergency lane time (express passing lane) . ....that's if the horn , the unicorn fist and the bright lights haven't gotten your attention first.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

No, I am not being hypocritical.

I have been debating this left lane issue ever since I moved out west 30 years ago (because it is worse here than anywhere else I have ever been).

What I have gathered over that time is that there are two basic defenses of not getting out of the left lane. The first boils down to some version of 'the other driver is driving too fast' or 'the other driver is driving dangerously', or 'the other driver is being aggressive/tailgating/an asshat', or 'I'm going fast enough' (which is just another way of saying 'they are going too fast').

I just wanted to touch on this as someone who has done a ton of driving this summer:

I agree that I see it as more prevalent in Alberta, but I find that this has more to do with the fact that we have some of the longer stretches of dual-lane divided highway in the country, especially when you're comparing it to BC.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Locke

I just wanted to touch on this as someone who has done a ton of driving this summer:

I agree that I see it as more prevalent in Alberta, but I find that this has more to do with the fact that we have some of the longer stretches of dual-lane divided highway in the country, especially when you're comparing it to BC.

I find Quebec is the worst (or Quebecers driving in Ontario). You'll be cruising along in the left lane about to pass someone, and they will float into the left lane without signalling. I don't know if this is self-policing, or if they are planning to pass that car that is still 300m ahead of them.

A lot of older people think that if there is no one in front of you, you should stay in the left lane, other wise you risk getting stuck behind someone in the right lane.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Locke

I just wanted to touch on this as someone who has done a ton of driving this summer:

I agree that I see it as more prevalent in Alberta, but I find that this has more to do with the fact that we have some of the longer stretches of dual-lane divided highway in the country, especially when you're comparing it to BC.

I think this is a worse problem among Albertans for two reasons:

1) Alberta has a much higher proportion of dbags who drive 140 or over on the highway, and act like it's their entitlement to drive that fast unimpeded until a cop shows up. This is my experience in highway driving in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Idaho, Washington, and Montana. I usually drive 120-125 and in just about the only instances where I pass and someone comes out of nowhere driving 140-150 behind me and gets impatient about my pass seem to involve Alberta plates. That's not to say I do not encounter non-Alberta drivers driving that fast, it's just they seem to be more patient regarding passing drivers in front of them.


2)Alberta has a high population of sanctimonious law and order types. In their eyes the law provides a good guidance to their moral code. It's why somehow in this province we permit photo radar and allow the avails of it's use to be funneled right back into the police budget when other jurisdictions faced public rebellions to the practice ( the 'If you don't break the law, you have nothing to worry about' attitude. So when these law and order types who drive at the speed limit pass in the left hand lane and encounter the 140+ types behind them, they take it as a personal affront to their sense of right and wrong. They either passively aggressively purposely take longer to move over to the right hand lane, or more aggressively simply hog the left lane ('I'm doing 5 over the speed limit after-all, if someone passes me their dangerously speeding).

Combine these two types of people on one roadway and we get the chaos that prompts debates such as this.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I usually only do 120-125 on Highway 2, which is usually below the give-a-crap threshold of the RCMP.

Yep. Speeds are very high between Lacombe and Leduc in particular, you're generally fine at 125 because they're waiting for people at 135+ which doesn't take long. Even after seeing a cop I don't even click my cruise off if I'm at 120.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Not to mention other idiotic stuff. I had a guy merge behind me, speed up and cut me off then slam on the brakes. I saw cars just cruising in the left lane doing 100. Cars in the middle lane cruising at 80. People joining Stoney in their own lane, not a merge, just a whole new lane to themselves and they cut into traffic like their lane was ending in 20 feet at a cliff, cars merging doing 30 under the speed limit.

That first sentence - that is a gear grinder for me. Happens a lot as a result of passing at an elevated speed then moving back right.

People getting in front of you then hitting the brakes as soon as they are there.

I have driven in many different places and this seems to be a problem in Alberta.

[Fuzz]

Or when they pass you on the highway, then just gradually reduce their speed until you are on their bumper. So you pass them, and they pass you and do it over and over and over. If you are unable to maintain a speed, at least use cruise control!

[peter12]

Well, this thread is pretty much idiotic. I used to drive 40,000 km per field season. I drove all over Western Canada, including about 90000000 km on the Alaska Highway. That two-lane road of death has some of the most impatient rig-pigs on it, fresh off a shift, and looking to drop 20s on hookers and blow in FSJ.

If you don't drive fast, you will get run off the road. If you don't drive safe, a half-blind trucker warthog will crush you like a bug.

Fast and safe. Maybe just drive to conditions, everyone?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Or when they pass you on the highway, then just gradually reduce their speed until you are on their bumper. So you pass them, and they pass you and do it over and over and over. If you are unable to maintain a speed, at least use cruise control!

At first I thought that was maybe because people don't have cruise, then I noticed I see it in vehicles that I know for a fact have cruise control. I don't know why you wouldn't use it if you have it.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Or when they pass you on the highway, then just gradually reduce their speed until you are on their bumper. So you pass them, and they pass you and do it over and over and over. If you are unable to maintain a speed, at least use cruise control!

This is something reasonable to be irked about.

It is just plain psychology. People get personal when they are passed. I've done it too. We all think the other driver is out to get us. Sadly, 4x4 and his crowd make this feeling more of a suspicion with some base to it.

[Fuzz]

I dunno, I used to think that but looking at the people it is usually because they aren't paying attention at all. They realize they have suddenly dropped to 100km/h and step on it for 5km.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I dunno, I used to think that but looking at the people it is usually because they aren't paying attention at all. They realize they have suddenly dropped to 100km/h and step on it for 5km.

That, too, probably. Although when that happens to me, I tend to fall back from the pack in embarrassment at being such an Asian Grandma.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by peter12

This is something reasonable to be irked about.

It is just plain psychology. People get personal when they are passed. I've done it too. We all think the other driver is out to get us. Sadly, 4x4 and his crowd make this feeling more of a suspicion with some base to it.

Lol wut? You think I'm out to get you? Because I try to educate people on a hockey forum? If you want to drive like a space cadet, just stay out of the way and nobody will care. I like my chill driving days too. I still look in my GD mirrors while I'm driving slow. I make an effort to stay closer to the shoulder on single lane highways so people can pass grandpa 4x4. And I generally stay aware of my surroundings all the time when driving.

And when I'm driving fast, there's always someone faster. Trust me, if I've spent this much time trying to tell you people how to suck it up when I pass you, do you really think I'm blowing a gasket when you pass me? Especially when I moved over to help you by?

[Finger Cookin]

Soo many strugglers on my drive to Portland and back. The 5 was fine when it was two lanes and had a 70 mph limit but a 60 mph for trucks. It was way more chaotic when there were three or more lanes, or when the limit was 60 mph for everyone. Large semis and trailers inching past each other in 60 zones. No cars in the right lane over long stretches of three lane roadway.

But at least there were multiple lanes at all times in Alberta, Washington, and Oregon. Nothing makes you appreciate how minor the annoyances of multi lane highway driving are than being delayed three hours due to an accident on the TCH between Revelstoke and Golden.