The Left Lane/Right Lane Thunderdome Thread

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Reading comprehension. I'm passing three cars that are clustered together. One or more is camper or a truck. This is a common scenario on the highway.

You said 30 seconds though. No pass should take 30 seconds.

Either the vehicles were well separated, (meaning you didn't have to pass them all at once), or you weren't going 120.

Either way, you went into the left lane without considering whether you had the space to do so.

[Methanolic]

I can't understand some of the views from certain members on this topic.




The bottom line is that drivers who cruise in the left lane and disobey this sign are committing an act of dangerous driving and putting several human lives around them at risk. Certain personalities will become enraged in this situation creating even further reckless driving behavior......even if it's being forced to do something as stupid as passing on the right!!

[Winsor_Pilates]

Amazing that is is even debatable. Glad to see an increase in awareness and ticketing about this; slow drivers in the left lane is one of the most dangerous things I come across on the road.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Amazing that is is even debatable. Glad to see an increase in awareness and ticketing about this; slow drivers in the left lane is one of the most dangerous things I come across on the road.

dangerous, oblivious, selfish, clueless, frustrating, annoying and yet...

usually they are self-righteous about it

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

dangerous, oblivious, selfish, clueless, frustrating, annoying and yet...

usually they are self-righteous about it

Since we are getting into name calling, it is my experience that people that argue so much about the left lane are some of the most aggressive and dangerous drivers on the road, in addition to being just generally dicks on the road
No one is arguing that if you are going slow you should be in the right, but where it gets complicated is when you are trying to keep up your own pace (120+) and try to use the le ft and have some DB come up behind you and is pissed off because he's going 140+

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

One of the things that isn't discussed enough is that, when using the left lane to pass, one must also consider that you don't move into a lane unless it is open.

If a person is going to take 30 seconds to pass, and a car is gaining rapidly on them but they decide to jump out and start their pass anyway, disregarding the traffic coming up behind them, then yes, they will (and should expect) to have that car ride their ass, because they didn't consider the car approaching them from behind when they pulled out.

It amazes me how often a person will jump in front of a fast approaching vehicle, going 1 mile an hour faster than the vehicle they want to pass, and hold the vehicle behind them up for 30 seconds - and feel uncomfortable about it the whole time - when all they had to do was wait 2 seconds to let the other pass and then carry on comfortably with their own passing maneuver in peace.

I think both you and polak are misrepresenting cliffs post.

You are both making false assumptions that he's just sitting in the left lane intentionally slowing up traffic. Fact of the matter is that there are probably just as many left lane strugglers as there are left lane aholes.

Me passing and someone having to slow behind me isn't much different than me slowing and him passing me. There is no rule that the fastest, or slowest, car has the right to dictate traffic.

Courteous driving isn't particularly common. There are so many people looking for fights on the road, that is clear enough from this thread.

If people just tried to stay right except to pass and passed at a reasonable rate as to not stay in the left lane too long everything would be fine.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Since we are getting into name calling, it is my experience that people that argue so much about the left lane are some of the most aggressive and dangerous drivers on the road, in addition to being just generally dicks on the road
No one is arguing that if you are going slow you should be in the right, but where it gets complicated is when you are trying to keep up your own pace (120+) and try to use the le ft and have some DB come up behind you and is pissed off because he's going 140+

It's my experience that the slow left laners and guy going 140+ are always trying to teach each other a lesson by getting in the way or tail gating.

It's the rest of us in the middle that get caught in their stupid game of too slow/too fast and the dangers both create.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Since we are getting into name calling, it is my experience that people that argue so much about the left lane are some of the most aggressive and dangerous drivers on the road, in addition to being just generally dicks on the road
No one is arguing that if you are going slow you should be in the right, but where it gets complicated is when you are trying to keep up your own pace (120+) and try to use the le ft and have some DB come up behind you and is pissed off because he's going 140+

Yes, there are dbags on the road. Yes, there are aggressive drivers.

But anyone following the rules, and being considerate of their surroundings, is going to avoid most problems and most of the dbags.

If your point is that anyone going faster than you is a dbag, well that's a different argument.

[JiriHrdina]

Just as calling slow drivers self-righteous is.

[Enoch Root]

The other issue with respect to the guy going 140 being a dbag is that, when people stay to the right the way they do in Europe, there are no dbags (or at least no more than there are in the general population).

[JiriHrdina]

Sure there are because the same situation will come up - someone wants to pass slow moving traffic, but doesn't want to have to go 140 to do it.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Did I say that?

At any rate, if you click the link you'll see the metrics that make Florida the worst state for driving. The left lane/right lane debate doesn't really apply when you have 6 lanes and guys are crossing multiple lanes in one go while moving at 100 mph, while a busted pickup truck full of illegals without insurance is going 60 mph blocking up a lane because they're afraid of getting pulled over.

It's a nightmare.

What does this have to do with this thread?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Sure there are because the same situation will come up - someone wants to pass slow moving traffic, but doesn't want to have to go 140 to do it.

What about just letting the guy going 140 go first?

Again, these situations occur much, much less on European highways because people all play by the same rules

[JiriHrdina]

So we should all base our driving on the guy going 30 over. How about he slows the eff down

[zamler]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

No one is arguing that if you are going slow you should be in the right, but where it gets complicated is when you are trying to keep up your own pace (120+) and try to use the le ft and have some DB come up behind you and is pissed off because he's going 140+

Doesn't matter what your speed is if someone behind you is going faster just move over.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

So we should all base our driving on the guy going 30 over. How about he slows the eff down

Attempting to control the speed of another driver and "teach them a lesson" is how bad things happen.

[jammies]

I always stay in the right lane except to pass, and I'll check my mirror and make sure there is no d-bag going 30+ km/h over the limit in the left lane who is rapidly approaching before pulling into the passing lane; if there is, I just slow down, let him pass, then drop in behind him and accelerate again.

Speeding and proper lane etiquette are two different issues. I have no problem with going 10-20 km over the limit if it's daytime, the road is dry, and visibility is good. However, as soon as you start hitting 30-40 km/hr over the limit, you are a bad driver no matter what the conditions. The key is you don't want to be the driver that stands out, whether that be from going too fast, going too slow, being in the wrong lane, stopping in a merge lane, or any other behaviour that runs the risk of other drivers having to adjust their driving to accommodate your unusual driving.

Too many speeders, especially, think "Oh I've got the reflexes and skill to drive like this with a minimal increase in danger", which isn't the point at all. By speeding like this, you stress other drivers that notice your poor driving and must compensate for it, as well as endanger other crappy drivers who don't notice your poor driving and don't take it into account while maneuvering their own vehicle. Further, most speeders overestimate their own skill at driving because they erroneously assume that not believing they are ever at fault in close calls or accidents is the same as actually not being at fault.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by zamler

Doesn't matter what your speed is if someone behind you is going faster just move over.

I'm talking about when you move to the left to pass a line of slow traffic and some ass comes behind you and loses his sh** because he wants to go 140.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

So we should all base our driving on the guy going 30 over. How about he slows the eff down

There are always going to be drivers that want to go faster. And there are always going to be drivers that want to go slower.Hoping this isn't true is pointless, because it is.

Also, there are always going to be vehicles that are slower, whether it be trucks, older vehicles, or vehicles towing something. Conversely, there are vehicles that are faster, with better steering, better brakes, better suspension and better tires.
So there is always going to be a wide variance of speeds.

The question is: what to do about it? Does it make more sense to try and get everyone to go roughly the same speed? Or do we apply a system that deals with that reality more efficiently?In my experience on this planet, the former is a naive approach. Conversely, the latter strategy is employed successfully elsewhere.

[JiriHrdina]

I don't think the system should be basically centered on what allows people to drive unsafe speeds.

[btimbit]

If someone comes up behind me doing 30 over, you're damn right I move over, because I don't want that guy anywhere near me. Forcing that ###### to pass on the right would just be making a bad situation worse.