To the fuckstick in the Camry

[El_Kabong]

The speed limit on Henry Road is 30 mph.

I was, in fact, doing 37 at the time. So what in the wide, wide world of sports did you think you were going to accomplish by trying to polish my licence plate with the nose of your flyspecked, loser-beige blandmobile?

If you had brains between your ears, instead of string cheese, you might have noticed the police station you had passed just prior to perching on my bumper, and might have divined that cruisers roll up or down that road every five minutes or less, all day long. Too bad one didn't come along while you were practicing your Daytona drafting skills on me.

If you had eyes in your head, instead of a pair of wobbling eight balls, you might have seen the broken, bright yellow line prominently visible in the middle of the road, and that there was no approaching traffic during the entire time you were behind me. Pronounce it along with me, verrry slowwwly: "le-gal pass-ing zone".

If you had the slightest glimmer of native intelligence, instead of an advanced degree in Dumbass from Texas Dumbass University,
you might have realized that rolling right up to my rear bumper and turning on your brights (in broad daylight) was unlikely to have any effect at all on my right foot, except to cause it to slowly but surely lift further and further off the accelerator.

Yes, I see you gesturing and babbling to yourself. Yes, I see the thunderous scowl that gives you a face like a slapped ass. Yes, I see you trying to pull up alongside me as we approach the intersection, and rolling down your window to give me a piece of -- well, it couldn't be your mind, since you haven't got one -- what, a piece of your string cheese? Whoops, there I go, turning off to the right, while there you sit, stewing in your rancid juices. Buh-bye.

Bottom line, you drooling shithead, is that unlike you I'm in no particular hurry; I don't respond to bullying, and I simply don't
care where it is you think, if that is the word, you've got to go.

Of course, there's no chance that you might ever read this, as that would imply your possessing basic reading skills that, frankly, I doubt you could ever muster. Guess I'll just have to take comfort in the knowledge that the ninety eternal seconds you spent furiously staring at my car's ass ruined your whole day.

[Jackmannii]

Originally posted by El_Kabong
If you had the slightest glimmer of native intelligence, instead of an advanced degree in Dumbass from Texas Dumbass University...
Hey! What've you got against T.D.U.?

Besides, I think he may have majored in Behavior Modification with only a minor in Dumbass. A lot of these drivers, when faced with even a small inconvenience to their illegal activities, take it upon themselves to Teach You A Lesson (via tailgating). The Lesson, of course, gets administered to both drivers, should the one in front have to stop suddenly for an emergency.

But that's where the minor in Dumbass comes in handy.

[Cerri]

Do people drive like that everywhere in Texas?

I ask, cause I'm a transplanted Chicagoan by birth living in the DFW area. I am quite the speedster myself, but at least once daily, while I'm doing EIGHTY PLUS in the fast lane, inevitably some jackass will pull up behind me and ride my ass till I can slow down enough to move over for the cockmonger.

[Doomtrain]

Originally posted by Cerri
Do people drive like that everywhere in Texas?

I ask, cause I'm a transplanted Chicagoan by birth living in the DFW area. I am quite the speedster myself, but at least once daily, while I'm doing EIGHTY PLUS in the fast lane, inevitably some jackass will pull up behind me and ride my ass till I can slow down enough to move over for the cockmonger.

That's not just Texas. When I'm driving on I-285 in Atlanta (Speed Limit: 55), I regularly do 70 in the slow lane(!) and have em riding on my ass.

[spinky]

Originally posted by Cerri
at least once daily, while I'm doing EIGHTY PLUS in the fast lane, inevitably some jackass will pull up behind me and ride my ass till I can slow down enough to move over for the cockmonger.So normally you just cruise in the passing lane and don't move over for someone who wants to pass?

[PhiloVance]

It is a well known fact that the closer you are to a police station, the longer it will take to get a response. Check out the donut shops in your area.

Chill out, refugee from a Queekstraw cartoon. :)

[butter pie]

Originally posted by ntucker
So normally you just cruise in the passing lane and don't move over for someone who wants to pass?

I saw this one coming!

S/he probably drives like me -- I drive much faster than the regular flow of traffic, but there are always a few people who want to blast along even faster than I am. I do cruise in the passing lane, but I always move over when one of these people comes barreling up behind me, then move back after they've gone. If there is so much traffic that I can't move over (rarely the case) then they've no business driving that fast to begin with. In those cases the traffic load tends to equalize over all the lanes.

Anyway, they've no business coming up and riding someone's bumper over it, in any lane. If the traffic is light, just go around. If it's too heavy, then no one can go any faster than they are, where-ever they are, and it will accomplish nothing. There's no sense in creating a hazardous situation for both drivers over it.

[spinky]

Originally posted by jinwicked
If the traffic is light, just go around.This makes perfect sense if you ignore well-established driving etiquette. Unfortunately, convention dictates that I should not automatically try to go around you on the right, because that's an unexpected (and therefore potentially dangerous) move (and illegal in some states, so not the best habit to form).

To the front car, who fully knows what he himself intends to do (which is to keep his ass parked in the left lane), the solution is obvious: just go around me, dude. But the person approaching from behind doesn't know whether the front car is oblivious, rude, or simply slow to change lanes. I don't know how many times I've finally decided to go around someone on the right and had them start to switch lanes immediately after I did because they finally had an "oh, he wants to go by" moment. I appreciate this, but for christ's sake, if you'd just drive in the right lane to begin with, we wouldn't have this problem.

I will give you a reasonable chance to do the polite thing and move over. If you ignore me, I'll pull a little closer to you to make my desire even clearer (or flash my lights at you if it's dark out). If you further ignore me, I'll pass you on the right and honk at you as I go by. Yet if everyone just keeps to the right unless they're passing, all of this nonsense is avoided and everyone gets to drive the speed they want. Fancy that.

The bottom line is that if you ever find yourself thinking "why won't this guy just pass me on the right?" you're driving like a jerk.

[Mama Tiger]

Back to the OP: El_Kabong, I think that fuckstick is the one that crawled up Mr. Butrscotch's ass the other morning for having the NERVE to follow his traffic lane up onto the freeway. (Mr. Butrscotch managed to reduce his effective speed to 12 mph on the ramp, bless his li'l heart.)

Mr. Fuckstick got so upset that he started driving like a major asshole on the freeway, swerving, honking, and generally proving that he deserved what happened next: He attracted the attention of the handy policeman in the next lane, and last time Mr. Butrscotch saw him, he was sitting stopped in front of the cop, beating on his steering wheel in frustration.

Doesn't it just make your day when True Justice is achieved?
:D :D :D :D :D

[butter pie]

Originally posted by ntucker

I will give you a reasonable chance to The bottom line is that if you ever find yourself thinking "why won't this guy just pass me on the right?" you're driving like a jerk.

When did I ever say that? I said I moved over when ever at all possible. If I'm going to be passing every car I come up to in the centre or right lane there's no sense in me moving back and forth between cars incessantly when I'm going to be spending the majority of my time in the passing lane anyway. That's just dangerous. Why would I pass one car, move into the next lane, only to move right back and pass the next car I come up to? I'm not talking about cruising down lonely interstate highways, most of my driving is in the city, 4 - 6 lane highways under usually moderate to heavy traffic conditions. Sometimes the leftmost lane is actually an EXIT lane. People pass on the right all the time. I think as long as people use their signals and pay attention to what's going on around them, it's all good. If the traffic is heavy people are GOING to drive in the left or "passing" lane as you like to call it, it's going to happen, there's nothing you can do about it.

I've been driving for five years, and never had an accident with another vehicle except for someone hitting my parked car, once. I drive half an hour to work and half an hour back every day and see all kinds of crap, and I can tell you tailgaters and people changing lanes w/out signaling are by far my two biggest pet peeves. I don't care how slow whoever's going in what lane, I don't tailgate people. It's dangerous and stupid.

Flash your lights and honk all you want, it's your blood pressure, not mine.

[butter pie]

Oh, and I just thought of this, but unless you're passing the car to my rear passenger side, you have no more business being in the passing lane flashing your lights at me, than I do cruising there.

[spinky]

Originally posted by jinwicked
I said I moved over when ever at all possible.And yet at the same time, you expressed that people should "just go around" on the right if traffic is light. Those seem to contradict. If traffic is light, this fits into the "when ever at all possible" that you should move over, not expect people to go around. Right?

If I'm going to be passing every car I come up to in the centre or right lane there's no sense in me moving back and forth between cars incessantly when I'm going to be spending the majority of my time in the passing lane anyway.And nobody's asking you to. But if you are planning on camping out in the passing lane, keep an eye out and try to be considerate, ok?If the traffic is heavy people are GOING to drive in the left or "passing" lane as you like to call it, it's going to happen, there's nothing you can do about it.I'm not sure why you feel the need to spend this effort justifying how you drive in heavy traffic, when I was responding to the statement, "if traffic is light, just go around".I've been driving for five years, and never had an accident with another vehicle except for someone hitting my parked car, once.Well, then you must be one hell of a considerate driver. No wait, those things are unrelated.Flash your lights and honk all you want, it's your blood pressure, not mine.Ah, this is truly the statement of someone trying to be considerate to her fellow drivers.unless you're passing the car to my rear passenger side, you have no more business being in the passing lane flashing your lights at me, than I do cruising there.Well obviously I'm not going to get over into the left lane just so I can get on your ass. Of course I'm over there because I'm passing someone.

I just don't understand this hanging-out-in-the-left lane mentality. It's pure selfishness. "Of course I don't want to be in those right lanes -- there are people going slow over there. I'll just drive over there where the slow people aren't in my way. No matter that I'm needlessly in other people's way; this way I don't have to even think. Besides, anyone who wants to pass me must have high blood pressure and just needs to settle down. What-evar."

[butter pie]

If someone is behind me, I DO move over. I said that in my original post. And then when someone comes up again, I MOVE AGAIN. It involves less lane-changing on my part because I'm already going faster than almost everyone else on the highway, except for a few people who are usually ALSO cruising down the "passing lane" just 10-15 mph more than my speeding of 10 mph over the limit to begin with.

People weave in and out of lanes all over the place in this city. It's not even "passing". It's more like cruising in whichever lane is open until you get up behind someone going too slow for you. If I'm in the centre lane and someone's in the left lane, and I can't get around that way, I just get in the right lane and go that way. I don't see why it's such a huge deal. That's what I mean when I say "just go around." Your argument makes sense for a 2-lane highway in the middle of nowhere but not for a 6 or 8 lane loop through the middle of a city. I can't think of a single instance where I've been in someone's way because I was in the left lane and they wanted to pass the driver to my rear right. The ONLY times I have to move over a lane to let people pass is when they're cruising the left lane, like I said, just faster than me. I just do whatever's necessary to not kill myself or anyone else.

And if I do get stuck behind someone going to slow for me, I just wait until I have a chance to go around. I don't sit there and honk, tailgate them, flash my lights or engage in other obnoxious behaviour.

[spinky]

Originally posted by jinwicked
And if I do get stuck behind someone going to slow for me, I just wait until I have a chance to go around. I don't sit there and honk, tailgate them, flash my lights or engage in other obnoxious behaviour.Give it a rest. My "obnoxious behavior" consists of getting a little closer OR a single flash of my headlights. The two universal signs for "I want to get by, please."

Part of the problem with people who park it in the fast lane is that they don't understand driving etiquette, so any reasonable request for them to move aside is taken as "obnoxious" or some kind of personal affront.

[thatDDperson]

Jin's driving in Houston.

Sometimes, the only way to pull over to another lane to let Speed Demons From Hell (or Dallas) pass you is to BACK UP.

When i'm doing 85 on the Beltway and everyone in the center lane is doing 65, I can't immediately move over, and inevitably SOME jerk will zoom up behind me and flash their lights. There IS no opening to move into, I have to slow down to be able to merge into the slower lane, and if Comb-over Boy in the new Porsche can't deal with it, he'll just have to have that coronary he's been shopping for.

That said, I always get a giggle out of driving past those guys at the toll plaza as they scrounge for cash because the toll roads don't take American Express. Or Visa.

And, for the record, I am a responsible adult and would never drive 20 MPH over the limit. Hardly ever.

[Cerri]

Hey, fuckstick...oops, sorry, nfucker, did you miss the part where I said the guy drives up my ass before I even have a CHANCE TO MOVE OVER FOR HIM?!?

Here, let me reiterate it, since you were too illiterate or maybe in too much of a hurry to read my first post properly.

at least once daily, while I'm doing EIGHTY PLUS in the fast lane, inevitably some jackass will pull up behind me and ride my ass till I can slow down enough to move over for the cockmonger.


I check my rear mirror constantly and when I see someone coming up on me, I ALWAYS move over for him, because it's the proper and polite thing to do, even if the OTHER guy is being an asshole...never mind the fact that I was doing 30+ over the speed limit on a 4 lane highway in the first fucking place. If traffic in the other 3 lanes is going 30 mph less than I with moderate-heavy traffic, it could take a minute for me to even be ABLE to move over for the jackass. Especially since DFW drivers aren't very fond of letting people over in the first fucking place. I turn my signals on well in advance to let the guy know I'm TRYING to move over for him (bolded, because I wouldn't want you to miss that fact, since you so blithely ran past the fact that I always move over for someone going faster in my first post), if he can't wait till I'm safely able to do so, when I'm going 30+ over the speed limit anyways, too fucking bad for him, he's just lucky I drive a nice car now, so don't want to slam on my brakes forcing him to rearend me.

FYI, on 4+ lane highways, that lane is RARELY used as a passing lane, it's usually referred to as the fast lane because people going fast drive in it. I've NEVER seen a 4+ lane highway in any major city where that lane is used strictly as a passing lane. And, I suspect, neither have you.

If it was a two lane highway where that lane WAS a passing lane I wouldn't be in that lane in the first place. Unless I was passing.


And FYI, if I've got my turn signals on, signifying that I'm TRYING TO MOVE OVER FOR YOU, ASSHOLE, then yes, you riding my ass or flashing your lights even once, is fucking obnoxious.

[Cerri]

I'm so very glad the other Texans in this thread understand what I'm talking about. Thank you, jinwicked and thatDDperson


ntucker is apparently the people we're talking about, which is why the views we're trying to express whooshed him.

[butter pie]

No problemo. I drive 45, the 610 loop and 59 to get to one of my jobs, and the Beltway to get to the other. I guess you just gotta experience it to understand it. :p

[Cerri]

Oooh, I used to drive the Beltway and I-10 when I lived there. /shudder

[spinky]

Originally posted by Cerri
Hey, fuckstick...oops, sorry, nfuckerClever, but I think a kid named Jimmy from my 3rd grade class beat you to the punch.did you miss the part where I said the guy drives up my ass before I even have a CHANCE TO MOVE OVER FOR HIM?!?Listen, you didn't make it clear that traffic was so heavy you couldn't move over -- just that you thought it necessary to slow down before changing lanes. For all I knew you were one of those easily-spooked drivers that clenches up when they have to make a lane change. After my initial post, my entire argument was specifically referring to the light traffic conditions brought up by jinwicked, which obviously doesn't apply to you. So get a grip.

I check my rear mirror constantly and when I see someone coming up on me, I ALWAYS move over for him, because it's the proper and polite thing to do, even if the OTHER guy is being an asshole...never mind the fact that I was doing 30+ over the speed limit on a 4 lane highway in the first fucking place.Terrific. You've clearly mastered driving etiquette. That answers my only question. Wasn't that easy?you so blithely ran past the fact that I always move over for someone going faster in my first postWell you'll have to point it out, because your first post didn't actually say you always move over for someone going faster. It said you pull over for people driving up your ass. In fact, you'll see that in my response to you, I tried to clarify whether or not you normally pull over for faster traffic.he's just lucky I drive a nice car now, so don't want to slam on my brakes forcing him to rearend meSpoken like somone who has no clue what happens when you get rearended at freeway speeds.

FYI, on 4+ lane highways, that lane is RARELY used as a passing lane, it's usually referred to as the fast lane because people going fast drive in it.This is the problem. They're ALL passing lanes except the rightmost one. Yes, by virtue of being the lane that passes other passing lanes, the leftmost one is supposed to be the one with the fastest traffic, and therefore is commonly referred to as the "fast lane". But lots of morons seem to think "fast lane" means "if you consider your speed 'fast', you should get in this lane and ignore anyone who wants to pass", which is stupid.I've NEVER seen a 4+ lane highway in any major city where that lane is used strictly as a passing lane. And, I suspect, neither have you.I've never seen a highway in any major city where everyone used their turn signals either, but you're still a dickhead if you don't.And FYI, if I've got my turn signals on, signifying that I'm TRYING TO MOVE OVER FOR YOU, ASSHOLE, then yes, you riding my ass or flashing your lights even once, is fucking obnoxious.Well, since this is the first time you've mentioned turn signals, how the fuck was I supposed to know you were using them? You're right, anyone who continues to flash their lights at you after you've indicated you're moving over is a complete asshole.

[spinky]

Originally posted by Cerri
ntucker is apparently the people we're talking about, which is why the views we're trying to express whooshed him. [/B]For christ's sake. What behavior have you imagined me engaging in that makes me "the people you're talking about"? Is there something not polite enough about how I indicate I want to pass? Should I telepathically communicate with you or what? Or are you like most people who have simply decided that anyone who wants to pass them is an asshole? Or maybe it's just that I want people to have some common courtesy for their fellow drivers. What an asshole I am.

[Madame Zelda]

ntucker just wants to fight :rolleyes:

So give it a rest, already. You're definitely the Joker this rant is about - tell me, do you drive a Camry? :dubious:

And, you're mucking up a beautiful rant. So stop it, already.

El_Kabong, this was magnificent - keep up the good work!

woo hoo!

[spinky]

Didn't mean to detract from El_Kabong's completely justified, entertaining rant. The whole multi-lane driving etiquette thing was a tangent. The guy in the camry was an asshole, and no, I don't drive like that.

[thatDDperson]

Quit dissin Camry's.

Mine's 11 years old, has 175K miles on it, is a 4burner, not a 6, and can run the Belt from 59 to Westheimer as fast as the new Jags and faster that the pencildicks in the Hummers.

Of course, I also used to drive a '65 Barracuda with the BIG engine, and never learned to slow down...

Elderly Auntie Dee Dee, holder of the land speed record from Sugar Land to IAH, in less that 38 minutes. In the Camry.

[Cheesesteak]

I'm just waiting for the next time I get the tailgate treatment. Want to try out the 'washing windows' defense. Just hit the winshield washers while he's back there, he'll get a nice face full of the stuff too. he he he

[El_Kabong]

Chill out, refugee from a Queekstraw cartoon.

Hey, some bozo tries to use her (yep, in this case it was a female driver) car as a weapon, and what did I do? Did I give her the finger? Did I pull out my concealed-carry handgun and start blazing away? Did I slam on the brakes and provoke a rear-ender? No, all I did was slow gradually down to 5 mph under the limit, come home and write a little rant.

[Walter Sobchak]Calmer than you, man.[/Walter Sobchak]

Interesting, the number of responses from Houston, which is where this little drama took place. Apparently this problem is more common than I thought; after it happened to me twice in two weeks, I assumed it was some sort of wierd coincidence.

[Count Blucher]

WOW. People, what happened to cleaning your windshield? Nobody here is 8 years old and on 'the bumper car' ride.

The tailgaitors: You don't want to be at fault for an accident do you? rear end accidents are 100% the fault of the person behind as a matter of Law (in NJ anyway). Do you like your house? Your savings? Did you Really want to have the money to send your kids to college? Then Slow The F-ck Down.
Breathing: It Beats The Alternative.

Speed Breakers: Are you tired of having a functional spine? Do you need to see what a f-cking quadrapelegic has to go through to get dressed in the morning? No? Then Get Your God Damned Foot Off That God Damn Break. What does it take to teach people that in Physical Therapy, Nobody Cares?

[teela brown]

Here we go again.

[Ogre]

No, ntucker is dead fucking right. Assholes who drive in the left lane are clueless idiots or complete jackasses or both. Just because you think you're going "fast enough," and that nobody "has any business passing you as fast as you're going" doesn't mean you're not an idiot.

Move the fuck over. Drive on the right, pass on the left. Simple.

In some cities, and especially in England (which has the most sensible legal take on this issue ever,) you will get your ass pulled over and ticketed for "undertaking" (passing on the wrong side) or driving on the wrong side. Would that every city in the US enforced this simple bit of etiquette.

Please note that if you've stipulated that you specifically move over, this rant is not directed at you. I will note, however, jinwicked, that 10 miles an hour ofver the speed limit ain't shit, and should not keep you in the passing lane for the majority of your driving time. In every city in which I've ever driven (Atlanta, DC, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, etc.), 10 miles an hour over the speed limit was standard cruising speed, because that's usually the upper limit of the "grace period" police will give you before you run the risk of a ticket.

In short, if you're doing 10 mph over, you aren't the fastest thing on the road. Not by a long shot. Keep the fast lane clear.

[butter pie]

If I follow your logic then all the cars on the road should be in the right 2 or 3 lanes, and NO one in the left/fast lane unless they are passing? Maybe that's how it "should be" but you'll never see that happen. Traffic is going to find an equilibrium among all the lanes.

If I'm already going considerably faster than the rest of the flow of traffic then I am going to drive in the fast lane, instead of weaving in and out the left and second-left lane. If I switched lanes every time I passed another car I'd get pulled over and checked to see if I was drunk. That's just stupid and impractical. I'll move over when one of you types that thinks you have every right to cruise in the fast lane instead of me because you're going 20 mph over the limit rather than my 10 or 15 mph over the limit, ride up on my ass, and then I'll move right back. No harm done to you, none done to me. So you had to wait a second for me to move out of the way. Big deal. But when you say "keep the fast lane clear" it sounds to me like "keep it clear for everyone but me." I prefer to NOT drive in the fast lane because of people like you, but if it's the most practical option given circumstances, which it often is, then that's what I'm going to do. I regularly get stuck in the FAST LANE behind someone going the speed limit, but you know what, I don't feel the need to be nasty about it or scream about how he has no right to be there. I just wait for them to move over and if they don't, I change lanes for a ways. I just fail to see the need to get nasty about it. It's not like I'm personally slapping you in the face and saying take that, I'm deliberately driving here just to piss you off.

I just don't understand the venom. It's just a damned road. As long as I get there on time and no one gets killed, I'm good.

[JRDelirious]

Oh, dear, another tailgating/flow of trafic/OK to speed/stay in lane thread... can't we deal with something noncontroversial and unlikely to stir fierce confrontation, like gun control, or abortion? ;)

What I can't get over in the OP is the idea of aggressive driving in a Camry. I drive one, a cashmere beige one even, it's so a mild-mannered gentle-souled machine that I'd look like a damn fool attempting to impose my will on other drivers in that vehicle. Could the person have snapped under an excess of meekness in their ride? (BTW I can understand their not passing -- if they were in a pre-1999 4-cyl Camry base model with AT, they can't count on the passing acceleration or the handling)

[spinky]

Originally posted by jinwicked
one of you types that thinks you have every right to cruise in the fast lane instead of me because you're going 20 mph over the limit rather than my 10 or 15 mph over the limitI have located the problem. For no reason whatsoever, you've decided that anyone who wants to pass you must be a jerk. No wonder you don't mind pissing them off.

[Cheesesteak]

Nope, you've got it ALL wrong ntucker, what she's saying is that the lone gunman doing 20mph over the limit should not expect to have the left lane CLEAR, as other people will be using it. If she is passing the people in the right/middle lanes she has EVERY right to be in the left lane, regardless of her raw speed. If someone is going faster than her, courtesy dictates that she should move out of the way, which she DOES.

I'm failing to see what the problem is.

[Doomtrain]

Originally posted by JRDelirious

What I can't get over in the OP is the idea of aggressive driving in a Camry. I drive one, a cashmere beige one even, it's so a mild-mannered gentle-souled machine that I'd look like a damn fool attempting to impose my will on other drivers in that vehicle. Could the person have snapped under an excess of meekness in their ride? (BTW I can understand their not passing -- if they were in a pre-1999 4-cyl Camry base model with AT, they can't count on the passing acceleration or the handling)

My 88 Camry was a mean machine that broke down all the time and hated people. I think it had the soul of a Ford.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally posted by Ogre
In short, if you're doing 10 mph over, you aren't the fastest thing on the road. Not by a long shot. Keep the fast lane clear.

If you've driven in Chicago, you know that the left lane is not commonly clear. For hours in the morning and the evening, it becomes a faster driving lane - or during the worst hours, a creep-along lane. Theoretically, it's a passing lane in that it's usually moving faster than the others, but that's subject to the intricacies of the traffic flow.

There are enough times when driving (fast) in the passing lane is the way to go, because it simply isn't possible to move to the right without having to force someone else to slow down and let you in, or would involve traveling in the right lane no more than a car length or two before pulling back into the left lane to pass again. I always move over to let people pass, but in cramped driving conditions it can be damned tough to do this swiftly, and some drivers seem to have a fit when this happens.

And yes, I do think it's rude in such cases for a driver to pull up behind someone in the left lane and acting like they're stuck in a remake of the movie Speed, flashing lights/tailgating/honking like they'll explode if they have to decelerate for even a moment, while the hapless driver ahead (passing other cars in the left lane, not just cruising there for the hell of it) looks for an opportunity to move over.

[The Great Unwashed]

Originally posted by Ogre
In some cities, and especially in England (which has the most sensible legal take on this issue ever,) you will get your ass pulled over and ticketed for "undertaking" (passing on the wrong side) or driving on the wrong side. Would that every city in the US enforced this simple bit of etiquette.

Yeah, a cop will ticket you for undertaking, but, whereas one should drive in the inside lane (the leftmost here) I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for being in the wrong lane, and that problem is rife here. Strange, of course, because if people drove in the correct lane no-one would ever have the motivation to undertake.

[spinky]

Originally posted by Cheesesteak
If she is passing the people in the right/middle lanes she has EVERY right to be in the left lane, regardless of her raw speed. Of course she does. Nobody is disputing that. What I don't understand is what circumstances warrant her "just go around" attitude, and why she's assumed that someone who simply wants to pass must automatically be a jerk who just wants the fast lane for himself.

I don't advocate anyone having the fast lane to himself. I don't see what's so difficult about sharing the fast lane in an efficient manner, using it only when you need it. There is a (small) finite number of lanes, and if you don't cooperate, you end up with a four-lane mass of traffic going all the same speed, which is ridiculous.

[kasuo]

Originally posted by El_Kabong
If you had the slightest glimmer of native intelligence, instead of an advanced degree in Dumbass from Texas Dumbass University ...

"You only call it a cow college because it was founded by a cow."