American drivers

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Biggirl

One of THE most annoying things: Nobody in NYC knows how to “zipper merge”. It’s your lane, than my lane, then you lane, then my lane-- not drive up on the shoulder and skip every body then shove your way in.

Zipper merging is a form of courtesy. As such it conflicts with the Prime Directive of tristate area driving:
Don’t be courteous, because…well, just don’t. Be fast.
(Corollary: When in doubt, be faster.)

[Digital_Stimulus]

@Johnny L.A.

Yep, I’m on the Wet Coast. I was at a DopeFest last week (actually, the only Dopers there were me and Danalan) and was talking to a woman there.

I saw that and regretted I’m not close enough to have made the trip (never been to a Dopefest).

There was a remark in an old edition of Let’s Go: California about ‘the speedy and confident California drivers’. She admitted that she didn’t know The Rules. (She also couldn’t believe that motorcycling could be fun, what with going fast and all.)

Sounds like NJ; although the drivers can be pretty bad, I can pretty easily make the adjustment when visiting. My wife, who grew up in HI, is scared shitless and (generally) won’t drive once we cross the state line.

I do have to admit that I’d now have reservations about hopping on a motorcycle back in NJ. My reflexes and defensive driving are pretty well honed, but The (NJ) Rules aren’t followed closely enough by everyone to be able to count on them.

I should think that one big difference between CA and NJ is the infrastructure – in NJ, you can stick to “in-town” driving, only having to shift to highway rules when, say, getting on 80 or the Parkway (shudder). But there are always multiple ways of taking back roads to get somewhere. In my (limited) experience, in CA (LA especially), one almost always has to hop on a freeway to get somewhere, so there’s more consistency to the driving patterns.

[Digital_Stimulus]

@Beware of Doug

Zipper merging is a form of courtesy. As such it conflicts with the Prime Directive of tristate area driving:
Don’t be courteous, because…well, just don’t. Be fast.
(Corollary: When in doubt, be faster.)

Yes – it’s not that NY drivers don’t know how to zipper merge. It’s that they don’t care.

[Beware_of_Doug]

They care about something. You have to if you’re tailgating on a Sunday afternoon on a nearly empty stretch of the Henry Hudson Parkway.

[enipla]

@scr4

If everyone used the hazard lights to indicate when they’re temporarily parked, then a lack of the hazard lights means something: it means the car is waiting for the way to clear, and I should just wait. But if nobody uses hazard lights, then the lack of hazard lights means absolutely nothing.

Screw that. Find a real parking spot like your supposed to do.

[myskepticsight]

@scr4

Was he ticketed? Was there a posted minimum speed on those roads?

I’ve been doing this for about a year now (driving 55 or speed limit, whichever is lower) and I haven’t been pulled over even once. Although I do speed up if I can’t stay in the right-most lane - e.g. where the freeway splits, and I need to be on the left 2 lanes because the other 2 lanes go elsewhere. Maybe that’s the type of place where your friend’s father got the warning?

Even though this is the pit I don’t want to really be a bitch - but if you’re insisting on driving on a highway at 55 mph and the speed limit is higher, and traffic/bad weather isn’t stopping you from going the limit, you need to find another road to drive on. AFAIK they have highway minimum limits to keep cars that cannot drive 40mph or whatever the low limit is off the highway for safety reasons. So if the limit is 65, and you insist on going 55 to save gas, find another road. I know at least around here there are plenty of service roads off the highways where the limit is 40-55 mph. Go find one.

[silenus]

Exactly. I don’t give a rip how much gas you’re saving. If you are in my way and going too slow, I’m going to run right up on your tail and stay there until you move over or I can get around. Unsafe, yes. But you are the one who is causing the problem. If you can’t fucking drive, then stay off the highway.

Johnny, I think the drivers in Oregon are far worse than the ones in Washington. I think not being able to pump their own gas makes them think that the natural order of things is to drive at 40mph in the left lane of a freeway. I nearly wore my left middle finger out the last time I drove from SoCal to Seedro Wooley.

[scr4]

@silenus

If you are in my way and going too slow, I’m going to run right up on your tail and stay there until you move over or I can get around. Unsafe, yes. But you are the one who is causing the problem. If you can’t fucking drive, then stay off the highway.

Let me get this straight. I’m driving 55 mph in a 65-mph zone, you’re tailgating me, and I’m the one causing the problem?

Whatever… But the police won’t see it that way if you rear-end me.

[GorillaMan]

@scr4

Let me get this straight. I’m driving 55 mph in a 65-mph zone, you’re tailgating me, and I’m the one causing the problem?

If the other traffic is moving at 65, then yes, you are causing a big problem. Not that it’s exclusively an either/or thing.

[Johnny_L.A]

@silenus

Johnny, I think the drivers in Oregon are far worse than the ones in Washington.

You’ll not get an argument from me! I call Oregon Driver’s Purgatory. I hate driving in Oregon!

[gotpasswords]

@Digital Stimulus

Sounds like NJ; although the drivers can be pretty bad, I can pretty easily make the adjustment when visiting. My wife, who grew up in HI, is scared shitless and (generally) won’t drive once we cross the state line.

…

I should think that one big difference between CA and NJ is the infrastructure – in NJ, you can stick to “in-town” driving, only having to shift to highway rules when, say, getting on 80 or the Parkway (shudder). But there are always multiple ways of taking back roads to get somewhere. In my (limited) experience, in CA (LA especially), one almost always has to hop on a freeway to get somewhere, so there’s more consistency to the driving patterns.

I try to be cognizant of out of state visitors in the vehicle if I’m driving. I know the traffic flow and the coefficient of friction my tires have to the pavement. My mother-in-law does not know this, so I’ll warn “Hang on, sharp turn here!” when I slice across from the through lane, across the exit lane and into the exit ramp at 65 MPH, then stomp on the brakes so we don’t carom off the K-rail lining the cloverleaf turn.

It is possible to take the exit at a speed and angle of attack that doesn’t scare people? Theoretically, perhaps at 3:30 AM. But now, there are cars coming from the on-ramp doing the exact mirror image of what I’m doing, also at 65 or better, so it can get hairy, but since I need to take a freeway to get at pretty much anything other than the grocery store, I’m used to it. If my own mother ever comes out here, we’ll need valium. Probably for both of us, as the old joke is that she’d never drive more than two miles away from home, and she’d be in quite a tizzy.

[Slypork]

@scr4

Let me get this straight. I’m driving 55 mph in a 65-mph zone, you’re tailgating me, and I’m the one causing the problem?

Whatever… But the police won’t see it that way if you rear-end me.

You are going below the posted speed limit which makes you a hazard to other drivers. They will be moving along at the appropriate speed and have to change lanes to avoid you.

Tailgating is dangerous and wrong but turning your car into a mobile traffic cone is dangerous. Keep up with the flow of traffic or at least do the speed limit. How out of tune is your car that going a few mph over 55 is going to dramatically decrease your gas mileage?

[askeptic]

Let me get this straight. I’m driving 55 mph in a 65-mph zone, you’re tailgating me, and I’m the one causing the problem?

Whatever… But the police won’t see it that way if you rear-end me.

Most states you will get a ticket for going below the posted speed limit if you are impeding the flow of traffic.

[Great_Dave]

A hearty FUCK OFF to all of you who insit that the speed limit is the minimum. scr4 is saying that he wants to drive 55 in the right lane, which is perfectly fine. If you want to go faster, well, that’s what the passing lane is for, dipshits. As long as one is doing the minimum, then tough shit, it’s just as much their road.

What pisses me off is the drivers here in MI. Tailgating is standard, no matter what speed one is going. And if there is a “Road work ahead, left lane closed” then, you better get in the right lane ASAP! I, being a native Californian, can zipper merge up where the lane is ACUTALLY CLOSED, but some dickheads will invariably try and block the closed lane over a mile away!! Get the fuck outta the way, I’ll merge when I decide to, not when you feel I should. Hmmm, we can either have a one-lane bottleneck for 100 feet, or for a mile and a half. I wonder which one will slow down the most traffic?

[Great_Dave]

@askeptic

Most states you will get a ticket for going below the posted speed limit if you are impeding the flow of traffic.

Cite?

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Johnny L.A.

I was at a DopeFest last week (actually, the only Dopers there were me and Danalan)

[hijack]How many Dopers are required for a Dopefest?
Can I be a Dopefest Of One wherever I am?
[/hijack]

[askeptic]

@Great Dave

Cite?

From Virginia Vehicle Code:

I. No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic. §46.2-877 (¶1)

No, I am not going to break it down state by state. I will revise my comment to say that in some states you will get a ticket for going below the posted speed limit if you are impeding the flow of traffic.

[Q.N.Jones]

@scr4

Was he ticketed? Was there a posted minimum speed on those roads?

I don’t know. The time I was in the car with him, he was not ticketed.

Maybe that’s the type of place where your friend’s father got the warning?

No. The time I was with him, he was on a two-lane interstate, in the right lane. Traffic was heavy, and people were stacked up behind him, blowing their horns, because the left lane was too full of cars for them to get around.

[Great_Dave]

@askeptic

From Virginia Vehicle Code:

No, I am not going to break it down state by state. I will revise my comment to say that in some states you will get a ticket for going below the posted speed limit if you are impeding the flow of traffic.

I guess I’d say that doing 10 under the limit is still reasonable and normal. The speed limit is NOT THE MINIMUM.

[askeptic]

@Great Dave

I guess I’d say that doing 10 under the limit is still reasonable and normal. The speed limit is NOT THE MINIMUM.

1. It ain’t your call.

2. The statute addresses those who impede the reasonable and noral flow of traffic not whether the slow drivers speed is reasonable and normal. If the reasonable and normal speed is greater than the speed you are going and you are impeding other drivers you may be cited.

3. I NEVER SAID THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT WAS THE MINIMUM.