# Driving significantly below the limit **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512 "2019-06-14T14:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/21 "2019-06-14T19:46:27Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > It bothers me an irrational amount as well. I know it’s not costing me THAT much time, but geez people, get a move on! Ah, but is it really so irrational? Sure, if you’re inconvenienced only once the irritation might be misplaced…but if boneheads delay you a minute in traffic every day that adds up very quickly. Say an idiot delays you in traffic a mere 60 seconds each work day commute. That’s five minutes per week times 52 weeks which gives us 260 minutes a year over, say, 30 years means you could end up sacrificing 5.4 days of your life - which you will never get back - to boneheads driving too slowly. You should feel righteously indignant over that kind of imposition! Time is that by which our existence is measured and those boneheads ROBBED you of that most precious commodity. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/22 "2019-06-14T19:47:37Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Anecdotally, my wife and I feel as tho we have recently encountered more drivers than usual driving significantly below the speed limit…I’m talking about people driving 10 or more MPH below the limit on non-expressways. Wonder if the drivers you’ve encountered going too slowly have the following gripe: > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I am NOT a slow driver, but when I commented on the guys getting right on my ass, my buddy - who lived in MI for years - simply said, “You’re not doing anything wrong. That’s how they drive in MI.” 🙂 > [@dolphinboy](#): > > The really dangerous part is when I am driving 60-65 and someone just pulls out of their driveway onto the road at 1 mph when I am bearing down on them. They can’t accelerate fast enough and I have to step on my breaks hard to avoid hitting them. They are either clueless or inconsiderate or both. Something doesn’t sound right to me here either. Any road with driveway access should have a considerably lower speed limit, and drivers knowing there are residents who will pull out onto the road need to keep a safe speed to avoid smashing into them (in the vast majority of cases, the law goes against a driver who rear-ends someone). ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/23 "2019-06-14T20:10:15Z")
One of my pet peeves is drivers that don’t speed up on the expressway entrance ramp, or even stop at the base of the ramp. So I got into the habit of slowing down, sometimes a lot, at the top of the ramp so I can put some distance between my car and the car in front of me. Then I can take off and get almost to full speed by the time I hit the base of the ramp, which makes merging onto a crowded highway much easier. Especially since our local highways have some ridiculously short right-hand merge lanes. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/24 "2019-06-14T20:59:34Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > It bothers me an irrational amount as well. I know it’s not costing me THAT much time, but geez people, get a move on! Personally, what upsets me is the perceived arrogance of the slow drivers. The road is a shared public resource. As such, it is only courteous to maintain a typically normal speed so that people can go where they need or want to go as expeditiously as possible. Also, I think people should be aware that just because you are out for a normal drive or that you are in no particular hurry, others might be running late or have an emergency where they need to be there quicker than you. When that is the case, pull over and let people past you since you seem to be in no hurry anyways. I think the road rage and the hard feelings come from the fact that the slow drivers seem to be saying fuck everyone else back there and the line behind me, I will drive as fucking slow as I want to because I can. Now, I agree that it is a minor thing and road rage is no good, but I think that is the basic thought: it is a discourtesy to those you share the road with. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/25 "2019-06-14T21:05:49Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Ah, but is it really so irrational? Sure, if you’re inconvenienced only once the irritation might be misplaced…but if boneheads delay you a minute in traffic every day that adds up very quickly. Say an idiot delays you in traffic a mere 60 seconds each work day commute. That’s five minutes per week times 52 weeks which gives us 260 minutes a year over, say, 30 years means you could end up sacrificing 5.4 days of your life - which you will never get back - to boneheads driving too slowly. You should feel righteously indignant over that kind of imposition! Time is that by which our existence is measured and those boneheads ROBBED you of that most precious commodity. :mad: Rationally speaking, I could make up that much time and then some by reading one less page while on the crapper. That ain’t happening, either! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/26 "2019-06-14T21:51:11Z")
Do any of you live in places with legal marijuana? That may account for some of the sloooooow drivers. Anecdote: When my sister was in HS, she had some friends who were pulled over on the freeway while driving home from a party, and they apologized to the officer for speeding. He replied, “You were going 15MPH.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/27 "2019-06-15T18:21:53Z")
Interesting posts so far. It seems I can tell if the vehicle in fron of me is driving slow for no apparent external reason, invariably I come to find out they’re dicking around with an electronic device, and they subconsciously drive slow so as to give them more reaction time or stopping distance since they only seem to pay attention to the road only every several seconds, and then react ( or overeact ) thusly. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/28 "2019-06-15T18:33:25Z")
I’ve found that people generally find it difficult to maintain a steady speed completely on their own. This is especially apparent if you’re driving in a hilly area and using cruise control. When the road starts going uphill most people fail to adjust and slow down without realizing it. If you’re using cruise control you will find yourself come up on a group of vehicles, keep up with them for a while, then suddenly you seem to blast past everyone, but it’s not because you’re accelerating past them, it’s just that the road started to go uphill and _you_ just didn’t slow down. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/29 "2019-06-16T04:49:33Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Interesting posts so far. > > It seems I can tell if the vehicle in fron of me is driving slow for no apparent external reason, invariably I come to find out they’re dicking around with an electronic device, and they subconsciously drive slow so as to give them more reaction time or stopping distance since they only seem to pay attention to the road only every several seconds, and then react ( or overeact ) thusly. I think it’s much more likely that they simply don’t realize that they have slowed down. Many people have a sufficiently-overinflated view of their driving skills that they wouldn’t feel it necessary to slow down. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/30 "2019-06-16T15:05:36Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > The really dangerous part is when I am driving 60-65 and someone just pulls out of their driveway onto the road at 1 mph when I am bearing down on them. They can’t accelerate fast enough and I have to step on my breaks hard to avoid hitting them. They are either clueless or inconsiderate or both. Slow drivers used to bother me a lot when I was younger, but now I just slow down and wait for a good time to pass or just drive slow for a while. It’s not worth risking your life over or getting stressed out about… > [@scr4](#): > > This would suggest you are driving too fast. If the speed limit there is 65, it really shouldn’t be. > > Unless you are exaggerating the “step on my breaks [sic] **hard** ” (emphasis mine) part. There are plenty of accidents caused by people merging into traffic when they’ve cut it much too close, though, without speeding on the part of the other driver being an issue. I stopped to give a statement to police about one such accident myself: traffic was moving along at 55mph when someone in a parking lot who was towing a small trailer decided he had enough room to get out in front of the car in front of me, and he didn’t. He’d literally guessed there was _just_ enough room for him to both fit and accelerate because the other driver was at that time less than 3 car lengths from the driveway he was waiting in, and he was wrong. There was absolutely no way that the car that hit him could’ve stopped in time. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/31 "2019-06-16T23:05:55Z")
Huh. I just don’t see it. I drive the speed limit or a little over if safe and it keeps up with traffic. What I hate is the tailgaters when you are going the limit. If I have to hit the breaks, and you’re right on my ass, it’s gonna be your fault. On the two lane mountain highway I take to work, I usually pull over at least once for someone that is tailgating. (we have deer, moose and all kinds of road hazards.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/32 "2019-06-17T00:19:36Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m seeing more very slow drivers recently too. I assume they’re texting. Their dealer. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/33 "2019-06-17T03:17:22Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Huh. I just don’t see it. I drive the speed limit or a little over if safe and it keeps up with traffic. What I hate is the tailgaters when you are going the limit. If I have to hit the breaks, and you’re right on my ass, it’s gonna be your fault. On the two lane mountain highway I take to work, I usually pull over at least once for someone that is tailgating. (we have deer, moose and all kinds of road hazards.) I’ve gotta figure some of the people complaining about ‘slow’ drivers are the kind who tailgate or even try to unsafely pass me when I’m going at or near the limit. There are sometimes annoyingly slow drivers, but tailgaters or the kind who suddenly try to go around you on the right because you aren’t speeding enough in the left lane, and who you have to watch out for if trying to courteously move out of the left lane, there are more of them and they are more dangerous IMO than slowpokes. Local roads in my area are highly congested. I don’t sweat spending seconds more taking it easy rather than aggressively weaving around to get past people, hate weavers in heavy traffic. When I’m out in rural areas I just go around people who are going slow. There’s generally a straightaway or passing lane somewhere fairly near where it’s easy. Otherwise keep my distance though it’s nice if people going slow do pull over on 2 lane roads where it isn’t possible to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/34 "2019-06-17T16:36:38Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Something doesn’t sound right to me here either. Any road with driveway access should have a considerably lower speed limit, and drivers knowing there are residents who will pull out onto the road need to keep a safe speed to avoid smashing into them (in the vast majority of cases, the law goes against a driver who rear-ends someone). Pretty much every road has driveways, though. Even rural roads with 55 mph speed limits. It’s how farmers and their families get in and out of their houses. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/35 "2019-07-22T22:33:46Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Personally, what upsets me is the perceived arrogance of the slow drivers. The road is a shared public resource. As such, it is only courteous to maintain a typically normal speed so that people can go where they need or want to go as expeditiously as possible. > > Also, I think people should be aware that just because you are out for a normal drive or that you are in no particular hurry, others might be running late or have an emergency where they need to be there quicker than you. When that is the case, pull over and let people past you since you seem to be in no hurry anyways. > > I think the road rage and the hard feelings come from the fact that the slow drivers seem to be saying fuck everyone else back there and the line behind me, I will drive as fucking slow as I want to because I can. > > Now, I agree that it is a minor thing and road rage is no good, but I think that is the basic thought: it is a discourtesy to those you share the road with. The courtesy issue is important. The Car Talk brothers observed once that while it is more efficient for drivers to pass others and then merge when the road allows for this and is in fact designed for it, it is a question of courtesy, not efficiency, and that people who zoom past the stagnant line and cut in ahead are rude. Not sure I agree, but I see the point. I would also be tempted to say that people who back into parking spots are rude, however effective and efficient they may be. That is, when you decide to back in, you hold up people for your benefit and they get angry. When you back out and people let you go ahead, they are virtuous and courteous and feel good about themselves and the world. This is how I also resolve “toilet seat goes down, gentlemen,” debate. Put it down and you are a saint, leave it up and you’re a jerk. Manners, please, people. Or I’ll smack you… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/36 "2019-07-23T07:05:57Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m seeing more very slow drivers recently too. I assume they’re texting. This. Especially if they can’t stay in their lane. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/37 "2019-07-23T08:14:20Z")
Personally, in general don’t bother me. As long as they are not in the middle lane say. That kind of lane-hogging is where it can become dangerous (in my home of the UK, the rule is you are always supposed to be in the leftmost (slowest) lane unless you are passing a car or queue of cars). > [@DCnDC](#): > > I had an uncle who refused to exceed 30 mph under any and all circumstances. Residential streets, major roads, highways, it was all the same to him. I’m talking about the DC metro area, where _everyone_ is perpetually late, and drive and behave accordingly. People honked and rudely hand gestured at him all day long and he didn’t give a shit. He routinely got pulled over on the highway and ordered to either keep up or stay off the highway but he didn’t give a shit about that either. He was going where he was going and he was going to get there the way he wanted to get there: _slowly_. In many states (and in the UK) you can be fined for driving too slowly, and the fine can be even larger than a standard speeding fine. But I think you’d really have to be pulling the pedal off the metal to earn that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/38 "2019-07-23T09:03:29Z")
I’m the Avatar of Road Rage. Get the hell out of my way! Today, I was packing the mail up the mountain road, and I’ll be damned if 3 people actually used the turnouts to let me by! Only had to pass one on the double yellow. It was a banner day on State route 731! ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/39 "2019-07-23T15:16:25Z")
I always wonder whether the slow driver knows something I don’t. The thing they know might be about the road conditions, or the children or deer that tend to be around the next bend on the specific road, or the speed trap, or something that just went wrong with their car and they’re trying to limp home, or their own physical or mental state at the moment. Or maybe they’re just not paying attention or don’t care about other traffic; though a) I’ve got no way to tell and b) do I really want somebody who’s not paying attention and/or doesn’t care about other traffic to be doing that at a high rate of speed? Sometimes I’m the slow, or relatively slow, driver; in which case yes, I’ll pull over and let other traffic pass me. I’ve twice been pulled over by the police for doing that, though, so maybe that’s why more people don’t? I haven’t figured out a good way to say ‘Officer-in-unmarked-car, I pulled over because you were tailgating me.’ The best I’ve been able to come up with is ‘I pulled over because I thought you wanted to pass me’. There seem to be a lot of people who want to be, not only slightly over the speed limit, but 10 to 20 MPH over it, and to get annoyed at anyone going slower. There also seem to be a lot of people who want to ride right on your tail no matter what the speed is; they seem to be unhappy if they’re not in close proximity to another car. And then there are the folks who come up from behind at high speed and pass on the double yellow, even if the car they’re passing is at or above the speed limit. I always hit the brakes and get ready to dive for the shoulder, and sometimes actually do; have more than once by that technique avoided witnessing, and possibly becoming collateral damage in, a head on collision when there turned out to be another vehicle coming the other way, and the passing car wouldn’t have had time to get back into its lane if I hadn’t gone out of my way to get out of theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512/40 "2019-07-23T16:40:54Z")
A summary of passing lane laws in all 50 states: > **[SLOWER-TRAFFIC-KEEP-RIGHT.pdf](https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/SLOWER-TRAFFIC-KEEP-RIGHT.pdf)** > > 385.35 KB Generally speaking, if you’re in the left-hand lane and not passing people, move your ass over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-significantly-below-the-limit/835512.md?page=3)