Unless you get behind Farmer Jim who can’t be arsed. :mad:
This has happened to me on any number of occasions, usually on my way to Plantersville on those back roads. Speed limit: 60. Farmer speed: 45. Invariably an old red or blue Ford or Chevy pickup.
I’ve done it on a number of occasions, mostly when driving unfamiliar 2-lane roads that the locals drive faster than I feel safe doing. I hardly think this qualifies me for sainthood; it’s just a recognition of how I feel when the shoe’s on the other foot.
tremorviolet - can we bring some Texans up to southern Maryland and teach the locals how to drive? 
I admit I am pretty cynical on the subject. The road I take to work becomes three lanes, but all the damn big trucks get in the left lane miles before the exit. Meanwhile there are slow people in the right lane where they belong, but since the trucks are being left lane bandits it jams the whole works up. This causes half the people on the road to engage in evasive manuevers to get around the trucks. This is alot more dangerous than if they were just driving fast, now they are driving fast and weaving in and out of lanes.
The simple fact of the matter is that if you are in the left lane and someone is going faster than you behind you, you should get out of the left lane ASAP unless moving to the right would seriously fuck up traffic flow. And you shouldn’t even be in the left lane unless there is currently traffic to your right than is going appreciably slower. If the right lane is doing 50 and you want to do 55, wait for there to be no traffic going faster than that in the left lane and then pass, or speed up to pass.
A lot of bad things can be said about Kentucky, but everytime I drive through it I am amazed at how much better the flow of traffic there is than in other places I drive more often. Instead of having a wimpy “Slower traffic keep right” sign so some putz think “I am doing almost the speed limit, I’m not the slower traffic they are talking about” they have some sign saying they shouldn’t even be in the lane unless they are passing. And I wish more places would do that, because it’s always one idiot puttering along who fucks things up for ten or more cars and makes trying to drive way more dangerous than it should be. Use the lane for what it was intended or get the fuck out of it.
Presumably if there’s an accident, you’d blame those in the left lane, not those weaving in and out.
“I had to overtake, Officer, he was going too slowly - and that’s dangerous!”
Have you read about Toad in ‘Wind in the Willows’?
What I positively loathe is when I’m already in the right lane, and the left lane is clear, yet Mr. Asshole must come within three inches of my bumper before he decides to switch around me. He had plenty of room, why does he have to bear down on me before going? To show me what a threatening guy he is?
Idiot!
Yesterday I was making the drive back from Calgary to Edmonton, and that highway was just insane. The posted speed limit is 110 km/h. The flow of traffic is usually about 120, but the right lane has always got RVs and other slow vehicles in it going as slow as 90.
Yesterday, for whatever reason, the ‘fast lane’ flow was about 135 (that’s about 85 mph, for the metrically challenged), with some people flying along at about 150. Now, normally I go about 125, which is just slow enough to avoid a ticket, but usually keeps me in the fast lane. So yesterday I had to move right a lot. It does bring up some interesting problems. For example, if you’ve got to move to the right to let someone pass, but doing so will stick you behind a semi-trailer rig going 90, and keep you there for a long time because traffic is really thick and you won’t be able to move out into the fast lane again for quite a while, sometimes you just want to stay left for a another minute or so until you pass the semi so you can at least maintain something close to your speed on the right and merge back left when you can without having to accelerate hard.
That caused much tailgating, gesturing, and general obnoxious behaviour from the people behind me. Sorry dude, but if I’m already going 15 km/h over the speed limit, and I don’t want to be stuck in the slow lane for the next 10 minutes, you’re just going to have to wait for 30 seconds or so before continuing your 100 mph commute.
I completely agree.
While I try to be reasonable in my opinions without using absolutes, I will say that there is absolutely NO freakin’ advantage to almost clipping my car as you pass me on a divided highway with little other traffic.
Everytime this happens, I honestly wonder what kind of moronic mental process could lead a person to the conclusion that this makes sense. My braking or sudden swerving to avoid something at the wrong time would end up poorly for all involved, so why do it when there is no advantage?
If it’s on a 1 lane road with traffic where you have to wait until the last second, ok, I at least understand that and have even done it myself, but why the heck would you do that on I-5 or I-90 when there is more than enough room to pass???
Because driving fast is ALWAYS less dangerous.
Dude,. take the bus.
The left lane is for passing. So, if I’m in the right lane, and I come up behind eight cars going 5 mph slower than me, I have every right to pass them at my meager speed of 8 mph faster than the speed limit. The grumbling guy behind me who wants to go 20 mph faster doesn’t impress me at all. When I’m finished passing, I’ll pull into the right lane.
The fact that you like to drive at 95 mph does not mean everyone must get out of your way. You are just one car in the traffic stream, and you have no more rights than anyone else.
Dan Norder :
I agree 100%! The passing lane (left lane) is for PASSING only! Never, ever cruise in it! And to all the shitheads who say “I’ll just drive slower”, ever think that maybe, MAYBE a person is behind you in the passing lane that has a REAL emergency and needs to get somewhere? Like a woman with her water broke, or a guy cutting off 3 fingers with a table saw- ok, darwin awards for not being in the right place at the right time, or too stupid to put the beer down before sawing up some stock, anyway, the point is made: please, PLEASE treat the left lane as a PASSING lane only! It’s so simple, cruise on the right, if someone is slow, then use the left blinker, slide left, pass them, then right blinker and slide right. This shit with people in the left lane slowing down when someone really needs to get somewhere is really, really pathetic. I fart in your general direction.
Alternatively, you could abide by the rules of the road for the state you’re driving in. In some states, fast-moving traffic is expected to stay in the left lane; in others, it’s for passing only; in yet others, it’s somewhere in between – you may legally cruise in it unless being overtaken by another vehicle moving faster than you.
Finally, in my own state, if you’re doing 35 in a 65 zone and there’s a highway patrolman assisting or detaining a stopped motorist on the right shoulder, you belong in the left lane while passing him – with everybody leaving the right lane clear as they pass him. And if that inconveniences anyone, tough noogies – we prefer inconveniencing people briefly to having them hit cops or disabled-vehicle motorists.
This is the case where tapping the brake to give the idiots the message makes sense to me. Also consider signaling to the left as if you were going to make way for them on the right hand lane. Or just drop an oil slick on the bastards…
OK maybe revenge is not rally a good idea, but thinking about it is sure cathartic
If you do hit your brakes intentionally in that situation, you are likely to get a ticket as well as the tailgater. I was a witness to an accident that involved a variety of things including this type of stuff, when I asked about fault, the state patrolman told me that he has in the past ticketed the person that hit their brakes in addition to the tailgater.
Not saying I would blame the left lane bandit DIRECTLY, but then again, if they were in the lane they were supposed to be in, the accident would not have happened would it? The person in the passing lane who is not obeying the rules of the road is creating a dangerous situation.
I think the operative word was ‘tap’ as opposed to ‘hit’ the brakes. I can tap my brake pedal enough to make the brake lights flash, without more than a negligible effect on my speed.
Still, the emergency flashers work better for this purpose.
I appreciate that people should not treat an overtaking lane as a cruising lane. And the traffic police should cite them.
But I completely disagree with your logic about who is to blame for a resulting accident.
Consider a lazy driver sitting in the overtaking lane, with an impatient driver behind him. There is no danger until the impatient driver overtakes on the wrong side (probably blowing his horn and glaring at the other driver rather than the road ahead).
The danger is all in the behaviour of the impatient driver. (And his attitude easily leads to road rage.)
This puts you on par with the asshole that’s tailgating you. And will likely make a risky situation more dangerous. If and when possible, swallow whatever you call your pride, and MOVE THE FUCK OVER. Don’t ever slow down to a tailgater. The stress will increase two-fold for both of you, and now you’re both just menace’s to society. If you can change lanes, two things will happen… the stress of “why is he tailgating me?” will disappear. And second, your tailgater will disappear. It’s a 2 for 1 combo. Anything else is an ego-play.
Adjusting one of the (four) nozzles for wiper fluid, making it squirt straight up, make wonders for tailgaters.
What pisses me off to no end is if I’m overtaking a semi and the guy in front of me is goind the speed limit, the fucking tailgater in his Beemer (always a man, always a BMW) will be close enough that I can’t even see the hood of the Beemer in the rear viewmirror. He might even flash his lights? Where am I suposed to go, fuckface?
That’s another thing, too, the people who tailgate you when you’re not the one slowing traffic down! Driving down I-87 to Long Island the first 2.5 hours are only 2 lanes, on the highway.