They do not say, “keep right, until someone tries to pass you, then move over in front of them doing 50 in a 65.” :smack:
You have to wonder who taught some of these people to drive. Upstate New York on I-90 is full of people that are content to ride in the right lane all the while, until someone has the audacity to try and overtake on the left. Rather than remaining where they were content to be for miles, they move right on over to the left in front of you.
They do have signs on the highway that say “keep right except to pass,” and I have a publication from one of their rest areas that reiterates that rule.
Driving in Massachusetts is less frustrating than driving in upstate New York! “Massholes” may have duly earned their nickname on the roads, but they will at least get the hell out of the way after they’ve cut you off! Upstate New Yorkers seem to go out of their way to get in everyone else’s way.
You ain’t seen nuthin’ until you’ve driven on the freeways in CA. Californians believe they have a birthright to drive in the left lane no matter what their speed. We often have freeways that go over hills, and an extra lane is put in for the uphill side. Nine times out of ten, the right-most lane is the fastest lane, and where I end up driving.
Out west, the signs don’t say that. The left lane is a normal lane except faster. As John Mace says, except the right lane is sometimes the fastest not due to driving speed but because the left lanes are clogged.
We do have signs in CA that say that*. We also have signs that say “slower traffic use turnouts” when there is only one lane, but almost no one pays attention that those signs either.
*Or, “slower traffic keep right” which is the same thing.
Out west or back east, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal everywhere to make an unsafe lane change. I would imagine forcing traffic in the adjacent lanes on the brakes is a textbook example of an unsafe lane change. Doing so deliberately to prevent people from overtaking absolutely puts someone in the “fuckwit” category.
These fuckwits in upstate New York were perfectly content in the right-hand lane going anywhere from 5 to 15 below the posted maximum, until you attempted to overtake. They would wait until I was right on them, and then cut right over, even though there was not a soul in front of them, nor any merging traffic to contend with! This was not some random fluke, as this behavior was absolutely rampant all the way from the Massachusetts state line until I turned toward Niagara Falls.
Not the same thing. I gather than in other areas it’s implied that the left lane should be solely for passing slower traffic but not for extended periods.
I was driving outside Detroit a few weeks back and it seems the default behavior was to immediately get into the middle lane (of three), leaving the right lane clear. This puzzled me, until I found out that people there just blast onto the highway from the onramp without yielding. "Have plenty of space in front and behind you? Too bad. I want to be where your car is. "
If, hypothetically, you ran that person off of the road, you would have comitted no wrong deed. Those are the same dipshits who are always falling down escalators.
It’s also unlawful to pass on the right, yet it’s done with impunity. It’s what I liked about driving in Europe. In all the years I lived there, I was NEVER passed on the right out on the freeways and could actually safely change from left to right lanes without looking.
ETA: I’m not sure which Portland you’re in, but both Oregon and Maine explicitly allow passing on the right while in an actual lane, as opposed to on a shoulder.
I just avoid the freeway as much as possible: “Speed Limit 70 / Trucks 60”. Some people like to play leapfrog, I prefer to not be constantly changing lanes. The smaller roads also tend have less in the way of cross-winds.
Last summer, Georgia passed a “slowpoke” law, which explicitly requires that drivers in any except the far right lane of a multi-lane highway must move to the right if approached from behind by a faster driver, even if the slower driver is meeting or exceeding the speed limit. When that law was passed, you’d have thought that Mr. Tortoise in the Left Lane was being required to kick puppies, spit on grandmothers, and burn American flags, based on interviews, posts on social media, etc. “But that’s just giving people permission to break the speed limit, and it’s the law!” (Hint: those signs posted on the freeway also have basis in law, and those signs have, as long as I can remember, instructed slower traffic to keep right*.)
Just move the fuck over. Your dick won’t be any smaller just because you drive in the right-hand lane, Pokey. And, unless you have pretty blue lights on your car? It’s not your job to enforce the speed limit.
*The old law allowed drivers to remain in the left lane as long as they were driving at least the posted speed limit, or if there was another driver beside them - no requirement to pass, follow, etc. The new law, written by the former head of the Public Safety Commission, does away with those exceptions. The only legal exceptions now are for hazardous road conditions (flooded lane, trees down in the right lane, etc.,) or if the driver is in the left lane to make a turn or exit. It wasn’t written to encourage speeding, but to unclog roadways and make things a little more civil.
My favorite which I’ve seen a lot of up here in Northern Colorado is two trucks in the right lane doing about 65 in a 75. OK no big deal but then the truck in the back pull into the left lane to pass at (if lucky) 65.5 mph.
I-80 in the Sierras is two lanes for a good part of the length and this happens often. Most of the truckers are good enough that if they make an attempt they will step on the pedal but occasionally there is a slow one. I normally have more problems with civilians who seem oblivious to the train of cars behind them.
Lacunae, I just wanted to say I generally enjoy your posts. Especially when it comes to things like this; particularly involving the law in Georgia. Probably not the best thread to delve into this - and I don’t care - but my heart breaks for you and your husband. I was a road deputy in Georgia for ten years before I went to the railroad, but pretty much everything you say kinda hits home with me. I know people just like you and I’m proud of it. If anything had ever happened to me on the road, I wish I would’ve had someone like you by my side. Additionally, I’m familiar with Tony’s wreck. You’re a fucking cool LEO wife!
Anyway - so this stays on topic - move the fuck over. I wish I could PIT you fuckers. Not that it matters, but I wholly endorse this pitting (he he, get it?). If it makes you feel any better, blue lights don’t mean shit either, in Georgia at least.
Aw shucks - Thanks! (Even though it may technically be against the board rules to be so nice in the BBQ Pit.)
Tony wasn’t on traffic enforcement, so he very, very seldom wrote tickets at his last two departments - a ticket book might last him four or five months. But the tickets he wrote were for his pet peeves: “thump thump” cars, and impeding the flow of traffic. The sheriff proved to be the good type of boss when the city councilman who received the latter type threatened to get Tony fired after Mr. “Do You Know Who I Am?” Councilman drove 5 under in the left lane for a couple of miles on the busiest highway in the county at rush hour! Undoubtedly, the ticket got “fixed,” but there were no political repercussions for Tony at the office, and he was given explicit permission to write another ticket if the amnesiac bigshot pulled that stunt again.
Personally, I don’t fantasize about PITting fellow drivers. I do, however, dream of someday owning a vehicle with a flamethrower, plus tracks (so that I can drive over the smoldering remnants of the car that was previously in my way!)
(BTW - what county, oz0ne? If you don’t want to “out” yourself, that’s okay, or send me a PM.)
Funny (not ha ha), but I usually signed out two books a shift! I had trained with Robbie Bishop back in the day, so I was mostly DUIs and interdiction. I grew tired of 10-16s and whatnot. I find it funny though, the councilman threatening the sheriff. Thats a death sentence in rural Georgia! I love the explicit instructions. It was the same here.
Personally, though, I still fantasize about PITing people. Now, because of you, I just wish I had a flamethrower.
And yeah, fuck those guys in the left lane. I’ve noticed it’s usually fucksticks in Altimas or Maximas, with the occasional mommy in an SUV. Never a BMW though; blows my fucking mind.
