What is it with drivers???

The BBQ Pit
21

Three lanes is not necessarily heavy traffic. You and I both know that 3 lanes is sometimes 3 lanes too few or 2 lanes too many. Number of lanes and traffic flow don’t (necessarily) have anything to do with one another. 3 lanes @ 5 AM = excessively low traffic. (Only one lane is probably necessary). 3 lanes @ 5 PM = excessively high traffic. (6 lanes are probably necessary).
Actually the 3 lanes variable has no meaning in these equations.

I think people get far too content with staying in the lane they are in. People are too lazy. People don’t want to pass if they are driving too fast. People don’t want to deal with passing if they are driving the speed limit. People forget that they are not alone. If they are driving significantly slower than the flow of traffic (regardless of relationship to speed limit) they should be in the right lane, especially if they are a hazard. People gesturing at you indicates that you are a hazard. But if traffic allows, say at 8PM till rush hour the next morning, I don’t have a problem with people driving in the middle lane. I will go around. It’s those butts that piddle along right around the speed limit right next to someone else who’s going right around the speed limit. Not only is this discourteous, it’s dangerous. What if you have to swerve? You have no where to swerve! When possible, it’s always good to drive so no one is next to you. And please allow enough room for others to pass. Really, I don’t care if you are in my way. But just don’t drive next to someone else who is in my way.

You can also get a ticket for impeding traffic. Just as a fun (for me :D) experiment, why don’t you try to get in front of a cop car who is zooming through traffic (without his emergency lights on). I’m sure you’ll run across a speeding cop eventually. Next time you see a cop coming up the road at a higher rate than the traffic flow, get over in his lane and drive the same speed as the guy next to you. If the cop isn’t in a hurry for an important reason, you can bet your lunch you’re going to get a ticket.

22

Once upon a time I read (in a John McDonald novel, an unimpeachable source of driving tips) that the center lane was definitely the safest place to be on an expressway, because 1) you had a better chance of avoiding the crazed superspeeders in the left lane, as well as the occasional driver going the opposite way who becomes involved in a mess and flips over the divider, and 2) because being in the right lane puts you at risk of colliding not only with the heedless merger, but with the forgetful driver who doesn’t think of getting into the right lane for his exit until just past the last minute, and doesn’t care who is in that lane to begin with.

Doing a few miles over the limit in the center lane with plenty of space to pass on both sides seems pretty legit to me.

23

Kalamazoo rocks. One time I was going 95 on the super highway and I got passed!!!

Stuff like that and you never have to worry about a speeding ticket.

24

As an experiment, twice in the past two days, I have driven my normal speed in the right lane. Again, the other two lanes were generally empty. And you know what happened? Both times, I get tailgated. What am I supposed to do now, get off the freeway? Fuck that. You lazy speeders can go around me, I don’t care.

25

Windshield washers, baby… windshield washers. :wink:

26

Yesterday I was cruising on the left lane of a 3-lane highway, doing 140km/h (limit was 120), when a car is approaching fast behind me and flashing the lights. I immediately move to the middle lane and the car overtakes. Wow! I think, a Focus RS! Let’s chase it… I move back to the left lane and increase speed. I reach about 180-190, but the Focus RS was still increasing the gap. And then I notice another car behind me. This one was not flashing the lights, but he was tailgaiting me very closely. I again move to the middle lane and I realize that the car behind me was a Toyota Carina. What the fuck? How could the frigging Carina ovartake me at 190 km/h?

27

I regularly drive along the freeway in western Sydney, The speed limit is 110 kph and I usually drive at about 116. Although there are regular “Keep left unless overtaking” signs most people travel in the middle lane. I generally pass more cars in the middle lane than the left hand lane. Often I am better off driving in the left lane because people in the middle and right hand lanes don’t pull over.

I stick to the principles of Bruce_Daddy only in reverse. If I can pull over to the left I do. It saves having to worry about what people behind you are doing, they can zoom past whenever they like.

As for recommendations about driving in the middle lane, when I got a heavy vehicle licence I was taught to drive in the middle lane on 3 lane roads where the kerbside lane has parking. This was because, in traffic, a truck or bus would find it harder to pull out around the parked cars but cars can pass slower vehicles and just zip out. Other than that I have never heard of any reason to do it.

28

I’ve never gotten tailgated on a 6-lane highway anywhere, where there was no traffic except for myself and the other car, and I was in the MIDDLE lane. It happens a lot when I am in the right lane, though! It’s usually a mile or so before an exit, where the person has to get off, but doesn’t think they have enough room to pass me, and thinks that somehow, tailgating me will make me speed up.

Certainly, if you are going the speed limit or 5-7 above and there is no traffic, I would be in the center lane myself. There is no reason why, if there is indeed no traffic on the road, that another car overtaking you cannot move into the left lane. In fact, even if you were in the left lane, while you should move to the right when a car approaches, once the car starts tailgating, I do not feel obligated to pull over.

The reason is that, even assuming a sane (if aggressive) driver, the reaction time is not quick enough to avoid an accident if both the other driver and I decide to pull into the righthand lane at the same time. Add in the fact that tailgaters are often impulsive asshats, and pulling over to the right, even when signaling such, is a recipe for disaster.

29

…except that (in Europe at least) it is ILLEGAL for anyone else to overtake you on the inside. This means that if I am in the slow lane, to pass you legally I have to cross two lanes, and possibly slow down to wait for a space in the fast lane (remember, I’m not doing 200km/h, I just want to pass you at a steady 120-130 without having to get a porsche 923 surgically removed from my jacksy afterwards.

Okay, be an inconsiderate wanker then. However, the whole point of your original post is that you also get tailgated when hogging the centre lane. At least if you’re tailgated in the right-hand lane you have the satisfaction of knowing it’s not *you * that’s being the cunt…

Also, don’t forget that it’s not necessarily your god-given right to hold up traffic on the motorway. The whole point of them is to create an environment in which it’s safer to drive faster than on normal roads. My mother, soon after passing her driving test, was pulled over by a traffic cop in Holland and warned to go faster or leave the motorway. Going too slowly can actually be dangerous if you are causing an obstruction. If you really are going slowly enough to piss everyone off, why not take the scenic route? Most motorways are built alongside a perfectly serviceable trunk road, where the traffic is probably going more your kind of speed.

30

That only works if you’re going fast enough for the spray to fly back.

Me, I use my four way flashers. Works every time. :cool:

31

Nice one. You started off with a mention that the OP was not in the EU where the laws are different and end ignoring that fact.

The OP was in the US and the US built the Interstate Highway System for commerce. You can take the Interstate from any one major city in the US to any other major city and never have to see a red light or stop sign. A large portion of US Interstate do not have a parallel road, the Interstate is the main road or the Interstate replaced the previously used main road.

I refuse to drive in the right lane if there are 3 or more lanes due to poorly marked exit only lanes, careless mergers and normal mergers who are changing their speed to enter to exit the road. If there are only 2 lanes then I keep right except for passing and avoiding merging and exiting traffic.

32

MarkofT,
No, I do not “ignore the fact” that the OP lives in the US. I don’t know where the OP lives, and not knowing whether or not laws over there are the same, I continously made reference to the fact that I was basing my comments on my experiences in Europe. The fact that the OP just happens to represent one my motoring pet hates, coupled with his presence in the BBQ Pit, provides an excellent opportunity to finally vent my spleen after years of having to make do with shaking my fist at the drivers of these mobile crash barriers and watching them stare back with blank, uncomprehending expressions on their faces. (Yes, I know it’s just possible that he is not breaking the law in his home country, but his unrepentent and indignant attitude convinces me that he would behave exactly the same way on a German autobahn or Italian strada. Certainly, I find his comment that he is “being polite” by hogging the centre lane a bit hard to swallow.)

By the way, you say

Of course you don’t have to drive in the exit lane if you aren’t planning to leave the motorway… :rolleyes:

Built for commerce? Er… yes. So were the railways, the roads that came before freeways and so on. The freeway/motorway is just a faster kind of road, but serves pretty much the same purpose: a thing for cars to drive along. A motorway/freeway/autobahn etc is safer to drive fast along, because in theory it has no crossroads, traffic lights, pedestrians, bicycles, tractors, people driving incredibly slowly in the middle lane, etc, etc…

I’d be curious to know what the actual law is in the US regarding lane discipline. Is it really permitted to overtake on both sides, or is it just tolerated? Does it vary from state to state? Some cites would be handy. Certainly, the OP wouldn’t last five minutes on a European motorway, and if it really is such a free-for-all out there, then IMO the European system is safer and more logical.

Here’s a British site dedicated to stamping out Middle Lane Morons

And here’s what the UK highway code has to say on lane discipline. (Please note that in Britain people drive on the other side of the road, so “left lane” means “right lane” to an American/Canadian)

33

Sadly, the traffic engineers here in Oregon and to a greater degree in Washington think that left lane exits are just dandy. Given the huge increase in traffic fines and the number of cops looking to meet their monthly quota I refuse to drive more than a few miles over the speed limit on the freeway. Personally I think it is rude as hell for some idiot to jump into the lane I have to use when exiting the freeway and start tilgating me just because I refuse to drive 20+ miles over the speed limit and risk a few hundred dollar fine. Besides in Oregon the law states that there is NO excuse for going over the speed limit and they do include passing another vehicle in that rule.

34

You should always be in the right-most safe lane. That means it is fine to be one lane from the right where there are many exit and entrance ramps, but other than that you should be in the right lane except when overtaking a slower vehicle.

35

Just to add to that, and answer the argument about “bad mergers,” I often pull into the centre lane (or indeed the fast lane, if there are only two) to allow people to merge, but only if it’s safe to do so. It’s really just a form of overtaking in advance.

This is not the same as driving as if you’re wearing blinkers, and refusing to leave the safety of the centre lane whether or not your being there is justified.

Unfortunately for people like the OP, driving a car is a complex task and does require a certain amount of alertness and flexibility. You do have to change lanes - often quite frequently - so get used to it. It’s not as if you’ve got anything better to do… If you want to just punch your velocity into the cruise control, get into the middle lane and settle down to do the crossword, then you should convert your car to run on rails. Or even better, take the train.

36

I was talking about the chance that an exit only lane will appear out of nowhere, probably due to a moron having earlier taken out the notification signs.

The interstates were built for commerce. Before they were built, truck drivers were at the mercy of the roads maintained by local municipalities and states. Route 66 was the main highway from the midland to the west coast and it was 2 lanes, unless it went through a larger city. After they built the IHS, these same truck drivers could find a well cared for road, 2 lanes in each direction, and on almost a direct route between towns. No more stopping in each town at their one stop light and 3 stop signs. No more plodding along behind Farmer Dan with his tractor and trailerload of hay.

But that is nothing I would expect anyone from Europe to understand seeing as how most countries can be crossed in a day and roads have been around from from the times when the Romans first built them.

As far as lane discipline on multi-lane roads, only a few states state that slower traffic stay in the right lane and I do not know of any that disallow overtaking on the right side.

37

dutch - I am the van guy, and you have to look at this from my perspective… Sitting behind some tool in the middle lane for just long enough to get annoying, so I finally decide to pass, and just as I’m coming alongside, two things inevitably happen:

  1. Because my vehicle is not capable of rapid accelerations, buddy in the next lane gets tired of listening to my screaming diesel and decides that NOW is the moment to accelerate to a higher speed, and

  2. You come out of nowhere and pull up behind me and get impatient.

I can no longer overtake, so my only recourse is to slow and fall in behind buddy to let you pass. Of course, when that happens he slows to his original speed, and I have to try again.

38

It’s nice to know that I have been run down to unalert, unflexible guy. Whatever. If I wanted to debate the merits of the traffic laws in various parts of the world, I would have started a thread in great debates. I just wanted to bitch about tailgaters. It’s nice to know that they apparently find me more upsetting than I find them. I think I’ll start driving slower just to be spiteful (that was sarcasm, btw). But even though I piss people off, I do come out of it with the satisfaction of knowing that I don’t get tickets, and my insurance is low.

Oh, and to… someone that I’m too tired to look the thread for… I consider it polite to know my place on a highway, because around here alot of people don’t. I also don’t drive in the right lane because people there seem to generally be going about 10mph slower than myself (thankfully, my driving education taught me to just go around these people, as opposed to tailgating.) And, for the record, I don’t drive in europe. When I go to europe, I will be taking advantage of the rail system, which does not exist in good extent in my town. Neither do buses, unfortunately. And, because this has been mentioned several times in the thread, I have never in my life been a He, only a She.

39

Astounding when compared with this earlier statement of yours:

40

Hint: in this discussion there are at least two inconsiderate wankers involved, and it ain’t me or intent :slight_smile: