Show me a symmetrical volcano.
I have to drive 6 1/2 hours to get to my vacation area of choice. If the ighway is relatively clear, or if the flow of trafiice is fast, I will be travelling above the speed limit.
**Keep going where? He was completely blocking the road and had slowed to <10mph.
Of course he didn’t know there was a medical emergency, he couldn’t have known, which is why his unnecessary blocking behaviour was unacceptable.
**There’s nothing to ‘get over’, except that when I see (or hear about) someone doing a similar thing, it reminds me that they are potentially causing the same kind of problem - recognition and rejection of unacceptable behaviour isn’t something I intend to ‘get over’.
** I think largely because what you are doing is at best not at all benefical and at worst positively dangerous.
You could help by simply not hindering; it would cost you nothing.
It is completely unreasonable that people in a genuine emergency situation should be obliged to find some way of effectively communicating that fact to you before you will consider clearing the way. They wouldn’t be expecting your help, only that you refrain from being a hindrance.
You are, I believe, allowing the benefit of the doubt in the wrong direction; not knowing the reason (if any) that another driver has for wishing to pass you, you assume that there is no good reason.
Gnomin, is there a reason you’re dodging the question of how people pass you in the slow lane?
Mangetout:
Now there’s something new you forgot to add: I don’t slow down; I keep the pace, but at the limit. That guy was a burden to you. For that, I am sorry.
I feel that way about tailgaters and speeders.
Again, we agree. It would cost you nothing to pass on the right. However, in most emergency situations, I wouldn’t sit idling behind someone who continues to slow down–I would have made it around that person and kept onward to my destination. Maybe he had a problem with his car or his health in which you were unaware… did you think of that or were you too wrapped up in what you needed to do? Either answer is fine and human.
What’s so hard about overtaking me in the other lane? I’m being stubborn for the same reason you are. Most people in this captialist world want to get home to their families before it’s dinner time to spend time with them. I think going the limit is not unreasonable, where you think it can be altered for your needs. That’s fine to do, but don’t infringe on my rights with your decisions.
Cheesesteak: Is there a point to the question that I’ve missed? I thought I answered it for you, but I’ll answer it again! They pass me on the right going faster than the posted limit. They usually do one or more of the following: throw objects at my car, swerve stupidly, brake foolishly, gesture obscenely, or continue about their way. Did I answer it the way you wanted me to answer or are you looking for more?
** I did mention it; you must have missed it.
You simply don’t have the legal right to obstruct them though, regardless of whether they are attempting to exceed the posted limit.
**I can’t believe you’re serious with this one; it was abundantly clear that his primary objective was to prevent me from passing him, I think it highly likely that he believed he was carrying out an important public service by doing so.
In many jurisdictions it is illegal to overtake on the wrong side, because it is more dangerous than overtaking normally
**No, I believe you’re being stubborn for no good reason at all.
What rights? You doon’t have the right to needlessly occupy the overtaking lane.
Please tell me exactly what positive benefit you feel is achieved by your obstructing and frustrating people in this way.
NB: I’m not attempting to defend anyone’s ‘right’ to exceed the speed limit, in fact I’m in favour of tighter speed control (by proper legal methods).
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. I suggest that when they pass you on the right, the right lane is empty.
If the right lane is empty, you are not actively passing a car in the right lane.
This chain of reasoning leads me to believe that you are not following the rules as laid out in your state’s manual “Keep to the right, use the left lane(s) for passing.”
Another driver’s error does not make your error any less.
Sir, you are a jerk!
I think it is a amazing that you don’t see any problem with what you are doing. FYI, yes there are situations where a person has been charged with going the speed limit in the left hand lane on the 401.
GnominClature, evidently you’re of the same mindset of my SO when it comes to driving. I’ll tell you the same thing I told her.
“Slow” is relative. You’re in the fast lane but moving slower than the vehicle approaching from behind. Ergo, you should move into the slow lane ASAP and stay there at least until the speeder has moved on. That way, only the speeder would be risking a ticket and potentially a higher insurance premium.
One more vote for ‘You’re a urinal composed of asshole molecules’. Pull the fuck over if there’s room on your right.
Fine. Get your pokey ass in the SLOW lane where you belong and you won’t have to.
And if you are like the rest of your pathetic ilk I encounter on the Eisenhower Inerstate Highway System, you’re probably driving a Volvo.
GnominClature, I’d just like to know one thing. Do you really enjoy the smell of your own feces?
Hey kids, for a moment, let me
[Hijack]
Lets say I wanted a lot of attention.
Now a quick way to get it would be to troll. But I know the rules and I really don’t want to be banned so I carefully follow them but still aim for that big troll prize - ATTENTION.
I pick a topic which has some resemblence of merit.
I choose a weak barely defendable controversial position.
I set up a rant.
I ramble, use parables, incoherent statements, but I give just enough readable prose to get my message in.
I wait for the inevitible flames.
I insult everybody
I talk down to everybody
I act self-righteous
and add fuel to the fire
I get a lot of attention.
I feel so much better. I got to piss people off.
[/Hijack]
Having spent too much time on misc.road.transport, and read the writings of the National Motorists Association, and reading Car & Driver and Road & Track, and being an engineer, and just plain life-experience, the simple FACT is that too many speed limits are set far too low, and that most roads could benefit from higher speed limits (nearer their engineered design speed). Indeed, I’d love to see the old rule of thumb come back, of speed limit 85 percentile +5mph (I guess 8kph in Canada), with some adjustments as necessary (adjustments being limited to such things as elementary schools, sharp corners, very heavy pedestrian crossings - NOT because Biff and Muffy don’t like the heavy traffic going past their McMansion). I remember reading that California requires a speed survey before a policing force can use radar/lidar on a given stretch of road - this is supposedly to ensure that the speeds are not set to low (i.e. no Speed Traps) - if true, I’d love for that to be the case here in NY…
Also, toss that word speeder out - I hate the conotation of being a mad man maniac, even when you are going 32 in a (too low) 30mph zone (I also hate when they use hacker to mean cracker, but darn little I can do about that too). Just use an offense ‘Reckless Driving’, and apply it when there is a gross disregard for safety due to conditions (DUI/DWI would be contributing factors, but covered by other laws) - otherwise, shut up and get outta the way (if you feel I believe Speed Traps and Speed Cameras are almost always abused for Revenue generation, regardless of the original intent, you’re darn right).
NB, I loved the way the boys from misc.road.transport just shredded the pathically skewed report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which purported to show higher speed limits = higher fatality rates, but upon examination showed absolutely nothing of the sort (I don’t think I can link to usenet here - well, the last post was 25 Nov 2003 so you can track it down if you want to).
The thing that people seem to forget is that we are sharing the road with other drivers. I mean that in the way toddlers are expected to share toys with other kids. We are all adults, but can’t remember the lessons we learned as children:
Slow guy in left lane - “I’ve got the toy (lane) and you can’t make me give it back!”
Fast guy tailgating - “That big meanie won’t give me the toy (lane) so I’m going to whine about it!”
If we simply apply what we all expect of 3 year old children, the slow guy will give up the left lane when he’s done playing with it, and the fast guy won’t whine if he doesn’t get to play with it for 2 minutes.
I read this driving drivel and the phrase “Go with the flow” comes to mind.
I feel it is much safer to go with the flow of traffic even if it means I might be breaking the speed limit. Many times, especially going through cities on an interstate highway, traffic is heavy and moving faster than the speed limit.
I could be an anal retentive jackass and stick to my guns after being passed right and left by numerous cars and causing a bottleneck of people being forced to change lanes to go around me (which is more of a risk than staying in the same lane), or I could go with the flow.
I go with the flow. Anybody without an anal sphincter cutting off blood to their brain can see that a disturbance in the flow of traffic is what causes accidents on busy highways. By blindly going about your assholish holier-than-thou experiment in stupidity, you are more of a menace to traffic than the speeders you pit.
I had seen these people and wondered what their thought processes were…now I know. I have met the asshole, heard him speak!! I’ll wave to you next time I pass, much like I imagine you are used to being waived at…one finger extended.
You might have convinced yourself that by ridgidly adhereing to the speed limit in the left lane you are “right”. Maybe.
But I still think you are an asshole.
And I think you are a sick motherfucking asshole if you like the smell of your own shit.
In any case, absolutely the wrong approach to take when you are in charge of a vehicle is an attitude based on your perception of your ‘rights’ - your ‘right of way’, your ‘right of position’ - you’re much more likely to make an error of judgment - for example, you might just a little too readily assume that an obstruction will clear for you because you have ‘right of way’ and not leave enough stopping distance in case things don’t actuall pan out as you expect them to.
Much better to base your approach on a perception of what is safe and sensible - consider what might happen if the other driver *doesn’t repsect your right of way - you’re much less likely to make incorrect and dangerous assumptions.
Hey FecalGnome! I don’t even bother with honking and flashing my highbeams (they stay on always). I just punt you into the sagebrush. What you do is ram from the rear and turn left slightly on impact. Usually results in a graceful arc into the desert, backwards. 
Watch for me. I use this tactic when I drive the 1965 Ford F250. Its kinda light brownish, with a cream colored top/hood. One time, I almost scratched the paint. You are warned. 
Man, I love rural middle-of-nowhere roads! Now, get the hell out of my way.
She told me she loved me like a brother. She was from Arkansas, hence the Joy!
On the contrary, I did read it. It listed the states with left-lane rules, in which you said your state was not included. You neglected to mention, however, which of the remaining states is the one you currently call home, so I helpfully listed the three I thought were most likely.