In Boston, the left lane is more like the travel lane, chiefly from the fact that everybody and his brother enjoys parking in the middle of the right lane with their emergency lights on, regardless of whether there is a open parking space by the curb or not.
Therefore, the fastest way to get around is to stick to the left and use the right only when making right turns. This is also true on the parkways.
Of course, this makes the areas around right-side exits crammed, as people blast through the left lane, don’t plan ahead enough and try to switch over at the LAST POSSIBLE SECOND.
When I drove in Tucson (a much better town for driving, despite the preponderance of old folks) behavior like this would get you shot.
Passing on the shoulder: here in Maryland
many of the two-lane roads have the
right-hand passing lanes painted onto the
shoulder for this very purpose.
Where in Maryland? Around here (Montgomery County, near DC), we don’t have passing lanes painted on the shoulder, except around intersections.
And Felinecare - c’mon! The Beltway isn’t THAT bad! (Spoken as someone who has driven it since I learned to drive - I’d rather be on the Beltway than almost any of the secondary roads around here.)
Don’t count on making this argument your defense if you have an accident. In California, if you are driving the maximum speed limit in the left hand lane, and the idiot(s) behind you are speeding, and this set of facts leads to an accident, you win, they lose.
I have gotten into many an argument over this, but here is my take:
The rules of the road have to be flexible enough to accomodate different types of road & traffic density.
(Lane count = lanes in your direction)
2 lane road, light-moderate traffic: Drive right, Pass left.
2 lane road, heavy traffic: Drive both, faster traffic to the left.
Urban Interstate: R lane use mainly for entering/exiting smoothly. Middle(s) - drive, trucks to the R if more than one middle lane. Left - passing/fast drive. If someone comes up on you & you are not actively passing a car to the right, get over! Consider speeding up to finish your pass more quickly.
Demerits issued for:
driving on the shoulder, unless you are exiting & would otherwise be stopped in the R lane.
swooping (changing more than 1 lane at a time). Double demerits for exiting R from the L lane of a 4 lane road.
passing that takes 3 miles to accomplish.
getting into someone’s blind spot & hanging there.
believing the subliminal messages that must come from BMW radios saying that you’re the only one on the road with a life.
Nick: Yup, here in california, if everyone is going over the speed limit (here it is 65 mph) you are supposed to keep up with traffic. Unfortunately in winter whn it rains some fools insist on speeding, but since everyone is going 10 mph under the speed limit, they frequently get pissed off :).
Anyway as for me, i generally keep the the right or middle lanes when travelling on the Highway. What i cannot stand are drivers who go UNDER the speed limit (it seems a lot of people still think its 55mph on the highways here!), especially when they are in the middle lane (IMO, the middle lane should be for people going the speed limit). I rarely travel in the left lane unless i need to pass up someone going under the speed limit. I also cannot stand people who speed in the right lane, and then get all pissy because i’m slowing down to exit (or slowing down because the car in front of me is going slow) or just going the speed limit. This happens even if the left and middle lanes are clear!
I feel that if you cannot keep up with at least the speed limit you shouldn’t be on the road :).
Felinecare sed (about GW Parkway speed limit being 50): Actually, it’s 40 MPH (not that you’d know by the traffic flow).
Actually, the part from the Beltway entrance to about Rt. 123 is 50 MPH, but it does slow down south of there. As part of my “experiment”, I did slow down to the slower limits.
And in the construction area around the Key Bridge? The warning signs suggest 25 MPH; everyone else was easily going 45-60.
Ifyou are in the left lane and a porsche/BMW and flashes its lights at you to get you to move over and you don’t and he hits you, you are liable. It is strictly enforced over there.
mein kuzin loverock hat told mich aboot you peeple. This ist truu. Ick do thisss alles timme in mein Porch.
I’m a California driver, and I think NeedAHobby has the best philosophy on this. Basically, you should be going faster than any lane to your right. If you’re not going faster than the lane immediately to your right, GET IN IT. Repeat this process if there are more than 2 lanes.
A lot of people are really offended if someone passes them on the right. If I pass you on the right, YOU ARE THE JERK. If there is a lane to your right which I can safely pass you in, why aren’t you in it?
Basically, I try to drive by the rule “don’t be a jerk”. If someone is hanging out in the left lane going barely faster than the other lanes, I will come up behind them and give them 20 or 30 seconds to see the light. This doesn’t mean I’m riding their ass or anything. If that doesn’t work, I’ll flash my lights. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll wait for an opportunity to pass on the right, and consider them a supreme asshole. Likewise, I don’t hang out in the left lane any more than is necessary, and even if I’m passing, I’ll get out of the way for someone who is passing faster than I am.
I’m with Galt on this one (and “Who Is John Galt?” Hardy Har Har)
Basicly, the two basic principles of driving are:
Take care of yourself
Be polite
Rule one governs how you deal with assholes
Rule two prevents you from being an asshole yourself.
Jason R Remy
“And it could be safely said that at that moment, in the whole of India, no one, absolutely no one, was f^(king a goat.”
– John Irving A Son of the Circus (1994)
If I am in the left lane going 85-90 miles per hour, and you for any reason (other than “your axle just fell off”) flash your lights at me and tailgate me, you are about to have very high insurance premiums and a lot of points on your driver’s license.
All of you slowpokes better stay the hell out of my way. In fact, just stay in the right lane all the time - leave the left one for me. I don’t wanna deal with you slow ass “85’ers” … if yer afraid of tickets - get a radar detector. If you feel uncomfortable going so fast, then take the bus - you shouldn’t be driving in the first place.
pldennison: First of all it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going, if you’re not passing someone you have to let others pass you.
Second of all, if you slam on the brakes on purpose in order to cause an accident it is still your fault. You can’t purposely cause an accident even if the other person is breaking the law.
Very hard to prove, but if there are witnesses that you caused it on purpose then he won’t be paying for your damages.
Well, I’m checking out the California Driver Handbook, and it says that the leftmost lane is the “fast” lane (p.71). But this is referring to accident scenes and identifying which lane the accident took place.
The left lane also can be a place for a cop to have a power trip.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a squad car cruising at exactly 55 mph in the far left lane of a multi-lane highway, while dozens of other drivers gather into a sqeamish gaggle behind, afraid to pass.
Never mind that this creates an incredible traffic hazard. At least the cop can feel manly.
Left lane driving has become an epidemic. I think some people do this becasue they have a perverted sense of a) “ownership”
or b) self-righteous policing of anyone faster than they are, or c) plain stupidity, etc.
The State of Michigan Vehicle codes says that the left lane is for passing EXCEPT when a) turning left, or b) there are “essentially two continuous lines of traffic”.
Of course this begs the question of how the first few driver would have legally started driving in the left lane.
But at any rate, the message is clear. The left lane is not for routine driving when the right lane has room. Pass, then move right.
(Spoken as someone who has driven it since I learned to drive - I’d rather be on the Beltway than almost any of the secondary roads around here.)