# why do drivers actually continually drive slow in the left lane? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859 "2004-07-19T18:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/21 "2004-07-20T15:23:11Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > Sounds perfectly sensible to me. Avoiding merging in and out of traffic of idiots and thier death machines by sticking to the lane I need to be on is more important to me than yeilding to self-important jerks who are just too precious to heed the law. The left lane is the “passing lane” (unless there are exits off the left lane), so as **occ** and **Mr. Mook** said, the LLDs are “self-important jerks who are just too precious to heed the law”, too. At least the fast drivers aren’t messing up the flow of traffic. If I’m in the left lane or middle lane and see someone who obviously thinks I’m going too slow (even when I’m already over the speed limit), I pull to the right so they can pass. It’s that simple. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/22 "2004-07-20T17:39:47Z")
> [@Blackclaw](#): > > Except it forces people to pass you on the right, through your blind spot. The left lane is rarely an exit lane, so eventually you will probably need to change lanes to the right which means you have a chance of trying to occupy the same space as a frustrated driver that is trying to get around you. Well I was refering soley to situations where it is the only exit lane. Mind you, I’ve only driven on the highway once in my life, though… ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/23 "2004-07-20T18:15:31Z")
**Pizzabrat** , the left lane is pretty much _never_ the only exit lane for any real stretch. It might have the only exit for a quarter-mile or so, but that’s really about it. The whole “I’m the center of the driving universe” mentality that says that avoiding merging is more important than maintaining a smooth flow of traffic is bad news. Driving slow in the passing lane snarls up the rest of the traffic, which is a pain in the ass, but it’s also dangerous. Cars start piling up behind you, often unable to pass because there are no gaps in the next lane for them to merge into. (There are no gaps because everyone’s driving in the right lane so they won’t get stuck behind you, and everyone else behind them is merging into any gaps as they come up.) People get impatient and pissed off, and they start taking crazy chances, and the next thing you know, there’s a wreck. Sure, you’re not in the wreck, but you caused it. Other people get impatient and pissed off and go all road rage on _you_, which I’m sure we can agree is not a happy situation for you. In other words, just learn to merge. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/24 "2004-07-20T18:39:46Z")
Around here, the left lanes double as carpool lanes, but only during certain hours. As in, it’s the carpool lane from 3 - 6 pm Monday - Friday, or else from 7 - 9 am Monday - Friday. This fact is posted at intervals on overhead signs, which at least half the population never bother to read. So you get these carloads of two or more people, travelling blithely along in what I think they assume is the carpool lane, when in fact, it’s simply the left lane. Drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/25 "2004-07-21T02:07:52Z")
What’s become apparent through the many threads on this subject that have appeared here over the years (at least two others this week), when some of the self-righteous LLD speed limiters appears with their self-justifications, is that they are often quite unaware of the left lane being a passing lane. So they wear the pungent air, that they are unaware of, of the self-righteously wrong. Yes, I know there are signs galore. I’ve posted a couple of times recently about how apparent it is that signage is invisible to many drivers. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/26 "2004-07-21T02:35:42Z")
I haven’t seen a “Keep Right Except When Passing” sign in the last twenty years on the highways I drive most often. Used to see them all the time. My mom is one of those people who does not want to change lanes, ever. She will get in the lane she will need to be in twenty miles down the road and she will stay there no matter what. If I am driving, she will chastise me if I change lanes (“you’re going to need to be in that lane” “I know, mom, but not for three more exits!!!”) and truly believes that since she’s going the speed limit (barely) anyone who complains is a law-breaking jerk. She also pretty much believes that it is a speed LIMIT, as in UPPER limit, and she has a perfect right to be 5 MPH under if it makes her feel more comfortable. But just to be on her side for a minute, if the people who are merging ONTO the highway would realize that they need to adjust their speed to the existing traffic, not just barge in heedlessly, then everyone would be happier drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/27 "2004-07-21T16:02:41Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > Well, I’ve been known to slow down to the speed limit through the area with the rep for having an excessive number of issued speeding tickets. Fine. But that’s not a justification for travelling in the passing lane. Move over and let me go by. I’m willing to take the risk. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/28 "2004-07-21T20:28:28Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > **Nutty Bunny** , that’s the Westbound 401 from Toronto to London to a tee. > > Middle lane is dead slow, and invariably some LLD is holding up the left lane. Me? I’m in the deserted right lane, merrily waving at the drivers as I pass by. Oddly enough, on most of the roads I drive on in the Bay Area, the left lane is the slowest. I’ve never understood this. I think it is because of the sprinkling of LLDs (usually driving Camrys for some reason) and the fact you can only pass on the right, while in the middle lane you can pass on either sides. The right lane is not good here because of our insane exit and entrances. Trucks seem to use the middle lane because of this, and while it is annoying, I can’t blame them. The road I take every morning has a place where the carpool lane ends, opening the real left lane up to all traffic, and the right lane becomes exit only. Right at that point the old middle lane (lane two is lane 1 is the right lane) becomes slow and lane 3 (the old left, non-carpool lane) becomes fast, while the former carpool lane gets jammed with traffic. Happens every day. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/29 "2004-07-21T22:44:05Z")
Most mornings on my daily commute, I drive along through Westchester, north of LAX, down Sepulveda. An odd thing I’ve noticed is that, nearly always, the right lane going south is the fastest as you approach the airport. You’d think that the right lane in this area would have the slow drivers, because there’d be people in rental cars who are unfamiliar with the area, or even locals who don’t go to LAX very often, trying to figure out where they should turn in, park, etc. But for some reason it’s usually the fastest lane. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/30 "2004-07-22T00:26:08Z")
**Spectre of Pithecanthropus** : I noticed the same thing. I used to like to go to Nicki’s Terriyaki for lunch, but it’s not there anymore. Nor am I, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/31 "2004-07-22T00:34:19Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Oddly enough, on most of the roads I drive on in the Bay Area, the left lane is the slowest. I’ve never understood this. I think it is because of the sprinkling of LLDs (usually driving Camrys for some reason) and the fact you can only pass on the right, while in the middle lane you can pass on either sides. I’ve noticed this exact same thing here. I have a friend – to whom I will be showing this thread forthwith-- who insists on sitting in the passing lane going about 65 or 70, and it is mortifying. I keep telling her about the dirty looks I’m getting from the people passing us on the right, and she insists I’m making it up. She has no clue about the passing thing, insists that since she’s going the speed limit, that she need not use the right lane. Often she goes over the speed limit, but goes only as fast as she thinks is appropriate, invariably not as fast as the drivers passing her on the right would like to go – how she manages to justify this logic is a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/32 "2004-07-22T00:35:30Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > I haven’t seen a “Keep Right Except When Passing” sign in the last twenty years on the highways I drive most often. Exactly. New York State limits these signs to the Thruway only. Any other highway doesn’t have them and the left lane is only a “Passing Lane” to self righteous jerks who call it that and insist it’s for passing only. Most people treat it as it rightfully is, the “Fast Lane”. I always travelled in the left lane during my morning commute, and so did almost everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/33 "2004-07-22T01:24:22Z")
With our limited roadways in Hawaii we simply can’t leave that left lane as a "passing only’ lane. However the driving mentality here sucks, too. It’s supposed to be the “fast lane” but too many morons here either don’t realize that or have that “well I’m going the speed limit so screw you” mentality. If travel–fast in the fasy lane. If I see someone coming up, I signal, I double check to make sure they are not going to pass me on the right, and then move over for them. If there isn’t anyone driving slow in the middle lane I just stay there…or if there is I move back over to the fast lane. People here also don’t know how to merge. I think there should be more stringent standards for driving tests in regards to common sense/courtesy and the merging deal. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/34 "2004-07-22T01:37:28Z")
Well, the OP wondered what the LLDs are thinking. I just sent this thread to my LLD friend. Who knows if she read it all or not. This is her email response: What i say to that is…take another paxil and relax…i drive the way i want and you drive the way you want! HA! Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/35 "2004-07-22T01:48:36Z")
We have signs on our roadways (expressways): KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS and SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT LeftLaneZombies are my biggest driving frustration. I’ve tried flashing my lights, beeping my horn, and have given up. I take the dangerous chance and pass them on the right. Unless they are lined up three across… Occasionally I have pulled in front of them and slowed down to see if I could get them to move over. A few times it worked, but once I got down to 25 in a 55 zone, and they didn’t even flinch! (Yes, I am nuts.) I’ve been trying to think of a good bumpersticker to communicate this frustration (not that they would pay attention), and thanks to you kind folks, I think I have it: BEWARE OF LEFT LANE ZOMBIES! or ARE YOU A “LEFT LANE ZOMBIE?” tee hee! 😃 P.S. I wish the police would enforce the law. These LLD’s are dangerous! Well, more dangerous than me, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/36 "2004-07-22T01:52:58Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > Well, the OP wondered what the LLDs are thinking. I just sent this thread to my LLD friend. Who knows if she read it all or not. This is her email response: > > What i say to that is…take another paxil and relax…i drive the way i want and you drive the way you want! HA! > > Sigh… You might suggest to her (if you already haven’t) that besides dirty looks, one day she just might make someone completely loony fall into the abyss of road rage and who knows what they would do? I’m not saying she is wrong or deserves it (although some of us might beg to differ 😃 )–but seriously, would it be harder to just move over than to anger a potentially crazy person? That attitude just courts road rage…not a smart thing to do IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/37 "2004-07-22T01:53:12Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > Well, the OP wondered what the LLDs are thinking. I just sent this thread to my LLD friend. Who knows if she read it all or not. This is her email response: > > What i say to that is…take another paxil and relax…i drive the way i want and you drive the way you want! HA! > > Sigh… Ooooooh, Paxil is _ **nasty** _ stuff, surf the net to check it out. There’s dozens of lawsuits against the mfgr. And they can’t stop making it cause people can’t get off it! (some people have seizures, even when the dose is tapered very slowly…) Maybe that’s why we got LLDs, Paxil is to blame… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/38 "2004-07-22T05:18:59Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > I’ve noticed this exact same thing here. I have a friend – to whom I will be showing this thread forthwith-- who insists on sitting in the passing lane going about 65 or 70, and it is mortifying. I keep telling her about the dirty looks I’m getting from the people passing us on the right, and she insists I’m making it up. She has no clue about the passing thing, insists that since she’s going the speed limit, that she need not use the right lane. I used to cross the Dumbarton Bridge (the southernmost bridge across the Bay) every day. Especially traveling East (where the traffic was not metered by the toll booths) I’d often notice clumps of cars, formed by LLDs blocking the road. (It’s clearer on a multi-mile stretch without exits). If you get around these people, then you have a clear ride - until the next block. It’s a perfect example of fluid flow principles applied to traffic, with the LLDs being the dam. Tell your friend she should look behind her someday, and see the clump of cars she is causing to form. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/39 "2004-07-22T06:15:52Z")
> [@occ](#): > > Yep, that’s been my experience, also. Ironically, of course, _they_ are the one violating the social norm, by driving slower than everyone else wants to. Here’s a quick rebuttal you can use to the “They are breaking the law. I am holier than them.” argument: point out (or lie; who the hell would know) that it is against the law to TRAVEL in the PASSING lane, and that the fine/points for that are greater than those for speeding. Lay on a couple comments about how it happened to your brother, and you hear they’re going to start cracking down on it, and see what happens. Point taken, but from what I see the people who are breaking the speed limit prefer to do their speeding in the left lane. The only time I see them move from the left lane is to pass someone speeding slower then them. Personally, I don’t think this topic would be an issue of the speeders just stayed at home. If everyone drove the speed limit except to pass, this would be a non issue. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859/40 "2004-07-22T11:50:50Z")
I didn’t think I had anything to contribute to this thread, but then I remembered that my father was a paramedic. The fast lane should be especially useful for a speeding ambulance, lights on and sirens blaring. My father can tell a million tales of people who don’t know or don’t bother to do the right thing when they see an ambulance coming down the road. And drivers around here are, in general, very bad compared to the rest of the maritime provinces. I’m extra cautious (without being disruptive) driving on the main stretch here. I’ve pissed people off being a responsible driver, but I’ve yet to find myself in an accident. (Long ago, the main stretch was nicknamed “The Golden Mile”, but has since been re-christened “The Bloody Mile”.) Anyhoo… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-drivers-actually-continually-drive-slow-in-the-left-lane/255859.md?page=3)