Geez! I drive a Volvo, and I resent these stereotypical remarks (on the other hand, maybe you've been watching my wife drive). Sounds like a hate crime to me.

I'm on my second Mazda 626, and I take the ads seriously.

All together now: "Zoom, zoom, zoom...."

There are other issues, though I can only speak for California's flat, flat, flat, San Joaquin Valley freeways, as opposed to Colorado's mountains.

It is dangerous to pull over when being tailgated by many drivers. They don't give people time to change lanes before trying to whizz by. Such people are fairly easy to notice. They're 4-5' from your rear bumper when you're doing 75.

Both overly aggressive and overly cautious drivers are hazardous. The difference is, the overly aggressive driver creates risks for himself, while the overly cautious driver creates risks for everyone else.

Driving too slow in the left lane, or driving the exact same speed as the car right beside you, preventing any passing, clogs up all the traffic behind you. This increased density helps cause traffic jams and makes accidents back there much more likely.

Staying right while driving slowly (which means within 5 mph of the speed limit) is not just good sense, it's also a moral imperative. Not doing so can cost miullions of dollars in lost time and revenue (and increased pollution), as well as accidents and loss of life.

This doesn't justify the idiot aggressive drivers who tailgate and whiz back and forth through traffic, but pointing to someone else and whining that they're just as bad is hardly a defense of your own dangerous driving.

I lived in England for a year and the lane discipline there was a wonder to behold. Cars only moved into the outer lanes to pass, and then they immediately moved back.

But the problem lamented here is nothing compared to the bastards in town that are blocking intersections when the lights change, creating total gridlock. Once again, our British friends have a better idea. It's called a box junction. The box is literally drawn on the road and the simple rule is that you do not enter a box junction unless your exit is clear.

You throw the roundabouts in and the wonderful 1.5 lane roads, and the Brits got us beat hands down when it comes to driving.

My favorite is when a car enters a freeway with very light traffic, and crosses three lanes to immediately enter the fast lane. Yes, we built that lane just for you.

Driving too slow in the left lane, or driving the exact same speed as the car right beside you, preventing any passing, clogs up all the traffic behind you. This increased density helps cause traffic jams and makes accidents back there much more likely.

The guy who runs this site actually has found just the opposite.

I don't know how things are in the Springs, but here in suburban Denver, the real threat comes not from Volvos, minvans or family sedans. It's the SUVs. Psycho driving is no longer relegated to a few nutcases on the highway. Now every soccer mom fancies herself the truck-driving demon who stalked Dennis Weaver in Duel. And their husbands are even worse, obviously in desperate need to compensate for some deficiency at the office or the bedroom. In parking lots, they rev their engines threateningly at other drivers and pedestrians. They take other vehicles joining traffic as some kind of personal affront. As Mike Hendrix points out, they represent the biggest threat on the highways with their mistaken notion that they're driving race cars. And of course, in winter time, they barrel along on snowy and icy roads secure in the knowledge that their four-wheel drive excludes them from the laws of physics where little problems like skidding are concerned.

I looked at the site and the guy doesn't prove the opposite of what I said at all. He talks about ways in which certain types of driving can alleviate problems that already exist.

But this doesn't change the fact that driving slow in the left lane can build up problmes behind you. Traffic jams occur in on eof two cases: when there's an accident or when the traffic density exceeds the roads carry capacity, at which point a small fluctuation can be magnified into a traffic jam. Accidents are also more likely when the traffic density is high, so roughly speaking you can say that traffic density causes traffic jams.

Driving slow in the left lane or next to another car driving the same speed causes traffic density to build up behind you, although it might make coming into a traffic jam less likely.

Consider the bounding case--you and your buddy drive side by side at 5 mph, allowing no-one to pass. Now, all the jams in front of you will have time to dissipate before you get there (as the website talks about), but at the same time you're creating a traffic jam behind you.

(cont.)

Now, simple analysis breaks down once you've already reached the point where there are traffic jams. What I was mainly writing about was the situation where the trafic is flowing along relatively normally. In this case, the optimal traffic pattern, which allows the most cars to get through, is the segregate traffic by speed. If all the cars in lane 1 are going 60 and all the cars in lane 2 are going 70, you get an average speed of 65.

But if you drive slow in the left lane, now you're forcing the speed of both lanes down to 60, so the average speed drops 5 mph.

Once traffic gets jammed up, then there's no difference in lanes anyway--there's no such thing as the fast lane and the slow lane. But with regualr traffic flow, there is (or at least there should be.) If there isn't, the traffic flow is impeded and traffic densities behind the left lane slow driver are increased. And said increase is dangerous and can cause traffic jams.

I have always favored a law that says that if a driver is passed on the right more than three times in one minute, he would be obliged to move over, speed up, or turn left.

This problem seems to be particularly bad here in Florida. I'm thinking about people who would make fifty people change lanes twice in order to avoid changing lanes once. "Besides, I have to make a left turn when I get to Ocala."

Wrong, Ernie. Wrong wrong wrong. The ONLY time you should be passed on the right is when some asshole can't wait for you to get over.

It should happen exactly once. Then you should pull the hell over already.

Once. Max.

Stephen, you're absolutely right, in principle. Yes. Pull the hell over before getting passed on the right. What I had in mind was a law that would mean a ticket and a fine for such a violation. The three passes rule would define the violation. As you indicated, being passed once is excusable if the other driver is an asshole.

Personally, I'd like to make driving while an asshole against the law, but I'm afraid that such a law, any way it was drafted, might be unconstitutionally vague.

A friend of mine once proposed that those of us who meet certain minimum skill levels and have extended clean driving records be provided with a special sort of paint gun. This special paint gun could be fired at any vehicle that did something stupid or dangerous.

Anytime a cop saw a car that had been hit three times by these special paint guns, the driver would be pulled over and given a ticket for being an asshole.

It was only last weekend that I was westbound on I70 on the west side of town in the left hand lane. I was well above the speed limit passing a semi in the number 2 lane that was itself well above the speed limit. At that point, a piece of human debris in a Jeep runs up to within a yard of my back bumper and starts honking. After clearing the semi to my right, I pull into that lane. The clown in the Jeep then pulls even with me, flips me off repeatedly - mouths obscenities and finally actually feints a collision course towards me.

To hell with paint guns, that guy came very close to collecting three .45 caliber holes in his carcass.

I will confess however, that I'm a Yuppie Redneck - my Volvo has a gun rack.

Say what you will about Colorado driving. I was just in visiting from Baltimore (moving out there in a couple of months) and felt my stress level on the roads drop in half. 10 minutes back in East Coast traffic (where many think it a good idea to make a left turn inside of the person in front of you who is waiting for someone finish their right hand turn) and my BP was back up to 200+. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so. Our auto insurance from USAA is going to drop about 10% in price simply by getting away from these Baltimore drivers!!!

Of course after driving from Golden to Boulder I am thinking that that Mini Cooper I've been eyeing isn't such a good idea. I need something to defend myself against the SUV driving, Cell Phone talking, DVD watching socker mom/dads. I would be a small road hump to those Monster Trucks.

Kapow! Thanks for the backup there, Stephen. And I can tell you that they definitely enforce that "slow traffic keep right" stuff in New Jersey at least - I've been pulled over for it several times for staying in the lane no longer than it takes to pass someone, but the cop only saw me at the end of the move just before I was getting ready to move back over. I've seen 'em do the same to other drivers too, so I know it's not just simple chronic halitosis on my part that's getting their attention.

The Doctor and I both drove tractor-trailers in the moving business in our younger days (quarter century ago), so we've seen some of what Mike Hendrix is talking about. Concerning Baltimore drivers, their main bad habit is running red lights. I often travel to New England, and there are many more bad driving habits to watch out for in NY, RI and Mass. My own driving behavior changes as I drive north.

Steve

Actually, here in Northern Viriginia, the right lane is the best passing lane. There are scads of oblivious ignoramuses who happily drive 55 is the left lane, but the entire state seems to have a phobia of driving in the right lane. So while you have to deal with on-ramp traffic, if you're really in a hurry staying right is often the best approach.

Doug,

The Doctor and I grew up in Norfolk; it is a state wide problem. I live in MD now, and when I'm driving home from work, and find a slow left lane on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, I always expect to find VA plates on the car leading the parade.

Steve

What I find REALLY annoying is when I am trying to put the hotrollers in my hair, adjust my eyeliner and drink my Venti low-fat latte at the same time and some a-hole slams on his brakes and causes me to sully my nice blouse.

Fucking inconsiderate shitty drivers.

And don't get me started on the old people...Jeebus!

I totally resent this lecture to those of us sane enought to try to KEEP THE TRAFFIC FLOWING. Hello? I drive a big silver BMW so watch the fuck out if I am in the left lane behind you. Road rage is totally justified when directed toward dumbasses driving 55 in the left lane.

Boy, you've hit on one of my pet peeves. When I become king, the first thing that will happen is very simple. All signs that say "slower traffic keep right" will be removed, because few people think of themselves as slower traffic (even the fifty-five MPH oblivious morons). In some, but far too few, localities, the sign more correctly says, "LEFT LANE FOR PASSING ONLY."

That's much more clear, and doesn't allow people to hog the left or blockade under the delusion that they're going fast enough.

Something I forgot to mention in my previous post about the proposed "driving while asshole" law. It would naver get past the legislature. Imagine them passing a law making it illegal to be an asshole. Imagine the debate. Oh, the irony!

Another common stunt that pisses me off is when I'm in the fast lane, there's enough traffic that all the lanes are being used and I'm keeping up with the guy ahead of me. Then some bozo comes up behind me and flashes lights or something to indicate he wants me to pull over.

Here's news bozo, I ain't moving. You don't like that I've got maybe half the recommended following distance between me and the next guy up where you usually just allow one-tenth? Tough.

That reminds me, I need to put the "DRIVER CARRIES ONLY $20 IN AMMUNITION" bumper sticker back on the Volvo.

"VodkaPundit - Chill before serving"

Waiter? This Vodka's warm!

Seriously, though, you're preaching to the choir here.

"our British friends have a better idea. It's called a box junction. The box is literally drawn on the road and the simple rule is that you do not enter a box junction unless your exit is clear."

Midtown NYC has this too. It's a $200 fine at rush hour to be in the box when the light changes.

"You throw the roundabouts in .... the Brits got us beat hands down when it comes to driving."

Roundabouts (or traffic circles as they call them in New Jersey) are horrible accident-causing things. No one knows how you are supposed to drive safely in them.

If you are doing 85 in the passing lane and trying to get by someone and then some freak pulls up behind you at 120 and expects you to move, I say fuck them! They are the bigger criminal. They will get the ticket for following too close if they hit you.

I dont care if you are doing only 85 and someone pulls up behind you at 120. Then get the hell out of the way just because you think he is the bigger crimminal does not make it right. It is SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT.

I don't know about this 'bigger criminal' stuff--speeding is not a criminal offense (yet) in most states--but here in the somewhat overcrowded Baltimore-Washington area, the concept of passing lane does not apply during rush hour. All lanes are full, usually the left lane moves faster than the others. If you want to get me to move over at rush hour, you'd better have flashing red and blue lights on top as well as flashing hi beams.

Steve

Anytime a cop saw a car that had been hit three times by these special paint guns, the driver would be pulled over and given a ticket for being an asshole.

Posted by charles austin at July 26, 2002 12:47 PM

Hell, yeah! I like this idea! Load me up and let's move it on out!

Huh?

No, I'm being serious. I don't remember ever having seen a "left lane passing only" or a "right lane slower traffic" on any highway in the state of Georgia, ever. What I have seen, multiple times, are trucks not staying in the two rightmost lanes they're allowed. (This is I-285, which is sometimes only four lanes, sometimes as many as six; I don't think it ever goes down to three, but I may be wrong.)

The way I've learned it was:
Right = the exit lane. Stay out of it unless you're actually going to get off the highway soon.
Middle = the faster lanes.
Left = the fastest lane. Don't take it unless you can handle it. If it's been converted to an HOV lane and you've got more than one person in the car, this still applies (say, for example, I'm going 65 in the I-85 HOV lane and my boyfriend patiently explains to me that I should either speed up or get out).

Passing on the right is also legal in Georgia. I'm fairly confident of this because when we moved to CT my mother had to adjust her entire driving style.

Trucks freak me out. I'm glad you linked to Mike's post -- maybe I'll calm down a little when surrounded by truckers. I will say I've heard a lot of urban legends about two or three truckers sadistically ganging up on one lone car late at night (for some reason, these stories are always set in NC), so more posts like that are needed.

And for the record, none of my three accidents -- two of which were my fault -- happened on the highway.

I agree with this post. I have two pet peeves.

Highway: I will get out of your way in the left lane, but don't run up on me then move to the right without signalling. I'm trying to go there so you can stay in your lane. And my signal is on.

Local streets: If you are turning right, use your signal so people trying to take a left off a side street know whether they can go. I can't stand missing my one break in traffic because someone isn't thinking.

Ok, three pet peeves: Don't pull out in front of me (then go slow) when there is no one behind me.

And another thing: in Northern Virginia, the speed limits are only suggestions. We recommend that you drive 35 mph.

(The net effect of this is to turn the roads into total horrors. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the left lane with someone going 5 mph under the speed limit and traffic roaring past on the right like they're outrunning a Deep-Impact sized tidal wave. Makes for some novel cuss-word generation, it does.)

Having lived in several places up and down the eastern seaboard, and having driven all over the country and parts of Europe, I must say that the drivers here in N. Va. are the biggest morons in the world, with the possible exception of Eastern Pa.

"Hanging out in the left lane" is a fricking religion here. Jamming on the breaks whenever a car merges, exits, changes lanes, speeds up, goes around a corner, or any other thing is simply the norm. And don't let anyone fool you, those drivers from MD and DC are just as bad, if not worse, as any from VA.

I live in Eastern PA, and you are correct, Michael Wade. I've seen the road rage. Stephen, you have nothing to be upset about. When was the last time someone tried to run you off the road repeatedly, red-faced and cursing? My 9-mo. pregnant wife in the passenger seat was on the phone with 911 when the perp sped off an exit.

Really--there is no bigger collection of assholes than the drivers in PA--oblivious soccer moms, tailgaiting pickups, blind geriatrics, big rigs who like to box cars in between them, and spiteful yuppies in Benzes and BMWs.

Traffic in New York City is downright polite compared these folks.

I'll tell ya the worst: RIDING with someone who refuses to get out of the left lane. Pleas do no good as they're "going the speed limit and everybody else shouldn't be in such a hurry."
And what do you say when it's your boss?
I just keep my head below window level and hope the bullets fly over me.

And where do the goofiest drivers from Northern Virginia and Eastern Pennsylvania go when they're on vacation and feel that they don't have to be on their good behavior? Florida. Where else would you see a sign at a gas station:

WINTER VISITOR SPECIAL $21.95
*OIL CHANGE
*AIR FILTER
*TURN SIGNAL SET ON PERMANENT LEFT

Heh, had one last night.

Was in the left lane of a 3-lane stretch of I-25 approaching Denver from the North (posted limit, 55; actual speed of most traffic, ~65), passing a string of four cars qeued behind a boat-towing RV who was doing maybe 60 in the centerlane. I was passing the mini-parade at maybe 70.

Two kids on a blue-and-silver two-stroke entered the highway, jumped over to the left behind me, and the driver immediately flashed his headlights. So I sped up to 80 to finish the pass, then got over.

He flashed his headlights four more times in the 17 seconds that it took me to get out of his way, then floored it as soon as I got over.

Thankfully, that's usually about the worst of people you see around here. Occassionally you'll get some yutz who speeds up and slows down to prevent a pass, but otherwise, drivers are relatively polite.

If he's in Indiana and he's hoggging the left lane he will find himself introduced to the Indiana State PD. Gotta get your revenues from somewhere.

I live just outside Boston, so I could probably top every other comment in this thread, but I've seen so many head-up-ass things in traffic that they all kinda blend in with each other. It's like trying to remember what you had for lunch every single day last week. When I become Grand Dictator of the Earth, slow drivers will be pulled over by my secret police and shot without benefit of trial.

Now this is extremely politically incorrect to say -- I'm sure someone will flame me for being a "racist" -- but what is it about Asian drivers? Whenever I'm passing someone doing ten miles under the speed limit, if it's not a middle-aged woman or an old person of either sex, it's usually an Asian. Is this a function of the gestalt in various Asian cultures that you should yield to others and never attract attention to yourself?

"If you are doing 85 in the passing lane and trying to get by someone and then some freak pulls up behind you at 120 and expects you to move, I say fuck them! They are the bigger criminal. They will get the ticket for following too close if they hit you."

Fuck you, hypocrite. If you expect people to get out of your way, you have to do the same if someone wants to go faster than you.

Personally, I think that Germany has done it right. Putting aside the cultural respect for rules and the law, the drivers there are petrified of breaking the laws and rules-of-the-road. Passing on the right (except in traffic jams) is 'verboten', and slower traffic keeps right like they are on the road to salvation. In a lot of places, they have each lane marked with a different speed, and the left lane speed is usually about as high as you would reasonably want to go. Yes, some autobahns (freeways) have no posted speed limits, but this often only applies to the left one or two lanes.

For an American driving there, a significant behavior shift is needed, since we generally regard traffic laws as suggested guidelines. The German Polizei regard the laws as...laws. Break the law, pay a fine or lose your license. Sort of a different way of doing it, but it works!

Boogman. I think you misunderstood. I was saying that when you are trying to pass someone at 85, you don't have to yield to someone behind you at 120 until you have passed the car on your right.

Similar to what anony-mous was saying...Often when trying to pass a line of trucks on my right, some douche will flash his lights before I have finished passing. I will move over when I am done, cause I got there first. Or maybe not, if he or she is being an idiot about it.

Reginleif,

Just how old are these Asian drivers that you consistently see going 10mph under?

Around here, if they're under 30, they tend to have a aftermarket-modded rice rocket and it ain't moving slow.

(July 30) The driver of a semi-tanker truck was killed following a rollover and fire on highway 41 south of Fond du Lac last night. Firefighters and rescue personnel were called to the scene shortly after 7:00 yesterday evening. Fond du lac fire department safety officer, Joe Hoffman, says the Fond du Lac fire department ambulance crew was dispatched shortly before 7:30. Investigators says the tanker truck was traveling northbound on 41 in the left lane and passed another truck. The tanker then moved into the right lane...and kept moving onto the shoulder and into the ditch. The truck then came back onto the shoulder. It appears the driver then overcorrected which caused a jackknife and rollover... just south of highway B. Highway 41 was closed in both directions for several hours last night as crews worked to clear the accident scene. The highway reopened at 4:00 this morning.

I get over to let everyone who wants to go faster than me do so. I have a name for them: BAIT. They let me know where the CHP are before I get there...

Here's a hint:

If I am doing 85 in the passing lane and you pull up behind me at 120 and expect me to move...

Then you are driving TOO DAMN FAST! I don't care who you are, what you are driving, or how empty the road is, you are out of control.

I am talking "Reckless Endangerment" fast - "Assault With A Deadly Weapon" fast - "stick your ass in jail without bond" fast.

Maybe even "sacrifice my car and my own life to get you off the road for society's sake" fast.

You sociopathic villian.

Anony-mouse: The slow Asian drivers I see all the time are of various ages, though probably few are under 20. Because Boston is a big university and high-tech area, a lot of them are probably earnest, hard-working and dutiful grad students and software engineers. (May I assume you live on the West Coast?)

In mid-sized Massachusetts cities with large (and young) Asian populations, like Lowell and Quincy, I have seen some "rice rocketeers," but in the more affluent areas they're the exception to the rule.

Have to agree totally with Owen.

To those nitwits who think otherwise--make sure your relatives receive the instructions *not* to sue the maker of your automobile when you lose control and remove yourself from the gene pool.

If 20-30 MPH over the speed limit isn't fast enough for you, ask your doctor for some lithium or ritalin.

Drivers that cannot control themselves are the primary reason I won't drive. I am not easily spooked, but some of the nutcase drivers in Atlanta, South Florida and SoCal convinced me that the highways are not the place I want to be gehind the wheel of the car.

"If you are doing 85 in the passing lane and trying to get by someone and then some freak pulls up behind you at 120 and expects you to move, I say fuck them! They are the bigger criminal. They will get the ticket for following too close if they hit you."

I hate to point this out to everyone, but at 85 and 120 miles per hour, it really doesn't matter who's right or wrong...if they hit you, your probably both gonna be dead. Or at the very least, a vegetable for the rest of your so-called life.