Posted on 12/10/2008 8:53:48 AM PST by Smogger
In these days of longer commutes and simmering tempers, nothing seems to set off already-testy motorists like the left-lane camper -- the guy or gal who drives in the passing lane and bars faster drivers from easily passing. Web sites have cropped up to educate other drivers, or to vent. There's a (somewhat painful) YouTube song called "Keep Right."
Even bigwigs get frustrated. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, weary of having his limo slowed down by such left-lane pokies, ordered an aide to have the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission install signs a few years ago reading "Keep Right, Pass Left. It's the Law."
And now some states are cracking down on left-lane campers, both to keep traffic moving and to tamp down the road rage that goes from zero-to-60 faster than ever before.
That's not just a pretext. Last year, a driver was arrested on Interstate 79 outside Pittsburgh after allegedly brandishing a semiautomatic pistol at a driver who was on his tail.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
As for tailgating, the only time I do it is when there is a big line of cars because of an accident or something and guess what happens. There are always a bunch of people who (despite the line going well beyond any warning signs) decide to pull up on the right or left, whatever lane does not have the line......in order to insert themselves ahead of many other people in the line. They literally just jerk themselves over into the line like they own the joint.
Extremely rude.
In those cases, I do tailgate. There is no way I will let those jerks in, and it really makes me angry when “nice” people choose to let them in, thereby encouraging their poor manners.
You wait your turn, but since people typically let them cut in line speeding by you to the right or left to try to cut over......they keep doing it.
Why don’t people stand up and say enough??? I won’t let you try to cut!
Obviously you are unaware of the multilane phenomenon known as the Iowa Flying Wedge.
Also known to be rampant in Minnesota, too.
Sometimes the guy blocking traffic is going over the limit. Just not as much as those behind him want to. Sometimes the guy in front is me. I’ll be doing 68 in a 60 and some guy in a souped up Honda or a BMW M3 approaches fairly quickly. I immediately get out of the way and then follow at a relative distance and use them as a radar screen. I’ve seen several guys in front of me get tickets. One was doing over 90 in a 70 (and so was I) but by the time I passed the cop, who was coming out to get him, I had dropped my speed back to 75.
It is all a game, in the long run. I’ve passed many blockers on the shoulder. You want to do it safely though.
I'm sure that will be of considerable comfort when someone runs you off the road for being inconsiderate.
So, you ARE one of those?
I'll tell you exactly what I tell my sweet old mother.
Never! Ever! Drive in the left lane!
I love it when some jackwipe passes me at 85mph, I call them “bait”
Didn't use to be: back in the '70s, the CHP would pull cars over and sometimes even ticket them if they rode out in the left lane much below the speed limit (65, 70 or 75 depending on the freeway) and did not move over for faster traffic, and they would ticket cars in the right lane if they were under the freeway minimum speed (then 45 mph).
It used to be a mildly unnerving experience to be cruising down a freeway at 72 (no tickets given unless you were more than 7 mph over) and finding a CHP black and white come up fast in your mirror, having them flash their overheads at you, and then whizzing by accelerating towards 80+ when you changed lanes.
There are a few noxious drivers in Vermont, like everywhere else. But many are considerate. On the good side, we have a ten mile drive into town on a two lane road with NO passing for the entire ten miles. But some slower drivers will signal and pull over into a side road or a driveway to let you by.
My least polite experience was when I was passing some cars on the freeway in Vermont, going about 70 in a 55 mile zone because some teenage rednecks in a pickup were tailgating me and honking and I didn’t want to hold them up. I got past the slower cars, pulled over into the right lane, and the pickup shot by, pulled into the lane a few feet in front of me, and the guy in the passenger seat opened his door wide, hung out over the highway, and mooned me. We were traveling at a speed of about 70 MPH.
Anyway, neither of us went off the road.
I ALWAYS make a point out of letting someone merge into my lane if they properly use their blinkers. What is your plate number, I'll make an exception to this personal rule of mine.
Actually, many of the people who poke in the passing lane are angry and trying to control other people.
Frankly, the cops would rather they get out of the way so that the speeders would be more free to speed, and get more tickets.
I have been saved from at least two tickets by being blocked in the passing lane.
Don't you have anywhere to be yourself? Aren't you on the road becase you have a destination? Do you really have all day to follow other drivers around and dole out life lessons to those that annoy you? Must be nice.
True, though I am sure it doesn’t help I am in Midland. They do seem to drive worse here than in the Dallas area, which was bad, but this is worse.
Why does Texas have so many left exits? There are some odd things about this state....I recall very few left exits in KS since the highways were built to make sense.
That said, otherwise I do like Texas....just have to get a few things off my chest....:)
Get these left lane idiots, the kamikaze speeders in the far right lanes off the roads and those who tailgate you when you are driving 5 miles over the speed limit in the middle lanes.
Now with the price gas back down to earth, the high speeders are taking control again.
However Friday, we saw cops nailing them on freeways and other roads try to raise funds for their budgets.
You should move over anyway to:
1. Avoid the potential road rage of the person behind you
2. Let the guy who wants to speed even more than you
go past, and subsequently attract the attention of any
cops up ahead
Happy Motoring!
Who you calln Granpa?? AARP has 9 more months before they mail me!!
Sorry pal, it is foreigners, like yourself, who are the rude drivers in Texas. Outside of the city traffic, real Texans will move to the shoulder to let someone pass, but as outsiders move in, you don’t see that much anymore. Drive out to West Texas and I guarantee you will have folks move over for you.... but thanks for being one of those idiots who move into our State and then call us names.
“Gion’ down the oshun, Hun”.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
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