Posted on 04/04/2005 11:07:55 AM PDT by KidGlock
I don't think it's that. Modern vehicles are very efficient at reducing outside noises, and it's fairly easy to slip into a semi-hypnotic cocoon while driving. These people get beside someone and pace him or her because their brains are a million miles away and they figure they can't be speeding if they're going the same speed as the guy beside them.
In other words, they go brain dead.
Someone's desire to break the law by speeding should not trump my right to drive in a given lane on a public road.
"Its an epidemic in Minnesota."
I was in eastern Montana and had TWO Jeep Cherokees with Minnesota plates try to block me westbound by driving side by side at 55 in a 75. I didn't even blink an eye and passed 'em on the shoulder. They tried to "chase" me. It was a hoot. A Jeep at over 100 mph is a brick. A Chrysler 300M is not a brick.
Something like 48 states have "keep right except to pass" or "slower traffic keep right" laws. Colorado was one of them. But was that law enough? Nope, gotta pass another one.
"I drive in the left lane when the right lane is terrible. I don't know if it is because heavy trucks drive mostly in the right lane, but around here the right lane is in bad shape."
I do the same thing west of Ellensberg. But if A car comes up behind me, I pull over in advance. The way I see it, if I am in the passing lane, it is just plain responsible to check the rear view mirror constantly. Then again, on the autobaun it can save your life.
So it's your God-given right to dictate the speed of traffic? Methinks you have control issues. What does it harm you to slide over for a few seconds and let the guy pass? It'll reduce both your blood pressures and will reduce the likelihood of an accident.
"Germans only pass in the left lane, they will never pass on the right."
What if there is a slow car in the left lane that refuses to move out of the way, and the right lane is open?
Not if others want to pass you. Maybe they're breaking the law, but if you refuse to move over then so are you, and by impeding traffic flow you're creating a more dangerous situation than they are.
People may need the left lane to go over the speed limit for a very brief time in order to go around a dawdler in the right lane.
Like I said, in most places it is legal to sit in the left lane, but it is still boorish behavior to do so.
Almost every state in the union has laws that require slower traffic to keep right, or to allow passing on the left. If you're in one of them, why do you break that law while sanctimoniously forcing others to comply with the speed laws?
Impeding traffic is also illegal.
I would have to agree with you on the planes and tickets part. In two weeks, I start a new job in Dayton and will be driving between there and Cincinnati daily (for a while) and that stretch of I-75 has always been names one of the top speed traps in the country.
" Barring some law, driving the speed limit in the left lane is legal."
In many states it is legal only if there is nobody behind you and/or you are passing a car in the right lane. It is not enforced much in Washington state, but technically, if you are in the far left lane going 75 in a 65 and there is a car trying to pass you and there is no car in the right lane, you are breaking the law if you do not move right.
Of course, the guy trying to pass you is breaking the law as well but there is an old saying: Two wrongs don't make a right.
Over there, it's against the law to pass on the right, and it's also against the law to force another to pass on the right.
"Someone's desire to break the law by speeding should not trump my right to drive in a given lane on a public road."
You are absolutely correct. The legal and "cooperative" thing to do is to then pull into the right lane, let them pass, and pull back into the "passing lane" if you so choose. It is what I do, especially on roads where the passing lane is quieter and smoother.
"Over there, it's against the law to pass on the right, and it's also against the law to force another to pass on the right."
So you're stuck behind them. As I was typing, it just hit me that I have been in that situation, as I mentioned in the montana story. So for a German to pass on the right would be the legal equivalent of when I pass on the shoulder. Except they have less chance of picking up road debris. :)
"They have the Left Lane For Passing Only signs, but I've haven't heard of anybody getting a citation yet."
There is some talk of it here in Washington. So far though, it is just talk.
"He was so pissed at the asian lady poking along at slightly below the speed limit in front of us that he floored it on his Ford Ranger and PASSED HER ON THE LEFT SHOULDER."
THAT, my friend, is someone who should be in NASCAR!!!
This left-lane blockage is very prevalent along I-580 West in Oakland, CA. I think it's a "screw you all" attitude taken to the streets.
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