Survival is the only option....
Posted on 06/05/2005 10:11:23 AM PDT by qam1
With summer just around the corner and visions of vacations dominating Americans' thoughts, our highways will experience a dramatic increase in traffic. To enhance the travel experience for motorists, the National Motorists Association (NMA) has designated June as Lane Courtesy Month and is kicking off the campaign with the slogan "Do the RIGHT Thing!"
Lane Courtesy, also called Lane Discipline, has a powerful influence on highway safety, traffic flow, and congestion. Arguably, its effect is more important than speed limits, traffic enforcement, or any other attempt to control driver behavior. Ask almost any motorist what most raises their ire when using major highways and the answer will be "failure of slower traffic to keep right or yield to the right when faster traffic approaches."
The concept, or ethic, of lane courtesy evolved in the United States with the development of the Interstate System. However, the concept of slower traffic yielding to the right for faster traffic has its origins in the older system of two lane highways. Almost all states have a provision in their traffic law that requires slower traffic, upon being signaled by a following vehicle, to pull to the right to allow the faster traffic to pass.
Prior to 1973, rural speed limits reflected typical travel speeds. Consequently, slower vehicles were not driving the speed limit and there was no rationale for deliberately blocking the progress of faster traffic. The 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit changed all that.
After 1973, there was a serious disconnect between speed limits and the actual speed of traffic. There was also a total breakdown in lane courtesy. The slower traffic that would normally stay in the right hand lane could now linger anywhere on the highway, in any lane, and still be traveling at the legal maximum speed of 55 miles per hour. This counter productive process was reinforced over a period of 21 years, influencing a whole generation of new drivers.
In 1995 the 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit was repealed and several states raised speed limits to put the limits more in concert with the reality of highway travel. However, the almost quarter century habit of wallowing anywhere on the highway did not disappear with the advent of new speed limit signs.
The lane courtesy ethic must be reinvigorated, promoted, and recognized for the contribution it can make toward safer, faster and more enjoyable travel. We hope the NMA's "Do the RIGHT Thing!" campaign and declaring June as "Lane Courtesy Month" will reawaken interest and support for this incredibly important and positive traffic safety concept.
"This counter productive process was reinforced over a period of 21 years (Since 1973), influencing a whole generation of new drivers".
Xer Ping
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Here in Georgia they just passed a law that states that if more than four cars are behind you and you don't move right you can be ticketed. YEAH!
Unfortunately, it probably won't apply to the Georgia State Patrol car sitting in the left hand land doing just under the speed limit with everyone afraid to pass on the right. ;-)
Where's the picture of the car behind that Yukon, showing the driver with a camera to his eye???? ;-)
That pic reminds me of one of Rush's most hilarious routines (that you can't read but have to hear to appreciate) when he would start complaining about women who fard in their cars.... Would it light up the switchboards!
Caller: "How do you know they do?"
Rush: "You can see it!"
Caller: "You can see it?!?!"
don't know. That is one that could be unprovable. He could have a passenger taking the picture or have a 3rd arm or something :)
maybe a dashboard camera??
I'm sure the adorable cell-phone yapping SUV soccer moms will take note of this.
We have had a similar law here in California for over 30 years. It is not enforced. The California Highway Patrol does not even acknowledge that the law exists.
hehe yeah, that is a good one.
I used to work with a guy, yes he was a blonde, that did the same thing one sunny Saturday morning on the way to work.
See you on the road, skag!
Oddly enough, "obeying the speed limit law" doesn't seem to qualify as an "incredibly important and positive traffic safety concept".
No rubbing and no push-drafting! ...that's for the "Monster Mile" today.
One benefit of a convertible is once I get ahead of them I can point them where they are supposed to be, not just "point to the sky". >:)
-Eric
The Speed Limit means MAXIMUM SPEED LIMIT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW ON THAT ROAD
If the speed limit is 70, people in the left lane should be doing 70, people in the right lane 55
Not, people in the right do 70, people in the left do 85
You know, there are some people who have to drive slow in the left land because well, they have to make left hand turns at intersections, of course no one cares about them, they'd rather them miss their turn just so they can be Dale Earnhardt on the city streets
Yeah, that'll work. Ever drive in a state with "lots" of left-hand exits, like CT?
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