Do The RIGHT Thing! June is Lane Courtesy Month

National Motorists Association ^ | June 2005 | NMA

[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In 1995 the 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit was repealed and several states raised speed limits to put the limits more in concert with the reality of highway travel.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.

[Little Bill]

Up here the surcharges are added to your Insurance Bill and some of the profits distributed to the Reps in the form of cash in small denominations. Up here everyone appeals a ticket, tickets are another tax on the misgoverned of this state.

To give you something to think about, State Police Troopers are expected to give out six tickets an hour on traffic detail, we ain't go no damned quotas.

Another shocker, BPO's are expected to give out ten violations a day or be on the bad list. The Danvers Police, started giving warnings in close "Judgment Calls" and cost the Town $250K in four months, it ain't about money is it?

[AzaleaCity5691]

No one should be riding in "buses from elderly services"

Just because some people want to drive like maniacs, it doesn't mean the responsible people should be punished.

It wouldn't hurt people in this country to slow down, what's the rush, is everything so important that you have to go flying like a bat out of hell to get there.

You could alway leave early and pace yourself, instead of leaving late and driving like a lunatic because you have to "be there on time"

[cc2k]

SedVictaCatoni wrote:

---

Oddly enough, "obeying the speed limit law" doesn't seem to qualify as an "incredibly important and positive traffic safety concept".

---

I'll make you a deal.

When "obeying federal laws and regulations and sound safety engineering principles when setting speed limits" becomes an "incredibly important and positive traffic safety concept," we can add obeying the speed limit to important safety measures.

But with speed limits set below the maximum safe speed for the road(s) they apply to for various reasons (revenues from fines, false sense of "safety," or environmental reasons as very common and bad examples), there's little safety in obeying the speed limit.

Lane discipline is a much bigger issue and does cause wrecks. And speed limits set too low also cause wrecks and kill people.

[qam1]

Yeah, that'll work. Ever drive in a state with "lots" of left-hand exits, like CT?

Yes, I have brothers who live in CT and travel to there often, And as a state as a whole* CT drivers are the worst in the country. Putting the exits on the right won't help these morons.

1) It goes without saying no lane courtesy there

2) CT drivers have trouble staying in lane and I don't mean they change lanes without signaling. I mean they constantly drift over the lines into other lanes and then catch themselves and drift back they they do it again & again.

3) The slightest curve will cause a CT driver to slam their brakes hard. But what's really weird about that, is they don't slam their brakes before the curve or even in the curve, They slam their brakes after they are through it and the road straightens out. (They are especially bad at this on I-84)

It was funny, When my brother got married and everyone converged on CT. from other states; upon arrival, the first thing out of everyone's mouth was a comment on how bad the people drive in that state.

* I say as a state on a whole because as bad as CT. drivers are the truly the worst drivers in the country are from the Catskills of New York. Apparently no one there has heard the news that the speed limit was raised to 65 because there you typically on the NYS Thruway you will run into idiots doing 50-55mph in the left lane with nobody in front of them (Not an exaggeration!!!!!!) and they will not move. If there is a delay for any reason, they become so traumatized that when traffic starts up again they will literally drive 10-20 mph in whatever lane they are in for 2-3 minutes even as the car(s) in front of them pull away. Luckily it's only regional and the whole of NY State doesn't drive as bad as the people in the Catskills.

[MikefromOhio]

hehe ok...

.....oi....

[Jeff Gordon]

..the judge will toss it because they consider obeying the speed limit to be more important.

That is interesting. The text of the law says "notwithstanding the maxiumum speed limit" The text makes it clear that stopping lane blocking has priority over the speed limits. I guess this is just another case of activist judges making their own law.

[mountainlyons]

I live in the mountains and have to travel US 34 daily. There are a lot of people that can not read. There are several passing lanes on hills with signs that say "Keep Right Except to Pass" I have had to pass people on the right because they went down the center of the road. They also block the downhill passing lane. One stupid guy was going downhill in the center lane and had the double yellow marking to his right(wrong way in wrong lane). People just thank they are better than others and will take your rights any time they can!

[qam1]

I straddle two lanes in a two-lane highway that is posted at 65, doing 40, and swerving to block those who would pass me. That's okay, isn't it?

3 words

Long Entrance Ramps

[Hank Rearden]

Just get used to doing 40 behind me and we can save a lot of taxpayer money.

40 what? My speedo is calibrated in furlongs/fortnight (don't ask - Pep Boys had them on clearance sale, cheap) and I'll need to work out the math.

One of my motorcycles can do about 140, so if we compromise that's 90.

[Gal.5:1]

Drive according to the basic speed law, pay attention, look ahead, be ready to brake, drive sober, look for objects in the road, TRY to avoid a crash, and if you do crash, you must stop immediately and do what you can- call emergency, give reasonable (whatever you can) care and STAY THERE. Do not leave the scene. Hit and run is a felony. :(

[kstewskis]

I straddle two lanes in a two-lane highway that is posted at 65, doing 40, and swerving to block those who would pass me.

Laz.

FR's own "slot car" driver :)

[LibertarianInExile]

The feds should have set the speed limits at 30 mph. It would have saved so many lives, and practically guaranteed adequate control and 'breaking' distance on the highways. And while it would have created a few more of those pesky lawbreakers, since obeying the law is more important and we have good reasons to make that law, it should be okay, right?

Forget that worthless scrap of paper, E Rocc--the Constitution isn't worth the parchment it's written on anyway. /sarc

[RedWing9]

The Speed Limit means MAXIMUM SPEED LIMIT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW ON THAT ROAD

Absolutely true.

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

Sort of. People in the right lane can do whatever speed they wish. At the same time they should not obstruct those who wish to travel faster than they, in the left lane.

I travel at least 10 times per year between Chicago and Detroit along the "I-94" corridor. And it bugs me to no end that I have to turn off my cruise control becuase someone has decided that they can drive 70 in the left lane while the right lane is wide open. FYI - I routinely move the right, no matter my speed, as soon as I pass slower traffic.

Going the Speed Limit is not driving slow, it's called obeying the law, if you drive faster, you are a lawbreaker and you deserve to be fined.

Yes, you are right. I would like to point out that your posts on this thread indicate that you drive the speed limit in the left lane and all those "who deserve to be fined" should not complain about your obstructionism. I find your attitude explicitely like those whom I pass using the right lane on a regular basis. Next time you see my moniker on a pair of license plates throwing 'get to the right' signals, think of me...

Lastly, when I do drive to see my family 260 miles away, I appreciate the extra 1/2 hour I gain by driving 'a bit faster'. So, please, move the right...

[GOP_1900AD]

People either have autobahn etiquette or they don't. The slow left lane, stubborn crowd need to experience driving in Europe and see what happens to people there who sit in the left lane, blocking the flow. Normally, we do well to ignore Europe but in this one case, there are many here who have a lot to learn from the Euros.