Posted on 05/15/2007 12:01:24 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
LEFT LANE DRIVERS of AMERICA
“If you’re not a Left Lane Driver then get out of the Left Lane!”
Traffic has become increasingly congested and tempers flare as slower drivers occupy what has been historically referred to as the “fast lane”. It’s time to get that Left Lane back! It is our considered opinion that not only will traffic move more smoothly and more quickly once the Left Lane is used in the way it has been designed but also headaches, frustration, bad tempers and road rage will all be greatly reduced when this pressure valve is released. It’s time to reduce this unnecessary stress. It’s time that… LEFT LANE DRIVERS UNITE!
We invite you to join Left Lane Drivers of America, a growing, grassroots effort to reclaim the Left Lanes on our freeways and multiple lane highways. To do this, those of us who are genuine “Left Lane drivers” are politely but firmly reminding others what the Left Lane is for.
(Excerpt) Read more at leftlanedrivers.org ...
In the near future all vehicles will have a onboard system that communicates with other vehicles and what will happen is on interstates their will be a line of vehicles nose to tail drafting and all at the same speed like a Nascar superspeedway, the driver can just program what exit they want and the computer will do the driving and seperate from the convoy, nobody will pass, no Mr Mcgoos, woman can talk all through the trip and anyone else can just go to sleep.
Problems solved.
If you drive a junker or an illegal or prefer to be a Luddist about it there is always the back roads.
How about getting rid of those carpool and “diamond” lanes that occupy the precious space that would otherwise be your fast lane?
Plane and boat navigation has been automated why not cars ? Don't tell me it can't be done.
It is past time to make the infrastructure investments necessary to automate road travel.
BUMP
Otherwise known as 'left lane vigilantes'.
BUMP
Wait, this seems to imply that there is a proper way to bump a car in front of you. Where can I learn this valuable technique?
In other words you made a naked assertion based on nothing. I guess that's as close to an admission of guilt as we'll get from you.
As the velocity of the car approaches its top end, its MPG will degrade rather quickly. Do you wish to dispute that?
Why would I? The topic was cars that get better gas mileage at 70 than they do at 55. Some of the old women on this thread wished to dispute that as a possibility. General discussions of physics beyond that are completely uninteresting to me.
I did that one time. As soon as I got past the cop he zoomed across three lanes and got right next to me - about a foot from my door. I looked over at him, confused, and he jumped in behind me - about a foot from my bumper - and turned on his headlights, spotlight and flashing lights. Thus blinded, I pulled to side of the road. The cop got out a loudly berated me for being so "disrespectful" as to pass him. He them wrote me a ticket for 5 mph higher than my cruise control was actually set for. That extra 5 mph was actually the lowest ticketable speed. He wrote on the ticket that I sped past him and looked at him (which was actually me looking terribly afraid and confused when he almost side swiped my car).
That little bit of cop ego cost me $90 and a morning in court.
I'm probably older than you. What's your point?
It is entirely permissible to refine one's stance in an argument as the discourse develops. It layman's terms, this is called a conversation. This two-way process allows a continuing exchange of ideas that can eventually lead to an accurate and thorough understanding of the viewpoints maintained by the parties in the conversation. This technique is frequently used in all sorts of human endeavors. The educational process often uses this approach. Engineering processes use this approach.
Lovely. However, dragging your fellow conversant off on tangents to avoid an admission that you overstepped yourself initially is simply juvenile. Alternatively, holding forth on something tangential and uninteresting to other participants in the conversation is boorish.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you wish to be neither.
You will chuckle right up to the point where the person you piss off is a gang banger on a short fuse -- who will put a bullet in you as he finally passes.
It is never a good idea to piss off people of unknown temper and armament. Particularly not on a frequent basis. Your luck WILL eventually run out
Back when I was much younger and shorter-tempered, I had a guy like you piss me off when I was already in a bad mood. I ran him off into the grass median
WOW! Exact. Same. Thing. happened to me on I-5 just South of Bellingham WA some 20 years ago. Exact same thing down to every detail. Cop was a jerk.
Various cars have various optimum speeds. Just about all cars get better mileage at 50 mph than they do at 10 mph. The optimum speed depends on the engine, transmission, and aerodynamics
Actually the original post that I responded to was the one from billbears to SoldierDad. SoldierDad said everyone should drive 55 and stop wasting gas and billbears told him to mind his own business (*grin*) and that his car did better at 70 than at 55. SoldierDad said, "BS" and GingisK responded with that nonsense about drag. I pinged you on the post because you had responded to GingisK as well.
BTW, my XK has the ZF tranny as well. I am sadly familiar with "the lurch." Thanks for the link, though. I think I'll start annoying the local Jag dealer about it. I thought I would just have to live with it.
Fawn: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gave the finger too after passing a left lane slow driver (on the right) and then literally tried to cut them off a little.
Point made.
Personally, I think it's inconsiderate to go 20-30 mph above the posted speed limit and then expect everybody to get out of your way.
Breaking the law and expecting others to accomodate you on the highway is no different, morally, from an illegal alien breaking the law and expecting others to accomodate him in his lawlessness.
Your sad lack of understanding physics does not make it nonsense. Your car has high performance because the engineers who designed it know physics well. For 95% of the cars on the road, my statement is dead on. For the high performance cars, such is not the case. I don't think in terms of the exceptions when making the general case. Since when did misspeaking initial arguments invalidate facts?
You are the one who fails to address the issues. I have asked several questions, and you have failed to answer them. Of course, to answer those questions you would either have to agree with me or expose your ignorance.
LeftLaners should be more subtle. Publicity will just entice the critical mass gorons to invade the sanctity of the fast lane.
So, what would be your point in arguing with me? This stumps me. I have already admitted that my opening statement was not well crafted. That does not diminish the physics behind the entire conversation or the fact that it requires more horsepower to achieve higher speeds in all cases. Some cars have better aerodynamics, more efficient and powerful engines, and are optimized for different speed ranges. Some vehicles carry concrete.
What point are YOU trying to make?
Let's see. According to the US Dep't of Transportation, the average commute in the US in 1995 (old data, I know, but the most current I could find) is 11.6 miles. 11.6 miles at 55 mph = 12.6 minute commute. 11.6 miles at 70mph = 9.9 minute commute. minutes.
Is that two minutes and forty-five seconds each way *really* destroying the economy? I doubt it.
Oh - source for the USDOT info is here.
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