Posted on 08/01/2002 11:48:35 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:38:44 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
New roads would be helpful in easing gridlock and ameliorating "road rage," but revival of the lost art of lane courtesy would be even better.
Lane courtesy is simply this: moving to the right and allowing faster-moving traffic to pass. Americans almost uniformly ignore this cardinal rule of road civility
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Morons putting along in the fast lane ought to be considered as driving in a hazardous manner and fined!!!
(And drug from their mother-loving cars and beaten within an inch of their pitiful lives!!!!)
This is news to me but it's been a few years since drivers ed. There certainly are many ignoramuses out there cruising in the left lane, making everyone pass them on the right.
I had no idea that this was caused by liberal PC. Can someone explain why it is PC to block the passing lane? The best I can come up with is that getting passed might hurt your self esteem. Or that its not fair that some cars are faster than others. Or that passing cars are going too fast so they use more than their fair share of fossil fuel thereby hurting Mother Earth. Or that passing causes global warming . . .
we must instruct the American Public in the "zipper effect!!"
It can be explained with a Chinese Menu...
one from column A and one from Column B...!!
My wife rides me constantly about my tendencies toward "road rage" (which I don't deny), and this article illustrates what I've said for years: it's the SLOW drivers, not the fast ones, that create carnage on our highways, because they force frustrated drivers to take unnecessary chances.
Has anyone also noticed the frequency with which slow-pokes (on two lane highways) seem to find the gas pedal once you try to pass them?
The thing is, I'm usualy pretty cynical about the people down here on the road, but my actions almost always turn out positive results and in my commute to work I find that most of the people around me are either signalling for me as well or yielding. This is South Florida, too. At any rate, I try not to get too worked up, avoid the creeps and things go well.
Please people, take the two nuerons it takes to fire the impulse to use the damn signal lights. A split second of courtesy may save you from a bad encounter some day.
Nah! It's "PC" because if the left-lane road hog happens to be driving the speed limit, he is "following the law" and the "speeder" should just go to hell. Never mind the fact that traffic conditions and road will safely allow a somewhat faster speed.
The "lane courtesy" rule above and "go with the flow" are actually far safer.
In the mid-80's on I-64 going thru Newport News, VA my ex-wife and I came upon a little Toyota station wagon with middle-aged couple in it going exactly 55 in the left land. They had a license plate that said Y-SPEED and were smugly riding along as the self-appointed representatives of the nanny-state knowingly pissing people off.
We were in our early 20's at the time so when I finally got pissed enough to illegally blow by them in the right lane, they got a few not-so-polite yells and gestures. I wonder if someone hasn't 'capped dey ass' yet.
Re: Europe. The German Polizei will bust you for 'obscene' and threatening hand gestures and while I was living there, a judge fined a German driver 4000DM for flipping the bird while driving. That was about 2 grand American at the time. They already have very effective 'snitch' lines and will track someone down even days later to bust them for a traffic offense turned in by a snitch. We in America are getting the same crap with the new crop of 'road rage' laws coming out.
When you pass me and then immediately pull back over in the right lane directly in front of me, you're forcing me to tailgate you. Depending on the speed difference between my car and yours, I'm unwillingly tailgating you for 10 to 60 seconds, or even longer.
Rude and dangerous, IMO.
Ever notice that the left lane hawgs always drive those gray Volvo station wagons---the ones with the "Think Globally, Act Locally" bumper stickers on the back?
Why not, that's kinda selfish, doncha think?
If the slower cars would speed up a little and the faster cars would slow down a little, it would all be better.
Cool, then everyone will be going the same speed. Well then, why not make highways just one giant conveyor belt going at a constant speed? It would save a tremendous amount of gas because the engines can be shut off while on the "ride" ;-)
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