Move over, slowpoke

Washington Times ^ | Friday, August 2, 2002 | Eric Peters

[JohnHuang2]

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

[speedy]

Seems like it's usually some old guy wearing a hat who hogs the passing lane. Do hats cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain? One of life's rare opportunities to experience instant justice is to cut one of these guys off after being forced to dawdle behind them for several miles. A little of their own medicine, ah yes.

[bribriagain]

What really makes me mad are those folks in the high speed lane who insist on going 65 mph...when I'm doing 55.

[StockAyatollah]

I think it was George Carlin that said, "Anyone driving slower than me is an idiot. Anyone driving faster than me is a maniac."

[Johnny Shear]

As a sales rep who puts on a LOT of miles, I can say this article is EXACTLY right!!! I CAN'T STAND these morons!!!

I'll also add this...

WEENIES who don't enter and exit roadways AGGRESSIVE ENOUGH are a problem!!! Numerous times I've seen little old ladies or just plain IDIOTS who don't "Pick their spot and GO"!!! They try to ease into traffic slowly. Well, many times the make numerous other drivers HIT THIER BREAKS at the last minute because this IDIOT is running out of room to merge.

No, the problems is NOT with "Agressive Drivers" it's with IDIOTS who REFUSE to act decisevly and therefore put NUMEROUS drivers around them in danger.

And yes, they put in in a RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Publius6961]

Lane courtesy is simply this: moving to the right and allowing faster-moving traffic to pass.

Oh oh.

Expect the inept, the senile and the incompetent to have their usual fit about how so long as they are doing the speed limit they are entitled to drive anywhere they want.

This should be fun.
We have our share of them on I5 in the Central Valley of California, and they will do everything from flipping you off to pacing the car in the other lane. They enjoy the power to hold up a mile of other traffic.

They don't know they're clueless.
The only drivers who get pulled over and cited are the truckers who manage to (heh heh) speed and obstruct traffic at the same time.

[Wm Bach]

At least on highways, there is the possibility of passing. On the quickly-becoming-suburbanized country roads of New England, you get some pokey old fart, driving 30mph in a 45mph zone and twenty cars full of glare-eyed drivers piled up behind him, like it's some kind of sadistic funeral procession for a corpse in a plaid shirt and fishing cap sitting way up on top of his head at a slight angle.

California has a great law wherein, if you are holding up 5 or more cars on a single land road, you must pull over and allow them to pass.

We need that law!

[Publius6961]

But just because you (the generic you) want to drive faster than I am, doesn't necessarily mean I am in the wrong.

Yes it does, and if you RTFM for your state, you will see it in writing.
If you live in California, I can show you the numerous references in the drivers manual that says yes, you are in the wrong.

[al_c]

This became law in Texas recently, with a pretty good publicity campaign behind it. We took a trip across Texas and everyone behaved wonderfully--it was a pleasant drive. Then we crossed the border to Louisiana...ughh.

It's always been the law here. BTW ... on a recent trip to Florida by way of I-20 and I-10, the worst drivers I encountered in Texas, Louisiana, Mississipppi, Alabama and Florida all had Texas plates on their cars. I kid you not. And I thought Texans were the friendlier drivers ... apparently not on that day.

[hopespringseternal]

WEENIES who don't enter and exit roadways AGGRESSIVE ENOUGH are a problem!!!

These people are largely responsible for traffic congestion on freeways. They want to enter 70mph traffic doing 20. So around every exit, everyone must slow down because this guy just pulled out in front of someone. When the number of people entering the freeway hits a critical point, traffic comes to a standstill.

Now the people in charge of our roads are heavily promoting toll roads as a solution. A toll road is nothing but a monument to the corruption and incompetence of transportation agencies who squandered tax dollars rather than providing adequate roadway.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Granted, slower drivers should move to slower lanes. But just because you (the generic you) want to drive faster than I am, doesn't necessarily mean I am in the wrong. If I am in the left lane going 75 and passing cars on my left, I am not going to slow down and move into the slower traffic lane so someone going 85 can get through."

Why would you be PASSING CARS ON YOUR LEFT?? Could it be because THOSE people are not exercising lane courtesy?? And if you are in the left-most lane and a faster driver moves up, why NOT move over to the right temporarily to let him by?? I would (and DO). Unless, of course, the traffice is bumper-to-bumper all around, and then I don't, as it wouldn't be safe.

[astounded]

Exactly - a trip to the drivers license facility in any state in America is a trip to the least common denominator -morons a-go-go. It truly is frightening what one sees there. My gripe extends to the current generation of truckers, who now think little of camping out in the left lane on interstate highways, letting cars pass on their right. I dread traveling on I-80 or I-55 southbound from Chicago because of this.

[Bob Buchholz]

You, sir, do not live in rural NC. A blinking light on a car means 'hurry up and get beside it so it can't change lanes!'. A good rule of thumb out here is NEVER telegraph your intentions because the idiot in the next car will do his best to thwart them. Save those blinking lights for Christmas.

[white trash redneck]

I agree - great article. Two point to make...

First, let's not condemn all Volvo drivers. Mine has a bumper sticker, too. It says "I'm the NRA, And I Vote."

Second, two or three years ago, Gov. Owens proposed a similar type law for Colorado. It was booed down by the yayhoos before it even got considered in the legislature.

[TN4Liberty]

Yes it does, and if you RTFM for your state, you will see it in writing.

Apparently I have not been clear. If I am in the leftmost lane and passing traffic to my right (my mistake, I am under no obligation to slow down and move over for a car travelling at speed that is substantially higher than the rest of traffic. When I have completed passing, I will get over. But to say that I am the cause of road rage when it is the high-speed tailgater that is causing the problem is silly.

Isn't the key to find the lane that is moving your speed, and if there isn't one, adjust your speed?

[Billthedrill]

It works both ways, though - I'm usually the guy in the slow lane and it really jacks me to watch some moron using that lane as his personal racing lane to get by drivers clogging the fast lane, coming up in my rearview mirror at a relative speed of thirty mph...what the heck am I supposed to do, drive on the shoulder?

[aristeides]

Yes, there are two parts of lane courtesy: stay out of the left lane except when passing, and do not pass on the right. The author ignores the second part.

The reason why hogging the left lane is wrong is that it forces people to pass on the right, which is the true hazard. Those who pass on the right don't just cause the hazard, they are the hazard.

I always try to leave the passing lane as soon as it's safe when I see somebody gaining behind me. I have no interest in forcing people to observe the speed limit. However, I often do what this writer complains about when I'm in another lane: I stay right behind somebody in the passing lane to make it difficult to pass that person on the right. But my intention is not to force people to observe the speed limit, as the author supposes. My purpose is to enforce lane discipline: to make it difficult to pass on the right, and to encourage the driver wanting to pass to tailgate enough to get the left-lane hog out of the left lane. I do this precisely because I believe in lane discipline.

[Rev. Lou Chenary]

I ALWAYS slow down for tailgaters..They eventually get the hint. If I'm on my bike and get one I just play with the throttle and kill switch, the flames from the tailpipes ALWAYS back them off.

And before I get slammed...No I'm not a slow driver although my days of exceeding 100MPH are behind me for the most part.

[dighton]

Worst of all are slowpokes on freeway on-ramps. Why not merge at 45 into 70 mph traffic?

Some day, one of those jokers will get me killed.

[dighton]

... I'm stuck behind them, of course ...

[Entropy Squared]

Some people just can't figure it out. Slower traffic keep right means you are in the way of anyone coming up behind you. Move out of the way. If someone wants to drive faster than me I want that person in front of me, not behind me, so I have the sense to get out of his way. It is every drivers' responsibility to facilitate the flow of traffic. There is nothing in the concept of slower traffic keep right that says unless you think you're going fast enough or it's raining or it's Thursday.