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# 837 is what I really said!!
b) IF the lane is empty in front of me and I know I still am in the process of passing a long line of cars or if Im not passing fast enough for the person behind me(a situation which almost never occurs because my passes usually don't take more than 10 seconds per car) then I will stop passing temporarily and move right to yield to the faster car and then move left to continue my pass once they move one.
c) If I am headed for a left sided exit such as a rest stop. (By the way I think it's pretty stupid to have people exiting and merging in the passing lane.) But in that case I dont do what most people do and get to the left 25 miles before the exit and then do exactly 55 the whole time. I either wait until signs tell me the exit is nearing to get over or else I get over early but keep my speed up.
The common denominator: If traffic is flowing freely, you will NEVER see me pacing the car beside me while I am in the left lane. You will also NEVER see more than 5-6 car lengths of space between me and the car in front of me. Maybe these personal rules of mine are extreme, Idonno, but other drivers tend to be very appreciative of my left lane habits.
Also, there's the people who always thqink if they change lanes enough times in heavy bumper to bumper traffic they'll suddenly find that magic lane that gets them ahead of everybody else. So they'll be in the right lane then every 2 minutes when they see that the left lane is moving faster they'll cut in suddenly, forcing the left lane to suddenly come to almost a complete stop. Then the people who are smart enough to pick a lane and stick to it close the gaps in the right lane and move ahead while the left lane stalls as it gets more congested with lane jumpers. Then all the lane jumpers see that for some strange reason the lane they just left is moving faster so they force their way back to the right just in time to cause a slow down on the right. But the net effect is usually that the left lane moves slower because Everybody thinks it's the best place to be, so it gets congested quickly.
Actually, I do app what you do!!! I won't advertise this too much if you dont!
I think Malb has done the math.
I mean, which makes more sense:
1. passing a guy like Kinley in the right hand lanes driving rock steady at 55 mph and having clear daylight or
2. trying to pass 4,5,6,7, cars in the number one lane that will not move out of the way, for whatever reason!!??
I can tell you what I see most folks doing.. I can also tell you what I think makes more sense!
Over the last 6 weeks I have logged almost 5k miles.
1) I've made it home safe and sound.
2) I've made it in much less time.
3) I tend to be more alert and don't get tired when I am constantly on the lookout...almost like a game.
That is also a ditto on this side!
My guide for night highway driving:
For me, if the left lane person is passing someone, then that's cool. I will wait for them to pass. But if they're just sitting there pretty admiring the road, I will get my fogs and high beams on as I approach them and over 95% of the time they will move over. If they don't I will sit there for a few mins and blind them until they do, and if they still don't I will just use the ctr. lane.
People must be taught lane discipline somehow and since the cops won't do it... Oh God, I sound like "K".
Dinu
"My point is, if I am indeed in the left lane, and passing vehicles at a decent rate, then I am not "camping". Some other posters seem to feel that I should move to the slower lane, reduce my speed, let them pass, then move back over and proceed at the rate I had been going."
"Keep Right Except to Pass" or "Slower Traffic Keep Right" are the signs stating the law.
Where in the law have you seen your above quote? I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you INTREPRET the law as you SAY. But that is not what the law says.
I also made a statement about right lane camping that in CA anyway is not technically correct. On a two lane road (one direction each way) the law makes a provision that if you are impeding 5 cars (behind you) you are obligated when safe to pull off the right side of the road to let them pass.
But I believe very mental patient, retard, and illiterate within 100 miles of the city limits seems to have decided to take a drive all on the same night right when im on the way home from a party in Maryland. Check the news by the way, there were lots of accidents around here tonight including a taxi cab hitting several patrons of a supermarket. Investigators say the guy never hit his brakes once. Go figure.
Based on some of the stunts I've seen pulled on the highway tonight, I get the impression that the rules in the driver's manual have changed. I imagine the passage now goes something like this. "Actually checking to see if a lane is open before changing into it is now unnecessary, and signals are optional. If a driver wishes to change lanes, they should simply give the wheel a sharp yank with their left hand while crossing themselves with their right, assuming in their prayers that a combination of the grace of god and the reflexes of their fellow motorists will get them safely into the next lane over, all the while staring straight ahead and completley ignoring their mirrors."
I was almost run off the highway twice tonight. I admit, I am partly to blame. I forgot my normal instincts to never spend more than 10-15 seconds next to another car and allowed myself to become ensnared in packs of slow moving vehicles behind left lane maggots.
Basically, here's the way it went down both times. I'd be passing other cars doing about 75-80 in the left lane, and suddenly I'd come up behind one of these retards who wants to get in the left lane and make their pass at less than the speed of continental drift because they can concentrate better on talking on their cell phone without spilling their Starbucks frapuccino if they go slower. I'd sit there patiently several car lengths back as a line formed behind me and we passed other traffic at the rate of about 1 inch per half hour. Suddenly, the person beside me would decide that having their car occupy the same space at the same time as mine was more important than getting home alive. And so they would suddenly jerk the wheel sharply my way, leaving it to me to simultaneously lay on my horn and careen wildly onto the narrow shoulder to avoid getting sideswiped by them and rear ended by the tail gater behind me all at once. And it wasn't even like I was approaching at a high rate of speed when they suddenly cut into my lane without accelarating to match my pace. I tend to get a little less ticked off at that because I know it can be difficult to judge speed differentials. I would just be sitting there, hovering directly next to another car for minutes at a time because the idiot in front of me evidently thinks multi-lane highways were desinged so 2 or more cars can cruise along side by side at exactly the same speed.
So it's not like people looked once and nothing was there and by the time they started to change lanes I was running up their butt. There sitting right next to people would be this shiny green Ford pickup, plain as day for them to see if they had just taken the effort to turn their fat necks even 2 degrees to the left and taken their eyes off the evening paper to make a quick check of the lane before getting over. But I guess I still made it too difficult for them. Maybe those people in big trucks and SUV's who keep their various high-powered auxiliary lighting units on even in clear weather and on-road conditions aren't so dumb after all. I bet lane dodgers are a bit less eager to barge in front of them, mostly out of a strong desire to retain healthy retinaes.
After both incidents I was thinking the same thing. Because someone else wasn't able to get over to the left, make a quick and decisive pass, and then get the heck out of everyone else's way without lapsing into daydreams, I was forced to hover next to inattentive drivers that on two separate occasions came close to causing me serious injury and possibly loss of life.
After the second time all bets were off. I kicked it down into fourth gear, got up to 90-95 mph, and then stayed there for the rest of my trip home, hands holding the wheel in a death grip as I scanned traffic around me like a hawk to try to predict which motorist would want to try to swap paint next so I could avoid them like the plague. And I made darn sure that I was never even once next to any other driver for longer than it took me to type this sentence. IF I had gotten pulled over it would have been fine by me. Go ahead, fine me, surcharge me, whatever. I won't make it a regular habit to do 90 or above, but I will gladly and dutifully pay my road tax whenever I happen to get caught in exchange for driving at a speed differential that leaves other drivers minimal opportunity to try to commit suicide by Ford truck or prevent my getting home safely.
Thanks for listening. I am calmer now.
I was behind a minivan with two king size matress things on top, held on by a helping of twine, going at least 55mph. A while after I passed it, I looked in my mirror and saw the two matresses launch from the minivan, spin and cartwheel across two lanes of heavy traffic, and land safely in the grass due to the strong winds. They hurled themselves right where there weren't any cars, and I didn't see any wild maneuvering.
I saw this just on Friday. Nice couple buys a 600 dollar treadmill from me, and despite my various pleas they refuse to let us arrange delivery or hold it while they get a truck. Next thing I know Im taking a walk down to the loading dock and I see them in the parking lot standing next to a nice Camry LE with the treadmill sitting there.
They look at treadmill, look at truck of car, scratch their heads. Look at treadmill, look at trunk, more head scratching. They lift it and try to cram it in from various angles without succes. They unbolt various bits and pieces thinking they'll get that one part off that makes it possible to slide it in. No dice. After about 20 minutes they finally decide it's not going in the trunk, as there'd be more of the machine protruding from the trunk than actually resting in it. I volunteer to take measurements of the back seat. It would go, with roughly an inch to spare each way. But I assure him his leather won't look quite the same when they pull it back out at home, and that we could still hold it or set up delivery. Finally he sees the light, lets her wait with it while he goes to Home Depot. I woulda told them I owned a pickup, but for various reasons I won't go into in great detail because it would be very off topic I no longer take any personal responsibility for Sears merchandise or customer merchandise. I'll just ask hypothetically, if you came back to your pickup in the Sears merchandise pickup parking lot that was parked next to another truck of the same color and saw a 52 inch big screen sitting on the back of your vehicle that seemingly came out of nowhere, what would you do?
But now I have to wonder in these situations, if they'd tried to cart it home themselves strapped precariously in the trunk and it had fallen out and caused an accident would they be telling the police and the motorists who got injured, "Your car is totalled and you will be in the hospital for awhile and the 600 dollar treadmill is useless, but at least we saved the 25 bucks!" This all goes to show why I will always own some sort of truck type vehicle.
Sorry for two such long posts together... I dont get to post much anymore so I guess I gotta vent in one lump sum.
Situation number two... last night on I-696, the Detroit autobahn, from Madison Heights to Farmington Hills. The "Detroit autobahn" as sphinx99 eloquently puts it. Vero and the Lincoln LS types (really nice cars, I say, for a Detroit product) trying to pass LLCs with their Blazers and the coffee and donuts roadway diner/dinner club.
Don't you love it when LLCs flash you when you pass them? Yes, I know you're an idiot, you don't need to flash your lights, I see you... I've been watching you for miles, trying to figure how to pass your sorry butt.
The 'Silver Bullet' really does have 140 horses!
Next summer I'm going back to Germany or something. I want real road.
I dont even "flip off LL campers" Why would I "flip" you off? Are you offended that the LLC shoe fits? I would say if you don't want to wear the LLC shoes, take them off!!?? If you want to wear em dont be surprised if they get "admired" or noticed.
Like I said if someone wont move out of the left lane when I am overtaking in the left lane I will pass on the right. If someone moves over to the right I will pass on the left. How you get "road rage" out of this very simple procedure leads me to believe you have some other issues.
I'd agree with you if I were in the left lane and no other cars were in the right. But if you don't have situations where you live where a line of cars is moving slower than the rest of the traffic flow, then you must live in paradise. Where I live, it's very possible to have many many cars that are "bunched" up in the right lane. I tend to pass them. If you think you could make a manuever to get around in the right lane, more power to you, but odds are, there isn't enough space to pull that off since the right lane is moving considerably slower than the left. How you can think that anyone who is passing them is "camping", I'll never know. And the only way to "move over" would involve slowing down to move into the lane.
If I'm going 95 passing a car going 75, there will be someone behind who thinks I'm lane blocking and fully expects me to get out of his way.
I figure that there is no reason to worry about them at all, and I don't. I refuse to let pushy people force me to drive their speed. So I drive my speed, which is generally above the limit weather and traffic permitting, pass when I need to and get over when I'm done. Let 'em fume, let 'em flip, let 'em pass on the right.
Of course, many of the most dangerous situations are set up by kinley-style LLC's, but I see no need to make their idiocy more dangerous than it already is. As annoying as the LLC's are, the real danger is added by the impatient morons who find it necessary to whip between cars and surge by on the right at full throttle, just to make their pathetic point. Actually, it makes no point, just startles and threatens all the other cars who are trying to get by sanely. I get real conservative in those situations, and pass them on the right when I can do it without interefering with others.
;^)
i only read about the last 60 posts, but it is interesting, i drive about 30k mi a year, and have seen a lot, on hwy, in the city, it's amazing what some people do, i wish i had a camera running all the time like you see the cop cars do on those video shows, i could have made a fortune selling my videos to those shows...lol
i think people should know their limits, and adhere to them, but then it's hard to govern individuals isn't it
i wish you could take an depth test to determine your abilities, that would get you a special plate and license, by the color code or digital signal emitted or both, an officer could tell this person is qualified for cell phone use and speeding up to x mi per hour over, and this person is lawfully allowed to take the bus...lol
as for the LLC topic, I think most are making sense here, get over to pass, and move back over as soon as possible, if you feel someone came up on you in mid pass of multiple vehicles and can safely get over w/ out dramtically reducing speed to let them pass, and then resume your passing fine, if not, then continue the multi pass as soon as possible move over, maybe put on the turn signal even before actually finishing the last past to inform the rear driver of your considerate intention, and when approaching from behind try not to tailgate.
i relate to the post about the follower, what i hate even worse, is when you try to be considerate, and let someone pass, they pass, but then don't go anywhere, you know although it can be taken to extremes, i tend to agree w/ the through the pack driving, i much prefer open space, and am far more relaxed and personally believe i have more easily avoided accidents this way, not to mention invasions to my glossy black paint, but at any rate, i give a person a couple chances, if they have passed me, but then proceed to get us bottlenecked FOR NO REASON, I won't let them pass me again under any circumstance
it's funny how many times you can pick out someone about to do something really stupid, as someone mentioned earlier, you can see it coming by the little things they do, not always, but many times
I saw a couple references to headlights, a lot of people are sensitive to this issue, a lot of the newer cars have bright headlights, I happen to have one, although mine aren't as bright as some, the thing that irritates me, I'm going along minding my own business, in the left lane, come up on and pass a car that is in the right lane, i never veered towards him, was never behind him, never did anything but drive my straight line w/ dims on....then he/she has the audacity to move over into the left lane after i pass and bright light me, i don't just mean a flash, but full blown bright light me, i tap the brake light, still bright light me, hmmmmm someone is asking to get shot, i don't condone road rage, but i can see how a mentally unbalanced person with a gun could go off on someone, anyway, my point is, unless YOU ARE SURE someone is using their brights, maybe it's not a good idea to bright them, especially going out of your way to do so, if you do, then just flash, coz you might be wrong and you might p___ someone off
I had one guy do that, and he was in a huge SUV w/ tints, and prob had one of those auto dim mirrors judging by the fact it was late model eddie bauer, and i'm in this low to the ground car, i've driven another car in front of my own, and it's not that bad, although i had one of those little bitty beetles about freak out and look at me like i was the devil,i flashed them as if to indicate, hey you drive a little tiny car this must happen all the time, those are not my brights i mean no harm, the mistake they made then was braking until we were going like 10mph on a 45mph road, well, then i turned on MY BRIGHTS, so they got all 4 halogens and the fogs, they really liked that, they resumed speed at that point
It's been a long time, but I remember being on some rural roads outside of Dallas, one lane each direction, when approached from behind, the forward car would maintain speed, mover over to the smoothly paved shoulder, let you pass, then resume their course, wow, I wish it was this considerate everywhere, do they still do this down there????
Have fun, drive safe and look at the other side once in awhile!!!
Karz
Fortunately (at least here in France), this is not the case with xenon headlights, as the law enforces these to be associated with automatic inclination control - and washers.
karz
After I started breathing again I looked to see what the hold up was - as I said, there's no real reason for traffic to be stopped here, so I figured it was either an accident, something in the road, someone hit a dog/goat/cow/etc. None of the above. The car in front of the Blazer (to whom the Blazer driver gave the requisite hand signal) had STOPPED - in the middle of a 55 mph highway - to allow a truck going the opposite direction to turn left in front of her!!! I mean, COME ON! The guy in the truck looked absolutely mortified as he turned. I couldn't believe it. I got a good look at the driver of the car - a clueless looking grandma in a newer Malibu. I thought about following her into the Walmart parking lot to let her know that her "good deed" had nearly gotten me killed, but decided against it. Everybody, repeat after me: AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!
-Jason
The people who do it most are people who actually live out in the country, especially when they are driving slow, older vehicles and loaded-down pickup trucks. They are used to seeing slow-moving farm equipment driving on the shoulder so it's not such a foreign concept to them.
City dwellers like myself don't do it as much, though if someone is tailgating me and there is a solid yellow line preventing them from passing then I'll move over just to get rid of them. I don't do it on a habitual basis because I worry about stuff on the shoulder that might damage my tires.
On the less-travelled rural roads many people even wave at each other, regardless of whether they know the other driver (the "wave" usually consists of just raising some or all the fingers - but NOT just the middle finger! - while the hand remains on the wheel).
I even saw a state cop in his cruiser do it!
The tactic I've adopted is to leave lots of extra room -- of course that means people pull in, but that's gotta be okay, I guess.
Take care.
Joe W.
Jason - if she didn't look like a shotgun-totin' granny, you really should have followed her into the Wal*Mart and calmly explained to her why her action could have been problemmatic in a life-and-death sense.
HAH! When's the last time you think a Detroit-area driver considered stopping to let someone in?? hahahaha right.
Chicago life is so glamorous. Pay this, pay that, wait here, wait there, deal with this overpaid drone and that other snotty city worker. Oh yeah, though we have insane taxes (we have extra soda tax, extra tax on carry out food, don't get me started on gas prices) on everything, Chicago doesn't have enough money to keep our schools open or running properly but can afford to plant trees and flowers in the middle of Ashland Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, and for said flora's upkeep and water. Usually the sprinklers (again, in the median on Ashland Avenue, folks) is on during rain storms, and usually just gets cars, cyclists and pedestrians wet, and causes road slickness. Heaven forbid we have all the tourists thinking this place isn't pretty, right? OK, done venting.
That tow truck driver sure was inconsiderate in towing me, as I was in the office for less than ten minutes. Dammit.
i've been illegally towed before, what can you do, you gotta pay to get your car at 10pm, 3am etc.
karz
Oh, and granny looked harmless, if clueless. I had other things to do, though.
-Jason
Now when you see the posies on Ashland Ave, you can think how much you personally paid for them.
You should be getting a Thank You note from the Chicago Chamber of Commerce any day now.
"Thank you come again"