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09-05-2014, 05:53 PM #1
Yes Indeed,left lane is only for passing!
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/16/5804590...content=Friday
If we could only apply this to I-70.
"There are basically two types of drivers: those who get worked up about people driving slowly in the left lane, and those who do it all the time and have no idea they're upsetting everyone else.it's not that you're never allowed in the left lane, just that you should use it briefly, for passing.
In case you're in the second group, some background: every state has some sort of law that discourages people from traveling in the left lane on multi-lane roads and highways. It's not that you're never allowed in the left lane, just that you should only use it when necessary, for passing, then get back over.
That's because even if you're driving fast, there's always someone going faster. If you promptly get back over after passing, that car will be able to pass you, allowing everyone on the road to get to their destinations as quickly as possible. If you don't, it'll inevitably lead to buildups of traffic and likely raise the chance of accidents.
The system works best when people aren't hogging the left lane. That's one reason why National Motorists Association has declared June Lane Courtesy Month in an effort to to raise awareness about the importance of getting out of the left lane.
Here's Vox's small contribution an explanation of the reasons why traveling in the left lane is a bad idea.
State laws restrict driving in the left lane
Screen_shot_2014-06-24_at_9.52.21_am
Every state has some law on the books restricting use of the left lane. In 29 states, the law says any car that's moving slower than the "normal speed of traffic" should be in the right lane so even if it's going at the speed limit, a car that's not moving as fast as the other cars around shouldn't be in the left. Georgia recently increased the penalty for violating this law to a misdemeanor.
In 11 states, the laws are even stricter specifically saying the left lane is only for turning or passing. Most of the remaining states say cars need to get over if they're blocking traffic that wants to pass, or if they're traveling more slowly than the speed limit.
Police are cracking down on left lane drivers
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MyLoupe/UIG via Getty Images
Traditionally, these laws have seldom been enforced, and were often just used as a legal excuse for police to pull people over for unrelated reasons.
Recently, though, police in several states including Washington, Texas, and Ohio have increasingly been issuing tickets to people they spot traveling slowly in the left.
It impedes traffic and probably makes everyone less safe
There's a certain rationale for these laws and enforcement campaigns. When drivers travel in the left lane, it makes the road more congested and probably more dangerous for all parties involved.
Research shows that many traffic jams result from a surprisingly small number of slow cars obstructing traffic, with their effects rippling outward. A small buildup of cars that can't pass because someone is driving slowly in the left right next to another car traveling slowly in the right is the exact type of scenario that can start this cascade of traffic.
Now, some people counter that as long as they're going the speed limit, they don't have to move over and by slowing down would-be speeders, they're making the roads safer.
there is evidence that slowing down and changing lanes is more dangerous than speeding
Apart from the fact that in 44 states, simply going the speed limit doesn't permit drivers to travel in the left lane, this argument doesn't make a lot of sense based on research into how accidents occur.
Unfortunately, there isn't much research on the effect of impeding people from passing in the left lane specifically. But there is evidence that slowing down and changing lanes is more dangerous than speeding.
Lanes changes account for about four percent of all car accidents in the US, and perhaps as much as ten percent of accidents on highways. Meanwhile, research has generally shown that the strongest predictor of an accident isn't speeding, but variance from the average speed of traffic and a car going five miles per hour slower than the surrounding traffic has a greater chance of causing an accident than one going five miles per hour faster than it.
If relatively slow drivers are scattered among the right and left lanes, faster drivers have to repeatedly slow down and weave back and forth, changing lanes many times to pass all of them. If the slower drivers are all driving in the right lane, a faster driver can pass several at a time, then get back into the right, cutting down on the total number of lane changes and eliminating the slow downs.
Update: There's even some evidence that this is why accident and fatality rates are so much lower on the German autobahn, compared to US interstates, even though speed limits are higher (or in some places nonexistent) in Germany. Lane discipline is much more strictly maintained there, allowing drivers to travel more safely at faster speeds.Calmer than you dude
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09-05-2014, 06:23 PM #2
GA just passed a law, that's the closest to the "drive right" rules in Germany. Enforcement started last month and the responses of people holding up miles of traffic are hilarious when they get ticketed.
Usually it's something along the line of "but, but, but, they're speeding!" referring to those behind them. Ok PNWBrit; junior highway patrolman, let us be the cops.Last edited by BmillsSkier; 09-05-2014 at 07:37 PM.
I still call it The Jake.
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09-05-2014, 06:44 PM #3
Jesse the Body tried to make it a ticketable offence in MN when he was the Gov. but could not get it past the legislative branch, so instead pissed away a couple of billion $ on light rail which the legislators all got boners for, to keep folks from clogging up his roads. Strange guy.
If the shocker don't rock her, then Dr. Spock her. Dad.
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09-05-2014, 08:47 PM #4National Motorists Association has declared June Lane Courtesy Month in an effort to to raise awareness about the importance of getting out of the left lane.
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09-05-2014, 09:14 PM #5Funky But Chic
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09-05-2014, 10:21 PM #6
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09-05-2014, 10:33 PM #7
The worst thing about I-70 are the dickbags that use the right lane to pass and then they merge left in front of cars that aren't tailgating the guy in front of them as they wait to pass slower traffic on the right but are being held up by the line of cars in front of them. You either have to tailgate like a nascar driver in the left lane to keep from moving back in the lineup or just slow down and stay in the right lane. What a pain in the ass.
Iowa definitely has more fat people and I used to think we were king on the bad driving scale as well but I-70 might be tipping the scales on that one...or more likely it is all the dickbags from Iowa hogging the left lane. One of those.
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09-06-2014, 06:25 AM #8
The worst is I5 from Portland up to the border. All the tree huggers just HAVE to drive 5mph UNDER the speed limit and it's their gawd given right to stay there come hell of high water. The fact that the other lanes to the right all have fucktards who are parralling them so no one can get past just shows that hey're right.
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09-06-2014, 06:31 AM #9
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09-06-2014, 07:51 AM #10
Finally, they took back what is God-given theirs: Erie, PA. it's like the battle of Toledo all over again.
On topic, that mindset is soooo Ohio. I'm not speeding so I'm not getting over. So there.
That and there's about a 15:1 statie to motorist ratio in that state. Revenue enhancement baby!I still call it The Jake.
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09-06-2014, 12:11 PM #11
All of this is fine on a wide open road with plenty of room to pass and pull back into the right lane as needed. The autobahn and other high speed roads in Yurp are like that. But once the road starts getting crowded things break down. If everyone is in the right lane the road has effectively lost half of its capacity and everyone goes slower. If you do pull out to pass there's no place to pull back in to let the guy behind pass you, and in order to pull back in you have to hit the brakes to match speed. So you have a bunch of people doing 25 on the right and 85 on the left. And why do slower cars stay on the left? Because if they stay on the right they get stuck behind a truck because the tailgaters on the left won't let them in. In the long run the hyperaggressive assholes who tailgate and deliberately block people from changing lanes, and the passive aggressive assholes going slowly on the left make driving slower, more stressful, and more dangerous for everyone.
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09-06-2014, 01:02 PM #12Funky But Chic
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On a very crowded road such as the DC beltway the system doesn't work and it's the same in Yurp, they have crowded roads there too. The idea is move right if you can to let faster traffic pass. If there's heavy traffic and nobody is going faster then use common sense.
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09-06-2014, 01:33 PM #13__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________________
"We don't need predator control, we need whiner control. Anyone who complains that "the gummint oughta do sumpin" about the wolves and coyotes should be darted, caged, and released in a more suitable habitat for them, like the middle of Manhattan." - Spats
"I'm constantly doing things I can't do. Thats how I get to do them." - Pablo Picasso
Cisco and his wife are fragile idiots who breed morons.
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09-06-2014, 03:42 PM #14
I took a systems engineering / statistics course in college and remember a lecture about traffic being a saturation phenomena. For example, traffic will flow at say 65mph and you can keep adding cars (increasing traffic density) with little change in aggregate speed but once you add that final car the traffic 'saturates' and the overall speed drops way off to like 5mph or so. Maybe self-driving cars will have a higher saturation point.
BTW, if you ever want to guarantee that you won't get laid one evening just start talking to your gf/wife/etc about engineering lectures. It's like antimatter for poon.
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09-06-2014, 03:52 PM #15Formerly someone else!
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09-06-2014, 06:10 PM #16
It's been a few years since I drove on the Autobahn/Autostrada in Germany, Austria, Italy & Switzerland, so maybe things have changed, but traffic flowed way smoother than & at much higher speeds than in the US.
Calmer than you dude
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09-06-2014, 08:03 PM #17
I've driven on freeways in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. Traffic moved very smoothly because in general the roads were nowhere close to full and because the slow lane moved fast as well--the roads were all pretty much flat. Trying to apply the same behavior on I70 in CO or I80 in CA, with steep grades and trucks is entirely different. The other thing I noticed--in America if you're in the left lane and you see someone on the right who you think is going to pull in front of you, you speed up to make sure he doesn't. I don't see that in Europe. If you want people to be willing to drive on the right and pass on the left, make a point of letting the cars on the right pass when it looks like they're going to get stuck behind a truck. As it is the main thing that causes people to drive like assholes is other people driving like assholes. If I'm doing 70 passing a 40 MPH truck on a grade and some guy gets right on my bumper to show his irritation, rather than letting me finish my pass, how much of a hurry do you think I'm going to be in to pull over to the right?
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09-06-2014, 08:26 PM #18
this thread and the fact that I drive the NYS thruway all the time reminds me that I hate everyone
Holiday weekends are a joke...I would put a bullet in the head of at least a dozen drivers on a typical trip if I could
Earlier this summer there was a guy that would get about 6 inches off the bumper of the car in front of him (in both lanes) after flying up at about 100 mph. When he'd get around them he'd continue on going with traffic for a few miles and then slow down to a crawl. Then he'd repeat the process. I was doing exactly 80 the whole time and he went back and forth next to me for hours and was shaking his head in disgust everytime i looked over. He pulled this shit at least 5 times on cars in the right lane with nobody in left lane. Dude needed to be slapped.
I was thinking of ways to kill him and get away with it the whole time
EDIT: My fav douche on the thruway is the guy that thinks he's gonna get around the line of 20 cars that are all passing a group of vehicles.
Right lane full.....left lane full and slowly passing before everyone can realign. Doesn't mean dick to this guy...he's gonna get around
He comes flying up on my ass....weaving back and forth to look around me...gets about 1/4" of my ass. Traffic's been this way for hours...u know the deal
I have a couple tricks that my wife LOVES me to pull out on tailgaters. No brake check...I down shift. hard. this fucks them all up mentally. usually hands go flying up and I laugh a lot
My other fav is to slow down to about 40 when he can't get around on the right...my go to
Downshift move is reserved for the extreme cases when dude is gonna kill somebody and I'm fired up. The slow down move is for the basic tailgater
I love when someone is a foot off my ass in town on 30 mph small streets where you can't pass. I get to drive 15 mph with them steaming behind me for blocks.
I drive 40 in a 30, so fuck those peopleLast edited by booner; 09-06-2014 at 09:13 PM.
If it's green, smoke it...if it's pink, poke it
BUY THESE------> 193 iM 103 - $50 https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...d.php?t=179797
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09-07-2014, 09:49 AM #19
I guess living in Jackson I don't have to deal with this anymore, but I dread dealing with the Utard drivers on I-15/215 when I go down SLC.
Always charging it in honor of Flyin' Ryan Hawks.
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09-07-2014, 09:59 AM #20
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09-07-2014, 10:06 AM #21doughboyshredder Guest
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09-07-2014, 10:36 AM #22
I try not to get worked up about it in a huge line up of traffic and frankly find the people that are worked up and weaving through the lanes to get around it to be amusing. (I can also deal with it if they are slowly passing and then get over.)
but...
It drives me nuts when traffic is light and the left lane driver is not passing the traffic on the right. These people need to receive tickets that not only come with a monetary fine, but include remedial drivers ed training. I've lived in the PNW all of my life and I can tell you that this phenomenon really does seem to get worse the closer to Seattle you get. I have no idea why.
Oregon could fix the problem Old Goat describes on I-5 from the CA to WA borders by equalizing the speed limit for trucks and cars. 55 and 65? Are you kidding me?
My perception is that there is a huge issue with people that don't know how to drive in that they don't know the actual rules of the road (I'm sure I can be included in this some days from anthers perspective) and view anyone trying to go faster than them a lunatic. I think that the real issue is that we hand out drivers licenses way to easily. I think tickets for things like reckless driving, failure to yield, not stopping for red lights/stop signs, etc should just come with 10 hours of remedial drivers ed. And when you turn 65-70 you need to get an annual drive test to see if you should be on the road. And they need to outlaw instantaneous MPG indicators in hybrids so those fuckers will use the gas pedal at traffic signals."These are crazy times Mr Hatter, crazy times. Crazy like Buddha! Muwahaha!"
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09-07-2014, 11:00 AM #23
I think you have that backwards. Gov. Ventura vetoed a bill that would have made it illegal to drive in the left lane except when passing.
Tuesday April 25
- Governor Ventura vetoes a bill that would require drivers to drive in the right lane except when passing.
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09-07-2014, 11:09 AM #24
I believe the full quote is something like "everyone who drives faster than you is a lunatic and everyone who drives slower is an idiot." If everyone would disabuse themselves of the notion that they are the only one who knows how to drive and everyone else has to accommodate them, driving would be a lot less stressful and unpleasant. As far as I'm concerned, everyone who has posted in this thread, including me, is an asshole, at least on the road.
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09-07-2014, 11:13 AM #25
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