True or False: Prius = Left Lane Hugger

Definitely false! I've never noticed my Prius pulling strongly toward the left lane so its not the car.

Some drivers however are a different story but such drivers are found in practically any car that sells in large numbers.

 

Right, I hand my "valentine one" log over to the court, it shows my speed at the time being the speed limit, now the judge is going to either dismiss or hand down a ruling requiring me to speed," a license to speed" if you will, never gonna happen

 

Would it be fair to say that this is a VERY polarizing issue?

How about roads with only one lane in either direction, and you're following someone taking it easy, abiding by the speed limits. How about it's night, or raining, or there's hidden driveways, parked cars, any of the myriad of risks. And that person in front of you chooses to slow down due to conditions.

I do not know, just seems we're becoming an increasingly impatient, me-first lot.

 

yes, seeing that this is about the gazzillionth thread, and each runs about 1000 responses.

 

I suspect that you are NOT that naive, but lets go over some traffic laws in my Home state.

RCW 46.61.427: Slow-moving vehicle to pull off roadway.
In Washington, if you hold up more than 5 cars on a two lane road, you must pull over and let them by. Note that going the speed limit is NOT a defense.


RCW 46.61.425: Minimum speed regulation — Passing slow moving vehicle.
Here is your license to speed; in Washington there is NO speed limit while passing cars going under the speed limit on two lane roads.

(I have never taken Driver's Ed in New Hampshire, so I am not as familiar with the traffic laws in your state, they do vary around the US)

 

i guess the question is, when did police and lawmakers and judges start finding it acceptable to allow people to drive beyond the speed limit, as long as it's more than one car, has it always been this way?

 

The NH state speed limit is 70 mph along some stretches of the interstate, 65 mph elsewhere, unless it's labeled an urban highway (more congested), then the limit is 55 mph.
70 M.P.H. Speed Limit Bill Passes N.H. House | New Hampshire Public Radio

Way back when, a 55 mph speed limit was imposed nationally. Ridiculously low on roads specifically-designed for 75 mph. The common-sense rational for setting speed limits is very confusing for those that see a number, and determine that's a literal number.

• Engineering approach: A two-step process where a base speed limit is set according to the 85th percentile speed, the design speed for the road, or other criterion. This base speed limit is adjusted according to traffic and infrastructure conditions such as pedestrian use, median presence, etc. Within the engineering approach there are two approaches; 1) Operating Speed Method and 2) Road Risk Method.
• Expert system approach: Speed limits are set by a computer program that uses knowledge and inference procedures that simulate the judgment and behavior of speed limit experts. Typically, this system contains a knowledge base containing accumulated knowledge and experience (knowledge base), and a set of rules for applying the knowledge to each particular situation (the inference procedure).
• Optimization: Setting speed limits to minimize the total societal costs of transport. Travel time, vehicle operating costs, road crashes, traffic noise, and air pollution are considered in the determination of optimal speed limits.
• Injury minimization or safe system approach: Speed limits are set according to the crash types that are likely to occur, the impact forces that result, and the human body's tolerance to withstand these forces.
• However, it is important to note that setting speed limits lower than 85th percentile speed does not encourage compliance with the posted speed limit.

Studies have always shown that 85% to 90% or more of all drivers will maintain a safe and prudent speed for conditions. Those that do not, are the ones typically sought by law enforcement. Common sense has always been a factor on interstate traveling, and to some degree, "Most" law enforcement officers apply the common sense rule. LEO's generally are looking for unsafe or aggressive drivers. Meaning those that travel at unsafe speeds, swerving, weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating.

What makes for safer driving is having a vast majority of vehicles traveling at or around the same speed within their lanes. Moving with the current flow of the traffic. This also applies to special conditions, which could mean heavy rain, snow, ice. You can easily be stopped for unsafe speed if you're going the speed limit of 65 mph or 70 mph, when everyone else is going 50 mph in a snowstorm.

The object of speed limits, mostly interstates and the like, is not revenue generation. Which is why you can travel here and in many states at up to 10 mph faster than the posted speed limit, conditions depending. Keeping the flow of traffic moving smoothly without erratic drivers is always a goal. For so many years I can't count anymore, it's always been both an unwritten and written rule, more the latter now, that you Stay Right Except To Pass. LEO's also regard a general rule of Safe And Prudent Speed For the Conditions.

Most of us that enjoy driving get this. So if the speed limit says 65 mph, most everyone is between 68 and 75 mph, and you're going 61 mph?

 

I can only answer this going back to circa 1971. It's a rare car that gets pulled over for doing 70 mph in a 65 zone. I'm sure it happens, but it serves nobody. Traffic speed limits are supposed to be set within given parameters, and virtually every lawmaking body in the world understands why, if your target max is 75, you set the posted speed limit lower than that. It's a given.

Yes, you have the people that take them literally, and also view their vehicles as an appliance, and actually break into a cold sweat if someone tells them they went 80mph on a rural section of highway in Wyoming.

Not so much Prius drivers here. If I'm at 65 to 75, two out of three Prius hatchbacks will flow right by me now.

 

I think the question is: When did they not.
The answer to that I believe is: When it is dangerous.
The why I believe is: In the absence of an accident, it is far easier to prove that they are speeding than that it was dangerous so it is far more efficient and practical way to help control mildly dangerous behaviour with increasing penalties as the speed increases and using Dangerous Driving legislation for egregious cases

 

Excellent point, but nobody ever grumbles about those goofy hippie types in their Dodge Challengers camping out in the left lane.
In Europe they just don't have this problem as much....but in the EU they also have photo enforcement, a bazillion cameras, mandatory ID, LEOs that don't suffer fools without getting themselves on TV as much, and (wait for it............) safer roads.

Don't get me wrong.
Having been both places, I like it here better.
I just don't let left lane idiots get under my skin.
I wait for a gap, pass them on the right and get on with my life.

Like most idiots.......they're self punishing.
If not....a nice state patrol officer might explain things to them on a little blue piece of paper.
If they want to travel back to Florida (or wherever) to lose an argument in traffic court?
That's on them.

Most traffic Barneys gravitate towards a certain kind of car.
Sometimes it's a Subie, and a surprising number of times it's a German make (Mercedes and BMW)

For some on a budget?
It's a Prius.

 

i was reminded of this thread this morning when a liftback was cruising the number one lane at approx. 75mph.

unfortunately, the flow of traffic was quite a bit more.

i was in the second lane of a three lane highway.

i could see a lifted chevy truck coming down the number one lane and it was not slowing down. eventually, it came up on the liftback, slammed his brakes, passed on the right, and cut off the liftback. could have been ugly.

this is the same liftback that i had passed as it was braking on a long downhill stretch, speed was approx. 65mph, in the number two lane when there were only two lanes and the flow of traffic was much more than 65mph.

i passed using the number one lane and signaled into the second lane... a few minutes later the liftback passed me and remained in the number one lane.

be safe out there, people!!!

joel

 

Darn, now it is two Prius drivers that hug the left lane. I'm beginning to lose hope for us.

Don't know why it is so hard to grasp. You cannot go above the speed limit and you cannot impede the speed of traffic. You have to comply to both. If the speed of traffic is greater than the speed limit then you change lanes. No one is allowed to speed any more than they are to run a stop sign. Oftentimes you just get away with it.

 

And when there's only one lane each way, and Bubba's coming up fast?

 

You may go up to the speed limit and move to the right when there are passing lanes or pull over to allow others to pass at designated areas. The addendum to the impeding traffic law is you must move over at the next available opportunity if you have x number of cars behind you. This is variable to each area. In Yosemite, I think the sign said 5.

 

If Bubba is singular and isn't displaying official gum'nt emergency lights, no laws are triggered. Bubba can wait for a safe place to pass.

 

Oh yeah, I always play it safe.

 

i never learned these laws in drivers ed. i was taught only to 'never exceed the speed limit. it's a 'limit', not a 'requirement'.

 

I can remember back when I first started commuting to work, soon after getting my license. I seriously thought there might be something wrong with my speedo, the way everyone was whipping by.

Oh, and my driving instructor: they shepherded a bunch of us down to the motor vehicle branch, took turns taking the test in the school's car. Then after, we pile back in and the instructor get's behind the wheel, first time I'd seen him drive. He lights a cigarette, cranks up the radio and blasts back to the school, about 20 km/hr over the limit the whole way.

 

that's weird, i hand an instructor pick me up at my house and drive like a mad man to pick up the next student. i was afraid to ask what he was doing, and am still scratching my head 45 years later.

 

Warning: thread drift ahead ---
(I posted a similar response to another thread last year, but the entire thread was deleted because of other issues.)

Are you certain that speed limit is not a defense in Washington State? That 'normal flow of traffic' can be above the speed limit? I haven't found it specifically documented anywhere, and in fact find a potential speed limit defense in the immediately preceding RCW section.

But I have found the speed limit defense valid for some nearby states:
Alaska DOT Central Region:

San Diego: Turnout Etiquette

Santa Cruz: The proper way to use turnouts

I seem to remember Nevada and Oregon legal codes (not merely government employee statements) very specifically calling out that vehicles traveling at the posted speed limit are not slow moving vehicles. But will dig up those items separately, if needed.