We should all stay on the right lane if we're driving conservatively. Driving too slow on the left lane in order to save gas is dangerous for everyone else.
i tend to stay right, but is anyone telling the nut jobs to stay left? i see signs, watch out for motorcycles, watch out for bicycles. why is the burden always placed on the law abiding citizen?
Bisco - you are the man! Not saying all Prius drivers do this, but I notice when I'm zipping thru traffic at 85, typically either a minivan or a fellow Prius driver is slowing everyone down on the left lane. fotomoto - you're right...I should have capitalized US (Good Rule of Thumb for All of U.S.) lol
I'm a motorcycle rider and was in an accident with a Prius who kept going back and forth on the carpool lane and lane #2. He finally stopped on top of the lane markers between lanes 1 and 2 when he didn't completely change lanes for the umpteenth time. I hit the back of his car and my ribs impacted the rear wing and I went over the roof. On the freeway, on 101, in California. I now have a prius and I drive as slow as shit. I'm going to make a sticker that says, Go around me, I'm charging my batteries HERE! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I feel ya Brother! I ride a motorcycle and also drive a Prius too and I did total my dream bike (2013 BMW GSA 90th Anniv edition fully decked out) a few years back.... Thankfuly I survived. It was scary and I took 8 months of a promised lifetime of never riding again off.... But yeah I eventually got back on and now ride a 2014 V Strom 1000, have owned a couple different bikes between the wreck and now.. A good friend of mine and fellow co worker lost his life riding a motorcycle to a 84 y/o man who whipped into his lane and caused him to go down. So sad and a life ended too soon by a careless driver that probably should not have been on the road at that stage in his life!
Me too. My personal pet peeve, drivers who don't signal for pedestrians. I was waiting to walk across at a T intersection with the dog the other evening. Opposite, basically across the head of the "T", is a parking lot. There's guy waiting to exit. If he's going to turn left he'll be crossing my path. If right, we're all good. I got his eye (I think, it was hard to tell, with his head lights), pointed left, pointed right, did the shrug shoulders question gesture, he didn't get it.
I don't buy "I didn't know I was supposed to do that" as an excuse. This is something that ought to be taught to all drivers.
on a 3 or 4 lane, i will sometimes be in the second to right doing the limit, if it's an area with a lot of exits/entrances.
It isn't the speed you go but how you go it. I do not slow down for the odometer anymore but the odometer keeps up with me. Low pressure on the accelerator, gliding along, left lane and rightious.
if the second to left lane is doing the speed limit, than no one is allowed in the left lane, legally.
If there was only some enforcement of your claim. Or if there is enforcement out and about they have bigger fish to fry. On the way home tonight I was going 70 in a 65 in the second furthest right lane on a 5 lane section. The HOV lane was going at least 80 and the motorcycle cop was rolling along with them. So much for enforcement. But 240 miles into this tank averaging 52 mpg made it all better.
Stay right except to pass is a good idea on paper and in theory. But I think the problems isn't so much people going 5mph "slower" than average speed in the left lane. It's what the "average" speed usually is, and that some people want to exclusively use the left lane, NOT to pass, but as their personal "Autobahn". The reality is, left lane or right, the average speed of most cars around you, is usually 5-10-or more MPH above the posted speed limit. Trust me, I learned this after getting two speeding tickets in concession and being forced to drive EXACTLY the speed limit or less for the past year and 1/2. It's not opinion, nearly everyone is going faster than the posted limit. If EVERYONE would respect the Left Lane as being ONLY a transitional "to pass" lane? Then it works. But that isn't going to happen. There are always the percentage of drivers that just want to go faster than everyone around them....all the time. And for them the left lane represents the supposed nirvana of "I can't drive 55" freedom. I think the general rule, is you should always be moving in concert with the traffic flow around you...right or left lane. My observation and opinion...the presented example of people being "forced" to weave in and out of traffic because of drivers in the left lane going too slow is really somewhat invalid. Those people are people that just want to go too fast...period. IMO if you are weaving in and out of traffic on the highway, just to get ahead of anyone in the left or right lane, you are a much bigger threat to everyone's safety, than someone going the speed limit in the left lane. Out of common courtesy, and a degree of common sense, I try to stay in the right lane, but I don't think the answer is as easy as "Stay Right Except to Pass" because there are a great percentage of drivers...that just want to pass..continually.
In my area, I see more & more nuts running stop signs and red lights. Young, aggressive, crazy males. They don't even care. And apparently are not even concerned if they broadside somebody. I'm talking about a full-blown RED light... not a yellow about to turn red. Every day you drive in Southern California, may be your LAST day. I truly believe it's gotten that bad. People just don't give a damn anymore. No concern whatsoever for the speed laws or rules of the road. I used to be a pretty positive guy, but now I think society is just going down the crapper.
Maybe you just need to go to Disneyland after all. Spend an exorbinate amount of money, relax and ride the Autopia ride and think about your stylish Gen IV tail lights. A day with Mickey might be all you need to increase your positivity.
