Prius Etiquette

I have a different definition of "moron" then some of the previous posters.
If you block the left lane (usually with a half mile space in front of you) and don't move over when you can, then you are a moron. If I have to pass you on the right then you can be sure you will get a good CLOSE view of my back insignia.
There are a lot of morons out there! Most people have forgotten "keep right except to pass". So many people seem determined to drive only in the center or left lanes that quite regularly I make the best time in the right lane. Speed limits are political and arbitrary. If I am willing to risk a ticket when traffic conditions allow speeding then that is my business. Just stay out of my way.
Time for my medication.

 

Isn't passing on the right illegal in the US? Forbidden seems a strong word, but I think I remember from my driving school days...1985...that you should never pass on the right.

 

Oh yeah! Someone I fully agree with! Particularly the bolded items...

 

I think the biggest problem with drivers is MOST people only take themselves and their current situation into account, as opposed to taking into consideration traffic all around you.

 

I agree.

I'm comfortable drving anywhere - I've cruised through the Andalusian mountains at 100mph and I love driving in Manhattan , elbowing with taxi cabs. Call me a moron, but I NEVER overdrive my vision or my brakes, and I never tailgate. (Well, almost never). However, in residential areas I NEVER break the speed limit, for the sake of animals and children!
So I'm usually comfortable at 25 to 30 mph over the speed limit, vehicle and driving conditions permitting. Around the DC area, it's common to have the left (edit) lane zipping along at 80 or even 85 miles an hour. It REALLY bothers me when someone ahead of me decides that the real speed limit is 5 mph over the legally posted limit, and that THEY are the new Sherrif, enforcing their own *personal* law as the pace car. Why should their illegal speed be any more valid than my illegal limit?

So Mike Paul - I hope I don't sound adversarial, but I do have to ask - when you say that you *usually* drive the speed limit - does that mean that you *rarely* will drive 58mph in a 55mph zone? Are you sure it's not more often than Lameo?

As a side note, I cannot describe the exhileration I had this summer drving a friends Porche Boxter S for an afternoon - that car is SO glued onto the road that 25mph hairpin corners are easily be taken at 2 and 3 times the posted speed.... (we had excellent visiblity BTW).

When you see me on the road, I'll be sharing it with you

Dave

Anyway

 

Newsflash

State Law: "Slower Traffic Stay Right"

Ever see that sign? If not try opening your your eyes while driving. In NY the law applies even if there is no sign and everywhere there are multiple lanes. I would expect the majority of other states are the same. It is a default setting.

So, mikepaul and Kiloran, speeding is wrong and driving in the left lane slower than traffic is wrong. Please stop being cop, judge and jury; keep yourself and everyone else safer and simply stay out of the way.

PS - Because you are on cruise control does not negate any of the above.

 

I don't believe your example matches the criteria I described.

If there's room in the right lane and I don't have to reduce my speed to be in that lane, of course that's the lane I will be in.

I do not consider it bad etiquette to be passing cars in the right lane at a speed that is slower than the car behind me would prefer.
I also do not consider myself obligated to reduce my speed by 5mph by moving into a slower lane so that someone else (to whom I only owe etiquette) can travel 5mph faster.

 

Dropping your speed 5mph and getting out of the way for 30-60 seconds could prevent an accident. My life is worth that.

 

Oh, I agree with this too. Usually though, I'll speed up to get to where I can merge right, let them go, and follow - Unless it's a cop of course :lol:

Since monday though (when I got my Prius), it's been a lot more fun in the slow lanes - where I've spent 85% of my miles

Dave

 

I do not agree that a car going noticably faster than the traffic in the lane to its right is a traffic hazard.

For a traffic hazard to be present under those circumstances requires the approaching vehicle to be travelling at a significantly higher speed and probably weaving agressively.
Do you have a problem with that vehicle's etiquette?

 

55 is maybe 98% 55, while 63 on a 2-lane stretch of I-74 that ranges from 55 to 70 is OK most of the time I drive it. 'Occasionally' enough, AFAIC. Off-highway, I toe the line, thinking cops are more defensive of schoolbus territory.

But what I'm seeing is people who speed are explaining away non-speeders annoyances with their own. How DARE someone only be going 5MPH over the speed limit in YOUR lane, since any lane you want to be speeding in is yours? Sharing, sure, as long as we stay out of your way.

And the idea that speed limits are arbitrary and skilled drivers can somehow ignore them is really sad. Wrong, and sad...

 

Oh, BTW, I read many years ago that the safest speed in traffic is actually %10 faster than everyone else - as a driver you have more control over your situation... I definetly feel safer going faster, plus there's the benefit of having nothing on your left

DId I mention that I have to drive through "The Mixing Bowl" twice everyday and merge across 4 lanes of traffic at super-speed-limit speeds for 1/4 mile? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Interchange
Just 3 weeks ago I saw a flipped over minivan that rode UP the median's rising jerseywall. The dust was still settling... very scary intersection.

Dave

 

You did not mention a car going noticeable faster, you said 5 mph. When a driver is behaving erratically and weaving in and out of lanes I believe it is best to stay put and have that person make the choice. This was what I mentioned earlier. Briefly moving out of a lane to allow a slightly faster, calm driver to pass should not be an issue. I do not believe that I own the road nor do I believe that I am responsible for anyone else's behavior!

 

It's not the speed or the speed difference, it's the *proximity*.
I've banged in this rant before, and don't really have to elaborate.
Arguments about "...but someone else would jump into the gap!" are
100% specious.
.
_H*

 

Kinda wish RSS got every post.

So far, habitual speeders have all attacked the idea that they are in the wrong. Since I am not without sin, I throw only a few stones, but when I call habitual speeders morons and fools and they use driving prowess to justify it, that doesn't successfully argue against my position...

 

Actually, I did but that was in my first post on this thread 198769.

I agree with you in part.
If someone is driving erratically, I think the safest behavior is to drive as predictably as possible.

I certainly don't drive as if I "own the road", however, I don't respect claims of ownership by others either.

If someone is driving rudely, they lose their claim to etiquette.

 

I go ten miles over the posted speed limit on the highway, I don't slow down in front of an obvious police car speed trap, I don't get a ticket and I am not out of the range of normal for the traffic.

Like I said please don't be cop, judge and jury. We are all strangers on the road trying to get from point A to point B. Not all driving habits will be the same until computers and GPS take over.

Please don't play games on the road. You know when you are blocking someone. Who cares who is "right", best policy is to stay out of the way.

 

Well, I for one would never be miffed about anyone going the limit or slower any lane but the left lane. Agreed Mike, they're not my lanes, nor your lanes - they're ours. Rest assured, you would never sense rudeness behind you as I slow from 80 to 55 behind you, at a safe distance. I do hope that you'd notice, and I hope you'd let me pass if you were able, without inconveniencing yourself of course.

Legal or not, It really is de-facto etiquette, even on escalalors! (Ug, DC Tourists!). Don't even get me started about people who try to board elevators and metros before letting people off! Or the way everybody has to form a tight wall for the luggage carrousels at the airport and at the Starbucks pickup counter! They're all just as bad as tailgaters.

Dave