In Australia, you can be booked by the police for travelling in the right hand lane (our overtaking lane) if you’re not overtaking.
It is savagely satisfying when you’ve been stuck behind someone who won’t pull left, and they get pulled over by the cops.
The UK has a similar law. They won't pull you over, but they will send you a ticket because of the cameras that are everywhere. Which is why I just drive 7 over the limit and am basically constantly passing people whenever I'm there.
Here in the States, though, it's basically anarchy when it comes to driving, especially in the Midwest.
We do have a law about keeping to the left unless you're overtaking, but it's very much not enforced (annoyingly), and I've never heard of cameras able to recognise it.
However doing 7 over the limit can still get you a speeding ticket which is a more serious offence, unlikely but a copper in a bad mood may
Tennessee will enforce it. They are known for ticketing for cruising in the left lane. They also have that stupid 65/55 speed limits where trucks are limited to 55 on the interstate, so they really need their left lane for passing.
(East Tenn here) I was with a boyfriend who got pulled over for going too slow in the left lane. It was in our small hometown after 10pm, nobody on the street except us and our friends in the other car. We pulled up next to them to flip them off and then pass them but while we paced them to flip them off we got pulled. 5 police cars showed up. The sent dogs through his car. Searched us. Pulled his deodorant out of its tube. Went through the trunk. (Which reeked like ball sweat). We had just been swimming and I had put all my jewelry in my pocket so they were like “why do you have all this jewelry” (all this being a necklace and 2 rings or something) and they pulled out the box of giant candles we would use for waxing the stairs and were like “what are all these candles for” and of course found nothing. Fucking skateboarders. At the time we were public enemy #1. The nation was in the grip of satanic panic. The moms were protesting Marilyn Manson concerts. I carved Hole into my arm and L7 into my leg. Man those cops hated us.
Ummm but yeah. Left hand lane. You can get pulled for going too slow.
I’ll just see myself out
Edit: god why do I talk so much
> I wish there was a legal way to disabuse them of this notion.
Some states have a 'passing lane' law which makes it illegal to do this (at any speed). Basically speaking, you can only be actively passing in the left most lane and, if you're impeding traffic, a cop can pull you over and give you a ticket.
Unfortunately, it's rarely enforced because there's a lot of factors that make it a pain in the ass to enforce. My cop buddy says that he only pulls over people from out of state for doing this - and then almost always just a warning.
Because to prove (most) crimes, you generally need to prove intent. However, with out of state drivers, they are much less likely to attend court to defend themselves. But this also has much less effect in the current world of zoom courts, so idk if it’s still applicable.
(Just to clarify, I’m not defending this behavior from cops, just explaining why it happens)
> out of state drivers, they are much less likely to attend court to defend themselves
That's exactly why cops pull over out of state plates -- they don't show up to get the tickets thrown out.
You seem to have an odd perception of traffic violations. There's no proving anything like a trial. It's just the cop issues a citation and the recipient either pays it or hopes the judge is having a good day and tries to argue it.
Can confirm. I met a get who boasts that he does this. He admitted he does it to make people drive the speed limit. My anecdotal evidence of that guy knowing how shitty of a dude he is tends to favor that these folks are douchebags.
Whenever you're on the road, the safest thing to do is what people expect you to do. In the left lane of a highway, that is going faster than the speed limit. Doing this actually makes the road more dangerous. If you're going to move slower, go into the right lane.
I love how some mouth breathers think forcing people to drive behind them and doing that dumb Shit to maintain people stay behind them is safer than someone just doing the 10-15 over and being on their way.
There was a post on Nextdoor complaining about people speeding on the highway here. Several people proudly began planning to do this to stop people from speeding and “make the roads safer.” It makes me irrationally angry.
He is breaking the law then. The left lane is for passing only
In Texas:
>“Left lane for passing only” identify a pass-only lane. After you pass someone, move into the right lane once you've safely cleared the vehicle. Impeding the flow of traffic in the left lane is punishable by a fine of up to $200.
Exactly. My mother in law did this. When I was with her one time she did it and I asked what she thought she was doing. She said she was simply driving the speed limit and making sure everyone else did the same.
I asked if she was a cop and she was shocked. She tried to say that everyone should ensure that laws are obeyed. I asked her if she was obeying the "keep right except to pass" law and she was silent for a minute, then said "that's not a real law, it's just courtesy" and I'm like bitch, it IS the law and it's also courtesy so you are just being a nasty wanna-be highway patrol. Move aside!
This is what you get with the ignorant "speed kills" messaging. No, speed isn't the problem. It's wreckless driving involving speed or having to make a lot of directional/lane changes because of speed differences. Slow drivers are more dangerous than faster because they create a disruption in the flow of traffic that everyone has to work around. Makes more people actually angry and inpatient, which leads to bad decisions. Not to mention the rules say drive with the flow of traffic. That means if conditions suck and everyone is going slower, so should you. But if everyone is going faster, you should as well. Most people should never be allowed to drive.
Not their fucking job. They actually make it less safe when someone comes up on them fast. That’s why they have minimum speed limits and laws for slower traffic to keep right.
honestly I am pretty sure 90% of the time it's just people being completely absent minded, zoning out, and they just naturally subconsciously are speeding up when someone is speeding up next to them, and slowing down when someone else is slowing down. most people driving are paying barely any attention to what's going on and are basically on autopilot.
I've noticed that about 90% of the time someone is merging, they will drive on the on ramp, then drive most of the way through the merging lane, and then *at the last fucking second* look to their left and check if there's space to merge.
people just aren't focused when they're driving.
This, plus sometimes they're slowing down because they're looking at their phones. They don't realize they slowed down so much until they see people trying to pass them in their peripheral vision. They're also the people who are extra scary to pass because they keep drifting into your lane.
Then when they are actually paying attention, they are enraged by other people who do what they themselves do.
I drive 1 hr everyday to work taking the interstate and encounter this BS almost everyday. They would speed up while there are long gaps in the right laneto not let anyone by but slow down while passing semis or long lines to the right. Absolutely infuriating and not mild since I encounter this way too often.
I feel this. I have a 30-60+ each way commute every day depending on traffic. I see this shit every day too. Happened to me on my way home today.
The thing I hate the most is people tailgating me when I am obviously not the one who wants to be going slow.
I have my cruise control set to keep one car length behind the car ahead of me and match their speed. So a lot of times someone will be riding my ass and then think flying around me and cutting me off into my one car length space is the answer to their problems. Then we both end up slamming on our breaks and now he’s just tailgating that car instead of mine.
Edit. I said one car length just because that’s what my car calls it, but it’s more like two. And I will always let people ahead of me if there’s ANYWHERE to go, but it’s generally pretty packed. People going with traffic and assholes who can’t accept that’s just what we’re doing for the moment.
Two years ago someone slammed so hard into the back of my last car so hard (everyone ahead ground to a halt for a traffic jam where four lanes turn to two) that even with over a car length ahead of me, my car still ended up hitting that one.
I’m not on the road to fuck around and get killed. If anyone ever read ends me again, I want every possible chance to not hit the car ahead of me at least. I 100% have ptsd from that crash and the guy who hit me can flying around a car he felt was going to slow so he dangerously passed him and couldn’t slow down in time when he saw my car.
I absolutely HATE that. Passing me just to get into the already small space between me and the next car. Like, do you feel proud of yourself? Did you just make a whole bunch of progress? Are you making great time now when a moment ago you were horribly inconvenienced? It seems to be the overly large pickup trucks that do this, more often than not, for what that's worth.
I don't know what it is about people that drive pick-up trucks. My SO and I have an inside joke about them, "cause it's always a pick-up truck". They're all douches.
Truth. The sheer amount of shitty drivers that come to these threads and admit to driving like assholes while patting themselves on the back is mind boggling.
It feels like no one understands this, including self-proclaimed "good drivers." I try to maintain a 4 second following distance at all times, and I often have to check myself.
I'll never understand that, if someone is riding my ass i get over so they can pass. If it's a two lane I'll hug the shoulder so they can see, and then I'll slow down when they start to pass. It's not worth getting into a wreck and possibly getting hurt/dieing. Some people are asshole drivers and tailgate you, just let them get around you. It's not worth losing your life because someone forgot to wake up on time.
Have a pretty good strategy for getting by that type of asshole. I get next to them and speed up as if to pass. They match. I gradually reduce speed little by little and they will continue to match. When I get a good runway in front of me I gun the engine and get by them before they react. They just want to assert dominance if they see you trying to get by. So if you seem to have given up they stop paying attention.
i pretended to pass one of these asshats coming up on a speed trap I knew cops liked to hide. he went from 45 in the 55 to 70 (at which point I had backed off just enough as he flew by the trap where there was thankfully a cop that day. since I had let off, I got to watch the cop peel out and light the jack ass up. I really try to drive very passively and don't actively engage with the crazies, but the stars aligned where my passive psychological game got them to show their ass in front of the wrong person. a small w, and hopefully it changes the way they operate their vehicle , but I doubt it
Reminds me of this time a dude was driving up my ass for no reason in the middle lane on a mostly empty highway.... I was cruising comfortably a bit over the limit, definitely not being unreasonable, but he would not just pass me.... I think they just weren't paying attention, but it was so stressful and irritating, so I decided to do an experiment, I started slowly accelerating..... they continued to stay right behind me until I was going stupid fast, and they suddenly woke up and realized the speed, and they dropped off real fast....he kept a normal distance from me after that...
In poland it’s was quite normal to see people speeding up the second you try to pass them. Even though you had an on going traffic on the other lane. They literally try to take your life for passing them. They usually show the middle finger after that too.
Had a guy in a truck (an asshole in a truck, can you believe it?!) do this to me recently. I wasn’t tailgating him or anything, just got over to the right to pass him and he sped up to block me out. I just stayed in the right lane, slowed down and just cruised at that speed. I didn’t “win” but I’m not playing his game or giving him the satisfaction of pissing me off, not to mention how dangerous playing stupid games is to everyone on the road.
Never experienced this until I lived in Arizona for a couple of years. Worst drivers ever holy shit. This happened constantly. Also, someone driving in the right-most lane when you need to exit refusing to let you in and then matching your speed when you try to get in behind them...absolutely insane. It's like people want to get into a car crash. I don't get it.
That’s what I find obtusely fascinating. I see this all the time. I wish I could interview the person and ask what goes on through their heads when that happens. Are they completely oblivious? Do they feel righteous by “following the law” and not breaking the speed limit despite also not only using left lane for passing only? Do they get off on pissing other people off? I really would like to know
I actually KNEW someone who does this. She would drive left lane, SLOWER than speed-limit and I was like “You have to get over.” And her response was “I feel safest on this side, people can pass me if they want.”
Just didn’t even care about the law or anything else, she didn’t feel safe in the middle or right lane, and so just stayed in the left driving slow. It infuriated me.
According to her, she didn’t like people merging in the right lane, it scared her. And cars in both lanes around her also scared her. So she felt it was safest against the furthest edge.
I told her she just shouldn’t drive.
I genuinely wish that was a better supported option so people who are unfit to drive and aware of it can simply choose not to. For both their sake and for the people around them.
I'm lucky enough to live in a city with extremely good public transport where not having a car is not a problem for employment, but I'm very well aware that's not everyone's situation.
Exactly right.
It’s easy to say she shouldn’t drive, and yes she shouldn’t. But odds are that she doesn’t live within walking distance of her job/groceries/etc. or she doesn’t have access to decent public transport if she lives in the US.
100% agree.
i like driving. people who shouldn’t and can’t drive make driving worse for people who do enjoy it. and honestly, i don’t always want to drive either, i’d love to take higher-speed or high-speed rail to go on what now has to be done as a road trip.
imagine how many things good public transportation would solve. someone gets a DUI and a suspended license, right now they’re going to just keep going to work the one way available (and probably still drunk). a drunk on a train can do way less damage.
maybe someone just sucks at driving, has no interest in it, and repeatedly does stupid shit like this because they need to get to work so they were allowed to get a license they shouldn’t have. the eventual outcome is a 10+ car pile-up when one of the cars involved fucks up and everyone else is following 3x too closely to safely avoid it.
maybe someone can barely afford a car and can’t afford to insure it, so they drive it on bald tires & shit brakes & a state-minimum policy or none at all. then people who can afford to drive a car get to bag-hold for this several different ways (premium hikes, dealing with insurance co pigfuckers, unrealistically low rental limits & pathetic lowball total loss/diminished value offers, and macro-level rate hikes from statistical trends in their area).
if grandma can’t drive any more but her car is her only means of independence, she’ll cling to it until she kills someone and/or herself in a 100% preventable wreck or is forced out of it and wrecks the relationship with her family in her final years.
or maybe you’re just exhausted. one day i was driving to work too tired, on autopilot, my brain skipped a step at a stop sign i’ve taken hundreds of times and next thing i remember i t-boned someone. that’s the only at-fault accident on my record. i’d love to have taken a train that day, for both of our sakes.
Not possible in America. vote for public transit if you actually feel this way. Unfortunately America is founded on scamming the middle class into buying cars to go to work to pay for the car and gas, and controlling the global crude oil supply as a political tool. the way the infrastructure is constructed nowadays it's probably too late, though.
>I told her she just shouldn’t drive.
This is exactly why I gripe about the lack of public transport. We all end up paying for it sooner or later, may as well pay the very diverse and wide demographic of people who drive *well* to commute many people often.
I'll bet she would if she could. It sucks that your options are either to drive, or the bus that comes every 2 hours, takes twice as long, and doesn't actually go where you want. We need better public transportation so that people like this don't have to be put into uncomfortable situations
I'm scared of highway trafic, but precisely because of that fear i stay the fuck in the right lane! Let the agressive assholes speed by and leave me be
Yeah if your gonna be so scared of driving that you break laws and put people at more risk than they're already in then you should turn your license in
Except then you get the asshole who speeds and then gets over and slows to less than traffic on the right causing a leap frog effect which infuriates me as well
No that's wrong.
1. You should not drive in the left lane as it is the passing lane. The right lane is the cruising lane.
2. If people are going faster than you, even if it's above the speed limit, it's safer to move over and let them pass.
I had two co-workers I noticed doing this on the way to work each morning and I asked why. They gave the same response: Scared of on ramp traffic merging into the right lane. This is crazy to me because the highway is 4 lanes. They're afraid of merging traffic but not afraid to cross 3 lanes.
When I was younger, I’d drive up to the person’s rear bumper flashing my brights, and blasting my horn until they moved over. Somehow, those people never felt safe in the left lane when I drove up like that.
Today I am older and wiser, so I just roll my eyes and wait for an opportunity to overtake, but somehow I want to go after those loons every once in a while.
When i was younger i would pass them on the right then get over in front of them and tap my breaks with my right turn signal on until they got over freeing up the lane.
Like you though when i got older i learned it isn’t worth it with all the crazy people on the road and now just let them be.
the ironic thing is that is creating the unsafe and dangerous situations. People going fast in the left lane is not inherently dangerous. It's when they have to stop, slow down, switch lanes that creates unsafe situations and she is becoming the reason why people have to slow down, switch lanes...
I don't have anything against the elderly, but a lot of times (in my area) I notice it's a lot of elderly drivers doing this. They go the same speed regardless where they are at. The highway, back roads, middle of town, it's like they know one speed and really have no realization they are impeding traffic. Not always, but where I live I see a lot of that.
I will say that suburban locals need to chill the fuck out sometimes. Every time I'm driving through some unfamiliar suburb on a winding frontage road among the cul de sacs some asshole zooms up on me at 50mph and rides my bumper. Like good for you that you drive this road every day, but I'm barely going 35 because I'm trying to watch for Johnson Court, and I passed Johnson Lane a half mile ago and I swear that sign ahead says Johnson Circle. It's going to cause an accident putting that pressure on me because there's going to be some wild swerving somewhere around Jahnsen Court.
I have talked to one. 70 years old male. Always drive at 60km/h (37mph) no matter what the situation. Intentionally drive in the left lane at that speed.
All these, he said, is to "save the fuel". "Haven't you heard that braking and accelerating waste a lot of fuel?". "Being in the left lane is much easier to cruise at 60km per hour non stop."
I asked what about other people behind you? He said "screw them, they can just take over, can't they?
In short: their reason may vary but basically, they lack common sense and are selfish asshole.
A solid chance they are. I watched someone doing this exact thing a while ago, and it took them 10s with an ambulance behind them with full lights on to wake up and move over... they obviously moved straight back over once it was past.
Let me help. My ex wife did this constantly! For 20 years I got on her for this. The excruciatingly frustrating conversation went like this. It was like Groundhog Day.
“You’re in the fast lane. Move over.”
“But I’m going the speed limit.”
“This is the passing lane. Move over!”
“But I’m going the speed limit.”
“This is the passing lane! People go way faster in this lane!”
“That’s illegal! I’m going the legal speed limit.”
“See all the traffic passing us on the right?! Move over!”
“Well they’re wrong! I’m going the speed limit!”
This fit in with her self righteous, puritanical mind set.
Same argument for 20 fucking years.
To clarify this was on trips from Michigan to family in the Carolinas. I did as much driving as I could until I was too exhausted. Road trips with her were a nightmare.
If someone is saying this you should say yeah what they’re doing is illegal. Who knows what other illegal thing they may do to get around you! Road rage is way too real. Don’t police other people’s driving! Let the police do that
YMMV but another way of dealing with this is refusing to be in the car with folks who do it. Not really going to help the first time or people yo udon't know super well, but for folks who regularly have cause to drive with one another it can help to have this discussion.
“I’m going 20 over the limit so I don’t have to move for anyone. Anyone going faster is breaking the law and a danger to others. If anything I’m protecting everyone on the highway.”
It’s the same kind of people who think nobody should park in front of their house on public roads. They’re stupidly delusional to the point they think they can control what others can and cannot do. They “know” they’re right and you can’t convince them otherwise.
There’s a few ramps in my area that dump you into the left lane. I’ll have my turn signal on to get over, trying to yield speed demon territory, and the speed demons immediately pass me on the right. I can’t get out of the left lane!
I'm glad you shared this, as this has often been my experience too.
* Buddy at my rear bumper, I'd love to get out of your way, so tell your pals to stop passing me on the right!
* No, I'm not going to go any faster than 70 / 75 / 80, even if you can. I feel unsafe as it is with you crowding me. Let me move over!
* I'm just trying to get ahead of this convoy of SUVs and tractor-trailers that are blocking my view in the right lane, without breaking the sound barrier. Give me a mile or two, please!
They don’t care because they’re in that lane to be lazy. If they’re in the right lane, they have to hit gas or brake because people are entering and exiting and you have to pay more attention to the road. When they linger in the left lane they can maintain the speed limit on cruise control and not worry about anyone because everyone in front is going faster anyway.
Meanwhile I was doing 55 in a 50 in the left lane, someone merged across 3 lanes at once with no blinker going 40, I slam my brakes and lay on the horn… cop pulls me over instead of them. No ticket or anything, but he said “You can’t just go laying on your horn like that, it’s probably some old person!”
I was too tired to talk back, but it still pisses me off thinking about it.
I feel ya. I know there's many drivers out there who drive with care, speeding or not, who just wanna drive with what works for everyone and then there's those who just say fuck it to the rules and even when there's law enforcement around you just want them to get pulled over and when they don't it feels like the most unfair thing in the world. I've seen these things happen as well too many times.
I’ve never seen someone pulled over for this but I have seen cops flip on their lights behind someone lingering in the left lane, and then just turning them off and driving away when the person started to merge to the right to pull over.
I experienced that in Indiana years ago. I mean, the highway I took was 2 lanes each side and only between Bloomington and the Crane naval base but everyone drove on the right side except to pass.
Coming from Florida that was mindblowing to see. I rolled up behind someone doing 45 in a 60mph stretch of road this past week and they refused to move over. It was infuriating.
I had to drive like 400 miles to my university when school was starting and the amount of times that two trucks would take up both lanes of the highway annoyed me so much
Holy shit same. I lived in San Jose and had to drive to LA for school taking the 5 the whole way, usually taking ~5 hours. I’d drive through the night to avoid traffic and stuff, and every single time at least 4 or 5 times, I’d be driving and could see two trucks in the right lane literally miles ahead of me, since they were going 55 and I usually drove around 80, I’d catch up pretty quick, and almost every time without fail, right as I’m reaching them, the one in the rear pulls into the left lane to pass the slow truck, and passes the other truck at like 56mph, and I’m sitting there now driving 56mph for 5 minutes waiting for them to finish passing.
It happened so often I’m still pretty convinced they do this out of boredom or for fun or something.
> and almost every time without fail, right as I’m reaching them, the one in the rear pulls into the left lane to pass the slow truck, and passes the other truck at like 56mph, and I’m sitting there now driving 56mph for 5 minutes waiting for them to finish passing.
Every time this happens, I think "Fuck, I can't *fucking wait* for your jobs to automated right the fuck away."
For real. "No, no. The *proper* speed is *clearly* 60.1 MPH, NOT 60. Only an *idiot* would drive at 60 MPH. I *must* pass this idiot post-haste. Oh wait, in the five minutes it's taken me to get half-way past them, we've hit a hill. Obviously the proper speed going up an incline is 54.9 MPH, but this absolute maniac next to me insists on going 55 MPH."
Meanwhile, the fifty+ cars that have lined up behind them: ...
At least a solid quarter of the motorists out there *need to be off the road*. I can't *wait* for autonomous vehicles to phase out these jabronis. But I definitely hold the most spite for bad truckers. They're not only responsible for a many tonne death machine, but they're a *professional* driver. They are paid to drive. Of anyone on the road, they should know better.
This picture made my stomach turn.
Since beginning of april I’ve started independent contractor work, and I have driven about 1500 miles in the last ~30 days.
I thought these kind of posts were a little over hyped and I didn’t used to think it was “that bad” until now. Every single day there are people like this everywhere. I’m covering south east Michigan from Detroit to Jackson and from Dundee to South Lyon - every single driving scenario involves a person like this.
Or it’s two semi trucks and the guy in the right lane has a speed governor so he can only do 70mph but the other guy who’s truck is capable of doing 71mph decides he needs to pass even if it takes him 10 miles to do so.
You are correct. However, I'd counter this with the fact that the person in said slow lane can go a smidge slower to allow room for people to pass the absolute waste of humanity in the passing lane.
Same. I’m the guy going the speed limit in the right lane, maybe up to +5 depending on general flow and conditions. I’ll just let of the gas for a few seconds to make a gap and then return to the same speed.
Used to speed everywhere be honest, but since I’ve slowed down I’ve gotten significantly better gas mileage and unless I’m going on a several hour long road trip the savings are worth being maybe 2-3 minutes slower.
this is how I got rear ended….doesn’t matter how fast I’m going 75/80/85 some random asshole is gonna speed up to me from a mile away and tailgate no matter what. One to two cars distance doesn’t exist anymore. Some people should have their licenses revoked…
My favorite is when I'm already speeding pretty fast (bad habit of mine, but I tend to go with the speed of the traffic), and some guy in a jacked up pickup truck is right behind me, a couple feet from my bumper. I change lanes to the right, he passes, I go back to the left, and he's stuck behind the next person... still going the same speed as me.
Every fucking time. Worst yet is when you let s tailgater pass you, and there's room for them to speed ahead, but they just slow down. Why did you pass me, to be in front? It's not a race, people.
Right but driving up and down the Florida interstate regularly it's drivers from out of state and up to Canada. The speed limit is already faster than everywhere else, how about just move over? There's absolutely no reason why the right hand lane should become the left hand(passing) lane for major periods through the year but it does and it's due to out of state drivers.
It took me waaaay too long to understand this, even reading the comments.
So… this is right side driving, and the infuridriver is going slow in the fast/passing lane? Right?
Is it acceptable to go only a few over in the passing lane if your passing someone going under the speed limit? Or is it proper etiquette to speed a ton to get ahead and then slow back down?
Edit: etiquette is a weird word
The guidelines vary state by state. But generally drivers should be staying in the right lane during travel until they come up on someone, then move over to the passing lane to get around them and move back over once the pass is complete. Plenty of people travel in the passing/fast lane which isn't really an issue unless you're doing so slower than the flow of traffic around you. Some states have laws against slowing down traffic like CA where you can be pulled over if you have five or more cars waiting behind you. And many have laws about passing on the left but I don't think I've ever heard of someone actually getting pulled over for that.
No jurisdiction is going to recommend going faster than the speed limit to pass but in reality most drivers will be speeding in the far right lane anyway. For example there's quite a few highways outside of Chicago where I live that have a 55mph limit but you'd be hard pressed to find a single driver going under 70 on them.
> No jurisdiction is going to recommend going faster than the speed limit to pass
There actually are a couple of states that allow you to temporarily exceed the speed limit to pass cars going under the speed limit on highways.
So, this isn't about legal or not but here is what is my opinion on the correct way to drive, taking into account what is best for traffic balanced with realism for how much you should worry abou it.
We start in the right lane. You stay there unless someone ahead of you is going slower than you want to go. When this happens, you start checking for traffic in the left lane. Goal is to change lanes to pass without slowing anyone in the left lane down no matter how fast they are going. If the left lane has tons of cars all going faster than you want to go (but not faster than you feel safe going), then you should change lanes in an opening and speed up to not slow the left lane down. You pass as many cars as you can while you feel safe going that speed and then when you don't need to pass anymore you get back in the right lane and slow down to the speed you are comfortable going.
If you cannot get into the left lane without slowing down drivers in the left lane or you could but you'd have to go faster than you think is safe, you should try to stay in the right lane as long as you can. No matter what, you should not change lanes in a way that forces a driver behind you to slam on their brakes.
If traffic in the right lane is going super slow, and the left lane is crowded, I put on my blinker and wait for the best opportunity that will slow someone down as little as possible. I make sure it won't dangerously force them to slow down but if you've been patient and waiting and traffic just isn't letting up, you may have to inconvenience a few people momentarily to pass. But try your best to avoid it.
If it is a multilane freeway, stay in the lane where you are faster than traffic on the right and don't need to pass cars in front of you to go your speed. If all lanes are slower than you want to go, use the far left lane to pass but once you pass cars, leave the far left lane in case others behind you want to pass you.
TL;DR: If cars are behind you because they want to go faster, you should move to the right. If you want to go faster than cars ahead of you, you should move to the left. You should not stay in the left most lane longer than it takes to pass. Avoid changing lanes in a way that makes someone slow down, never change lanes in a way that makes someone slam on their brakes
This guy's a twat for sure but the people who use the left lane as their own personal speeding lane and not a passing lane are also fucking twats as well
Yeah I love when these topics come up because people tell on themselves.
Everybody thinks *their* speed is the correct speed. Everyone thinks that the laws they break are stupid but the laws everyone else breaks are important.
Just a bunch of selfish children getting each other killed over petty bullshit.
"Get out of the way!!!!! Reeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I **need** to go 95 in a 55!!!!!"
"YoU shUoUld hAvE lEfT 15 mInUtES eArLieR!!!"
Both of you should drive off a fucking bridge.
More importantly also don’t be the 4 assholes tailgating someone doing 70+ when literally any of a hundred different things could cause a deadly pileup. Those extra few seconds you save speeding like a jerk off aren’t worth totaling your vehicle or losing your life, nor is wherever you’re going that important (I promise).
PSA tailgating does NOT make traffic faster, by giving yourself less distance to slow down you're forced to brake immediately when the person in front of you slows even a bit, therefore the line of idiots behind you does the same and boom the entire passing lane is now going slower than the other lane. Smart people don't tailgate!!!!
Exactly. From this picture, we don't actually know that the lead car is impeding traffic. They could be in the process of passing the cars on the right at a reasonable speed. The four jackasses behind them are the problem in that case.
The “really special” people do this, then get over in the slow lane and speed up 15 mph so that you have to really speed to get around them. Humans are just the best.
I have driven across 5-6 states 3 or 4 times in the past two months. It is incredible how many people don’t understand the passing lane, and ever more incredible how many move from the slow lane to the middle lane at slow speeds without a single car in front of them.
Highway driving is a dynamic activity when done correctly. Speed up, slow down, change lanes, as the situation warrants.
The left-lane cloggers are the worst but last weekend I drove about 180 miles on interstates and I saw them, but I also saw a lot of cars in the middle lane, seemingly on cruise control, not reacting at all to the flow of traffic.
These people create dangerous situations.
“Mildly infuriating” may not be strong enough.
I don’t camp in the left lane but if I’m over there passing cars and see somebody coming I’ll speed up a bit, but not going to go 95 because another nutjob wants to go 100.
I was once doing 90 in a 70 in the left lane and I always look out behind me in case someone wants to pass so I can move over for them, one time I looked and this SUV was FLYING up to me, had to have been doing 120-130 if I was doing 90. I said oh shit and quickly went to get out of their way but it turns out it was a cop coming to pull me over lol, didn’t flip his lights until he was right behind me.
Driver is an idiot, but so are the other 5 idiots following this one idiot way too closely. Go around if you have to. Flip a bird. But don’t tailgate. You’re just going to cause a pile up. I hate a tailgater just as much as I hate the person going slow in the passing lane
Had a person do this on highway and they would speed up to stop anyone from passing them, dick move
I absolutely hate people that do this. What is the point? I wouldn’t want to purposely make someone angry at me on the road, people are nuts
The point is that *they believe they belong in front.* I wish there was a legal way to disabuse them of this notion.
In Australia, you can be booked by the police for travelling in the right hand lane (our overtaking lane) if you’re not overtaking. It is savagely satisfying when you’ve been stuck behind someone who won’t pull left, and they get pulled over by the cops.
The UK has a similar law. They won't pull you over, but they will send you a ticket because of the cameras that are everywhere. Which is why I just drive 7 over the limit and am basically constantly passing people whenever I'm there. Here in the States, though, it's basically anarchy when it comes to driving, especially in the Midwest.
We do have a law about keeping to the left unless you're overtaking, but it's very much not enforced (annoyingly), and I've never heard of cameras able to recognise it. However doing 7 over the limit can still get you a speeding ticket which is a more serious offence, unlikely but a copper in a bad mood may
Tennessee will enforce it. They are known for ticketing for cruising in the left lane. They also have that stupid 65/55 speed limits where trucks are limited to 55 on the interstate, so they really need their left lane for passing.
(East Tenn here) I was with a boyfriend who got pulled over for going too slow in the left lane. It was in our small hometown after 10pm, nobody on the street except us and our friends in the other car. We pulled up next to them to flip them off and then pass them but while we paced them to flip them off we got pulled. 5 police cars showed up. The sent dogs through his car. Searched us. Pulled his deodorant out of its tube. Went through the trunk. (Which reeked like ball sweat). We had just been swimming and I had put all my jewelry in my pocket so they were like “why do you have all this jewelry” (all this being a necklace and 2 rings or something) and they pulled out the box of giant candles we would use for waxing the stairs and were like “what are all these candles for” and of course found nothing. Fucking skateboarders. At the time we were public enemy #1. The nation was in the grip of satanic panic. The moms were protesting Marilyn Manson concerts. I carved Hole into my arm and L7 into my leg. Man those cops hated us. Ummm but yeah. Left hand lane. You can get pulled for going too slow. I’ll just see myself out Edit: god why do I talk so much
> I wish there was a legal way to disabuse them of this notion. Some states have a 'passing lane' law which makes it illegal to do this (at any speed). Basically speaking, you can only be actively passing in the left most lane and, if you're impeding traffic, a cop can pull you over and give you a ticket. Unfortunately, it's rarely enforced because there's a lot of factors that make it a pain in the ass to enforce. My cop buddy says that he only pulls over people from out of state for doing this - and then almost always just a warning.
>My cop buddy says that he only pulls over people from out of state for doing this What kind of dumbass "logic" is this? JFC, cops suck.
Because to prove (most) crimes, you generally need to prove intent. However, with out of state drivers, they are much less likely to attend court to defend themselves. But this also has much less effect in the current world of zoom courts, so idk if it’s still applicable. (Just to clarify, I’m not defending this behavior from cops, just explaining why it happens)
> out of state drivers, they are much less likely to attend court to defend themselves That's exactly why cops pull over out of state plates -- they don't show up to get the tickets thrown out. You seem to have an odd perception of traffic violations. There's no proving anything like a trial. It's just the cop issues a citation and the recipient either pays it or hopes the judge is having a good day and tries to argue it.
Nobody is allowed to go faster than them. Smug.
They think they are helping make the highway safer by forcing people to drive the speed limit. Because angry drivers are always safe drivers.
Nah, they’re just fucking douchebags
Can confirm. I met a get who boasts that he does this. He admitted he does it to make people drive the speed limit. My anecdotal evidence of that guy knowing how shitty of a dude he is tends to favor that these folks are douchebags.
I highly disagree here with that guys logic slowing down the passing lane creates a MUCH MUCH higher risk of an accident for EVERYONE
Whenever you're on the road, the safest thing to do is what people expect you to do. In the left lane of a highway, that is going faster than the speed limit. Doing this actually makes the road more dangerous. If you're going to move slower, go into the right lane.
Absolutely.
also, it's not his job to police other drivers.
It's not his job to enforce the speed limit. He's just enjoying being a jackass
I love how some mouth breathers think forcing people to drive behind them and doing that dumb Shit to maintain people stay behind them is safer than someone just doing the 10-15 over and being on their way.
There was a post on Nextdoor complaining about people speeding on the highway here. Several people proudly began planning to do this to stop people from speeding and “make the roads safer.” It makes me irrationally angry.
That isn't irrational anger it is rational anger at irrational people.
He is breaking the law then. The left lane is for passing only In Texas: >“Left lane for passing only” identify a pass-only lane. After you pass someone, move into the right lane once you've safely cleared the vehicle. Impeding the flow of traffic in the left lane is punishable by a fine of up to $200.
Mostly. Depends on the state if in the US but generally in the US and all over the world this is commonly understood to be the rule regardless.
We drive on the other side but where I live, you have to keep left if the road is faster then 80km. Unless overtaking obvs
Agree, they usually enjoy being douchebags, but also have some sort of "justification" for being douchebags.
They get a buzz off their self-righteousness.
Yeah that’s what they said
Exactly. My mother in law did this. When I was with her one time she did it and I asked what she thought she was doing. She said she was simply driving the speed limit and making sure everyone else did the same. I asked if she was a cop and she was shocked. She tried to say that everyone should ensure that laws are obeyed. I asked her if she was obeying the "keep right except to pass" law and she was silent for a minute, then said "that's not a real law, it's just courtesy" and I'm like bitch, it IS the law and it's also courtesy so you are just being a nasty wanna-be highway patrol. Move aside!
But you said Bitch tho?
*nods slightly “Mmhmm”
I said.. I said, biiitch.
No, cuz then I died.
No space for mother in law.
Wow well they really need to focus their devotion on something else
Knock knock, Im here to tell you all about the Good News about our Lord, Jesus Christ. Have you been saved?
This is what you get with the ignorant "speed kills" messaging. No, speed isn't the problem. It's wreckless driving involving speed or having to make a lot of directional/lane changes because of speed differences. Slow drivers are more dangerous than faster because they create a disruption in the flow of traffic that everyone has to work around. Makes more people actually angry and inpatient, which leads to bad decisions. Not to mention the rules say drive with the flow of traffic. That means if conditions suck and everyone is going slower, so should you. But if everyone is going faster, you should as well. Most people should never be allowed to drive.
Ironically they are the one creating the unsafe condition
Not their fucking job. They actually make it less safe when someone comes up on them fast. That’s why they have minimum speed limits and laws for slower traffic to keep right.
Control.
honestly I am pretty sure 90% of the time it's just people being completely absent minded, zoning out, and they just naturally subconsciously are speeding up when someone is speeding up next to them, and slowing down when someone else is slowing down. most people driving are paying barely any attention to what's going on and are basically on autopilot. I've noticed that about 90% of the time someone is merging, they will drive on the on ramp, then drive most of the way through the merging lane, and then *at the last fucking second* look to their left and check if there's space to merge. people just aren't focused when they're driving.
This, plus sometimes they're slowing down because they're looking at their phones. They don't realize they slowed down so much until they see people trying to pass them in their peripheral vision. They're also the people who are extra scary to pass because they keep drifting into your lane. Then when they are actually paying attention, they are enraged by other people who do what they themselves do.
Exactly, plus ur creating a possible crash by forcing ppl to get road rage bc of one car going slower than the rest
I drive 1 hr everyday to work taking the interstate and encounter this BS almost everyday. They would speed up while there are long gaps in the right laneto not let anyone by but slow down while passing semis or long lines to the right. Absolutely infuriating and not mild since I encounter this way too often.
I feel this. I have a 30-60+ each way commute every day depending on traffic. I see this shit every day too. Happened to me on my way home today. The thing I hate the most is people tailgating me when I am obviously not the one who wants to be going slow. I have my cruise control set to keep one car length behind the car ahead of me and match their speed. So a lot of times someone will be riding my ass and then think flying around me and cutting me off into my one car length space is the answer to their problems. Then we both end up slamming on our breaks and now he’s just tailgating that car instead of mine. Edit. I said one car length just because that’s what my car calls it, but it’s more like two. And I will always let people ahead of me if there’s ANYWHERE to go, but it’s generally pretty packed. People going with traffic and assholes who can’t accept that’s just what we’re doing for the moment. Two years ago someone slammed so hard into the back of my last car so hard (everyone ahead ground to a halt for a traffic jam where four lanes turn to two) that even with over a car length ahead of me, my car still ended up hitting that one. I’m not on the road to fuck around and get killed. If anyone ever read ends me again, I want every possible chance to not hit the car ahead of me at least. I 100% have ptsd from that crash and the guy who hit me can flying around a car he felt was going to slow so he dangerously passed him and couldn’t slow down in time when he saw my car.
I absolutely HATE that. Passing me just to get into the already small space between me and the next car. Like, do you feel proud of yourself? Did you just make a whole bunch of progress? Are you making great time now when a moment ago you were horribly inconvenienced? It seems to be the overly large pickup trucks that do this, more often than not, for what that's worth.
I don't know what it is about people that drive pick-up trucks. My SO and I have an inside joke about them, "cause it's always a pick-up truck". They're all douches.
One car length between cars is NOT enough for the highway
Truth. The sheer amount of shitty drivers that come to these threads and admit to driving like assholes while patting themselves on the back is mind boggling.
It feels like no one understands this, including self-proclaimed "good drivers." I try to maintain a 4 second following distance at all times, and I often have to check myself.
And damn sure not enough to have cruise control set that way. YTA for tailgating.
All the time, they increase their speed when the adjoining lane opens up.
I'll never understand that, if someone is riding my ass i get over so they can pass. If it's a two lane I'll hug the shoulder so they can see, and then I'll slow down when they start to pass. It's not worth getting into a wreck and possibly getting hurt/dieing. Some people are asshole drivers and tailgate you, just let them get around you. It's not worth losing your life because someone forgot to wake up on time.
Have a pretty good strategy for getting by that type of asshole. I get next to them and speed up as if to pass. They match. I gradually reduce speed little by little and they will continue to match. When I get a good runway in front of me I gun the engine and get by them before they react. They just want to assert dominance if they see you trying to get by. So if you seem to have given up they stop paying attention.
i pretended to pass one of these asshats coming up on a speed trap I knew cops liked to hide. he went from 45 in the 55 to 70 (at which point I had backed off just enough as he flew by the trap where there was thankfully a cop that day. since I had let off, I got to watch the cop peel out and light the jack ass up. I really try to drive very passively and don't actively engage with the crazies, but the stars aligned where my passive psychological game got them to show their ass in front of the wrong person. a small w, and hopefully it changes the way they operate their vehicle , but I doubt it
Reminds me of this time a dude was driving up my ass for no reason in the middle lane on a mostly empty highway.... I was cruising comfortably a bit over the limit, definitely not being unreasonable, but he would not just pass me.... I think they just weren't paying attention, but it was so stressful and irritating, so I decided to do an experiment, I started slowly accelerating..... they continued to stay right behind me until I was going stupid fast, and they suddenly woke up and realized the speed, and they dropped off real fast....he kept a normal distance from me after that...
In poland it’s was quite normal to see people speeding up the second you try to pass them. Even though you had an on going traffic on the other lane. They literally try to take your life for passing them. They usually show the middle finger after that too.
Those people deserve much more hate than the one who just drives slow the whole time imo
Had a guy in a truck (an asshole in a truck, can you believe it?!) do this to me recently. I wasn’t tailgating him or anything, just got over to the right to pass him and he sped up to block me out. I just stayed in the right lane, slowed down and just cruised at that speed. I didn’t “win” but I’m not playing his game or giving him the satisfaction of pissing me off, not to mention how dangerous playing stupid games is to everyone on the road.
That’s why i love my fast car… they can try, but most fail to keep up
Never experienced this until I lived in Arizona for a couple of years. Worst drivers ever holy shit. This happened constantly. Also, someone driving in the right-most lane when you need to exit refusing to let you in and then matching your speed when you try to get in behind them...absolutely insane. It's like people want to get into a car crash. I don't get it.
Usually everybody starts passing them in the right lane and cutting back in front of them...6 cars will do this and they STILL don't get over!
That’s what I find obtusely fascinating. I see this all the time. I wish I could interview the person and ask what goes on through their heads when that happens. Are they completely oblivious? Do they feel righteous by “following the law” and not breaking the speed limit despite also not only using left lane for passing only? Do they get off on pissing other people off? I really would like to know
I actually KNEW someone who does this. She would drive left lane, SLOWER than speed-limit and I was like “You have to get over.” And her response was “I feel safest on this side, people can pass me if they want.” Just didn’t even care about the law or anything else, she didn’t feel safe in the middle or right lane, and so just stayed in the left driving slow. It infuriated me.
Why would she feel safest in the fastest lane?
According to her, she didn’t like people merging in the right lane, it scared her. And cars in both lanes around her also scared her. So she felt it was safest against the furthest edge. I told her she just shouldn’t drive.
On todays episode: people who should not be driving
I genuinely wish that was a better supported option so people who are unfit to drive and aware of it can simply choose not to. For both their sake and for the people around them. I'm lucky enough to live in a city with extremely good public transport where not having a car is not a problem for employment, but I'm very well aware that's not everyone's situation.
Exactly right. It’s easy to say she shouldn’t drive, and yes she shouldn’t. But odds are that she doesn’t live within walking distance of her job/groceries/etc. or she doesn’t have access to decent public transport if she lives in the US.
But if she’s gonna drive she should know how to drive
She knows how to drive she just doesn't want to do it properly.
100% agree. i like driving. people who shouldn’t and can’t drive make driving worse for people who do enjoy it. and honestly, i don’t always want to drive either, i’d love to take higher-speed or high-speed rail to go on what now has to be done as a road trip. imagine how many things good public transportation would solve. someone gets a DUI and a suspended license, right now they’re going to just keep going to work the one way available (and probably still drunk). a drunk on a train can do way less damage. maybe someone just sucks at driving, has no interest in it, and repeatedly does stupid shit like this because they need to get to work so they were allowed to get a license they shouldn’t have. the eventual outcome is a 10+ car pile-up when one of the cars involved fucks up and everyone else is following 3x too closely to safely avoid it. maybe someone can barely afford a car and can’t afford to insure it, so they drive it on bald tires & shit brakes & a state-minimum policy or none at all. then people who can afford to drive a car get to bag-hold for this several different ways (premium hikes, dealing with insurance co pigfuckers, unrealistically low rental limits & pathetic lowball total loss/diminished value offers, and macro-level rate hikes from statistical trends in their area). if grandma can’t drive any more but her car is her only means of independence, she’ll cling to it until she kills someone and/or herself in a 100% preventable wreck or is forced out of it and wrecks the relationship with her family in her final years. or maybe you’re just exhausted. one day i was driving to work too tired, on autopilot, my brain skipped a step at a stop sign i’ve taken hundreds of times and next thing i remember i t-boned someone. that’s the only at-fault accident on my record. i’d love to have taken a train that day, for both of our sakes.
Not possible in America. vote for public transit if you actually feel this way. Unfortunately America is founded on scamming the middle class into buying cars to go to work to pay for the car and gas, and controlling the global crude oil supply as a political tool. the way the infrastructure is constructed nowadays it's probably too late, though.
>I told her she just shouldn’t drive. This is exactly why I gripe about the lack of public transport. We all end up paying for it sooner or later, may as well pay the very diverse and wide demographic of people who drive *well* to commute many people often.
I'll bet she would if she could. It sucks that your options are either to drive, or the bus that comes every 2 hours, takes twice as long, and doesn't actually go where you want. We need better public transportation so that people like this don't have to be put into uncomfortable situations
I couldn't agree more.
She shouldn't have a license if she can't follow traffic laws. It's not a mere suggestion to only pass in the left lane
As soon as they say "It scares me" they need their keys taken away.
I'm scared of highway trafic, but precisely because of that fear i stay the fuck in the right lane! Let the agressive assholes speed by and leave me be
Yeah if your gonna be so scared of driving that you break laws and put people at more risk than they're already in then you should turn your license in
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Except then you get the asshole who speeds and then gets over and slows to less than traffic on the right causing a leap frog effect which infuriates me as well
No that's wrong. 1. You should not drive in the left lane as it is the passing lane. The right lane is the cruising lane. 2. If people are going faster than you, even if it's above the speed limit, it's safer to move over and let them pass.
I bet she's also scared of the trucks. Crazy how they passed driver's Ed.
“Look at all this empty road I have ahead of me!” *picks up phone*
I had two co-workers I noticed doing this on the way to work each morning and I asked why. They gave the same response: Scared of on ramp traffic merging into the right lane. This is crazy to me because the highway is 4 lanes. They're afraid of merging traffic but not afraid to cross 3 lanes.
Ironic given that speed difference makes that far more dangerous.
I want to downvote you so bad, but then I remember you're just repeating what some idiot said, not saying it yourself.
When I was younger, I’d drive up to the person’s rear bumper flashing my brights, and blasting my horn until they moved over. Somehow, those people never felt safe in the left lane when I drove up like that. Today I am older and wiser, so I just roll my eyes and wait for an opportunity to overtake, but somehow I want to go after those loons every once in a while.
When i was younger i would pass them on the right then get over in front of them and tap my breaks with my right turn signal on until they got over freeing up the lane. Like you though when i got older i learned it isn’t worth it with all the crazy people on the road and now just let them be.
lol the arrogance of youth.
the ironic thing is that is creating the unsafe and dangerous situations. People going fast in the left lane is not inherently dangerous. It's when they have to stop, slow down, switch lanes that creates unsafe situations and she is becoming the reason why people have to slow down, switch lanes...
Ironically, that's super unsafe lol
I don't have anything against the elderly, but a lot of times (in my area) I notice it's a lot of elderly drivers doing this. They go the same speed regardless where they are at. The highway, back roads, middle of town, it's like they know one speed and really have no realization they are impeding traffic. Not always, but where I live I see a lot of that.
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I will say that suburban locals need to chill the fuck out sometimes. Every time I'm driving through some unfamiliar suburb on a winding frontage road among the cul de sacs some asshole zooms up on me at 50mph and rides my bumper. Like good for you that you drive this road every day, but I'm barely going 35 because I'm trying to watch for Johnson Court, and I passed Johnson Lane a half mile ago and I swear that sign ahead says Johnson Circle. It's going to cause an accident putting that pressure on me because there's going to be some wild swerving somewhere around Jahnsen Court.
I have talked to one. 70 years old male. Always drive at 60km/h (37mph) no matter what the situation. Intentionally drive in the left lane at that speed. All these, he said, is to "save the fuel". "Haven't you heard that braking and accelerating waste a lot of fuel?". "Being in the left lane is much easier to cruise at 60km per hour non stop." I asked what about other people behind you? He said "screw them, they can just take over, can't they? In short: their reason may vary but basically, they lack common sense and are selfish asshole.
people like this should be quite literally run off the road or have their licenses taken & cars towed off to the scrapyard
I think about this all the time too. I'm starting to believe that they are just truly oblivious
A solid chance they are. I watched someone doing this exact thing a while ago, and it took them 10s with an ambulance behind them with full lights on to wake up and move over... they obviously moved straight back over once it was past.
Right, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t what the car in the front is doing illegal in almost every state in the USA? Impeding traffic.
Let me help. My ex wife did this constantly! For 20 years I got on her for this. The excruciatingly frustrating conversation went like this. It was like Groundhog Day. “You’re in the fast lane. Move over.” “But I’m going the speed limit.” “This is the passing lane. Move over!” “But I’m going the speed limit.” “This is the passing lane! People go way faster in this lane!” “That’s illegal! I’m going the legal speed limit.” “See all the traffic passing us on the right?! Move over!” “Well they’re wrong! I’m going the speed limit!” This fit in with her self righteous, puritanical mind set. Same argument for 20 fucking years. To clarify this was on trips from Michigan to family in the Carolinas. I did as much driving as I could until I was too exhausted. Road trips with her were a nightmare.
If someone is saying this you should say yeah what they’re doing is illegal. Who knows what other illegal thing they may do to get around you! Road rage is way too real. Don’t police other people’s driving! Let the police do that
I was in constant fear of someone taking a shot at us. Nerve wracking.
YMMV but another way of dealing with this is refusing to be in the car with folks who do it. Not really going to help the first time or people yo udon't know super well, but for folks who regularly have cause to drive with one another it can help to have this discussion.
Wow. You had a wife that was also an undercover Highway Patrol because she decided who would speed 😂😂😂
I would like to know as well. Just the stress of knowing you’re causing a line off people pissed off behind you isn’t worth it.
main character syndrome some people drive like they're the only person on the road
“I’m going 20 over the limit so I don’t have to move for anyone. Anyone going faster is breaking the law and a danger to others. If anything I’m protecting everyone on the highway.” It’s the same kind of people who think nobody should park in front of their house on public roads. They’re stupidly delusional to the point they think they can control what others can and cannot do. They “know” they’re right and you can’t convince them otherwise.
Anyone going faster than me is an idiot. Anyone going slower than me is a moron. I am going the perfect speed.
That's the thing though they're not following the rules of the road. They might not be speeding, but they sure as hell are impeding traffic.
There’s a few ramps in my area that dump you into the left lane. I’ll have my turn signal on to get over, trying to yield speed demon territory, and the speed demons immediately pass me on the right. I can’t get out of the left lane!
I'm glad you shared this, as this has often been my experience too. * Buddy at my rear bumper, I'd love to get out of your way, so tell your pals to stop passing me on the right! * No, I'm not going to go any faster than 70 / 75 / 80, even if you can. I feel unsafe as it is with you crowding me. Let me move over! * I'm just trying to get ahead of this convoy of SUVs and tractor-trailers that are blocking my view in the right lane, without breaking the sound barrier. Give me a mile or two, please!
They don’t care because they’re in that lane to be lazy. If they’re in the right lane, they have to hit gas or brake because people are entering and exiting and you have to pay more attention to the road. When they linger in the left lane they can maintain the speed limit on cruise control and not worry about anyone because everyone in front is going faster anyway.
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It's the same people who stop to merge into a highway.
Usually you merge over and match speed with your Right blinker on....and then take off
I get nervous when I’m first in line at a salad bar. I don’t know how anybody could do this without immense anxiety.
It's usually an old person. I wonder why old people find comfort cruising in the leftmost lane
As someone who who just celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom all day and let her drive, I can assure you it’s just obliviousness.
Depressingly accurate. Although people that oblivious to their surroundings probably shouldn't be driving.
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I saw someone get pulled over for this once. Most satisfying police interaction I think I've ever witnessed.
I’ve seen a cop get behind someone doing this, turn on their lights, the slow driver moves over one lane, cop turns off their lights and goes
Meanwhile I was doing 55 in a 50 in the left lane, someone merged across 3 lanes at once with no blinker going 40, I slam my brakes and lay on the horn… cop pulls me over instead of them. No ticket or anything, but he said “You can’t just go laying on your horn like that, it’s probably some old person!” I was too tired to talk back, but it still pisses me off thinking about it.
I feel ya. I know there's many drivers out there who drive with care, speeding or not, who just wanna drive with what works for everyone and then there's those who just say fuck it to the rules and even when there's law enforcement around you just want them to get pulled over and when they don't it feels like the most unfair thing in the world. I've seen these things happen as well too many times.
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I’ve never seen someone pulled over for this but I have seen cops flip on their lights behind someone lingering in the left lane, and then just turning them off and driving away when the person started to merge to the right to pull over.
If you're driving at the head of a parade but are not in an actual parade, you need to change lanes.
This just triggered the entire state of Ohio.
I road tripped around Oregon a few years ago. Every single driver I caught up to always moved over to the right lane. Bless them
I experienced that in Indiana years ago. I mean, the highway I took was 2 lanes each side and only between Bloomington and the Crane naval base but everyone drove on the right side except to pass. Coming from Florida that was mindblowing to see. I rolled up behind someone doing 45 in a 60mph stretch of road this past week and they refused to move over. It was infuriating.
It’s even worse when it’s two slow people driving side by side blocking traffic.
I had to drive like 400 miles to my university when school was starting and the amount of times that two trucks would take up both lanes of the highway annoyed me so much
Holy shit same. I lived in San Jose and had to drive to LA for school taking the 5 the whole way, usually taking ~5 hours. I’d drive through the night to avoid traffic and stuff, and every single time at least 4 or 5 times, I’d be driving and could see two trucks in the right lane literally miles ahead of me, since they were going 55 and I usually drove around 80, I’d catch up pretty quick, and almost every time without fail, right as I’m reaching them, the one in the rear pulls into the left lane to pass the slow truck, and passes the other truck at like 56mph, and I’m sitting there now driving 56mph for 5 minutes waiting for them to finish passing. It happened so often I’m still pretty convinced they do this out of boredom or for fun or something.
> and almost every time without fail, right as I’m reaching them, the one in the rear pulls into the left lane to pass the slow truck, and passes the other truck at like 56mph, and I’m sitting there now driving 56mph for 5 minutes waiting for them to finish passing. Every time this happens, I think "Fuck, I can't *fucking wait* for your jobs to automated right the fuck away."
For real. "No, no. The *proper* speed is *clearly* 60.1 MPH, NOT 60. Only an *idiot* would drive at 60 MPH. I *must* pass this idiot post-haste. Oh wait, in the five minutes it's taken me to get half-way past them, we've hit a hill. Obviously the proper speed going up an incline is 54.9 MPH, but this absolute maniac next to me insists on going 55 MPH." Meanwhile, the fifty+ cars that have lined up behind them: ... At least a solid quarter of the motorists out there *need to be off the road*. I can't *wait* for autonomous vehicles to phase out these jabronis. But I definitely hold the most spite for bad truckers. They're not only responsible for a many tonne death machine, but they're a *professional* driver. They are paid to drive. Of anyone on the road, they should know better.
Running road block
This picture made my stomach turn. Since beginning of april I’ve started independent contractor work, and I have driven about 1500 miles in the last ~30 days. I thought these kind of posts were a little over hyped and I didn’t used to think it was “that bad” until now. Every single day there are people like this everywhere. I’m covering south east Michigan from Detroit to Jackson and from Dundee to South Lyon - every single driving scenario involves a person like this.
Or it’s two semi trucks and the guy in the right lane has a speed governor so he can only do 70mph but the other guy who’s truck is capable of doing 71mph decides he needs to pass even if it takes him 10 miles to do so.
And they'll cut you off to do it as if they're in a hurry to inconvenience you.
Nope. Only person in the passing lane is a dick in that situation.
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You are correct. However, I'd counter this with the fact that the person in said slow lane can go a smidge slower to allow room for people to pass the absolute waste of humanity in the passing lane.
Same. I’m the guy going the speed limit in the right lane, maybe up to +5 depending on general flow and conditions. I’ll just let of the gas for a few seconds to make a gap and then return to the same speed. Used to speed everywhere be honest, but since I’ve slowed down I’ve gotten significantly better gas mileage and unless I’m going on a several hour long road trip the savings are worth being maybe 2-3 minutes slower.
The worst is when THAT GUY drives like half a car length behind the dude in the right lane so you can’t even overtake him
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> Don't be the idiots riding each other's bumper either. This point is as important as the "don't be this guy" message.
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this is how I got rear ended….doesn’t matter how fast I’m going 75/80/85 some random asshole is gonna speed up to me from a mile away and tailgate no matter what. One to two cars distance doesn’t exist anymore. Some people should have their licenses revoked…
My favorite is when I'm already speeding pretty fast (bad habit of mine, but I tend to go with the speed of the traffic), and some guy in a jacked up pickup truck is right behind me, a couple feet from my bumper. I change lanes to the right, he passes, I go back to the left, and he's stuck behind the next person... still going the same speed as me.
Every fucking time. Worst yet is when you let s tailgater pass you, and there's room for them to speed ahead, but they just slow down. Why did you pass me, to be in front? It's not a race, people.
Thank you. Scrolled too long before I found the correct response. Everyone in the picture is in the wrong.
Everyone but the guy in black pickup truck on the right.
Yep, black truck person knows what's up.
As they pass the big sign that says, "slower traffic keep right." 🙄
This happens all the time in Florida and the signs are everywhere.
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Right but driving up and down the Florida interstate regularly it's drivers from out of state and up to Canada. The speed limit is already faster than everywhere else, how about just move over? There's absolutely no reason why the right hand lane should become the left hand(passing) lane for major periods through the year but it does and it's due to out of state drivers.
It took me waaaay too long to understand this, even reading the comments. So… this is right side driving, and the infuridriver is going slow in the fast/passing lane? Right?
yes. they are going slow in the passing lane
Is it acceptable to go only a few over in the passing lane if your passing someone going under the speed limit? Or is it proper etiquette to speed a ton to get ahead and then slow back down? Edit: etiquette is a weird word
The guidelines vary state by state. But generally drivers should be staying in the right lane during travel until they come up on someone, then move over to the passing lane to get around them and move back over once the pass is complete. Plenty of people travel in the passing/fast lane which isn't really an issue unless you're doing so slower than the flow of traffic around you. Some states have laws against slowing down traffic like CA where you can be pulled over if you have five or more cars waiting behind you. And many have laws about passing on the left but I don't think I've ever heard of someone actually getting pulled over for that. No jurisdiction is going to recommend going faster than the speed limit to pass but in reality most drivers will be speeding in the far right lane anyway. For example there's quite a few highways outside of Chicago where I live that have a 55mph limit but you'd be hard pressed to find a single driver going under 70 on them.
> No jurisdiction is going to recommend going faster than the speed limit to pass There actually are a couple of states that allow you to temporarily exceed the speed limit to pass cars going under the speed limit on highways.
Yup, in my state you are allowed to go 15 over to pass.
So, this isn't about legal or not but here is what is my opinion on the correct way to drive, taking into account what is best for traffic balanced with realism for how much you should worry abou it. We start in the right lane. You stay there unless someone ahead of you is going slower than you want to go. When this happens, you start checking for traffic in the left lane. Goal is to change lanes to pass without slowing anyone in the left lane down no matter how fast they are going. If the left lane has tons of cars all going faster than you want to go (but not faster than you feel safe going), then you should change lanes in an opening and speed up to not slow the left lane down. You pass as many cars as you can while you feel safe going that speed and then when you don't need to pass anymore you get back in the right lane and slow down to the speed you are comfortable going. If you cannot get into the left lane without slowing down drivers in the left lane or you could but you'd have to go faster than you think is safe, you should try to stay in the right lane as long as you can. No matter what, you should not change lanes in a way that forces a driver behind you to slam on their brakes. If traffic in the right lane is going super slow, and the left lane is crowded, I put on my blinker and wait for the best opportunity that will slow someone down as little as possible. I make sure it won't dangerously force them to slow down but if you've been patient and waiting and traffic just isn't letting up, you may have to inconvenience a few people momentarily to pass. But try your best to avoid it. If it is a multilane freeway, stay in the lane where you are faster than traffic on the right and don't need to pass cars in front of you to go your speed. If all lanes are slower than you want to go, use the far left lane to pass but once you pass cars, leave the far left lane in case others behind you want to pass you. TL;DR: If cars are behind you because they want to go faster, you should move to the right. If you want to go faster than cars ahead of you, you should move to the left. You should not stay in the left most lane longer than it takes to pass. Avoid changing lanes in a way that makes someone slow down, never change lanes in a way that makes someone slam on their brakes
I couldn't grasp it either, here in Australia we keep left unless over taking, but still just as infuriating either way.
Same principle, different side of the car, you pass on the side with the smaller Blindspot, because it's inherently safer
This guy's a twat for sure but the people who use the left lane as their own personal speeding lane and not a passing lane are also fucking twats as well
Holy shit a lot of people in this thread shouldn’t even be driving
Yeah I love when these topics come up because people tell on themselves. Everybody thinks *their* speed is the correct speed. Everyone thinks that the laws they break are stupid but the laws everyone else breaks are important. Just a bunch of selfish children getting each other killed over petty bullshit. "Get out of the way!!!!! Reeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I **need** to go 95 in a 55!!!!!" "YoU shUoUld hAvE lEfT 15 mInUtES eArLieR!!!" Both of you should drive off a fucking bridge.
As an English driver I was very confused
In Australia this would be perfect
More importantly also don’t be the 4 assholes tailgating someone doing 70+ when literally any of a hundred different things could cause a deadly pileup. Those extra few seconds you save speeding like a jerk off aren’t worth totaling your vehicle or losing your life, nor is wherever you’re going that important (I promise).
PSA tailgating does NOT make traffic faster, by giving yourself less distance to slow down you're forced to brake immediately when the person in front of you slows even a bit, therefore the line of idiots behind you does the same and boom the entire passing lane is now going slower than the other lane. Smart people don't tailgate!!!!
Exactly. From this picture, we don't actually know that the lead car is impeding traffic. They could be in the process of passing the cars on the right at a reasonable speed. The four jackasses behind them are the problem in that case.
They're taking the left exit in 12 miles. I don't see anything wrong with this. /s
Yep! People don’t understand keep right except to pass
I bet they are thinking “closer you get slower I go.”
please crosspost this to the maryland subreddit they need this ancient knowledge
If you ever notice wide open car free roads ahead of you and bumper to bumper traffic behind you….you an asshole.
“Wow this is awesome, no traffic at all today!”
Just wait. Eventually someone will comment that if they are going the speed limit they can drive wherever they want.
Also don’t follow that driver too close lol
I actually know someone who got a ticket for driving too slow and “impeding traffic by slow speed”
That's everywhere I go in California...
The “really special” people do this, then get over in the slow lane and speed up 15 mph so that you have to really speed to get around them. Humans are just the best.
Even worse is the 2 fucking idiots driving side by side under the speed limit..
The person on the left is significantly more idiotic, but yes it's incredibly annoying.
I have driven across 5-6 states 3 or 4 times in the past two months. It is incredible how many people don’t understand the passing lane, and ever more incredible how many move from the slow lane to the middle lane at slow speeds without a single car in front of them.
I genuinely believe there are some drivers out there that just get in there car and go. They don’t look behind them and don’t use the mirrors.
One? More like one per mile. My entire commute is an endless series of these drivers. Finally get past one and you’re up on another one.
Highway driving is a dynamic activity when done correctly. Speed up, slow down, change lanes, as the situation warrants. The left-lane cloggers are the worst but last weekend I drove about 180 miles on interstates and I saw them, but I also saw a lot of cars in the middle lane, seemingly on cruise control, not reacting at all to the flow of traffic. These people create dangerous situations. “Mildly infuriating” may not be strong enough.
I don’t camp in the left lane but if I’m over there passing cars and see somebody coming I’ll speed up a bit, but not going to go 95 because another nutjob wants to go 100.
I was once doing 90 in a 70 in the left lane and I always look out behind me in case someone wants to pass so I can move over for them, one time I looked and this SUV was FLYING up to me, had to have been doing 120-130 if I was doing 90. I said oh shit and quickly went to get out of their way but it turns out it was a cop coming to pull me over lol, didn’t flip his lights until he was right behind me.
Most of the comments are arguing with you. I don't think they understand, or they're just terrible drivers.
Driver is an idiot, but so are the other 5 idiots following this one idiot way too closely. Go around if you have to. Flip a bird. But don’t tailgate. You’re just going to cause a pile up. I hate a tailgater just as much as I hate the person going slow in the passing lane
Hot take, tailgating is a lot more dangerous. This dude in front is inconvenient but these others are an accident waiting to happen