New speed limit law fines slow drivers

[wxfree]

I follow speed limits and mostly stay in the right lane.  Even though I infrequently have occasion to use the left lane, it annoys me to see left lane abuse.  I'm thinking specifically of those who enter a freeway with little traffic and head straight for the left lane.  Even though they may not be in anyone's way, it still shows a disruptive way of thinking: that the left lane is the default correct one to drive in.  I wonder what those people are thinking.

However, I question about how effectively the behavior can be changed.  Texas is pretty good at setting reasonable speed limits, so I can't complain myself.  But in a lot of places, the basic setup is to have speed limits that are too low and then mostly ignore speeding.  Unreasonable speed limits and lack of enforcement breeds disrespect for the law.  Speeding tickets do not slow people down, and I suspect that left lane abuse tickets won't end that behavior, unless enforcement is vigorous.  Vigorous speed limit enforcement (about which people would complain, well, vigorously), would also help end the societal belief that the roads don't really have any rules.  There's a culture of ignorance of the rules and casual noncompliance.  Training (before driving) and on-going education (penalties for violations) are needed to change that culture.  I doubt if this will happen until cars start driving themselves.

[02 Park Ave]

Cruising along in the left lane seems to be an Ohio thing.  I don't see it in east

[democraticnole]

If slow drivers in the left lane are becoming victims of road rage, then banning slow driving in the left lane in order to reduce road rage is simply legislating the victims' actions in order to achieve desired results from the perpetrators.

No.  The aim of the law is to eliminate one of the causes of road rage, which is lack of lane discipline.  Road rage does not occur unless something/someone causes it.  Left-lane blockers cause it.

The obvious comparison is to Germany, where LLB'ing on multi-lane roads is strictly forbidden and strictly enforced, as is the ban on passing on the right.  Making roads safe for high-speed travel means that, among other things, motorists must have a reasonable expectation that other drivers will operate in a safe and (as far as possible) predictable manner.  Allowing drivers to drive slower than prevailing speeds in any lane they damn well please is unpredictable and leads, as others have mentioned, to unsafe maneuvers by other drivers to get around the slowpokes.  If everyone knows that slow traffic keeps right except to pass and must yield the high-speed lane to faster drivers, that is predictable and therefore safer.

Good post.

Anyone who has driven in Europe knows that European lane discipline is 1000% better than here in the U.S. I was reminded of this while driving in Ireland last summer. Drivers there stay out of the passing lane on the motorway unless passing. Even on two lanes, the common courtesy is to to pull off the road and let the car behind pass if they have been behind you for a couple of minutes.

I don't know why the U.S. has such horrible lane discipline, but I suspect it developed during the days of the national 55 speed limit. People developed this sense of entitlement that if they were going the speed limit, they didn't have to move from their lane.

If safety is the main goal, the left lane cruiser laws are no-brain era. I wish we had laws like he Germans do to curb it. Freeway speed limits should also be raised outside of most urban areas. People will only drive as fast as they feel comfortable. I've noticed that in the western states with higher speed limits, left lane cruising seems to be less prevalent because people will stay to the right and under the speed limit. Coloradans are very good about keeping to the right. In good conditions, driving 90 mph on the interstate is not particularly dangerous, especially if there's an expectation that other drivers won't do something like clog the left lane.

I do a lot of freeway driving here in Florida and will admit to personally tailgating people in the left lane. The reason I do it is I find that it is often the only effective way to get people to move over. If you sit there and leave a large distance, people will think there is no reason to move over to the right. When I see someone speed up or put their signal on to let me know they are going to change lanes, I will back off.

[Pete from Boston]

If slow drivers in the left lane are becoming victims of road rage, then banning slow driving in the left lane in order to reduce road rage is simply legislating the victims' actions in order to achieve desired results from the perpetrators.

No.  The aim of the law is to eliminate one of the causes of road rage, which is lack of lane discipline.  Road rage does not occur unless something/someone causes it.  Left-lane blockers cause it.

No.  Road rage does not occur unless a driver fails to control his or her emotions.

This.  It's not my problem that some idiot has road rage. 

If you're not moving over and purposely blocking traffic,  that is road rage.

That's assuming a lot.  Road rage is understood to mean direct aggression by a driver toward others motivated by anger.  People do stupid things for all kinds of reasons, not just out of rage.

Declaring a passive condition "aggressive" and making assumptions about its motivations actually sounds like one of the building blocks of road rage.

[jeffandnicole]

If you're driving in the left lane by ignorance of the law and others around you, that's just being an idiot.

If you're purposely doing it, then one is doing so to feel superior to others. And yes, that is road rage.

Cruising along in the left lane seems to be an Ohio thing.  I don't see it in east

Jump on Rt 42 or the AC Expressway. PA drivers absolutely try to own that left lane.

On the GSP, there's frequent complaints about New Yorkers camping out in the left lane.

On the Turnpike, it seems like there's a whole mess of people that love the left lane.

[corco]

If you're driving in the left lane by ignorance of the law and others around you, that's just being an idiot.

If you're purposely doing it, then one is doing so to feel superior to others. And yes, that is road rage.

Cruising along in the left lane seems to be an Ohio thing.  I don't see it in east

Jump on Rt 42 or the AC Expressway. PA drivers absolutely try to own that left lane.

On the GSP, there's frequent complaints about New Yorkers camping out in the left lane.

On the Turnpike, it seems like there's a whole mess of people that love the left lane.

Yeah, I drove back east for about a week a week ago, in NYC, Philly, Baltimore, Washington, and areas in between. One thing I noticed is that compared to out west it seems like nearly nobody keeps right except to pass. You folks back east really have a liberal definition of what that means. I thought places like Phoenix were bad for left lane campers, but even that is nothing compared to back east.

[Pete from Boston]

If you're driving in the left lane by ignorance of the law and others around you, that's just being an idiot.

If you're purposely doing it, then one is doing so to feel superior to others. And yes, that is road rage.

You and I have different ideas of what "road rage" is understood to mean.  Passive aggressive behavior doesn't cut it for my definition.  Sure, it's being a dick, but only once in many dozens of times is it on the level of following someone and intimidating them, tailgating them, screaming at them, etc., which are the kinds of acts one usually hears called "road rage." 

Stubborn, yes.  Inconsiderate, sure.  Juvenile, perhaps.  But "rage" requires evidence of directed hostility.

[Pete from Boston]

If you're driving in the left lane by ignorance of the law and others around you, that's just being an idiot.

If you're purposely doing it, then one is doing so to feel superior to others. And yes, that is road rage.

You and I have different ideas of what "road rage" is understood to mean.  Passive aggressive behavior doesn't cut it for my definition.  Sure, it's being a dick, but only once in many dozens of times is it on the level of following someone and intimidating them, tailgating them, screaming at them, etc., which are the kinds of acts one usually hears called "road rage." 

Stubborn, yes.  Inconsiderate, sure.  Juvenile, perhaps.  But "rage" requires evidence of directed hostility.

[02 Park Ave]

The three lane sector of the Ohio Turnpike from Youngstown to Toledo has maybe 25% of the traffic one would find on the New Jersey Turnpike.  Half of that is trucks travelling along in the right hand lane bothering nobody.  So the center and left lanes are almost empty.  And yet there are drivers just cruising along in the left hand lane.  It isn't really a problem; it's just a situation you don't see in the east.

[1995hoo]

Cruising along in the left lane seems to be an Ohio thing.  I don't see it in east

Heh. Happens constantly in Virginia, and Virginia drivers do it constantly elsewhere. To be sure, in several parts of the state it's hard to avoid the left lane simply due to traffic volume, and that includes I-81 with its two lanes in each direction and heavy truck traffic. But you know, on more than one occasion I've been out in the middle of nowhere in Canada on empty roads, spotted a car cruising in the left lane up ahead, and found that car had Virginia plates.

This is not to say it's a problem exclusive to Virginia. When I drive through Maryland, I often think the people there are practicing for a trip to the UK–"slower traffic keep left." I often find I get through faster in Maryland if I stay in the right lane.

A friend who lives in California who has a high-school-age daughter told me she showed him the California drivers' manual, which calls the left lane the "fast cruising lane," when he told her to keep right except to pass. To his credit, he told her it doesn't matter what the DMV says because just because something may be allowed doesn't make it the correct thing to do, and he says he also told her if she wanted to be allowed to get a license (I guess a parent has to sign off if you're under a certain age), she would keep right except to pass because left-lane hogs annoy everyone else.

Point being, it's a problem all over the place.

[odditude]

If you're driving in the left lane by ignorance of the law and others around you, that's just being an idiot.

If you're purposely doing it, then one is doing so to feel superior to others. And yes, that is road rage.

Cruising along in the left lane seems to be an Ohio thing.  I don't see it in east

Jump on Rt 42 or the AC Expressway. PA drivers absolutely try to own that left lane.

On the GSP, there's frequent complaints about New Yorkers camping out in the left lane.

On the Turnpike, it seems like there's a whole mess of people that love the left lane.

and on I-95. it's the 3rd worst part of my daily commute to Center City.

2nd worst: left lane drivers who drive at "normal" speed but are afraid to actually pass anyone and slow down on approach until they hover right at the rear driver's side corner - so it's like the above except it's impossible to get by them at all

absolute worst: drivers who panic in construction zones