Left Lane Dwellers
 

The SC legislature is finally wanting to pass a law to make it illegal to live in the left lane for miles! They're haggling over a $100 fine vs a steeper fine and 2 points, but either way is fine with me !
I remember waaaaaay back when I got my drivers permit, that was right on top of the list of no-no's, along with passing on the right...rules of the road which are not taught anymore, and even truckers are guilty of it.

https://i.imgur.com/ESFXKeT.jpg?1

One of my sons, who is now about 21, said they don’t even teach this anymore!
The first time we were taking a trip together and he was driving, it drove me nuts. I told him to get in the right lane on the highway, the people behind you are going to get pissed. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Florida passed this last year and, as of January this year, it's now a $166 fine. :clap2:

My kids went for their tests at the DMV, and they were more about seeing them do a three point turn on the road ! Worried about them being able to make u turns, but forget all the important stuff! I did teach them "the old ways" and they haven't forgotten what I taught them.

MN passed this law too although I've never seen it enforced. With the amount of traffic now days it's pretty hard to spend any length of time in either lane. What are you supposed to do when there's 3 or 4 lanes.

Sad day when you have to legislate common sense. This would never fly here in CA with freeways that are way more than just 2 lanes, but here people nearly all the time move over for you or are going plenty fast enough. We do have a law keeping big rigs in the right 2 lanes thankfully.

I've noticed on a three lane HI way truckers will stay in the center lane. I guess it gives more options if there is a problem.

Exactly why in CA they are kept in the right 2. Going through cities, most keep out of the far right lane for the traffic merging on.

Tom, That's where I'll stay a lot of the time on a 3 lane road...traffic merging on gets the right lane, passers get the left. Kind of the "neutral lane".

This:
 

If there isn't anyone behind me I drive in the left lane. As soon as I see someone coming up from the rear I signal and move over. There are just too many people here who drive well under the speed limit in the other lanes. You could drive 80 MPH (left lane) and sooner or later you'll have someone tail gating you wanting to go even faster which I don't understand being the speeding fines here are outrageous! Trucks here are limited here to 55 MPH also.

A new law isn't going to prevent people from cruising in the left @ 65mph

Unless youre getting road head, you have no excuse to hold up traffic in the left lane.

Not sure where you are in California (unless you mean Canada), but I see it all the time here.

The worst are the people who drive the speed limit, then punch it when you try to pass. I’ve gotten into the habit of putting my foot on the floor when passing as a result. No matter how powerful his car is, there’s no way he’ll be able to catch you if you’re doing 90 (and gaining) by the time he realizes it.

Worst offenders I’ve experienced on that last one were in Richmond, VA. EVERY SINGLE CAR did that. Worse yet, my rental Cadillac didn’t have much power, and I was getting dusted by 2- y/o minivans.

i do not like right lane passers

right lane is roughest pavement-broken up by trucks

left lane is for passing, others are for cruising. Having said that, with the amount of traffic on the road today all of the lanes are usually bogged down. I live on the I95 corridor between Washington and Philly.
I did see a bumper sticker on a truck that said 'If I am passing you in the left lane you're an idiot!' I thought that was pretty good.

PA enacted the same type of law in around 2007 that you can't stay in the left lane for more than 1.5 miles, it isn't enforced since inception,. Don't get your hopes up that any other states will enforce it either.

Every state has turn signal laws on the books and no one uses their turn signals, nor is it enforced. Having a class a CDL and having driven semi for a living it's a real major sore spot when people change lanes or slow down to turn in front of me without using signals.

The post about big trucks staying in the middle lane if there are at least 3 lanes is a safety item taught when you train for your CDL. It eliminates having to deal with on and off ramp traffic on the right lane for one, and also gives you a right, and a left lane to go to in an emergency situation rather than trying to use the berm, which isn't always wide enough for a big truck with guard rails on the edge of the road.

I live just North of LA and drive the 5, 210, 57, and 10 multiple times a week. In general, I find traffic to be just fine. Sure there are idiots, but they are the minority nowadays. 25+ years ago the idiots were the majority though.

A Indiana trooper told me years ago, that he could give you a ticket for that. The left lane is for passing. Done passing? Get back over.

Correct. Many states have that law.


CA, no such law.

In WI, we would need an extra lane to not use the left...It does throw the out-of-staters a bit..
That said, what ever happened to flash to pass?
I have not seen it once in 5+ years, covering maybe 10 states & maybe 200K miles.
Wouldn't that solve the prob?

I'm thankful that I can go to work and leave early. I seem to find that the people I'm on the road with before 6am drive sharper and without that left lane chip on their shoulder.

My criteria for a good drive is me and my rig make it home in one piece. That cr@p in the middle on the way is just the chess match.

Left Lane
 

I live in California and I was working in Missouri driving down a split state highway, two lanes on each side. There were no other cars on the road at the time until I saw a police car coming so I moved to the right lane and so did he and pulled me over. He said I can't drive in the left lane even it is is empty , it is only used for passing. He really got Pi$$ed off when I showed him my Iowa drivers license and my truck had California plates. I had to explain that I had a Iowa License because I spent more than one month there but was living in Missouri on and off part time. Finally he asked me where I paid state taxes and I told him California, what a mess.!! :eek::eek::D I did not get a ticket :)

The freeways here in CA used to have "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" signs, but they took them all down! Worst thing ever!

When I was in western New York a few months ago looking at a '71 Trans Am, more people collectively followed the left is for passing only than anywhere else I've been in the last 10 years. It may have helped that the roads weren't super full.

You need to get out of SoCal and take a trip on I-5 up the Central Valley or the 101 up the coast north of Santa Barbara. You'll see the SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT signs on the two lane (each way) up there. :D

I travel all over the mid west (30-40 K a year) 10 MPH over the limit. I run the left lane all the time. However I was taught to look in my side mirrors, windshield and rearview and NEVER stop doing that.
So if some 1 is on my bumper in the left lane I get over and let them have it.
However if there are cars in front of me I stay in the left.
I am also the guy that will run a car in the ditch for passing sings that say move over because of construction or whatever. OH is the worst!

Very difficult to drive in the slow lane on a two lane each direction in California. Even in the middle of the night when no one is around the slow lane itself is the problem. The trucks destroy the pavement so if you drive in the slow lane your suspension takes a pounding along with your chattering teeth and kidneys. The state is so broke they just patch.

My dad taught me that. I stopped using it when it started getting me 'brake checks'.

I’ve never heard anyone from around here describe the traffic as “just fine.”

Haha, I bet. I entered into the acceptance phase so long ago I don't even let it bother me anymore. I always leave so early that I'm never late unless it's the absolute worst traffic. It just is what it is.

I've driven quite a bit in the UK, amazing the amount of traffic flow they get on a 3 lane motorway. If you hang out in the left lane they will almost touch your bumper coming up behind you. Look down from the crest of a hill and you can see the traffic flow, slow, fast, faster as it goes from right lane to left.

In the UK since they drive on opposite side of road, is the 'Right' lane the fast lane?


:confused:

LOL...reminds me of when I moved to SC. Had a SC license, but had another address scotch taped to the back of it, then moved again to a rental house in a different area. Driving home one Friday afternoon, was going to be first day off in 2 months, and had a 6 pack of beer on the front seat, and got pulled over by State Police doing 50 in a 40! He questioned me on the funky license stuff (all legal at the time), and then looked at my plate, which was Pennsylvania tag! Back down the rabbit hole for a while more, but I think I wore him out, as he cut me loose with a "have a nice weekend" and no citations or tickets!

Pretty much what I've found. Usually if the right lane is so torn up and rough, I just don't use it. Not only hard on the car but some of that stuff tosses the car around at those higher speeds and becomes dangerous, for everyone. If someone comes up behind me in the left lane, I'll gladly move over for them but I won't stay in the right if it's rough, I'm back over in the left lane.
If I get a ticket for that I'm fine with it. That's cheaper than suspension and tires. They want me to follow a law like that they need to provide a better surface to ride on.

Quite a few areas like that where the state could stand to spend some money on road repairs. That's what we pay all these daggum road taxes for.

Yes actually.

Yes you are correct.

There's just too many people and too many heavy trucks using the roads. The taxes are high but not even close to what's needed (especially considering how many times the state raided the fund to pay for "other" things) to keep the roads in good shape compared to the traffic. I-5 in the valley was awful even 6 months after they re-did it completely, hundreds of loaded semis day and night using it.

I've actually talked to a few police officers and most seem to be fine with the left lane driving on poor roads understanding that as long as you move over for faster traffic and explain to them that road hazards are the reason why, they'll let it slide. Doesn't stop the one or two cops having a bad day that feel like ticketing against logic, but that's life for you.

Yeah I hear ya. I've never been ticketed, or even pulled over for a left lane offense before. Matter of fact I've never heard of anything even remotely resembling a law like that here in Arizona. I've just always accepted it as common courtesy as we were taught in drivers ed, and I'll gladly move over as long as the guy isn't impatient and riding my a$$, then I don't extend the courtesy. Kind of goes both ways as far as I'm concerned. Now we do have a law for semis that are supposed to stay in the right lane only when climbing the mountains around here for obvious reasons, but they don't always do that either. Never heard of one pulled over for it.

I also find myself in the left lane, or what ever other lane available, when I have someone in front of me that can't keep their car in the groove. Ever have one of those? Here in Arizona the terrain is so sandy and rocky that it's pretty much a daily occurrence to get pelted with rocks and debri from the roadways, especially if someone in front of you tends to be a curb rider where most of that stuff collects. I've replaced 3 windshields in the last 4-5 years and frankly a little tired of doing that, lol. So I tend to move to another lane to avoid those people, and if that means the left lane, then the left lane it is. Not to mention that a couple of our rural highways have left lane turns and exits, so there are a lot of logical reasons why someone might be in the left lane, it's not always someone having a "chip" on their shoulders as some would suggest. And as long as they're doing the speed limit in the left lane, I have no issue with it.

In Ohio if you flash it means you are signaling on coming cars that police are ahead and you will get a ticket if the cops catch you doing it. I've never heard the phrase flash to pass before but I've only been driving for 42 years.

Same here. I grew up in PA and I've heard about (and have done) flashing lights was a signal to slow down because of the police and never heard of the flash-to-pass thing.

Where I grew up you would give a really quick couple of honks to the car in front that you were going to pass.

Flash to pass was more of a European thing. It was never really practiced here in the states.

Flashing to warn others of cops was a big deal in the 70's and 80's in Ohio when I was living there, but even that kind of faded away. I got to a point where I quit warning people and figured if they were dumb enough to go that fast they deserve to get caught, lol. These days that's pretty much non existent.

As a kid in the 60's we would travel back on Sunday nights from our weekend place on the river. Three hours of two lane wooded country roads, and I can remember my Dad lighting up the tree tops whenever he passed someone with that blue 2 door '61 Biscayne.
With three kids, a dog and trunk full of stuff it was nose high on those trips. Looked sweet with the wide whites and skirts!

#poleposition#passuminthegrass

Clay

There is always the "Chrome horn"
:)