Someone should buy this man a burger.
Of course people will chime in to say "it's not the slow drivers impeding traffic that's the problem, its all the people wanting to pass them while speeding."
There are lots of driving laws out there, but not at all of them get enforced. There are many laws that involve just being courteous to one another, and I'm glad someone finally was reminded of the Left Lane law.
pheller said:Of course people will chime in to say "it's not the slow drivers impeding traffic that's the problem, its all the people wanting to pass them while speeding."
Who would argue that from a common sense point of view? No one can, really. A cork plug keeps water from flowing. Move the plug.
Thank you for reminding my why I don't have Twitter. I made it about 30 seconds into the comments before I was ready to drive wherever that Jake shiny happy person lives and punch him in the face. I hope he never reads this as I'm sure he'll get much enjoyment out of knowing he annoyed me.
This really shouldn't be news, I hope there's someone out there that learns from this, but it seems like most of these left lane shiny happy people do this intentionally while claiming they're trying to look out for your best interest. I'm sure jake floors it when you're trying to pass him on a two lane too. Safety first.
Speeding is not inherently unsafe, it's all about speed differential.
What Jake fails to understand is that traffic jams where people come to a complete stop start with two people going nearly the speed limit. Those two cars are also 100% unaware that they just started a traffic jam.
Imagine you are going about the speed limit on a densely packed (but everyone is moving) freeway. You are as close to the car in front of you as you are comfortable driving. Then the car in front of you slows down 3 mph. What happens?
Now you are CLOSER to the car in front of you than you are comfortable driving. So you slow down more than 3 mph to regain the gap. So you slowed down 5 mph. The person behind you now must slow down 7 mph to regain their gap. and on and on until 20 cars behind you people are slamming on their brakes and coming to a complete halt in the middle of the highway. The aftershock echoes for miles backward and for hours.
It doesn't matter if you start this mess at 42 and 39 or 82 and 79, the result can be the same.
This law isn't about getting out of the way for the guy directly behind you (though it has potential to). It is about the thousands of people on the road miles behind you for the next 3 hours. And trust me, they are not speeding. Especially if they are unlucky enough to drive behind left lane jake.
I have made several trips over I-5 in Southern Oregon recently. Two lane highway going up mountains with 18 wheelers passing other 18 wheelers... one going 29 mph and the other 31 mph.
Why?
In reply to CJ :
Because they have to keep whatever momentum they have to get over the mountain. Giving up 2 mph in a heavily loaded semi trying to clImb a mountain is terrible.
I don’t have any issue with a truck trying to make a pass. He has just as much a right to pass the guy as I do, even if I am more efficient at making the pass.
But rolling roadblocks frustrate me. And passenger vehicles trying to force there own morals on the rest of the world pisses me off.
Bravo, officer.
pheller said:Of course people will chime in to say "it's not the slow drivers impeding traffic that's the problem, its all the people wanting to pass them while speeding."
There are lots of driving laws out there, but not at all of them get enforced. There are many laws that involve just being courteous to one another, and I'm glad someone finally was reminded of the Left Lane law.
It's sad that we have to have laws to enforce courtesy.
Imagine if you were at the supermarket and wanted to get to the canned tomatoes and someone was just parked there, blocking to tomatoes. And you asked them if they could move over a little, and they just said "No, I have every right to be here, I'll move eventually and you can get your tomatoes then, but for now berk you." That is people who block lanes, except with the automotive equivalent of the G.I.F.T.
10,000 Commandments. I do salute the trooper however. 
I wish shiny happy people in maryland would get with the program that the left lane is for passing and not normal driving.
Ok my $.02 worth. A multi lane highway needs to have both lanes used to get maximum traffic flow. If the left lane is only used for passing then you might as well have a 2 lane highway. That being said I also believe that if you are not at the speed limit or faster you should not be in the left lane. Additionally if you are in the left lane you should keep an eye on the rear view mirror for someone coming up on you. If you see this you should move over for them if it can be done safely. If you are the one coming up on someone in the left lane take a minute to determine if 1) they are traveling at least the speed limit or faster 2) can they move over safely and with out slowing way down 3) use you vision to look down the road it might be faster to slow down in the left lane until traffic clears up a bit then to swoop into the right lane and get stuck behind a line of slow cars while the car you tried to pass just motors on and you end up behind them again. Sorry for the rambling.
SVreX said:In reply to CJ :
Because they have to keep whatever momentum they have to get over the mountain. Giving up 2 mph in a heavily loaded semi trying to clImb a mountain is terrible.
This. Also for some reason I don't quite understand it's difficult to slow just the 2 mph under those conditions. When you roll out of the throttle to slow down the boost drops and doesn't build back up quickly so you end up slowing down more than you want to and then struggling to get back up to speed.
The circumstance I see causing issues is when you are in the left lane, everyone at a safe distance going 5 to 10 mph over the limit, passing slower traffic which is in the right lane.
Next thing you know there is a gap in the slower traffic and one genius decides to punch forward to the back of the slow person in the right lane and force himself into that safe gap you have been maintaining in the left lane. I've seen people do this to me and others extremely aggressively.
One guy charged up and cut so hard in front of me to shoot the gap that I had to hit my brakes to avoid being clipped.
He was such an idiot that a few miles later I passed him because he got himself trapped behind some much slower right lane traffic.
Guy was visibly losing his mind trying to get over again. Road rage kills.
Has anyone taken the officer to IHOB yet?
In reply to jharry3 :
What I usually see is people with their cruise control on and their brains off driving in a car length apart chain in the center lane, and a blockage in the left lane of people not passing because... who knows? And a completely clear right lane. So I will blow past them all in the right lane. (If they didn't want to be treated like obstacles, they shouldn't act like obstacles...)
I am not on Facebook, and I don't subscribe to Moron Monthly, so I do not understand this thing that has cropped up with people driving in the center lane. I have witnessed people on multiple occasion jump into the center lane for no reason other than they weren't in it. (Next exit 10 miles, no other traffic in right lane... OMG I am not in the center lane, I must go there without even checking my mirrors!)
The zombie apocalypse has arrived, and they are driving Caravans and Escapes.
Drove a bunch today and still amazed by the number of drivers who want to drive either exactly the speed limit or 15 over. I want to drive 7-8 over and am CONSTANTLY running up on left lane drivers and getting boxed in by the ones in the left lane who I got over for in the first place.
In reply to Dead_Sled :
AMEN! I preach the dangers of speed differential to my son all the time. "Going the speed limit makes no difference if a stopped car pulls out of the packed turn lane in front of you"
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