The left lane is the passing lane.

sadly true. The chances of the other person learning from it are miniscule.

There are a few roads near me that actually have signs stating for slower traffic to keep right, and people are constantly driving slowly in the left lane on those roads, so my hope for anyone learning from something I do is not good. I think most people that do stupid things on the road (or I guess off, for that matter) are just cluelessly oblivious. No way to teach to that.

Sign ? What sign? I din't see no stinking sign.

bravenrace wrote: There are a few roads near me that actually have signs stating for slower traffic to keep right, and people are constantly driving slowly in the left lane on those roads, so my hope for anyone learning from something I do is not good. I think most people that do stupid things on the road (or I guess off, for that matter) are just cluelessly oblivious. No way to teach to that.

If it's any consolation. I run into these same people walking in the casinos I work at. It is quite common to see people walking around blindly, so concentrating on where they are going, that they miss people standing right in front of them and try to run them over.

And this is walking at a slow pace! They are going to eventually get back into their cars and drive home

The center lane (if there are three) is for carefully driving at 5mph below the limit.

mad_machine wrote: And this is walking at a slow pace! They are going to eventually get back into their cars and drive home

Yeah, drive home while texting, putting on makeup, combing their hair, fussing with the radio, eating, drinking, etc... Everything except concentrating on the act of driving. Sometimes I think the worst thing they did was put cupholders in a car. It was the start of a slippery slope. Or maybe not, as there were plenty of bad drivers before that.
I also wonder if the proliferation of safety devices like traction control, ABS, airbags, etc... have had some effect of making people have a false sense of safety so they think they don't have to pay attention anymore. But no, they're probably just ignorantly oblivious. My sister has been one of them for 30 years.

bravenrace wrote: Sometimes I think the worst thing they did was put cupholders in a car. It was the start of a slippery slope. Or maybe not, as there were plenty of bad drivers before that. I also wonder if the proliferation of safety devices like traction control, ABS, airbags, etc... have had some effect of making people have a false sense of safety so they think they don't have to pay attention anymore.

I really don't know which does more harm or good when comparing the improved safety features with the increased "living room" feel provided by them and all the comfort/convenience/infotainment stuff. I suppose it does no good pining for some middle ground where the cars have modern functional improvements but not all the fluff.

I drove a Mazda CX7 a couple of weeks ago. I don't know whether the massive A-pillars are for structure or to house airbags or what, but they blocked a ridiculous amount of the view in the direction I was driving. The huge C-pillars and high beltlines these days are bad enough, but that was just ridiculous...

Rowan Atkinson had a funny BBC special called The Driven Man about cars and his love of them, which has a bit about distractions and the evolution of the car to be a safe place for when the crash happens.

ransom wrote: <I drove a Mazda CX7 a couple of weeks ago. I don't know whether the massive A-pillars are for structure or to house airbags or what, but they blocked a *ridiculous* amount of the view *in the direction I was driving*. The huge C-pillars and high beltlines these days are bad enough, but that was just ridiculous...

What? That's ridiculous! You don't need to see, you have 15 air bags!!

ransom wrote: Rowan Atkinson had a funny BBC special called The Driven Man about cars and his love of them, which has a bit about distractions and the evolution of the car to be a safe place for when the crash happens.

I just watched the whole series on youtube.. brilliant as always from him

So what do you guys think the clueless vs. inconsiderate ass-hat ratio is?

I'd like to think it's around 70/30. If I'm right, how do we make people more aware. In lieu of a programmable neon sign that reads: "GET THE berkeley OUT OF THE HAMMER-LANE, E36 M3 HEAD!" - how do we educate the ignorant lane hogs of the world?

I've thought about a bumper sticker that reads "The LEFT lane is the PASSING lane!" But that seems like an admission of guilt if I get popped speeding.

As a public service, should I stand in the median waving a sign on weekends???

In reply to poopshovel:

I personally think your ratio is pretty close, but I also don't think there is any educating that can be done. I'd sure be interested if someone can prove me wrong, though!
Just the other day I was behind a car that was behind a car that was blocking the left lane. The front car finally slowed down, still in the left lane, but enough that the second car went around the first. I did the same thing. So I'm driving down the road all happy and content until I come up on the car that was second in line. You know, the one that was being blocked? And what is he doing? Driving slow in the left lane right next to a truck in the right lane!!!
See? Think this person can be educated?

There is an STi around here that has a windshield header with MOVE OVER written reversed. While I applaud the sentiment, that stuff just makes the Mr. & Mrs. Grundies of the world more pissed off and obstinate. And the rest of the clueless asshats just won't notice it at all.

the STi owner must be assuming that the people driving slowly in the left hand lane are going to look in their rear view mirror more often than every 15 - 20 min

Something I do find funny.. when I am in my 318ti.. people automatically get out of my way on the highway. Granted it is pretty intimidating with the Sport (m3 look) kit and being lowered..

ransom wrote: Rowan Atkinson had a funny BBC special called The Driven Man about cars and his love of them, which has a bit about distractions and the evolution of the car to be a safe place for when the crash happens.

Thanks for sharing that! I ended up watching the entire thing. "The sound of Morris cross the glade...good folk, lock up your son & daughter.." (He'll always be Blackadder to me )

mad_machine wrote: Something I do find funny.. when I am in my 318ti.. people automatically get out of my way on the highway. Granted it is pretty intimidating with the Sport (m3 look) kit and being lowered..

It is kind of funny how different people react to different cars. There's quite a difference between how they react to the TR6 and the E30.

which one gets people out of the way faster? both are pretty aggressive looking

Ex FBI Crown Vic painted gov't blue gets 'em over in the right lane... most of the time. I miss that car.

Want to know a good way to tell how people are gonna be as a driver? Spend some time watching them push a shopping cart around the supermarket. No anticipation, no looking around, cell phone on wandering cluelessly, I could go on.

While most of what has been said is true, stop and reflect. Last summer and fall, I had occasion to drive from upstate NY to south Deleware three times. Drove the NYS thruway to Jersy, Garden State Parkway once, both ways Jersey Turnpike both ways once, went through PA once, both ways.. After all of the traffic,esp Jersey, I have to say, in general the driving by others were not that bad. There were a few bone heads and once there was a tailgating incident in the other lane. The worst part was the backup in construction zones. If the speed limit is 45 and every one drives at 45,then why does it become stop and go in all lanes?

I experienced a new one this morning. I was driving to work, going 65 in a 65 zone in the far right hand lane. A semi comes up behind me and immediately starts tailgating me. I'm driving a CRX, so this truck is REAL close. I keep driving 65 thinking he'll pass, but he just keeps tailgating me. There was a good amount of traffic in the center and left lanes, so maybe he didn't have an opening, idunno. After about 3-4 minutes of this, he flashes his bright lights at me! I'm in the slow lane gong the speed limit! I shouldn't have, but instinctively I hit the brakes. I don't just touch them, I hit them hard, and then use my rearview mirror and left foot braking I learned from years of autocrossing to make sure he didn't rearend me. Well he backed off really fast then. It pissed me off that here I am driving responsibly and this truck comes up, tries to intimidate me and then flashes his lights as if to say I need go over the speed limit just for him. WTF?

In reply to bravenrace:

Some places have a "Trucks and buses keep right" law. Maybe he wasn't allowed to use the other lanes?

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Yes he was. But it doesn't matter, because he still should not have done what he did. By doing so, he was implying that I was supposed to speed up just for his convenience.

In reply to iceracer:

The reason roads back up, in my opinion, is too many on/off ramps. Trying to get people to merge and exit without screwing up the flow of traffic ON the road is the main problem. Of course if there were no on/off ramps it would be a race track... The freeways out in CA are always messed up due to too many people on them. I suspect the traffic on the freeways would flow better if there wasn't a ramp every 500 feet and people that just got on trying to shoot acroos 8 lanes to get in the 'FAST' lane going all of 20 mph. My commute of 12 miles typically took 45 minutes. Now that I'm in NC my 40 mile commute takes 45 minutes.

what you said is true but I was talking about consturction zones. Even if the speed limit is 45mph, why does it become a traffic jam. One reason is the reduction of lanes which produces a merge factor that has been discussed earlier.