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Vox article explains why cruising in the passing lane is dangerous


Ser Scot A Ellison

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10 hours ago, Pebbles said:

What freaked me out the most when I was driving in Florida was the Left turns on multi lane roads.   On this side of the pond our duel carriageways and mortorways all the junctions are on the same side of the road (left).

Good thing I am not in the USA, that sounds scary. We only have exits on the right side, that is by the slow lane.

52 minutes ago, The Mance said:

I wonder how many of these left lane cruising incidents are actual just cases of someone passing slow lane travelers at a slower rate than overtaking left lane drivers.

So, say I'm traveling at 70mph in the slow lane of a 65mph roadway. I come up behind a line of cars traveling at 65mph and pull out to pass them.  While passing the group of cars at 70mph, another group comes up behind me at 75mph.  Am I obligated to to slow down and merge into the slow lane so that the faster travelers can pass me?  Should I increase my speed to 75mph until its safe to merge right and slow down to my preferred speed?  Or can the 75mph'ers just suck it since I am actually passing in the passing lane and am already traveling above the speed limit?

I would say that on a 65 mph road, everybody should be driving no more than 65 mph, but then that might just be me. :dunno:  I try to overtake the vehicles I was meaning to overake in that case, and only then go back to the slow lane (once I am in front of the slow ones). The ones trying to pass me should slow down, since they are already driving over the speed limit.

I was also taught that the left lane is the overtaking lane, and most of the time you should drive on the right.

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Well,  I have learned something new about differences between American and British English from this thread. I have never heard the term "undertaking" used in regard to driving in the USA. In fact, I don't think I ever hear "undertake" as a verb in the USA in any context, and my first response to it was to think it had to do with preparing the dead for burial. :)

As for the main question -- it is very frustrating when someone is driving in the passing lane at exactly the speed limit or below. However, I have often been in the situation The Mance describes above, where I am trying to pass someone who is driving about 5 mph slower than I am and have pulled out into the passing lane while at a safe distance from them, and someone suddenly comes up behind me trying to drive much faster, and tries to whip around between me and the driver I'm passing in the narrow space still available. To me the "superspeeder" here is driving in a way more dangerous way than I am in that situation.

I do remember reading over a decade ago, though, about the highway patrol in North Carolina trying to curb speeding in that state by having two police cars drive right next to each other in both lanes going exactly the speed limit. Don't know if they still do that. 

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1 hour ago, The Mance said:

I wonder how many of these left lane cruising incidents are actual just cases of someone passing slow lane travelers at a slower rate than overtaking left lane drivers.

So, say I'm traveling at 70mph in the slow lane of a 65mph roadway. I come up behind a line of cars traveling at 65mph and pull out to pass them.  While passing the group of cars at 70mph, another group comes up behind me at 75mph.  Am I obligated to to slow down and merge into the slow lane so that the faster travelers can pass me?  Should I increase my speed to 75mph until its safe to merge right and slow down to my preferred speed?  Or can the 75mph'ers just suck it since I am actually passing in the passing lane and am already traveling above the speed limit?

This is just my personal interpretation, but I think that as long as you are actively moving faster than the cars to your right, the 75 mph driver should just cool their jets behind you, at a reasonable distance, until you conscientiously get back to the right as soon as you are past the slower cars.

In Massachusetts at least, you can get ticketed for traveling a long distance in the left-most lane (even on the interstates with 3 or 4 lanes for each direction) without obviously passing someone. Though like many other traffic regulations it seems like a rule given to selective enforcement, subject to whims/moods/demographic assessment of the officer involved.

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In Sweden it's prohibited to pass someone to the right on highways. If you're driving slowly in the passing lane, you slow down traffic for everyone.

I don't think it's such a big deal though. Most people move out of their way when you get close enough and the people getting the most angry about slow left lane drivers are usually driving way too fast anyway. 

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21 minutes ago, sologdin said:

ormond, undertake as a verb is reasonably standard lawyer talk, as in an action in assumpsit, say.

 

Which of course is a perfect example of why the average person complains they don't understand "legalese". 

I have remembered that on rare occasions "undertake" is used as a verb in regular American English as a verb in phrases like "he undertook training to run the marathon." But the idea of it meaning "passing another vehicle in the lane normallY NOT used for passing" is really foreign to me. 

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2 hours ago, Tears of Lys said:

You're cruising along at 60 mph. in the passing lane?  Okay, whatever.  I go around you.

That's the problem, though.

But yes, speed limits are bullshit 95% of the time. I'll try to dig up the link later, but they're usually set 10-15mph slower than what traffic engineers would determine to be safe speed for that road. And in the absence of speed limits, most people drive at roughly that safe speed. The ones who don't are probably ignoring speed limits anyway.

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Speed limits in built up areas are sensible and a good thing, speed limits on motorways, a lot of dual carriageways with good visibility and few junctions for vechicles to emerge from are silly and for the most part get ignored.

I have no problem with people doing 100+ if the road is safe to do it on.

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1 hour ago, DanteGabriel said:

This is just my personal interpretation, but I think that as long as you are actively moving faster than the cars to your right, the 75 mph driver should just cool their jets behind you, at a reasonable distance, until you conscientiously get back to the right as soon as you are past the slower cars.

And I agree that that is the most reasonable resolution.  I think what I was trying to get at, though, is that many/most of the left lane cruiser stories you hear about are told from the perspective of the 75mph'ers relating their impressions of people trying to do this with varying degrees of success ie: continue at their slower speed and then merge safely only to get caught out by a speed reducing incline, or the slow lane vehicle speeding up, etc.  Its rare (although it does happen, and fuck those people) that I see someone just blithely continue on at a slower speed without giving way within a few car lengths.

A thing that I see far more often, and that seems much more dangerous, are drivers that try to cut ahead in a line of passing vehicles.  So on a roadway with a solid line of 75mph vehicles in the fast lane, all moving steadily past interspersed groups of 65-70mph vehicles in the slow lane, one passing vehicle will dart over into an opening in the slow lane, zip ahead a few car lengths and then force a dangerous, last-second, swerve back into the fast lane.

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I can deal with being stuck behind slower drivers, but for the life of me I cant understand those with the inability to set there cruise at one speed and keep it there, especially on these long stretches in our area that are State/Nat Forests and can be miles of two lane with few passing lanes. If I encounter these slow drivers where there arent passing lanes, I give them a long lead away from me, set my cruise at a slightly lower rate than them and then just let them McGoo along, but its annoying as hell when you have to set, reset, set, reset, set, reset because the idiot cannot maintain one speed even at a reduced rate. Its not going slow that irritates a lot of us, its the dangerous people going faster, slower, slower, faster, faster, slower all the while in a straight stretch of flat two lane, they are actually as dangerous as any speeders imo. How many vehicles are without cruise control in 2016? 

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42 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I can deal with being stuck behind slower drivers, but for the life of me I cant understand those with the inability to set there cruise at one speed and keep it there, especially on these long stretches in our area that are State/Nat Forests and can be miles of two lane with few passing lanes. If I encounter these slow drivers where there arent passing lanes, I give them a long lead away from me, set my cruise at a slightly lower rate than them and then just let them McGoo along, but its annoying as hell when you have to set, reset, set, reset, set, reset because the idiot cannot maintain one speed even at a reduced rate. Its not going slow that irritates a lot of us, its the dangerous people going faster, slower, slower, faster, faster, slower all the while in a straight stretch of flat two lane, they are actually as dangerous as any speeders imo. How many vehicles are without cruise control in 2016? 

I admit to being guilty of this, because I am usually too easily influenced by the drivers in front of me. I can keep one pace if there is nobody in front, but once I see somebody in front of me who is driving slower, I will often reduce speed instead of overtaking and not even notice it.

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2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

How many vehicles are without cruise control in 2016? 

I assume you're in the US? *Plenty* of cars outside of your country do not have cruise control. Especially in countries where the majority of the population are driving older models. I would be shocked if 1/10 cars in India have cruise control. 

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Well okay a lot of older models may be without cruise in various areas. But my issue is still with drivers i'm seeing in newer cars, the majority of which, in the region im driving in, would have the cruise and not be employing it (cruise) along long  (20+ mile) stretches of flat, straight two lane highway that we have stretching East/West across the Michigan Upper Peninsula where you have to traverse through multiple State and Nat Forests with the passing lanes stretched very far apart. You get behind someone in a lot of spots and your stuck there for quite a while. I've learned to accept that and let them way ahead because I dont want to stare at there bumper. But when they start this faster, slower, faster, slower bullshit its just hair pulling time. I really dont care what rate they want to travel, I just want to create my space away from then and maintain it . Its nearly impossible when they pull the speed up and slow down stunts in a stretch with no passing lanes for miles.

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On 8/26/2016 at 5:37 PM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Here you go:

http://www.vox.com/2016/8/26/12648826/highway-driving-slowly-left-lane

Okay left lane cruisers, defend your actions now.

I can always tell when I have crossed into Va.  Fuckers drive in multiple lanes like they are lining up for the start of a sailboat race.

The other thing that grinds my gears is when you come up on someone in the slow lane, go to pass, and all of a sudden they get their Andretti on.  I am sure in some cases it is unconcious, but man it is unsafe and maddening

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I drive 25k miles a year, mostly 4 lane highway. I stick to the 2nd and 3rd lanes for the most part with the cruise control set at 70 mph. One issue I see a lot of is the slow 3rd lane driver who suddenly wakes up and accelerates up to 75 mph as soon as someone goes to the left lane to pass them. It's like the second someone passes them they decide to hit the gas and then once they go past them they drop back to 65mph. This results in a backup in the left lane because the passer does not want to risk going to far above 75 mph. It's a weird psychology but I see this oscillation in speed all the time. I actually think it is a main cause of the left hand  cruise issue.  

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22 hours ago, Lord Sidious said:

I usually stay in the outside lane and flash people out of the way, if I want to get past them and they don't have the common sense to move over, if that doesn't work then I undertake.

if I'm on my bike I just automatically undertake, it saves having to slow down and you're past them so quickly it's a non issue.

Disappointing, I was hoping you would just blast them out of the way

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