• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

left lane on highway

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

OP85063

Member
The lions share of driving is actually more about courtesy than "rules". Plain and simple.

Whether you like it or not, you ARE the slower traffic of which you speak. And your rationale that you can't be the 'slower' traffic because no one's hit you in the rear end yet made me laugh out loud. Darlin', it's because their using this thing called BRAKES so that they DON'T hit you. Face it...people in the left hand lane speed and drive faster than 65. That's between them and their police officer.

You are not in control of someone else's speed. I get the very distinct impression that you're driving in the left hand lane because you're incredibly passive/aggressive. YOU feel that YOU can and will control other peoples driving. What you're doing is causing road rage and...in time...you are going to cause an accident. All because you think you need to be 'right'.

No..while it may not be entirely illegal for you to drive in the left hand lane going slower than all the other traffic around you, it does indeed make you a jerk. Like it or not. Really...why wouldn't you move over? Wait...don't tell me...you're also the person in the right hand lane at an on ramp that even though you CAN move to the left, you refuse to do so because you don't HAVE to. (No, you're not required to yield, the oncoming traffic is required to safely "merge"...but still) Yep...ya gotta be right. That's all that matters.

Hope you and the others involved survive the accident YOU cause....by being "right".
Thank you, Well said!

Not that is an right for anyone to speed, but it's more courtesy that will save your life and avoid an accident.

To the OP: Next time you see an 18 wheeler jump the curb and coming direct into your lane keep going forward and keep thinking your are in the right lane and don't move. You'll be right!
 


caslerst

Member
The only thing I am aware of that would prevent me from doing so is a sign that says, "Slower traffic keep right." The contradiction occurs when other drivers are behind me. Are they going faster than me? No, because they would hit me if they tried to go faster than me. So technically, I am not "slower traffic."
When they have to go around you, you become "slower traffic"

Today, I was passing a truck and after I got past him I didn't feel like changing lanes because there was another truck to pass a quarter mile ahead.
I can understand this. I usually drive with cruise control and if I don't feel the space in the slower lane is enough for the person behind me to pass before I have to kick my CC off, I won't move over either.

The driver immediately behind me didn't like my speed of 70mph (speed limit is 65 in Ohio) and rode my bumper. I never react to those people. Someone else in a red sedan decided they would go about 90 or so and pass on my right while honking their horn at me as if I were doing something wrong.

This got me thinking - many drivers seem to think they own the road and are more important than the law and everyone else on the road. They should be able to go whatever speed they want and nobody, except maybe a cop, should do anything to slow them down.
You admit that you were speeding too, just not as bad. Pot, meet the kettle.

If traffic slows down, they weave in and out to get to the front of the line, even if it means cutting people off and making other drivers angry.
You do realize that they probably wouldn't have to if you got out of the way.

The story ends well. There was a speed trap about two miles up the highway and I saw the same red sedan on the side of the road.
Excellent. You see, police are out there stopping speeders. You don't need to help them.

I just wish people wouldn't drive so recklessly on the highway when there is moderate traffic. At night, the only risk they take is hitting a deer instead of putting others in danger. I am only opposed to their driving during the day.
I agree. However, when I was younger and drove a sports car I was one of those people every now and then and I can tell you that I hated people like you who wouldn't move over. We called them "Left Lane Louies." They are the people in the fast lane who drive whatever speed they want to and to he%$ with everyone else. They never move over except when they need to get off the freeway.

I can tell you from personal experience that people like you made me drive 90 in the other lane to get around them when I would not have if you had moved over.

Now that I am older, wiser, have a wife and child, and drive a slower car I just do my 68mph in the middle or slow lane. Let the speed demons go their speed and get their tickets. If I stay out of their way there is less chance that they will hit me.
 

The Occultist

Senior Member
If OP was traveling at exactly 70mph while overtaking a vehicle one-quarter a mile ahead that was traveling at exactly 65mph, it would take 180 seconds (on the nose) for OP to come abreast of the slower vehicle.
In 3 minutes, the OP could have easily moved to the slow lane, allowed faster traffic to move ahead, and then moved back into the fast lane before reaching that vehicle. (by the way, I commend you on your physics! :D )
 

Ozark_Sophist

Senior Member
In 3 minutes, the OP could have easily moved to the slow lane, allowed faster traffic to move ahead, and then moved back into the fast lane before reaching that vehicle. (by the way, I commend you on your physics! :D )
Since the following vehicles cannot start closing the distance until OP is entirely in the right lane and the legal distance they would have each been following (assuming two were following), I don't see that there was enough time--particularly as there were other vehicles passing unlawfully on the right.
 

VeronicaLodge

Senior Member
whenever I'm in the left lane and contemplating if i should move over or not (because there is a car in the next lane ahead of me that I feel that i will end up passing anyway), and there is a car coming up behind me, i always try to judge if the guy coming up behind me is gaining on me faster than i am gaining on the guy in front of me but in the right lane. If im gaining faster, i stay put until i pass that guy and then move over, if the car behind me is gaining on me faster than i'm gaining on the guy to the right, i move over, let him pass, and move back. thats just common courtesy to me!
 

mwbarton

Member
Since the following vehicles cannot start closing the distance until OP is entirely in the right lane and the legal distance they would have each been following (assuming two were following), I don't see that there was enough time--particularly as there were other vehicles passing unlawfully on the right.
Three minutes is a lot of time and you can travel just under three miles in that amount of time....plenty of time and room to move right.

Had the slower vehicle moved right at the first safe opportunity, then faster vehicles wouldn't have been passing on the right. If faster vehicles had time to go around on the right, then the OP had plenty of time to move right and let the faster vehicles go by on the left. It's hard to argue that he was in the act of passing a vehicle on the right when he was being passed by vehicles on the right.
 

The Occultist

Senior Member
Three minutes is a lot of time and you can travel just under three miles in that amount of time....plenty of time and room to move right.

Had the slower vehicle moved right at the first safe opportunity, then faster vehicles wouldn't have been passing on the right. If faster vehicles had time to go around on the right, then the OP had plenty of time to move right and let the faster vehicles go by on the left. It's hard to argue that he was in the act of passing a vehicle on the right when he was being passed by vehicles on the right.
Even through I completely agree with you, I still find myself agreeing with Ozark's stance that this doesn't dictate what the law requires. :(
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top