Ticketed for driving slow in the left lane

[Deere Dude]

It's a bit of a hijack but another thing that I find annoying is people who vary their speed. I usually drive on regional highways that are just 2 lanes (one in each direction). Nothing makes me crazier than a person who's speed goes up and down by 20mph. ARRRRR!

While pulling something big so you can't pass no matter what makes it most annoying. Last year I was pulling a 37' fifth wheel on a two lane road like this. The guy in from of me was driving with the right arm over the seat on the right just smoking his cigar and taking it easy. He would vary from 50 to 57 or so on this 55 MPH limit slightly curvy road. I was steamed because I missed the opportunity previously but figured he would pick up the speed because the road got straight for a stretch, and now couldn't pass because of the curves and this big load and he was in front erratically jerking around.

Finally I came to this 4 way stop sign with 3 lanes. A left lane with a couple hundred foot lead in. The straight lane for going straight and the right lane for that direction. I could either turn left and get home in 10 minutes or go straight and get home in the same time. Just a couple different roads. Well, I figured if he goes straight I'll turn left. If he goes left I'll go straight. Problem solved.

He was in the center lane and as soon as he committed to go straight I hooked left and started to pass him on the left. He then he decides to turn left, but he saw the camper and my truck right beside him so he was stuck in the center lane. It was in the summer so all I could hear was the horn honking and the shouting and the screaming out his window but I just pretended I didn't hear him and chuckled all the way home.

Maybe it wasn't the safest and smartest thing to do because he could have wrecked my camper, but I got so steamed I didn't care at that time.

 

[TomSeller]

One of the problems we have is the right lane is so beat up by the trucks it is not the best driving so people stay in the left lane because the roadway is smoother.

 

[Alan L.]

They are usually the ones who are on the phone, either talking or texting. The last thing on their list of priorities seems to be actually driving!

Or drunk/high

 

[Alan L.]

Since we are speaking of rude drivers, here is the one that chaps my ars more than anything. I am on the freeway and the car ahead of me slows down. Cars are zipping by me on the left, I have my blinker on to change lanes and go around this guy, and about the time I get an opening the car BEHIND me whips over to the left and goes around me, knowing full well that I have been trying to get over for the last mile. This really chaps me. When I am in the same situation I move over and keep the same speed just long enough to allow the car in front of me to move over.

 

[daugen]

How about the people on two-lanes that ride your bumper but never pass? I drive the speed limit on two lane roads,

I have been waiting for someone to invent an inexpensive remote control pop up sign in the rear winder that flashes "Tailgating is DANGEROUS"
Now that would make a few idiots get even closer, since the law and common sense clearly never applies to them. Likely never has.

I've tried turning on my windshield washer spray for a minute or too...if they have a nice car, that usually backs them up a bit.
4 way flashers sometime help, pointing at the speed limit sign, sigh, it's aggravating to get people off your bumper. I purposely leave my big
three way chrome ball hitch on the back of the Suburban, that in itself seems to be good for ten extra feet. Sometimes.

But lastly, likely due to my age and retirement, I've learned to just find a place to pull over and let them by. When I pull back behind them, what's always curious is that they aren't going much faster. They just wanted someone's bumper to attach to, like a parasitic slug.

Best thing I've found is to drive 2 over. If the tailgater at least think he/she is doing "more than the limit" that seems to calm some of their urges...

 

[daugen]

One of the problems we have is the right lane is so beat up by the trucks it is not the best driving so people stay in the left lane because the roadway is smoother.

really good point; our area is loaded with quarries and stone trucks just tear up the local roads.
Also, in urban/suburban areas, there are all those manhole covers in the right lane and road drainage dips.

As far as I'm concerned, if you are the only car on the road, and that happens to all of us, drive anywhere you want. But you need to pay attention to overtaking traffic (oh, is that what the rear view mirror is for?) and move over long before you need to share the same road with someone. Otherwise you're being a rude, inattentive, situationally unaware road hog that deserves a nice fat ticket. and btw, stay off the phone or Ipad too!

It's easy to get steamed or take offense at rude dangerous behavior. But there's so much of it out there that you just can't go out every time and
get ticked off. Need to find a way to find some karma and just wait your time to go your way. Easier said than done. I was a road rager for a long time, impatient, spent my life going from appointment to appointment, always had to be on time, always in a rush. Yikes. Glad I'm retired.
But that mental attitude stayed with me for several years after retirement. Now I do the speed limit too, not on the interstate, but driving a Suburban naturally tends to keep one's speed down if only to attempt to see the ever elusive 13mpg...
Now my wife's new XTS is going to get us a ticket on a trip, or I'm going to fall asleep in it, it's so quiet.
I looked down and I'm doing twenty over and literally not knowing it. Whoops, slow down fool.

There are a lot of poor drivers out there. We have to drive more defensively all the time to share the roads with them.
When you look to the left and there's four ninety year old white heads sunk down in the seats, are you really going to sit on your
horn going by? I used to, not any more. All they do is veer all over the place, a hazard I created, not them.

A fun exercise is to decide the make of car or truck that you think the safest drivers drive. I always search for someone leaving lots of room between cars and try to get in a "train" of safely operating cars. Often they are driving faster than I want to, so it's not the right slow lane either. it's just a bunch of good drivers making good time getting to where they need to go.
And please don't honk at the tractor drivers...:thumbsup:

 

[riptides]

Last I heard the culprits ticket was dismissed.

 

[dave1949]

How about the people on two-lanes that ride your bumper but never pass? I drive the speed limit on two lane roads,

I have been waiting for someone to invent an inexpensive remote control pop up sign in the rear winder that flashes "Tailgating is DANGEROUS"
Now that would make a few idiots get even closer, since the law and common sense clearly never applies to them. Likely never has.
<snip>
.

The cruise control in high-end models now have auto speed adjusters that detect nearness to the vehicle ahead. But more fun would be a rear-mounted detector that flashed strobe lights, the closer the brighter. Sort of a "training" device. :laughing: "Oh, when I get further away those lights stop hurting my eyes."

 

[RoyJackson]

But lastly, likely due to my age and retirement, I've learned to just find a place to pull over and let them by.

Same here...if it's a safe straightaway...

As far as passing on a highway, I normally run with my cruise control on...normally 5 MPH over the limit. I'm not going to speed up if I'm passing (since I'm already speeding) just to let them by.

 

[burnieman]

I drive an 01 dodge that smokes like a chimney. I'll make extra smoke for you if you're driving stupid. If you drive a prius you get extra smoke just because!