Read more about The Safety-Based Case Against Left Lane Squatters at Motorcycle.com.If you’re a motorcyclist, odds are that you aren’t one of those car drivers that squats in the left lane plodding along exactly at the speed limit while everyone else stacks up behind you with their blood pressure nearing the bursting point. Then again, maybe you are one of those mouth-breathers who believes it is their God-given right to drive in whatever lane they want, no matter who it inconveniences. (If you are, we’ve got a special place in Hell carved out for you to spend all of eternity listening to the Barney Song turned up to 11.)
While we’ve all experienced the aggravation of the left lane squatter, it turns out that slowing down traffic in the left lane is also a safety hazard because it forces faster drivers to weave back and forth between lanes, which can cause a cascading wave of deceleration in the right lane that further slows and stacks up traffic. Oh yeah, it increases the odds of an accident, too.
So, next time you see some doofus online, bloviating about how safe he is going the speed limit in the left lane instead of sticking to the right unless he’s passing, point him in the direction of the video below. While it probably won’t change the blowhard’s behavior, you might just inform some less experienced driver, like the narrator in the video, about proper lane discipline.
In any kind of traffic or short on ramps; you're 100% right.One issue with the speed limit argument is this; there's a cascading effect. If you're doing 70mph, 5 or 6 cars behind you may be doing 63mph. Microadjustments, speeding up and slowing down, adjusting following distance, and changing lanes slows everyone down.
A recent study actually found that we could eliminate rush hour traffic more than half the time if we didn't change lanes too much. Many traffic jams, as it turned out, are just caused by the domino effect of people changing lanes constantly. When people are weaving around in traffic, it causes a ripple effect through traffic.
The left lane is for passing other vehicles; the right lane is for driving. While we're at it, make sure you're merging like a 'zipper' onto the highway. You shouldn't be driving alongside cars that are merging. Like a zipper, it should be left-right-left-right. That might mean, while driving in the right lane, you may have to slow down a bit to let a car that's ahead of you merge slowly, or that the car merging needs to slow just a bit to filter in behind you; depending on who is ahead of who. Another great annoyance of mine is people who drone in the right lane with the cruise control on, completely ignoring oncoming traffic. Especially big trucks who are difficult to get around when merging. Sometimes a small adjustment in speed can be the difference between the merging traffic having to dart around, accelerate hard, or brake hard; and both parties being able to make small adjustments to merge safely and simply.
The U.S. does need more stringent licencing requirements.Personally, I believe all the bull crap we see on the roads attributes to the fact that the general motoring public doesn't have a clue on how to drive or understand traffic laws. After I completed truck driving school, I firmly believe any person who wants to drive should go through something similar. The training it takes to obtain a Class C license is stupidly simple. Heck, Kansas doesn't even retest anymore. Just pay a renewal fee, get your mug shot and wait for your new license to come in the mail.
Oh, and I'm not going to move over if some jerk wad wants to go faster than me in the left lane. If I am already exceeding the speed limit by 5 MPH, they can move their sorry butt around me. Shoot, I've had retards come up behind me with their left turn signal on just to get my attention. That just makes me want to slow down to the speed limit and piss them off. The way people drive is pure psychological. Some people think they own the road and don't care what they do. Other drivers see this and do the same. Then you have other drivers who are comfortable driving below the speed limit. Oh, let's not forget the retard truck drivers who compete to pass one another in governed trucks (LOL, they'll all be governed before long). Why do think so many people road rage? You got one person trying to obey the laws and some butt wipe who thinks they are above them.
We can sit here and armchair banter about this subject all we want. The truth of the matter is, as long as we have total control of our vehicles, people are going to do whatever they want while driving them. No, I am not supporting self driving death traps.
It's really funny how you keep projecting your own issues onto others.Triggered much? I don't care. What are you going to do, come get me? I think not.