Cstreit,
Like you, passing lane hogging is a BIG pet peeve of mine. I refuse to pass on the right of any vehicle, independent of their lane, and my girlfriend hates it! "You can't teach driving ettiquite one person at a time", she says.
In your practice of getting in front of the "offender" and slowly reducing your speed, doesn't that cause the fastlane-overtaking lane-passing lane(whatever it's called) to move more slowly and hence result in more cars passing on the right? Have you tried using your laft turn signal whilst flashing your lights? How about 2 cycles of the 4way hazards after you're in front of them?
Also, who/what determines the speed of traffic? Is it the speed limit sign? Is it the police? Or, is it those in the passing lane?

No one has mentioned that the left lane should be as free as possible for use by emergency vehicles; they should be traveling faster than any other.

If you are cruisin in the left lane in Germany, you will be rear ended by some BMW or Porsche going 150mph or the cops will pull you over! Its amazing to drive over there to see how driving on the freeway should be. Even my 80 year old dad likes to plant his ass in the left lane and drive just barely 60 mph and feel good that "He is going the speed limit and everyone else should too". If I go with him, I drive as I am afraid we'll get shot someday.

Geoff

One problem with it is misutilization of available resources. If all the traffic could get by with one lane (or two, or three - whatever the case is) then why does the state bother to spend millions of dollars (and the feds) to build two, three or four lanes? It's kind of stupid and wasteful. I'm not saying the bozos that plunk their fat asses in the hammer lane and then toodle along at 60 as if on a Sunday drive are justified, it just seems stupid to put ALL the traffic in one lane, which then gets rutted, torn up, destroyed, etc, while right next to it is a perfectly good, smooth one.

Disclaimer: none of this applies in L.A. Due to the density, ALL lanes must be used simply due to capacity. You'd simply never be able to cram all that traffic onto anything smaller. Ever see a lane closure on the L.A. freeway system? Even if it's for one event (accident, breakdown, flooding, whatever) it's an automatic 45-minute-to-an-hour delay - per event. Any attempt to restrict lane usage here would cause riots that'd make the ones following the Rodney King verdict look tame. It simply wouldn't work.

The other problem with forcing traffic to use the right lane on anything other than rural / semi-rural highways is the merge lanes come from the right (usually). Beyond a certain threshold point in traffic density, the result of merging traffic causes people already established on the highway to have to adjust speed, which causes backups, etc. If the road is sparsely travelled enough, this wouldn't matter (it'd be negligable over time), but it just doesn't make sense on urban / semi-urban roads.

Bleyseng, further to your reply...
One of the first things you notice on the Autobahn is that ALL THE TRUCKS are in the RIGHT LANE, kinda' nose to tail like the Elephants in a circus parade.
German drivers have a lot of expensive training before they can take the license test.
I love driving in Germany, but then you cross over to Italy (not to start a flame) but in Italy the drivers have a different"attitude". France, well....
And then you get to FLORIDA, land of the living "dead" drivers
Seems that in most of Florida, you can't dig graves without getting below the water table, so they prop em' up in their Lincolns, Cadillacs and Buicks and just let them drive around>>>>

It's also hard for people merge at the proper speed with a Grande Latte in their hands. :rolleyes:

My dad was truck driver and I've driven motorcycles since 5 yrs old and cars/trucks since about 9yrs old (on a farm). He did a pretty decent job of teaching me how to drive. So much so that my driver's license test at 16 was a complete joke to me. Not because I thought I was smarter than the test administrator, but because I thought it would be much tougher. My dad always 'hammered' into me the dangers and responsibilities of driving.

We are all driving enthusiasts here and IMO have a higher awareness of the road than the average drivers out there. And as such, have strong opinions about roads and cars and how they should be used.

Check this out....I feel there should be ongoing education/training to maintain a license. Flame suit, donned.

Healthcare providers have to manitain a level of continuing education units each year to keep their jobs. And I can't tell you how many teenagers I have met that say their "Driver's Ed" teacher said to do "X', Y, Z" only to find out that the info was incorrect or the student misinterpreted what was instructed. There are a Gazillion things going on in a young driver's life and the correct way to merge or which is the proper lane is not very important to them.

And parents teaching their kids their own bad habits does nothing to improve the situation.

The left lane is for passing. If no one is arond, you should move over. Why is that such a personal issue for so many people?

Agree on all 3 counts.

However, they said those that know how to drive are the biggest road ragers. I can believe it. I have learned to really calm down out there. Have a good New Year's all. See ya in the 2K5!

Parts of the interstate system, due to age, the right hand lane is "worn out". I can see no reason in places like Texas that, if all alone on the road, one cannot use the left lane if it is in better condition. I would think that as far as enforcement goes, common sense should prevail.

Fine, but if you are going 80 MPH and someone comes up behind you doing 90, you need to change lanes to the right. It's common courtesy. It's the law.

Moe:

That's why I said:"...if all alone on the road..." Drive through Texas or NM or AZ (my stomping grounds) and for the most part with the exception of near Cities, the road is usually empty for miles and miles.

Common sense should prevail and that includes moving over for someone crazier than I am!!

Now that we're on this topic, about 6 months ago I got a call from the Emergency Room. A patient was bleeding internally and needed surgery. I was 6 miles away at the time and started back to the hospital at 90 MPH or so. There was an "enforcer" in an old Buick in the passing lane that wouldn't yield despite flashing my lights, hazard lights flashing and finally sounding my horn. I was forced to pass on the right. As I did, the Buick driver waved his index finger at me as if I were a bad boy. What a jerk.

Never assume that your speed is appropriate for all drivers on the road. It is not our perogative to set the speed limit for others.

If no one is behind you, I agree completely. No harm, no foul.

Cop didn't see it, I didn't do it...

Carlin

I cruise in the left lane . . . but then again, I'm usually in a constant state of passing. It would be silly to be making lane changes every 200 yards.

If I can cruise at my desired speed in the next to left lane, I'll do it, though. But that rarely happens.

And I'll also ALWAYS move over if I'm in the left and I see a car coming up from behind. I don't care if I'm doing 90 mph - if I see someone coming up at 110 I'll quickly move over before they even have to slow down.

Steve,

Sorry my post came off kind of harsh, didn't really mean it that way. If you're moving over, but passign most traffic, left ane is okay. I still move back over to the right even when cruising faster than traffic if I can. However it's not guys like you that bug me... :D

I guess I won't write you a ticket. :D

Ever notice that someone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?

<i>.... Wisconsin. We have the worst offenders of anywhere I have driven.</i>

I thought it was just my perception?! Every time I visit Wisconsin, I'm dumbfounded by the left-lane hogs. It's an epidemic. I thought maybe it was a special state law or something ...... :eek: Michigan has improved greatly in the last 5 years .... probably something to do with the flow of traffic generally moving at 85-90MPH.

Good advice from Moses, too. One should always assume that if somebody wants to pass you, they're on an emergency run. Because maybe they are!

I think some Ohio residents are the worst offenders.... Maybe it's just my perception, but I've seen so many 3 wide rolling roadblocks there... sheesh!

Funny you should say that because while in Wisconsin-Wisconsin drivers are the worst. Nothing will make those a-holes move over and I wish they would consider things may be going on that they don't understand or should not impose control over. This per Moses' post.

However, when travelling out of state it's OHIO that seems to have the most offenders on the road. For whatever reason the travelling Wisconsinites seem to assimilate well enough. I'll be clocking along at a good rate through any given state in the union and occasionally some s-f-b pulls in front of me at 66 mph to pass a car at 65.5 mph. What seems like an eternity later they may-or may not-move over. Nine out of ten times the car has an Ohio plate. What's up with that? And what's up wih the Ohio plate motto-"first in aviation"(or something like that)? Seems to conflict with North Carolina's "First in flight".

PS-My last P-drive of the year was uneventful if not sublime. No left lane bandits, sunny, and dry. It was a good last day. My snowblower now blocks in the 911:(.

Ohoans also like to form "trains" in the left lane, all within a few feet of each other, all at just over the posted speed limit. Interesting to see, but a good thing to avoid...