Going 70 in the Carpool lane
 

Really? only 70?

I tailgated the heck out of the guy in his prius in my huge chevy suburban.

What a jerk. Doesn't that guy know *I* am in a hurry and I don't have time for him to be doing only 70 in front of me?!

Seriously. The car pool lane is the FAST lane - move it or loose it.





If I had been by myself instead of with my wife - I might have brake checked the guy (I have the HOV stickers).

70 is pretty normal around here. Are things different there?

You guys drive slow up there, but better then the state between us. Man, those guys are slow. As soon as we got over the hills back into good old CA, people were flying again. If you get a big gap down here in most freeways, people will fly doing 75 or 80. Depends on the area.

I hate left hand campers or those that drive side by side doing just right under the speed limit.

It's an interesting situation... the top cruising speed of the later-model Priuses is about 75 mph. That's basically the limit at which they feel safe for maneuvering if necessary. The driver probably had a death-grip on the steering wheel at 70. For him to be doing 70, when everyone else is doing 75 or 80 and going with the flow and going around him, makes him a traffic hazard.

So for those of us who don't know (me)... on highways like that, what is the best option for a driver who's doing only 70? Are all the lanes going faster than that?

I've never lived in such a place. But I'm surrounded by Priuses..

Not sure what Prius driving experience you base that on? We drive our gen 2 Prius from PDX to SFO a couple times a year, lots of miles to get through, and I don't recall any death grip at 75-80-85-.

As for the carpool lane situation, what was the speed limit there? If it was 65 or less, I can understand someone holding it to 70 - if he doesn't want to risk a ticket. What was the speed of the cars in the non-carpool lanes? If they are stuck or slow like 40-50 , I'm not going fast like 70+ in the carpool lane. Sorry, but a 30+ mph differential between two lanes separated by just 4" of paint, that creeps me out. I realize this is tough on the impatient guy behind, but if traffic is flowing on the non-carpool lanes, I suppose he can switch to those to do his passing.

nobody does speed limit around here especially in the car pool. I hate those that just do 2 miles above the speed limit in the car pool holding up 50 cars behind them with everyone else going 80 in all the other lanes.

May I suggest switching lanes for the time of passing the offender...Is that not an option?

I don't recommend tailgating.
We don't have car pool lanes on our interstates, we have passing lanes. If you aren't passing someone and there is a car behind you, the law is to move right. There are signs along the highway reminding drivers of that rule, but lot's of idiots ignore them.
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Doing less than 80 in the carpool lane is a good way to get yourself killed/run over.

I would not recommend tailgating - especially in the carpool lane and especially in SoCal. There's a lot of road debris/trash/crap that gets pushed up against the center divider and often it can migrate over into the carpool lane. Your best defense against hitting something and/or losing control/damaging your vehicle is leaving enough room to see and avoid junk once it becomes visible when the vehicle in front of you goes past it.

I'm sure the Prius guy was just out feeling his smug anyway. :)

Rules vary from state to state. For instance here in Arizona you can cross the solid "carpool or HOV" white lines going either way as you wish with no hassle, but in Kalifornia if you do it and a CHP sees it you get a ticket.

Be happy you don't have to deal with I-4 in orlando........
no carpool lane, and a mix of people doing 50mph or 85mph+ at the same time in every lane.....I do the latter LOL

My question is "what good is a law that 80% of the people break? Hell even the people that inforce it most likely do not follow the law. How do we change this?"

70-80 in a Prius? Algor's kid got a ticket here for doing over a hundred while loaded, DUI, in his Prius.
While in traffic school here last year the cop giving the class was miffed about the 5 freeway between OC airport and San Diego, if the traffic is moving it is doing 80 and he wanted to arrest everyone for breaking the limit but the bosses wouldn't let him.

cgarr commented that once he reached the interstate in Mississippi on his recent trip that everyone was flying....like he was cruising at 80-85 and people were passing him.

uhhhh...what's a car pool?;)

I've done that, slow lane doing 80 plus and everyong passing me with my wife bching about be going too fast, she's not fun on long drives.

Doing 70 in the carpool lane in SoCal is antisocially slow. De facto speed limit in the carpool lane is 80 mph, conditions permitting. If you can't keep up with that, you don't belong in the carpool lane. There are usually 3 or 4 other lanes (with "common" traffic) you can take if you don't want to drive that fast.

Car in front was a Prius? Either he was feeling eco-smug (no surprise) or just oblivious to the faster traffic behind (no surprise).

I don't drive over 75 anywhere anymore. It's not worth it. Even if I do traffic school, the fines and costs of school, etc. run well over a grand. I work too hard for that kind of money, so I don't give a rat's ass what you think.

However, I'm usually in the 3 or 4 lane. When some dickhead comes by me at 80 in 3-4, I might just move over in front of him. Take your 80 over to the left and good luck with the CHP. I've seen radar on the 405 at Cherry in Long Beach more than once. He sits on a curve with a clean head on shot at the HOV and no 1 lanes if there is a slight break in the other lanes. Doesn't take but an instant.

Come fly in Long Beach.

The people who are really slow are the ones who can't figure out that the OP was driving the Prius going 70.

Hehe... +1

You do know that (even compared to the Toyota) that Suburbans have absolute SHjT for brakes. . . .but the Prius driver is the jerk, eh?

About the only thing I dislike more than lane-hogging Prius drivers are idiots behind the wheel of POS Tahoes and 'burbens. --ymmv