If I merged onto the highway on the left, I have to eventually get right. I’ll move to the middle lane when it’s safe, but then 1-2 miles before my exit, I’ll move to the right lane (for right exits). But it’s unreasonable to expect drivers to crowd the far right lane all the time, making merging/exiting the highway more congested and dangerous just because I only drive 0-9 mph over the speed limit at the speed of traffic flow…
As long as you’re not impeding the flow of traffic that’s fine. Some people stay left or center and impede traffic because they want to make everyone go slower. My brother is one of those people.
I tell him he’s not the police and is actually being more dangerous than just getting the fuck out of the way.
Just like someone wants to go slower. Let others live and they can live or die with the consequences. Don’t inject yourself into a dangerous situation to prove a point.
Let others live and they can live or die with the consequences
Most of the time they will be bringing others with them in the “die with the consequences” phase. Speeding benefits nobody, not even the speeder (speeding doesn’t save any noticable amount of time at all)
If I am going the posted limit and others feel like speeding, why is it my job to get out of the way? Whether it’s a country road with intermittent passing lanes or a multi lane highway with plenty of lanes to the left, that’s their choice to speed but I ain’t risking my license because some chucklefucks choose to be hostile to anyone they share the road with
Whether they feel like speeding or running red lights, they’re going to have to contend with other drivers who don’t feel like breaking the law, and they’ll have to choose to either abide by best driving practices or to continue to be careless
In short, all else being equal, the safest speed to drive is as close to the median speed as you can estimate. The probably of an accident increases with the number of cars that you pass and the number of cars that pass you.
If course it’s not completely cut-and-dry like that, and is more applicable to higher traffic situations, but it’s a good general rule.
I’m not saying you HAVE to. But the safest thing you can do for yourself is get out of the way. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be safe? There’s a reason that it’s called defensive driving.
Whether or not specifically going out of your way to allow an aggressive driver past is definitely a matter of risk tolerance. Personally, when I’m on a 2 lane road (that’s one lane per direction of travel) I’ll typically simply set my cruise and not change my behavior other than slowing/moving right when it is a passing zone so that they can more easily and safely pass.
Where I live, the country roads are very lightly policed so some folks really test how fast they can go and maintain control of their vehicle on the curves and hills, many going 80+ on narrow 55mph roads with limited visibility and frequent deer, Amish buggies and farm equipment around blind curves. This practice works well for me here because it might prevent a fatal accident where some poor family was just trying to get to church and the speeder couldn’t see them in time, but more importantly I’m not disrupting my drive for other people’s insanity. I’ll continue to drive with my tolerance for breaking the law (which is extremely low), and other drivers can choose to drive at their tolerance level, and maybe the minor inconvenience of encountering vehicles that aren’t speeding excessively will help make the choice to speed excessively make less sense
Yeah. If I stayed in the right lane, every couple miles I’d need to change lanes to avoid an exit only, or free up space for entering traffic to merge. But that leaves one of not two open lanes to my left.
Also changing lanes is stressful for me: the situation changes quickly, and even after checking blind spots I’ve almost sideswiped someone a couple times. (Also honked to keep a pair of cars in front of me from picking the same moment to shift into each other.)
So, I get the principle, and I also am annoyed with slow traffic in the left lane. But if there’s room to pass on the left, that’s what I see as necessary.
But it’s unreasonable to expect drivers to crowd the far right lane all the time, making merging/exiting the highway more congested and dangerous just because I only drive 0-9 mph over the speed limit at the speed of traffic flow…
So what do you do when there are two lanes? Ride the left lane? No? But then how do people possibly merge? Huh, somehow it works. Shockingly, you can move to the other lane when someone needs to merge because, whoa you guessed it, the lane isn’t full of people going slower.
It’s not unreasonable, and there’s a reason why it’s the (sadly often unenforced) rule almost everywhere to keep right/left. Somehow it works in Germany where it is more heavily enforced. Oh, and guess what, it’s safer for everyone.
This is totally psychological (thinking it’s crowding the right lane and causing merge issues). You may not realize it, but you’re doing this just because you unconsciously feel more comfortable with more space (for yourself) on both sides. It’s called the “space cushion”. You might even tell yourself you are safer because you have more directions to escape to if a situation arises. Or you might just be lazy, as it’s a lot easier to sit in your cushy middle lane and not have to think about what you’re doing.
But you’re actually creating more problems by riding the middle lane, leading to people passing on both sides, doing more dangerous weaving maneuvers, reducing the optimal flow of traffic overall, and making the road less safe for everyone. And did you know you’re probably making merging worse? Yeah, the fact that you think you don’t have to change lanes to assist with people merging just because you’re in the middle lane means that you’re part of the problem. You still have to pay attention and be ready to move over, in case there is already someone in the right lane who needs to move over.
It’s pretty selfish to be honest. Stop being a lane hog.
It is the job of the person merging onto the freeway to find a safe place to merge. The person on the freeway is also able to move out of the right lane if they so desire, but they aren’t required to from what I understand.
All of that said, I see people being center lane campers all the time whether it be in the middle of a city, where it’s arguably fine, to rural but populated areas where it causes traffic, to the middle of nowhere, where it isn’t inconveniencing me, but is just weird.
But it’s entirely unreasonable and incredibly dangerous to expect someone on a freeway onramp to stop and wait for an opening. Drivers must leave enough room to allow a speed-appropriate merge in front of them.
It is the job of the person merging onto the freeway to find a safe place to merge. The person on the freeway is also able to move out of the right lane if they so desire, but they aren’t required to from what I understand
Part of merging is to let the vehicles merging safely merge. That might mean slowing down a bit, speeding up a bit for a moment or moving a lane over. The only time when doing nothing for a merging vehicle is okay is when there’s literally nothing you can do due to the quantity of traffic
If I merged onto the highway on the left, I have to eventually get right. I’ll move to the middle lane when it’s safe, but then 1-2 miles before my exit, I’ll move to the right lane (for right exits). But it’s unreasonable to expect drivers to crowd the far right lane all the time, making merging/exiting the highway more congested and dangerous just because I only drive 0-9 mph over the speed limit at the speed of traffic flow…
As long as you’re not impeding the flow of traffic that’s fine. Some people stay left or center and impede traffic because they want to make everyone go slower. My brother is one of those people.
I tell him he’s not the police and is actually being more dangerous than just getting the fuck out of the way.
Just like someone wants to go slower. Let others live and they can live or die with the consequences. Don’t inject yourself into a dangerous situation to prove a point.
Most of the time they will be bringing others with them in the “die with the consequences” phase. Speeding benefits nobody, not even the speeder (speeding doesn’t save any noticable amount of time at all)
My point is that if you are not in a police vehicle, You should focus on keeping yourself safe and get out of the way.
If I am going the posted limit and others feel like speeding, why is it my job to get out of the way? Whether it’s a country road with intermittent passing lanes or a multi lane highway with plenty of lanes to the left, that’s their choice to speed but I ain’t risking my license because some chucklefucks choose to be hostile to anyone they share the road with
Whether they feel like speeding or running red lights, they’re going to have to contend with other drivers who don’t feel like breaking the law, and they’ll have to choose to either abide by best driving practices or to continue to be careless
It’s entirely about your safety:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve
In short, all else being equal, the safest speed to drive is as close to the median speed as you can estimate. The probably of an accident increases with the number of cars that you pass and the number of cars that pass you.
If course it’s not completely cut-and-dry like that, and is more applicable to higher traffic situations, but it’s a good general rule.
I’m not saying you HAVE to. But the safest thing you can do for yourself is get out of the way. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be safe? There’s a reason that it’s called defensive driving.
Whether or not specifically going out of your way to allow an aggressive driver past is definitely a matter of risk tolerance. Personally, when I’m on a 2 lane road (that’s one lane per direction of travel) I’ll typically simply set my cruise and not change my behavior other than slowing/moving right when it is a passing zone so that they can more easily and safely pass.
Where I live, the country roads are very lightly policed so some folks really test how fast they can go and maintain control of their vehicle on the curves and hills, many going 80+ on narrow 55mph roads with limited visibility and frequent deer, Amish buggies and farm equipment around blind curves. This practice works well for me here because it might prevent a fatal accident where some poor family was just trying to get to church and the speeder couldn’t see them in time, but more importantly I’m not disrupting my drive for other people’s insanity. I’ll continue to drive with my tolerance for breaking the law (which is extremely low), and other drivers can choose to drive at their tolerance level, and maybe the minor inconvenience of encountering vehicles that aren’t speeding excessively will help make the choice to speed excessively make less sense
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ok
Yeah. If I stayed in the right lane, every couple miles I’d need to change lanes to avoid an exit only, or free up space for entering traffic to merge. But that leaves one of not two open lanes to my left.
Also changing lanes is stressful for me: the situation changes quickly, and even after checking blind spots I’ve almost sideswiped someone a couple times. (Also honked to keep a pair of cars in front of me from picking the same moment to shift into each other.)
So, I get the principle, and I also am annoyed with slow traffic in the left lane. But if there’s room to pass on the left, that’s what I see as necessary.
So what do you do when there are two lanes? Ride the left lane? No? But then how do people possibly merge? Huh, somehow it works. Shockingly, you can move to the other lane when someone needs to merge because, whoa you guessed it, the lane isn’t full of people going slower.
It’s not unreasonable, and there’s a reason why it’s the (sadly often unenforced) rule almost everywhere to keep right/left. Somehow it works in Germany where it is more heavily enforced. Oh, and guess what, it’s safer for everyone.
This is totally psychological (thinking it’s crowding the right lane and causing merge issues). You may not realize it, but you’re doing this just because you unconsciously feel more comfortable with more space (for yourself) on both sides. It’s called the “space cushion”. You might even tell yourself you are safer because you have more directions to escape to if a situation arises. Or you might just be lazy, as it’s a lot easier to sit in your cushy middle lane and not have to think about what you’re doing.
But you’re actually creating more problems by riding the middle lane, leading to people passing on both sides, doing more dangerous weaving maneuvers, reducing the optimal flow of traffic overall, and making the road less safe for everyone. And did you know you’re probably making merging worse? Yeah, the fact that you think you don’t have to change lanes to assist with people merging just because you’re in the middle lane means that you’re part of the problem. You still have to pay attention and be ready to move over, in case there is already someone in the right lane who needs to move over.
It’s pretty selfish to be honest. Stop being a lane hog.
It is the job of the person merging onto the freeway to find a safe place to merge. The person on the freeway is also able to move out of the right lane if they so desire, but they aren’t required to from what I understand.
All of that said, I see people being center lane campers all the time whether it be in the middle of a city, where it’s arguably fine, to rural but populated areas where it causes traffic, to the middle of nowhere, where it isn’t inconveniencing me, but is just weird.
But it’s entirely unreasonable and incredibly dangerous to expect someone on a freeway onramp to stop and wait for an opening. Drivers must leave enough room to allow a speed-appropriate merge in front of them.
When did I say stop and wait for an opening? Don’t stop on an on-ramp.
Part of merging is to let the vehicles merging safely merge. That might mean slowing down a bit, speeding up a bit for a moment or moving a lane over. The only time when doing nothing for a merging vehicle is okay is when there’s literally nothing you can do due to the quantity of traffic