Why you shouldn’t drive slowly in the left lane

[Major Nikon]

[Tobin S.]

1. Beyond the safety aspects there is also the courtesy aspect.

I drive a truck for a living and it is governed at 66 mph. For that reason, you won't see me out in the left lane much. When I do get out there to pass I make sure there is no one coming for a long way before I do so I don't hold anyone up. That's called courtesy, and it's sorely missing to a great extent out on the roads today including among my fellow truckers.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

6. That courtesy aspect has been nearly extinct for years and years.

People who are normally nice, reasonable folks get behind the wheel and turn into instant jack-wads. I've had dimwits fly around me, while I'm driving a big truck, whip over right in front of me with barely any clearance and hit their brakes.

Once, in Houston, northbound on I-45 I had a dumb-ass do that, forcing me to brake hard to avoid running him over. My load of pipe slid forward enough that I had to pull over to the side and arrange for a fork lift to come out and shove it back. Lost 5 hours. Told myself if that ever happened again I'd go ahead and run them over, and claim it happened too fast to react, which wasn't far from the truth the one time. Luckily it didn't ever happen that bad again.

[Tobin S.]

8. Yeah, and I think it's worse in the big cities where it's crowded on the roads.

People are trying to get somewhere as fast as they can and they don't plan ahead for what they need to be doing on the road. It seems to turn everyone else out on the road into an adversary in their minds. That leads to driving aggressively which can turn into a road rage incident like what you experienced.

Road rage can happen anywhere, though. One time I was driving down the road in the right lane out in farm country. I'd been riding there for several miles and hadn't run across anyone for a while. Then a car came up in the left beside me pretty fast. Someone in the passenger seat then threw a beer bottle out the window and hit the hood of my truck. Then they sped off. I have no idea what that was about.

[Drahthaardogs]

24. I would ask though, what is "too" slow.

I grew up rural where left lane was pass only. So I still tend to drive that way. I hate the "traffic dancers" . Even if everyone in the left lane is going 80 in a 75, it is not fast enough for the traffic dancer. They have to pass on the right, shoulder, etc.

[Tobin S.]

27. If someone is riding your ass, just move over and let them by. Simple as that.

It doesn't matter how fast you are going. Sure, they are being rude, but it's much safer to just let them get on down the road.

[Drahthaardogs]

28. Sometimes you can't and

the assholes still wont back off

[eppur_se_muova]

2. The "dangerous" aspects shown in the clips were impatient assholes trying to pass ...

when it was *clearly* unsafe to pass.

Yes, slower traffic should keep right, and it's a law in some states. But when I pass a slower driver, and wait a safe distance to change lanes (like more than a car length), it doesn't help that leadfoot drivers try to pass me on the right as soon as there's room to pass with only a coat of paint to spare -- and then four or five more do the same. This is what I hate about driving a moving van -- there's no power to accelerate, yet there's times when I do need to pass slower-moving vehicles. Then people start passing me on the right before I can get a safe distance ahead to change lanes, and they drive through a near-blind spot to do it.

The problem isn't slow-moving vehicles per se, it's impatient assholes who respond to slow-moving vehicles by being even assholier.

Driving on a shared road is a cooperative activity. Those who can't cooperate shouldn't be licensed.

[Tobin S.]

5. I think it all goes back to courtesy.

Many people don't seem to have enough respect for each other out on the road and the potential consequences of driving aggressively. Earlier this week I was driving on the interstate to work and there was an accident that closed down my side of the highway. A driver in a car was being very impatient and driving aggressively and decided to pass in the right breakdown lane. He lost control going about 100 mph and collided with a power pole knocking it down across the highway. The road was closed for six hours and the driver of that car was killed. He could have killed several other people as well, but fortunately no one else was hurt.

People often don't know how to drive around large trucks as well. They don't understand why they are slower and what they are trying to do. I remember when I was in driver's ed back in high school. I don't remember learning anything about how to share the road with truckers and how driving their vehicles is more difficult than driving a car.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Rule one is never suddenly pull in front of a big truck, but I see people do it all the time.

Trucks need a *LOT* more room to stop or slow down, and if you don't give them that, you could wind up as a pinata. I never pull in front of a truck until I can see the driver of the truck in my rear view mirror -- if I can see him in the mirror, he can see me.

Nothing teaches respect for truckers like driving a truck for a while, even if it's not a 'real' truck. You still have to deal with a lot of mass and momentum and low gears on hills and large turning radius and you know it's even worse in a big rig. Makes you think differently about driving, and you try to stay out of the way of trucks a lot more.

[GeorgeGist]

7. It's both.

[Marthe48]

3. Some thoughts

If I'm driving long distance in heavy traffic (such as I 70 east of Columbus OH), I'll stay in the left lane and drive as fast as others.
If there is heavy traffic and others are driving slower, I don't feel the need to swerve in and out.
If somebody starts tailgating me, I move out of the way.
If I change lanes, I stay over until I see both headlights of the nearest vehicle in my rear view mirror, then use my turn signal (an amazing standard feature on all vehicles, located on the steering column) and get over.
If I am in triple or more lanes, I pick my lane, depending on if my exit is coming up or if I am going straight through.
I drive with my headlights on.

Finally in reply to Poster #2, I can't say how many times that I get in the left lane because I see semi trucks and an incline ahead. I want to get ahead of the trucks because invariably, at least one pulls out in front of me and goes uphill in the left lane and there ends up lines of frustrated drivers in both lanes.

I haven't been out driving for a long time, and I probably don't miss the close calls.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. A little more ticketing of these left lane squatters would help.

[Ptah]

9. Tailgating, mattress, rollover crash: woman driver survives unhurt

[Tobin S.]

10. I witnessed an accident very similar to that a long time ago.

Probably about 17 years ago. I stopped to help the rollover car. There were two people in there- a man and a woman. The man had been driving and the woman was asleep in the passenger seat. He walked away from it uninjured, but she had head injuries. I did what I could until the cops got there. One of the officers asked me for a statement and I told him what I saw.

A few months later I got a call from the woman who was in the wreck. The car was a rental and her insurance wouldn't cover it because she wasn't the one who was driving. She wanted me to change my statement to say that she was driving. The rental company was coming after her for the full replacement cost of the car.

Of course, I couldn't do that.

[Ptah]

12. I am amazed the driver of that car survived without injury.

I'm not surprised you wouldn't change your account of what you witnessed.

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. The fact that an apparently licensed driver put this video up....

And admitted he "did not know " a very basic thing known as "lane discipline" is testament to the deplorable state of the driver education system in this country.

He made the comparison to Germany as if it was some great revelation.

It's not!

Even though most states signs say "Slower Traffic Keep Right" the default should be "Keep Right Except to Pass"

These threads, like ones on breastfeeding and pit bulls come up regularly.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people can find a way to defend poor driving habits.

If you are in the left lane and there is open road ahead of you but a line of cars behind you, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE!!!

My observation after almost 2.5 million miles of driving is that about half of the people get that. Maybe slightly less.

Entirely too many Americans simply do not know how to properly use a multi lane, limited access highway.

[Major Nikon]

14. A few days driving on the Autobahn could teach volumes to most US drivers

It's a completely different driving experience.

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. I'm sure.

It is my understanding that getting a drivers license in Germany is tantamount to getting a private pilots license in the USA

[Lars39]

16. TN does not mandate high school drivers education classes

anymore. I'm sure there's other states who don't also.
You can get money off your car insurance if you take a drivers' ed course, but at $500 it's out of reach for most.
So there's a lot of bad drivers here, and it's getting worse with every generation.

[3catwoman3]

17. Entirely too many Americans...

...don't know how to drive responsibly no matter what kind of road they are on.

I pretty much dislike being in a car these days, whether I am the driver or the passenger. I trust no one in another vehicle - not the people in front of me, not the people behind me, not the people beside me, and especially not the people coming toward me.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

18. I have a long drive to work

I take an interstate with a 70 MPH speed limit. The troopers who monitor traffic seem to enforce a limit of about close to 80. Most every pro truck driver out there stays right except to pass. Trucks often go slower than 70 due to various reasons AND THEY STAY RIGHT. Cars not so much. about a third of the cars on the road drive as if the left lane is fair game if they are going 71 next to traffic doing 69.4.

It is common in moderate and heavy traffic for the left lane to move just slightly faster than the right. However, the most annoying folks out there are the ones who've simply taken an oath to stay left regardless of speed, conditions or traffic around them. They will stay there in front of a line of traffic behind them. They will remain while traffic going 10 or MPH faster passes them on the right. Some will even remain left with a tractor trailer 8 feet behind flashes its lights.

[Major Nikon]

19. The worst part is those who stay left have no clue what flashing to pass means

I hate passing people on the right and generally prefer to stay behind them until they get over.

[Phentex]

20. I just had a big truck honk at me...

I was in the center lane (of three lanes) and he was to the right. There were cars in front and back of me.

I don't know if it was a broken down vehicle but something was on the shoulder and I know we are supposed to move over one lane. I couldn't move over because the left was full of speeders who would not let ME over and I wasn't about to cut them off. I had no room to speed up or slow down so the truck couldn't get over either. What was I supposed to do?

[Major Nikon]

22. Travel at the same speed as those in your lane

Which sounds like exactly what you were doing.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

23. It's just not always possible

I generally watch as far ahead as possible looking for merging traffic and vehicles in the shoulder. If a truck is next to me, I will just slow until there is space in front of me for the truck to move left. This happens frequently at emergency sidings, entrances and rest areas exits.

Just a thought.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. I sympathize and feel the same way

Many drivers will line up in a long train behind a lane hog. IMNSHO this is an accident waiting to happen.

[GoneOffShore]

25. 95% of the drivers in France understand this.

People move over on the two and three lane roads where the speeds are from 110 to 130 km/hour.

Stay in the left lane too long and the faster traffic behind you flashes their headlights or turns on their left indicator. One very seldom sees trucks in the left lane because they are restricted to a top speed of 90 km/hr in the 130 zone, 80 in 120 and 70 in 110. Drive an underpowered car and one stays in that right lane.

And pay attention to that top speed. There are speed cameras on the motorways and the ticket comes in the mail.

[liberal N proud]

26. I would say that left lane loafers are more dangerous than speeders

They cause congestion and unsafe passing practices.

And it is against the law.


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[Red Mountain]

29. Based on the video

I can't fault the driver in front in the left lane.

Tractor trailers vary in speed greatly on long grades. He/she may have initiated the pass when the truck was speeding up.

It's easy to get caught this way when you are trying to obey the speed limit (within reason) and others are not.

Impatience kills.

[Major Nikon]

30. The examples weren't that great

Passing someone on the shoulder is just ridiculous and creates it's own hazard regardless of what anyone else is doing.

The point still stands that camping on the left lane while not passing just makes everything less efficient and more dangerous for everyone.