Amen!

There are several commen sense road rules that stubborn folks refuse to follow. This is one of them. Another is the concept of alternate merge.

How about this one? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

while there is no passing lane law, there is an obstruction of traffic law. If you are in the left lane and holding me up, and I flash my lights, you are breaking the law if you don't move over; look it up.

I'm as annoyed at left-lane loafers as anyone. The problem though is primarily congestion. Germany's autobahn is not a good example. If you're on the open autobahn it's great. But, honestly, it's not too bad in most of the rural U.S.--you can go around a left lane hog if you must.

It just doesn't work so well in congested areas. We have to use all the lanes to maximize use of the road. I'm not convinced having people pop in and out of lanes during rush hour really will speed things up. There are just too many cars out there.

Of course, if we took away the cars of all left-lane hogs, then we could cure that problem and congestion.

Technically, the "I flash my lights, you get out of the left lane" law only exists in Maryland. With that said, Death to the Left Lane Squatters!

Correction: The "I flash my lights, you get out of the left lane" law only exists in *Virginia*, not Maryland.

Watch out - Virginia has "I flash my lights, you get out of the left lane," but I think Maryland not only doesn't have that, it's the exact opposite. "I flash my lights, I'm guilty of aggressive driving" in Maryland.

That said, we really need better lane discipline in this whole country. "Keep Right Except to Pass" shouldn't be a hard concept to understand.

And don't get me started on zipper merges.

I remember when we as a nation were the best drivers in the world, and one reason was our road manners, especially left lane for passing only observance and alternate merges. Now we are about the worst in the world because there appear to be NO rules. Pretty soon, it'll be like Beirut: if my fender is ahead of yours or I can get get it there, I win. Yuk.

And the righeous who believe that if they are doing the speed limit, they have a right to block someone else who wants to pass are as rude as the rest of the left lane sitters. If I want to pass you at 75, that's my right and my risk; lead, follow or get out of the way.

I think you're wrong about the I66 backup. That's due to a combination of things: mostly those large merges into the right lane (with people trying to move over from the right lane into the left lane to avoid the merge), plus the fact that it twists and turns, plus that it looks right into the sun in the late afternoon. After Glebe Rd. you pass the last of these bad ones and then people can and do speed up. Sometimes that means that, for a moment or two, someone who doesn't immediately floor it gets left behind by the others who speed up faster. And I can imagine that some of the slower ones may not know the road so well and are simply not speeding up because they're anticipating more backups. Personally, I expect both situations in that stretch - I figure there might be a couple of slowpokes, and if there are I'm a little more careful, and if there aren't I get to speed up a little faster. Doesn't bother me either way. We have so many drivers from so many different cultures here, it's just safer to be a little more defensive, and accept it as part of the cost of having such a wonderful multicultural area.

"while there is no passing lane law, there is an obstruction of traffic law. If you are in the left lane and holding me up, and I flash my lights, you are breaking the law if you don't move over; look it up"

they don't have to look it up if no one will enforce it.

It is a really simple thing. Left-lane blockers do what they do because what they are doing is legal and people who are trying to get past them are speeding. It is their little subtle way (not so subtle?) of telling the let us say "faster-paced" in life, that they are in control here, it is their car and they are not going to drive to the dictates of others.

It's a mirror situation. You want them to move...they do not want to move. You want them to get out of the way...they want you to respect them for who they are and where they are.

It is, however incredibly true that if you get enough of these people in the wrong place at the wrong time, traffic will back up and there is more chance of an accident and everyone will be unhappy.

But they blame it on fast-movers...and fast-movers blame it on them...and both are right...as long as neither side is actually involved in an accident.

It is a nice yin and yang situation. Pass them when you can and forget about them. If you can't pass them, accept it.

In and out of this thread, I am.

ps

imagine the backups if the police actually enforced traffic law during rush hour.

if you think that left-lane blockers are obnoxious under normal traffic conditions, just think about who the people are that have to slow down every time they see a cop on the side of the road, or who rubberneck at every little traffic accident or stopped car by the side of the road. Who are these people? One and the same.

I was the first person to mention I-81 in the other thread. My point was not that it's OK to block the left lane on there. It's not, and it's probably more annoying on there than on any other road in the DC area simply because the volume of truck traffic, coupled with there only being two lanes, virtually ensures that you'll encounter left-lane hogs. My point was that because of this situation, I-81 is the prime example of a road where people will have to wait until it's safe to move back to the right. Obviously it's not reasonable to expect that a left-lane hog should squeeze over in between two tractor-trailers in order to get out of the way.

But it's funny, I took I-81 down to Clifton Forge over Memorial Day weekend and what amazed me was how many people have no common sense in dealing with the trucks. I mean, if you're going down a steep hill, don't cut in front of a heavy truck, especially if you're driving a small car like a Honda Civic. It's just plain DUMB to expect that the truck driver can just quickly slow down. Total lack of intelligence by a lot of drivers.

In the end, though, one of the best takes I saw on lane discipline and speed was in a column somewhere, probably Car and Driver, some years back. The writer pointed out that it is unreasonable for one driver to try to impose his speed on everyone else regardless of whether that speed is faster or slower: If the traffic in the right lane is doing 60 mph, and the traffic in the left lane is doing 75 mph, and you want to do 68 mph, you need to slow down and move right or speed up and move left. It's not OK for you to tailgate in the right lane or to block the left lane.

"I'll close with the wise words of one of our anonymous posters:

"Keep right except to pass. Pass and then move back to the right.

That's all I have to say." "

Yahoo!!! That was me. Somebody called me wise. That will NEVER happen again. LOL

"imagine the backups if the police actually enforced traffic law during rush hour. "

I used to drive to work. I would come home via Canal Road/Clara Barton, 495, 270. The merges at River Road were terrible. Cars would go past the merge area - diving on the shoulder - to get ahead. This caused terrible back-ups. Once in a while, a state trooper would sit on the shoulder at the end of the merge. He would pull over the fools who didn't properly merge. Those days, the traffic was easier as everybody "did as they were supposed to do."

It doesn't take a psychoanalyst to tell us that a lot of bad driving in this area is the result of inappropriate expression of anger. We live in a Type A environment, and the pressure builds up. People get behind the wheel and feel anonymous. If they're in a large, heavy vehicle, they feel they can act more aggressively and release their frustrations at other drivers. I have been surprised at a number of my otherwise well-mannered friends who got all frustrated and angry behind the wheel: honking, cursing, being impatient with every little delay. I would never have thought they were that kind of driver, so I can imagine how the more aggressive types out there are acting.

Henri posted: "And the righeous who believe that if they are doing the speed limit, they have a right to block someone else who wants to pass are as rude as the rest of the left lane sitters. If I want to pass you at 75, that's my right and my risk; lead, follow or get out of the way."

Are you a nascar fan by any chance? Then why don't you just bump that slow driver ahead of you and they'll simply spin out and hit a tree! Or don't you want to take that "risk"?

This is not true at all -- the backups are mostly due to bottlenecks in the roads, where I-66 narrows around tysons or the District and all the mergers from arlington are joining the two lanes already heavily trafficked...everyone knows that

Being that it is bad commuter week. My pet peeve and annoyance is the folks who talk on their cell phone, hog the left lane and go slower (because they are on the phone)!! If you are on the phone, get over to the right lane!! Whenever I see a car going slower than the flow, it is almost always due to someone being on the phone!!

Grrrrr!

I am thinking of Braddock Road/495 Intersection, approaching that from the West traveling East -- it is actually smarter for the faster cars to get in the right lanes and the thru, just slightly slower, traffic not using the beltway to get in the left lanes. It seems like most of the drivers do this already. Also just wanted to point out that there are times there is a reason slower drivers are in the left lane, because they need to use a left turn lane or they want to get out of the way of traffic merging onto the road. In general, yes, slower people should keep right but there are exceptions as noted above.

"I think you're wrong about the I66 backup. That's due to a combination of things: mostly those large merges into the right lane (with people trying to move over from the right lane into the left lane to avoid the merge), plus the fact that it twists and turns, plus that it looks right into the sun in the late afternoon."

Since when does the sun set in the East?

In my opinion almost every traffic slow down or back up is the result of the left lane hogs seeking each other out and slowing all lanes for the ultimate power trip.

§ 46.2-823. Unlawful speed forfeits right-of-way.
The driver of any vehicle traveling at an unlawful speed shall forfeit any right-of-way which he might otherwise have under this article.

"while there is no passing lane law, there is an obstruction of traffic law. If you are in the left lane and holding me up, and I flash my lights, you are breaking the law if you don't move over; look it up.
Posted by: allen | June 5, 2006 05:05 PM"

Sorry allen - I think you're wrong on this one...at least in VA...I *did* look it up[http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+TOC46020000008000000000000]
and unless you're an emergency vehicle with a siren on, this rule doesn't exist that I could find.
Some say that if everyone drove a little slower (the speed limit?) there would be more continuous traffic flow and less congestion.