yrs ago i did a right shoulder pass on 2 idiots going 55 on the interstate. miles out in the country. when i lost sight of them in my rear view mirror there were dozens of cars still behind them. i was young and dumb. today i would just ram their bumper. i got good insurance. ala kathy bates.
You will never understand the psychology of drivers passing or being passed. Yesterday, on a two lane country road with a 55 mph speed limit, I pulled out to pass a guy doing 40 mph in a legal passing zone. I drive a car will plenty of passing power and I had to floor it to pass the guy who, immediately upon my pulling out to pass, accelerated to almost 70 mph. Once I got past him and back in my lane he resumed going 40 mph as I drove off doing 60. Iâm not exactly sure what he was thinking and I probably never will understand that behavior. When someone pulls out to pass me on a country road I slow down slightly and move as far to the right of my lane as is safely possible. I want that other driver to get home safely too.
Back in the bad old days of 55 limits on the freeway, a guy in the left lane was blocking traffic going precisely 55 when everyone else was going at least 65. He flashed me two five finger hand salutes telling me the limit was 55 and he was the enforcer. I did manage to get around him. Then of course the truckers that like to do the rolling roadblock in construction zones to prevent late merges. This is argued of course but still pretty well proven that it impedes traffic even more versus the zipper merge.
We had 3 lanes to 2 spot I drove on everyday. Hated it. Was going home about 5pm and traffic was fairly light so there were lots of empty spots on 2 right lanes. I was doing 56-57 mph in left land and semi in center Lane came over and ran me onto the left shoulder. Bleeping idiot. There was a 100ft gap in front of the truck. Must have had an ugly wife to go home too.
I know just what you mean. In my opinion, you also are correct that there is some sort of mental things we humans do sometimes that makes us want to âCatch upâ or go faster than a car moving slightly faster on the highway. As to what works best when you get blocked in like that, two suggestions. First, take a deep breath and chill. Like you said, it is 1-3 MPH, it doesnât really matter. Second option, check your mirror. If nobody is following closely behind you, disengage cruise, drop back slowly and then merge safely to the left lane and approach the car in that lane from behind. Usually, they speed up or slow down and you can then pass. As I get older I always try to tell myself that the people in those other cars are my son, my mom, my aunt etc. Weâre all in this together.
Yeah, drivers do stupid things.
As a pedestrian, what annoys me: Iâm standing at a corner waiting to cross the street, but standing on the sidewalk, not on the crosswalk. And Iâm waiting for a car to pass before I cross. The driver slows and stops, to let me cross. But it would be faster if he/she just kept driving.
And then sometimes there is traffic in another lane and even tho he stopped, I still couldnât cross.
Just keep driving if there is no one actually in the crosswalk, that is my rule.
Similar problem is in a 4-way stop sign. Other car was there first, so I wait for him to go. (He may be waving me on, but canât really see that usually). So we have two cars both stopped waiting for the other to go.
Near me there is a strange 4-way stop where some cars have to do a Z type of turn to continue. This gets funny sometimes.
Depends on the state youâre in. This is one of those laws that not all states subscribe to.
Hereâs a link to the applicable laws by state.
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
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HmmmmâŠinteresting.
So, then in the states that do not allow passing on the right on multilane highways, if someone decides to drive at âŠletâs say⊠35 mph in the left lane of an expressway with a 65 mph speed limit, then every other driver who is behind him on that highway is automatically restricted to 35 mph because a person who is (pick one or more) oblivious/selfish/demented/drunk/stoned has decided to drive at an extremely slow speed in the left lane?
If that is what those laws imply, then I can only quote Mr. Micawber (a Dickens character), who said, âthe law is an assâ.
He had no idea⊠
I heard they backed down on that, Iâm waiting for the evening news for confirmation.
Yes, they did back down later in the day, but when an all-powerful group of people votes to eliminate the power of a watchdog agency to investigate them, what does that tell you about that group of people?
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then thereâs the wierdos who REFUSE to ever actually LOOK in their mirrors before changing lanes.
Like those who will follow . . and follow . . and follow the vehicle to their front for miles.
THEN . .
as youâre just about to overtake ?
On an almost daily basis, while driving on an almost-empty expressway, I will come upon a vehicle that is traveling only a few feet behind the car in front of it.
Whyâon a multi-lane, almost-empty highwayâwould somebody feel the need to tailgate the car in front of them?
If that happened to me, Iâd start with my emergency blinkers. If that didnât work, Iâd slow down until he passed. I really get upset when someone tailgates me.
If somebody is tailgating me on a highway, I have two alternate methods of dealing with the situation:
If the road is almost emptyâas in the situation described previouslyâI will goose my accelerator, which quickly brings me up to 80 mph, or so. Hopefully, that act will maintain a safe distance between us.
If the road is congested, I simply take my foot off of the gas pedal and coast down to a much slower speed until he/she passes me. If he/she doesnât pass me, then I use method #1, if it is safe to do so.
Yeah, I have the tendency to speed way up and get down the road some with maybe a car or two between us. I think some of these people just use the car they are following to determine their speed rather than setting their own. Maybe they are afraid of getting a ticket is they are on their own too much. Then there was the kid at school that drove his VW from NY to SD and talked about drafting behind semis and how good a mileage he got.
âŠand speaking of passing on the right, here is a timely look at that issue, as well as something in the news:
http://assets.amuniversal.com/d97e6f20b3f1013428e8005056a9545d
I have a few of those strange Z-configurations in my neck of the woods, but it has gotten tolerable since they installed traffic lights at a few of them.
Apparently these oddly-configured intersections were established ~150 years ago when the roads had to skirt the property of farmers who refused to cooperate with the layout of the roads that were being built. (Stubborn DutchmenâŠ
)
For whatever reason, Eminent Domain wasnât used to buy the needed property for proper alignment of the intersections.
Because farmer Aâs property lines were âoffâ a bit in relation to farmer Bâs and farmer Câs property lines, these odd intersections were unavoidable.
I actually have the inverse happen to me quite frequently. Same basic situation: driving in the #2 or #3 lane with the cruise control on. Approach a slower car in my lane, check the next lane over, no cars coming so I pull into the next lane to pass. Just as I begin to pull even with the car Iâm passing the driver speeds up to match my speed. I give them a few seconds to see if they will maintain that speed, then if not speed up to pass. On some occasions I have had to increase my speed by upt to 15 mph to complete the pass. THATâS a jerk.
I theorize that these tailgaters have no idea that theyâre following too close. Were my theory wrong, there probably wouldnât be so many rear end crashes!
Many people donât realize how far a vehicle can travel before they respond and react to the car in front stopping.
I also suspect that there are many drivers whose driving technique is to watch the car in front of them closely and simply do whatever the car in front does. They imagine the line of automobiles as reacting sort of like a line of train carsâŠ
This theory I believe is validated by the need for construction vehicles to put big signs on the backs of their trucks saying CONSTRUCTION VEHICLE - DO NOT FOLLOW. 
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