http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...n/14037080.htm

 

yep, we've beaten that horse dead here already... if prius drivers in CA won't "go with the flow" they're going to blown into the weeds by the other drivers.

for my money, they could invoke the "passing lane law": if you're holding up more than [is it 3 or 5?] cars, you must pull over and get out of the way or risk a ticket.

the CHP [CA Highway Patrol] can solve that problem in a matter of hours or days, with no more new laws required.

imnsho...

 

I drive watching the rear as well as front and sides. I'm always amused by the drivers who won't pass but wait until I change lanes . . . and then they speed off. Once they've cleared the lane, I switch back and have a happy.

Time for another bumper sticker:

 

I sort of like that sticker idea.

drive right. pass left. end of story. One of the better concepts still alive in the South (most of the time, Atlanta and S. Florida excluded)

HOV lanes are for use when the main line is slowed, not to show off 'just because you can.' If the main road is at ~full speed, what point is there to being in other than the right or next-ever lane?

 

great idea, Bob, but i'd bet anyone that's close enough to read it won't be willing to wait for you to change lanes... my recollections of CA HOV driving included many times when the HOV drivers seemed to be following some rule like "if there's nobody in front of me, i can go faster than i'm going now." that used to make it TONS of fun to even TRY to merge INTO the HOV lane, even if you wanted to go play at their speeds!

some more of my rants are at http://www.plusaf.com/soapbox/carpool.htm

 

I've certainly seen plenty of drivers with that philosophy. Although the 'drive right, pass left' philosophy--- not so much. I get passed on the right at least as often as on the left, particularly if I'm in the middle lane. I don't do much highway driving, so maybe that's the difference. On highways, the passing laws are probably a bigger factor. When there are no turn lanes or controlled access, people are always zipping back and forth from lane to lane to get out from behind someone who's slowing down to make a turn, or for whatever other reason. Then there are the several places in my commute where the right lane ends and merges with the center lane: if I get over before the absolute last second, there often is someone who passes on my right as fast as they can and tries to cut in front of me out of the lane that's ending. I'd say it happens every couple days in one of the about six places. I pretty much just yield, because they're going to do what they're going to do and I'm just trying to avoid an accident. People are very unsafe drivers around here.

 

absolutely! i thought the "California Exit" [right-lane exit from the left lane, across at least two lanes of traffic] was unique to CA. Then i drove cross-country three times...

not unique to anywhere. though stupidity and poor driving DO seem to be pandemic....

reminds me of a conversation with a limo driver some years back. he couldn't understand why Americans were such poor drivers. "lousy driving instruction and weak driving tests" i ventured. he agreed, describing the driving tests he had to take in his home country. hundreds of written questions with a high percentage correct required for passing. THEN came the driving test, which included city and rural and highway driving, for what must have taken an hour or more. a whole list of real-world driving skills being tested, and no way the first-timer had a 90% chance of passing. maybe 45% chance.

where was this? some small, back-woods African country. but i felt very safe in the back seat of his limo on the way to the airport...