New Jersey fights road hogs.

[www.thepassinglane.ca]

If that means the lane nearest the median, that's ok, but if it means the center lane in a three lanes in each direction road, that's not good.* That's the "travel lane," with the left for passing and the right for exiting.
* Then again, a vehicle going say, 10 mph or so below the posted limit in good weather/traffic/road conditions ought to get to the right. Many laws are written with complications; having to drive with regard to a center lane speed rule wouldn't be the most difficult to comprehend.

And,, BTW, i agree with that law.

Slow - right.

passing right - middle

Passing middle - left/

pretty simple.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2013 10:16AM by grant. (view changes)

Quote
grant
And,, BTW, i agree with that law.

Slow - right.

passing right - middle

Passing middle - left/

pretty simple.

Grant

Some people think it's their job to slow down fast drivers, or they just feel the need to be in the "fast" lane.

If somebody wants to drive 90 mph in the left lane, that's their choice. I don't want them sitting on my bumper, specially at that speed. They're the most likely to want to "teach" (in their own mind) someone a lesson for "holding them up". Too often, the result of two people busy "teaching" each other is a traffic jam, miles long while the tow trucks clean up the mess, including those of innocent victims.

I agree that lane discipline is pretty simple, but too many people just don't get it.

Travel on the right. Pass quickly, get back to the right.

This has many benefits:

1. keeps the left clear for others
2. makes me far less visible to police, who train their eyes and radar on the left lane
2a. and even if they do see me, i'm at least following some laws and demonstrating courtesy

LLBs come in many flavors: the self imposed blockades, the clueless, those with poor vision, the simply rude, and the ones who think they have bigger appendages if they are in the left lane. I try to avoid joining any such club.

Grant

ps: one of the funnier experiences was when several of us were traveling en mass from the track to one guy's house with a dead car on a trailer. I pull up behind and get a point by (he didn't know the next stage of the trip). It felt both normal and surreal.

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

I'll have to take notice the next couple occasions of seeing Keep Right Except To Pass signs, but that might be on four lane (two each way) limited access highways, not six laners. It doesn't make sense to me that vehicles would be required to amass in a lane that is more for approaches to exits and entrances, with their inherent huge speed differentials, rather than a more constant cruising (travel lane) speed. I usually don't take it that I'm obligated/required to move from a center lane to the right lane in well flowing traffic on a six laner. When it's crawling, stop-and-go, or moving in clots, "improvising" in a safe and courteous way seems reasonable, kind of like alternate feed when conditions warrant, such as at a lane closure that causes stop and go. I do believe in the simple rule that the left lane belongs to the fastest vehicle, whether it's over the speed limit or not. Everyone over the limit is breaking the law, so it's not right when someone thinks, "this is far enough over the limit, therefore I'm not moving over."

And they specifically perscribe your approach. in areas of exit/enter, i agree. Else, i don't.

Many highways now also have entrance/exit lanes to accommodate that and mark them as such "this lane for exit only".

That makes much more sense and avoids confusion with a simple rule. Keep right. People apparently cant handle complexity.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Might be incentive enough to move to Jersey, nah, what am I thinking? But, if find on three-lane highways, I can typically go faster in the right lane then the center or left. I also see it when a car enters the road, it immediately cuts over to the left lane, even when nobody is in the right or center lanes. So, yeah, I'm for finining these hogs. I think they are more dangerous than people driving 12 miles over the limit.

With care to read the behavior/intentions of cars in adjacent lanes (someone suddenly acting on the same idea you have,) and in the interest of being in the least dense lane to "help the traffic along," (summum bonum,) using the right lane can be the way to go. Often there's the ironic situation of most cars being bunched in the left lane, the overall speed dropping well below the limit, with about as many vehicles in the middle lane, while the right lane, ostensibly designated for very slow trucks being wide open. I think the left lane crowding is partly caused by egotism, herd mentality, lack of situational awareness, and "creative" ability. And yes, effectively being "passing on the right," using the right lane like that is to be done with extreme caution. I absolutely don't condone racing up the shoulder: that's really asking for trouble.

I was born, raised and learned to drive in NJ. Good for them if they actually write that many tickets for it. It is also the law here in CO but I doubt more than a few people have ever actually been ticketed for hogging. It is a major problem on I-70 in the mountains. Sadly, it would take at least a generation to instill decent lane discipline in this country.

Let's face it, most anything that can't be "proved scientifically" with a radar gun is not going to get much enforcement effort.
I wish even the most rural parts of interstates were three lanes each way. An all too often observation I've made is having a semi going exactly at the speed limit passing a mile long train of RVs. With a true passing (3rd) lane, the trucks can do their thing in the middle lane (as it should be) while the real passing lane can be used as such by faster vehicles.

Left lane abusers, at least 99% of them, know exactly what they're doing, it's deliberate. Many states have laws against occupying the left lane for the wrong purpose, but they are not enforced.

Down here in the DC suburbs, all lanes are forever clogged. Someone is going 52mph in the right lane. Someone else is passing him at 55 in the middle lane, and someone else is passing him at 56 in the left lane. All three have bumper to bumper lines of people wanting to go faster. Staying right means that you will never get a chance to get out of that lane, and everyone knows it. So the best strategy is to pack into the left lane, stick bumper to bumper and not let anyone from the middle lane cut in front of you. Everyone is passing on the left, the law is upheld! Staying right only makes sense when it does not matter - i.e. when the road is empty, like at 3am.

... and leads to the congestion, earlier than it would occur otherwise.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Like with anything else, you obviously have to use some common sense (which isn't as common as it should be). In a traffic jam, I don't see anyone being pulled over as being a road hog. Not sure of the wording of the law, but it would only make sense in cases where the traffic is moving somewhere around the speed limit.

Ever been stuck behind two vehicles driving sided by side just below the speed limit for 10 or 15 miles with the two lanes wide open in front of them? It can get frustrating, specially on a long trip.

I made the mistake of going to Cary the other day at rush hour (think Rockville or Vienna, rich bedroom suburb). And I realize my threshold for rush hour driving has changed since I left the DC area. Now if it would stop raining...

Left early one morning from a wedding at The Breakers in W Palm Beach intending to stop maybe in NC. Their computer was down, but they managed to bill me for the room. (Had lunch, a fabulous pompano dinner; and bought clothing, too.) They were to bill the rest later. Anyway, by late in the day I was close to DC but figured I'd stop past there to avoid whatever incoming rush hour traffic there'd be. Got past DC, and figured ok, let me get past Baltimore. Started having auditory hallucinations in south Jersey (symphony orchestra tuning up) ... stopped for coffee and made it to NYC.... 16 3/4 hours. Never got additional billing from the hotel. Karma?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2013 09:49PM by Laz. (view changes)