“Failure to yield” is a law in some places. You don’t get to lane camp.
Also, most states have “Keep right except to pass” laws. So if you’re not actively passing, you need to move over.
So yeah, they are breaking laws.
I have met some people online that are very allergic to the idea of breaking the law. Which is kinda exotic for me because where I live (middle-Eastern Europe) the uncommon is for someone to actually stick to the law lol. It’s very interesting that we are so different in this.
For us when there was communism here, everyone had to break the laws to get by and so we are probably used to it even when most of the laws actually make sense nowadays.
This works the other way too, though. If they are passing slower traffic, it doesn’t matter if you want to pass even faster, you gotta be patient and wait until they are no longer passing and pull back into the outside lane before you pass.
pull back into the outside lane
Not sure if you mistyped, but if you’re in the left most lane and the person in front is passing someone, then you stay in the lane until they move over.
I live in Australia. The right lane is the overtaking lane and the left lane is for normal travel.
But to adapt it to use language which is region-neutral, I used “outside lane” to refer to what would be my left lane. Because it sits on the outside of the road corridor. No mistyping.
What you’re saying is logical but is the opposite way to how it actually works, at least in the UK but I believe elsewhere as well
In Australia and the UK you drive on the left normally (the outside lane), and overtake on the right (the inside lane). In America that would be drive on the right (outside lane) and overtake on the left (inside lane).
I live in the UK and can tell you conclusively that is not correct.
I agree that’s how it should work, but that isn’t how it works, at least in this country.
I’m talking specifically about your use of inside vs outside lane
Oh I see. So you would say the inside lane is the one furthest from the centre of the road?
Honestly, the term “inside” and “outside” don’t really help. On a two-way road, the “inside” would probably be the one closest to the divider, whereas on a separated highway, I’d probably consider it the closest to the exits (the opposite). That’s inconsistent at best.
It’s honestly just easier to say, “I drive on the left/right” and then use left/right like you normally would.
Regardless, my point is that if you’re behind someone who is in the rightmost lane, you have to just wait until they’ve finished passing before you can pass them. If there’s a lane to their right, you don’t need to wait, just overtake in the available lane, even if they’re passing someone else. I’ve actually done that on highways with two lanes going each way, where the pass in the “normal” passing lane, and I pass in the oncoming traffic lane when clear.
Maybe we’re saying the same thing, but it sounded like you’d wait behind them even if there’s another passing lane available, which seems silly.
if you’re behind someone who is in the rightmost lane, you have to just wait until they’ve finished passing before you can pass them
Yes, that’s exactly what I said (assuming we’re talking about in an Aus/UK scenario). To repeat myself, but with the left/right/inside/outside thing fixed
If they are passing slower traffic…you gotta be patient and wait until they are no longer passing and pull back into the [left] lane
If you’re in the left lane, and there’s someone behind you but no one in front of you, move over and let them pass. Simple.
So you move over and crash into the car to the right of you that you wanted to pass.
I always do unless you have those crazy fucking headlights…then not a chance
You won’t see their headlights anymore if you let them pass
Yes I will
We don’t negotiate with terrorists!
Or better yet, if there’s room to your right and the lane to your right isn’t the right-most lane, move right. It doesn’t matter if someone is behind you or if you’re one lane from the left, move right if you’re not passing someone.
Far too many people camp in the left most lane when there’s plenty of room to the right. This forces traffic that you’re probably not actually noticing to pass on the right, which is unsafe and, in some areas, illegal.
It doesn’t force them to drive unsafely. That’s a decision they make on their own.
Unsafe driving is anything that’s surprising. Having a car go faster than your to your right is surprising, thus unsafe. The #1 rule in any kind of dangerous activity where a lot of independent actors are involved is to be predictable.
Here’s a clear scenario:
- Driver A is cruising in the left lane
- Driver B comes up behind driver A
- Driver A notices B, checks to the right (looks over shoulder), and decides to merge right
- Driver B gets impatient and starts to overtake A on the right
- Driver A, assuming moving to the right is safe (mirrors look good), moves right and collides with B, who is in their blind spot
It’s reasonable to assume someone isn’t going to jump into your blind spot on the right. That’s less reasonable to your left, so you should be extra careful when merging left.
Merging right should always be safer because you may need to move over if an emergency vehicle approaches from behind.
So Driver B made a conscious decision to make an illegal and dangerous pass. That’s not Driver A’s fault. You guys want to drive like it’s NASCAR and blame everyone around you but it’s just not true. If you’re coming up behind someone you have more situational awareness not less. It’s on you to make a safe move, like applying your brakes. That’s a safe predictable response to a slower car in front of you. Nobody is forcing you to drive in an unsafe manner.
That’s… exactly what I’m saying.
My point is it’s unsafe to pass on the right. If you can’t pass on the left and there’s available room to the right, the driver in front should be ticketed, because doing that encourages unsafe passing from those behind them. If the driver behind gets impatient, they should be ticketed for reckless driving by passing on the right.
So don’t pass on the right. If there’s a driver in front of you that’s holding up traffic with room on the right to move over, call traffic enforcement if it’s illegal in your area (and if it’s not, campaign for it to become illegal).
Yeah if there’s no one in front of you and someone can undertake you, you fucked up. I’m glad to see this thread full of so many sensible takes on how to drive safely and maintain efficient flows of traffic. Normally these threads online get flooded with brain dead takes like “I’m going fast enough, why should I move?”.
Personally I always keep an eye out for this type of driver and make sure to get out the way. The longer they are around me the more likely I am to be collateral in their firey death.
Oh certainly. Always drive defensively. But that’s different than blaming someone else for their offensive driving.
“Move over so I can drive recklessly”
Your argument sucks.
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Then what makes it a “dangerous situation?” Oh yeah, the reckless dickhead in the back.
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You’re the dickhead in the back in this situation. So why is it dangerous? You didn’t answer my question. Dickhead.
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It’s not your job to prevent others from speeding, it’s your job to stay to the right except to pass. It’s on the police to enforce speed limits.
It’s my job to drive and not worry about some dickhead behind me. If you can’t be patient, then don’t drive.
No, it’s your job to follow the rules and etiquette of the road. In some states, it’s illegal to camp in the left lane, though it’s unfortunately rarely enforced. I’ve heard it actually enforced in Germany though, so perhaps outside the US it’s more of a thing.
My state has “keep right except to pass” posted on most roads, and I’ve seen it in many other states as well. So do that.
You tailgate, speed, and cut people off and that’s fine, ok.
When did I say that? I’m quite considerate if I do say so myself. And I practice what I preach, I’m rarely in the leftmost lane, I’m as far right as I can while traveling the speed I want (usually within 5mph of the speed limit), and I help a healthy amount of space in front and behind me.
I suggest you do the same, if you’re not already. That’s proper etiquette, and in many areas it’s the law.
In some countries it’s illegal to drive on the left lane, when there is place on the right one
As it should be. I wish it was in my state, because so often we have a line of people in the left lane, nobody in the next two lanes, then trucks and grannies in the right two lanes.
I drive all over the country. In states where it is illegal to slow camp the left lane it is NEVER enforced by police. Same problem everywhere no matter the law.
I really wish they’d enforce that instead of speeding, surely that’s a bigger cause if road rage than pretty much anything else…
I don’t want to be in the left with you animals. Tell the guy in the right to at least to do the fucking limit.
See, this is the problem. You either risk getting a ticket by keeping up with the 15mph+ people in the left, or you deal with grandma and grandpa doing 10mph under on the right. So a lot of us end up having to leapfrog back and forth. I just want to maintain my socially and legally acceptable 4mph over.
Look, you’re gonna have to leap frog, sorry!
Look, why don’t you leap frog if it is such a big deal?
But they do. The assholes who want to go fast will weave in and out of traffic which increases the chances they lose control. Blocking traffic won’t suddenly make these people good drivers, it makes them irritable and impatient and more likely to pull even riskier manoeuvres.
Seriously, I can personally attest to seeing people doing batshit crazy things such as passing on the left, off the road, on uneven grass, with one of those decapitate-ey looking cable barriers within 2ft of their vehicle, all over traffic going 55MPH in a 55MPH zone.
If the entire left lane is rolling out at 15 over, cops aren’t going to pull over everyone. They’ll get you though if there isn’t much traffic and you’re by yourself out there getting it.
If the entire lane is going 15 over and a cop is around, everyone is gonna suddenly go 55mph and the cop is gonna still do 10 over.
From right to left, the lanes are for drivers who follow the laws as written, the laws as enforced, and the laws of physics.
I’ve seen so many wrecks because of assholes trying to go 85-150 MPH on a god damn road. The comments here enforce the idea that people are just selfish, self centered motherfuckers when it comes to driving on the highway. There is a posted fucking speed LIMIT for a god damn reason. Leave earlier if you want to get to your fucking destination on time.
Germany has proved it’s not the speed that causes the accidents it’s the excessive lane changing resulting in cutting people off.
Cell phone addiction doesn’t help either.
Statistically, we have more deadly accidents on sections of the Autobahn with no speed limit, so speed is a factor, even though it isn’t the only one.
But do you have more accidents in general?
Look, I’m not going to budge. I do not think people need to be going over 90/100 MPH on the road, with many other people driving, with animals also in the picture. I think it’s reckless, stupid, and just not necessary in any capacity. Again, I have seen too many fools driving way too fucking fast, hurt other innocent people because of their stupidity.
Sure you can believe that as much as you want but it doesn’t change that fact that some percentage of people are still going to drive entirely too fast, not to mention the much larger number of people who will drive a little over the limit. Study after study has shown the best way to move people going different speeds is to pass in the left lane and use the other lanes to go progressively slower as you move left. If you don’t think people should speed that’s fair and I agree, but that doesn’t change the fact that people will do it anyway.
You can all move over for them if you want. When I am in a lane, it is because I need to be in that lane. I guess I can at least say I am passing people, so.
I’ve already budged no need to double down.
“Selfish, self centered motherfuckers” would also describe those in the left lane while not passing with others behind them. No numbers needed. If someone is on your tail in the left lane and the right is open, move right. Everyone is safer, even people dumb enough to go 150, when passers aren’t forced to weave between lanes.
I disagree. I think that just emboldens the fools who think they can drive over 100 MPH. If I am in the left lane, it is because I need to be in that lane. Point blank. I don’t care where you live, and what your states laws are, mine do not have those stupid ass laws.
Drunk drivers who enter the freeway going the wrong direction usually drive in what they think is the right lane, which is actually the left lane. Camping in the left lane increases your chances of a head-on collision.
So… to mitigate that, you encourage people to drive faster than they can reliably react to a situation such as this exact scenario…? Yeah, okay. Sound logic.
Wow. Get familiar with the Uber app. You shouldn’t be driving if that’s the conclusion you reach based on anything I’ve said.
How… how else was I supposed to take that then? Do you remember what conversation we are having here?
Okay grandma, let’s go back into the living room and log you off of lemmy
You understand most of those accidents weren’t due to someone speeding…they were due to someone causing a dramatic change in speed.
Oh. Like the people who just ram right into people because they were too busy going too fast to be able to properly control their vehicle…? Yeah, no shit.
Most accidents I see are from dumb fucks trying to merge into a fast moving lane from a dead stop because they were tailgating the guy in front of them too much and instead of waiting til they had enough speed to match the lane they were going into they just cut them off instead.
Right. So, if you’re going a reasonable speed, say, the posted speed limit of 70, you will be able to mitigate as much carnage as possible even when that person was doing something pretty dumb, because you will be able to slow down quicker and you’ll be able to keep control of the vehicle.
Even doing the speed limit won’t save you if someone swerves into your lane from a dead stop 200 feet in front of you. By your logic everyone should be going 15mph everywhere so we don’t get hurt.
No, no.
By my logic, you should paying attention to your speed, because the speed limit is posted at 70. The benefits that come with going 70 and not 90+ are that you will be able to mitigate as much damage as possible, while on the interstate going the posted speed limit, by being able to either slow down quicker or react in a manner that allow you to prevent as much damage as possible.
Is that more clear for you?
Going 60 would mitigate even more damage, 50 even more, 40 even more, and so on until we might as well be commuting in bumper cars. Why is 70 the arbitrary line? Who are you to decide what an acceptable level of risk is for everyone else?
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I’d say from experience that that is how it works. If they weren’t driving so fast, they could reasonably react in time. Highways aren’t for playing on.
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Is your point the speed limit signs should be followed, but the “keep right except to pass” signs are ok to ignore?
I’ve never seen one of those in my state. I DO see plenty of SPEED LIMIT 70 MPH signs though. I think the keep right is fucking stupid, because it just causes drivers to swerve in and out of traffic, which is dangerous for multiple reasons, but will also cause congestion on the on ramps on to the interstate itself. It just goes to show you how each state having it’s own laws for driving is fucking stupid also.
It is the law in all 50 states for slower traffic to keep to the right when driving on the highway, regardless of the speed limit. So you just clearly don’t know how to drive, and have never bothered to learn, or even educate yourself in your own states driving laws. Keeping right also isn’t stupid at all. A lot of people, much smarter and experienced than yourself, armed with decades of data have decided that keeping right is the safest course of action. Obstructing the flow of traffic by driving slowly in the left lane continues to be far more dangerous than speeding ever could be.
https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/SLOWER-TRAFFIC-KEEP-RIGHT.pdf
Oh, no. you hurt my feelings by saying shit you know nothing about! I might just cry. :(
No, I learned what NOT to do from idiots who think they can safely drive over 90-100 MPH. Get the fuck over yourself, and just realize that going faster than 90 MPH DRASTICALLY increases your chances of colliding with something, someone, or LOSING CONTROL OF YOUR FUCKING VEHICLE.
seen the direct consequences of what going TOO fast can do to the human bodies, and their vehicles involved.
At highway speeds, whether you’re going 55 mph or 75 mph makes little difference to your survivability. Crashing your car at highway speeds is going to hurt. The difference is somebody who’s speeding in the left lane is a lot less likely to cause an accident than somebody going too slowly in the left lane. People like you are a much larger danger to yourself and others than somebody going over the speed limit by a marginal amount, in an appropriate lane. And the fact that we have to share a road with people like you is infuriating. In my eyes you’re no better than drunk drivers. At least they were impaired when they made the poor decision to drive drunk. You make the choice to put everyone on the road at risk fully sober, because you just don’t care.
Oh, no. you hurt my feelings by saying shit you know nothing about!
Evidently I do, since I had to send you proof of your own state’s driving laws that by your own admission you were completely unaware of and also apparently don’t mind breaking. I guess it’s not about the law for you, just control over other people.
The worst thing about scumbags like you is it’s not just simple ignorance that drives your self-centered, life threatening behavior on the road. You also just refuse to learn.
55 vs 75 no difference?
speeding cause less wrecks than driving ‘slowly’ in the left lane?
yeah, you’re the scumbag speeder who refuses to learn. not someone who passes left but isn’t going fast enough for you. you’re gonna kill someone some day. psycho.
55 vs 75 no difference?
Yeah if you think a 75mph crash will kill you but you get to walk away unharmed from a 55MPH crash, I have really bad news for you.
speeding cause less wrecks than driving ‘slowly’ in the left lane?
That is correct. Speeding is involved in a minority of accidents, and is the cause of even less. Over the course of a decade, I’ve seen two fatalities due to speeding, they didn’t harm anyone but themselves in the process, and both were on residential boulevards, not the freeway. I’ve seen far more caused by erratic unpredictable driving, driving too slow for traffic, and turning into traffic.
I’m a man who’s been fortunate enough to have saved dozens of lives that were almost ended by people like you that become road hazards on purpose, and less fortunately the witness of far more innocent people losing their lives because of drivers like yourself. People like you have caused far more injury and death than any speeders could hope to. Speeders are nothing more than a convenient scapegoat. As long as they themselves are not driving erratically or switching lanes unpredictably, they’re of minuscule concern. There are countries with freeways that have speed limits more than twice the U.S. and they do just fine.
Amen
You’re so fucking stupid. You know nothing about how I drive. Just because I complained about people who are obviously putting themselves, and others, at risk because they want to go above the posted speed limit. Don’t worry, asshole. The feeling is mutual. I hope you don’t drive too fast to be able to react in a timely manner the next time you are on the road. Others lives might be in danger with speed demons like yourself on the road.
Lmao are you okay?
I know that you hyperfixate on speed limits and yet you don’t know your own state’s driving laws. That tells me all I need to know about how you. You don’t know how to drive, you don’t care that you’re putting people’s lives as risk over your perverse power fantasy. You think you’re more important than everyone else on the road. Being confronted with your own ignorance doesn’t even move the needle towards some introspection and actually learning how to drive safely with other people on the road.
People like you are responsible for so many preventable deaths on the road and then when somebody loses their life because of the bullshit head games you want to play while in control of a 2 ton hunk of metal, you’ll cry and sputter about “how did this happen” and “I didn’t mean to”. I wouldn’t even call you stupid because it’s more likely you just don’t care, as long as your fragile ego gets what it wants then fuck everyone else, right? Disgusting.
Lmaooooo fucking brainworms oofta
Depends on where you are, tragic, and driving conditions. Generally though yeah, you stay out of the left lane unless passing when you’re outside of urban and suburban areas.
I once went to a conference as a vendor and they hired a temp to go with us to do a lot of the grunt work and had him drive the van there and back. He would drive under the speed limit in the left lane. When I couldn’t take it anymore and finally said something, he said, “I like driving in the left lane!”
They had to practically hold me back from strangling him.
I’m much calmer these days.
Because your wish was granted, right?
He left my presence still breathing, but I assume someone else has strangled him by now.
I’ve heard that a society governed purely by logic would be one that never takes emotion into account, one that only sees the cold logic.
That sounds bad. That being said:
We live in a society where people actively enjoy becoming road hazards, subsequently becoming dangerous to others whilst staying relatively safe themselves.
Idk, maybe we meet somewhere in the middle? Cuz I feel like those feelings should not be respected.
If someone comes up behind you, you should move to the right, even if there is a car to your right. You should just push them over to make way for the more important people who are speeding because they have important things to do and most get where they’re going 15 seconds faster by speeding.
What people like you miss is that you should actually move to the right before someone comes up behind you. There is literally no value to staying in the left lane when not passing.
You’re missing the point of the op. People who speed and tailgate while other people are trying to drive normally and pass safely are assholes. They’re not talking about the odd person who is just in the left lane for no reason. In my experience, this is pretty rare anyway. If I’m passing multiple vehicles, I’m not dipping over to the right, because that car that was just on my ass will sit there with their dick in their hand instead of accelerating and passing me. I’ll finish passing the 2-3 trucks and get over when there is adequate space to do so.
Nothing wrong with using the passing lane for passing and I never indicated as such. Everyone should drive at a speed comfortable to them…in the right lane, unless passing.
Yes. If these two things are true: 1. A car is stuck behind you. 2. There is no car to your immediate right. Then you should move over. You should obviously not merge into a car, you would use your turn signal and then change lanes like a normal person.
This is because you are not so important that you get to break a common state law in order to inconvenience hundreds of other drivers on the road, because you don’t like that they want to break a different law that doesn’t inconvenience other drivers.
Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right. Also if I’m still actively passing people, I’m not going to move over to a small open space on the right.
Even if you’re passing people, you’re probably still obligated to move to the right, by law. You’ll have to check your state laws for your specific obligations.
If somebody is riding your ass or going around you to the right, they absolutely should not be doing that. However it also means you’ve likely been camping in the left lane, impeding the flow of traffic for far too long by the time you reach that point, and you’re considered part of the problem if you’re causing other drivers to pass you on the right to get around you. When you’re driving on public roadways, it’s not about you. You need to do your part to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, so that everybody can arrive at their destination safely.
If you want to drive slowly, just do so in the rightmost lane. They literally have a lane just for you to do that, where you can be free of tail riders, and it’s impossible to be passed on the right.
I’ll pass a semi and have someone fly up behind me going 15+ over and ride my ass. If I don’t get back over to the right immediately, they will cut off the truck to pass me on the right. Those are the people bitching about “left lane driving.” Very rarely have I ever seen someone just cruising in the left lane with nobody around. It’s often impatient assholes who think they are the main character.
I don’t camp the left lane, pinky promise. I pull into the left lane to pass and someone coming up behind me going 90 rides right up on my ass until I’m done passing, or they squeeze into the bit of stopping distance I’ve created before merging back right. If I’m passing and already going over the limit, they can damn well wait a few seconds.
If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.
There’s a reason they say “keep right except to pass” and “left lane for passing only” and “trucks trailers rvs and busses prohibited from left lane”. There’s a reason they don’t say “don’t pass on the right” anymore. Passing on the right isn’t the problem, being passed on the right is the problem.
If you are going slower than the lane to your right, you are causing a rippling effect in the traffic behind you. People camping in the left or center lanes when they are going slower than the cars to the right of them are one of the biggest causes of congestion, and it’s quite evident if you watch who is at the lead of pockets of congestion.
I don’t know how to be clearer, I only pass on the left and otherwise stay right, just not always at the speed people want me to. I like to allow the car I’ve passed some distance before getting back in front of it, which not everyone seems to like.
Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right.
If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.
I stand by what I said. You apparently do not.
Because I think it’s important to make sure the car behind me has enough room to stop should it be necessary? Because they can’t wait 2 seconds for me to make a little space?
I don’t understand how cars that are supposedly going slower than you are passing you. Both cannot be true.
Unless you are slowing down to yield to non-emergency vehicles on your right, in which case you are a worse and more dangerous driver than I could have imagined.
…keep right except to pass: if you don’t want to drive, take the bus…
I’d say allowing other drivers to drive dangerously does cause inconvenience to others.
What this “slow driver” discussion leaves out is the fact that it’s the fast drivers that end up behaving dangerously and causing accidents. Fast drivers are the problem here.
That’s a very common misconception. Driving fast isn’t actually very dangerous absent outside factors like poor weather conditions, balding tires, bad brakes, aggressive driving, etc. Cars are designed to drive straight very well, and their ability to do so is unaffected by a metal sign with some paint on it beside the road they’re driving on. This is why countries like Germany with its Autobahn aren’t decimated by crashes every day.
Beyond this common sense, the data backs this up as well. Speeding is a factor in less than a third of all car crashes resulting in injury or death, and the it’s the cause of such accidents even less than that. Much bigger causes of accidents are unpredictable driving, driving too slowly for the flow of traffic, and aggressive driving (Which impeding traffic in the left lane falls under).
On top of the common sense and the crash data that backs this up, I also worked in EMS for over a decade and in my personal experience, the vast majority of incidents I’ve been involved in were due to somebody turning into traffic and failing to get up to speed, driving too slowly for the lane they’re in, or slamming on their brakes at a yellow light. In 10 years I’d seen 2 fatalities due to speeding, and that was on a residential road, the car involved was a rear wheel drive muscle car they accelerated too fast in without the experience to handle it. The overwhelming majority were caused by “defensive drivers” who made poor “defensive” decisions that other drivers couldn’t predict, or people becoming road hazards in order to self police the roadways.
According to Der Spiegel, German motorways that don’t have speed limits feature 17% more crashes leading to severe injury and 76% more crashes leading to death.
That’s despite the fact those sections have a lot of measures undertaken to additionally improve road safety.
According to the European Traffic safety Council, German roadways have a fatality rate of only 4.2 people per billion kilometers.
This is roughly half the rate of the US, which is 8.3
German motorways are much safer than the US, despite their high speeds. The reason a higher rate of accidents are caused by speeding in Germany compared to the U.S. is because their standards for driver training and licensure are much stricter than in the U.S. You actually have to attend a driving school and pass exams to become a licensed driver in Germany, unlike the almost total absence of driver education required in the US. They simply don’t have the issue of unpredictable ignorant drivers, or slow lane campers in Germany the way we do here. They successfully mitigated the risk of dangerous traffic flow impeding drivers like yourself, leaving high speeds as one of the only factors left when it comes to accidents. The high speed driver looks like “the problem” in Germany because the much bigger problem driver, including the lane campers, simply don’t qualify for drivers licenses there and are kept off the road entirely. A good problem to have, and one we should implement here in order to save lives.
It is true that Germany has lower fatality rate on the roads, and it is true that it is due to the various policies they implement, including stricter licensing. Speeding is also severely punished, by the way, which is why the definition of a “slow driver” will change a lot compared to the “I don’t give a damn about rules” America. A driver following speed limits is not “slow” by any German standards.
But in no way stricter licensing and control negates the fact that fatality rates on German motorways that don’t have a speed limit are 76% higher compared to the ones that do, in the absolute very same Germany, not compared to any other country.
The safest motorways of Germany, with a great margin, are speed limited.
Speeding is not the only factor for road safety, and it’s important to address this multifaceted issue in many ways. But speed is a very, very big part of it.
the fact that fatality rates on German motorways that don’t have a speed limit are 76% higher compared to the ones that do
A very clever misrepresentation of the data, I’ll give you that. While it’s true that if you get into an accident on a non-limited section of the autobahn , your odds of the accident being more severe or even fatal are relatively higher than it being a minor accident. However what you’re very strategically leaving out is that your odds of getting into an accident in the first place are lower on non-limited sections of the Autobahn.l, with some outliers based on rarity of the various speed limits. The most common speed limit on the autobahn being 120 (substantially higher than the average speeder in the U.S.). Here’s some data from a 2022 study on the effects of speed limits and their effect on accident frequency on Autobahn. It lists several different speed limits and crash results, with the primary comparison being between 120 and none. With the other speed limits being rarer outliers.
TL;DR It’s not that severe accidents happen more often on non-limited sections of the autobahn, it’s just that the smaller amount of accidents that do happen are more likely to be severe. It’s hard to compare these results to accidents caused by traffic impedes, because as previously mentioned that’s a particular problem that Germany seems to have eliminated. An argument could be made that it’s be a prudent decision to add a 120 speed limit to the rest of the autobahn, and trade a higher accident rate for fewer fatalities, but that’s a luxury that Germany has because they’re not dealing with more dangerous behavior like in the U.S, such as uneducated, unpredictable, and slow drivers impeding the flow of traffic.
I know you want what you’re saying to be true, but you’re wasting a lot of energy that you could spend on becoming a safer driver instead. Take all this effort you’re making to find numbers that almost look like they’re supporting what you’re saying, and put it into learning about your states driving laws instead. I’ve at this point put a lot of good faith effort in educating you, but I’m not going to continue poking holes in the logic of your responses.
How much gap is safe? Should I cut someone off? Is there isn’t a safe gap should I still get over?
An inch is sufficient. No touch? We good.
If you ain’t rubbin you ain’t racin!
If you’re asking me these questions, you should just tear your drivers license in half right now. Are you telling me that you’re a current licensed driver and yet you don’t know how to change lanes? Jesus dude.
I think you need to calm down.
If you aren’t passing someone you shouldn’t be in the leftmost lane.
Just try not to be dumb 👍
Tell us you camp the left lane without telling us you camp the left lane.
You are wearing a sign that says you drive all the way up everyone’s ass all the time, and then pass on the right without waiting.
If you get passed on the right you’ve already fucked up.
Look, I know the rules. People camping the passing lane piss me off, too, and I pass them when it is safe to do so.
But aggressive tailgating and squeezing between lanes with very narrow margin is extremely entitled behavior and puts everyone nearby at risk.
I don’t get passed on the right, for the record.
I’ll only pass you on the right if you’re being an asshole by camping the left lane. You get passed on the right often don’t you?
I don’t. I pass people on the right in some cases, if someone clearly doesn’t understand the rules.
But, I don’t tailgate ever, and I give people a chance to get over before I do so. If you’re doing that, I’ve got no problem with you.
IT’S CALLED THE FUCKING PASSING LANE FOR CHRISTS SAKE! FUCK!
…it’s actually slower-traffic-keep-right, i.e. keep-right-except-to-pass…
…is there room for someone to pass you on the right?..then you’re in the wrong f*cking lane, move to the right…
this only applies to not very congested roads. I’m la type areas where there’s always traffic it doesn’t work
This sounds like where I live. Everyone is either going 20 over the limit or 10 under it the whole way and both are constantly trying to change lanes for no legitimate reason lol
And most of the time they don’t use their turn signals
So many people seriously supporting breaking speed limits is insane.
Guys, these rules are there for a very good reason, and this reason is spilled in blood all over the roads.
No, you’re not “competent enough” to break those limits. You’re overstimating yourself, and this is a fallacy many people have. And every day some of those overconfident people get straight to the grave, taking normal people with them.
I drive like a German: I only go on the left lane of a highway if I am passing someone.
Remember not to indicate if you’re over the age of 65, on a tractor, or driving a beamer
Luckily I’m none of those! Yet. That S1000R® is looking like a sweet goal to achieve.
BMWs have turn signals? I assumed they were disabled at the factory since I’ve never seen one used in real life.
Have to pay a subscription to use them probably
I usually go mostly left lane if there is a lot of traffic because otherwise I’m going from lane to lane because I’m passing someone all the time (I tend to drive 10kmh over the speed limit) but if I see that someone is coming really fast behind I make a room for them to go past me
That’s basically my MO too.
Must be nice. I think semis are the worst when it comes to causing traffic. Swear to god, every single one gets on the highway and immediately moves to the middle lane, at least, even when they are going like 20 under and passing no one.
90% of the time that’s because everyone sits ten feet behind them so if they’re next to an onramp no one can merge. And seeing as they’re sixty feet long they can’t exactly merge left to let someone on (because that person sitting halfway up their colon sure as fuck won’t) because there’s not going to be any room.
I don’t particularly like it when people sit in the middle lane either… but until people realize they’re not competing with everyone else on the road and actually leave enough space for people to merge (from an onramp, from another lane, wherever) then it’s only responsible to ensure that people have at least a somewhat fighting chance to actually get on the highway in the first place.
Where else are people supposed to sit? The left lane is for passing, the right lane is for entering and exiting. The middle lanes are only for driving.
he left lane is for passing, the right lane is for entering and exiting. The middle lanes are only for driving.
No, the right lane is for driving! It’s where you are supposed to be and the only place that won’t get you fined if you aren’t using it for overtaking! The middle lane is only for overtaking those on the right lane and the left lane is only for overtaking those overtaking on the middle lane.
Eh, I think sitting in the middle is totally reasonable. The right lane is for exiting and merging, and everything to the left should be used only when passing. So as you go left, speeds should increase. The speed limit here isn’t that important, the important thing is that you’re never passing from the right.
Obviously reverse for backwards countries like the UK.
The right lane is for exiting and merging,
And for driving! If you see someone merging you can temporarily switch to the middle lane to overtake them, given that your speed will usually be higher.
Sure, but if there are enough lanes, I think people should travel in the next lane over. For example, in my area we have 6 lanes, so unless you’re exiting, you should probably be one or two lanes over.
If it’s a two-lane highway, the right lane is for travel and the left is for passing. For three lanes, up to you. For >3 lanes, the right lane should be left open since there’s probably a lot of merging going on.
If you truly wanted to break the law for real, you’d be alone in the carpool lane going 115mph.
Can’t, it’s full of Teslas going exactly 65…
Amateur, you gotta get your car lifted:
Boy I would love a carpool lane that wasn’t just as crowded as all the other lanes.
Yeah, they should honestly have two:
- actual carpool lane
- the pay carpool lane
In my area, apparently enough people pay for the HOV lane that it’s just as slow as everything else. Kinda defeats the point.
Are you in the PNW? That’s where I am and it’s the same scenario. I do pay to use the HOV lane when it’s busy though, so I guess I’m part of the problem. It’s not a difficult choice. Pay 70¢ and be home in 20 minutes, or save 70¢ and be stuck in traffic for an hour? Hmmm… Shut up and take my money!
Edit: I guess I was being somewhat hyperbolic when I said “it’s just as busy as all the other lanes”. It’s definitely still crowded, but it does move faster.
No, but I grew up there. I don’t know what part you’re in, but Seattle traffic is just awful, so the HOV lane is probably actually faster.
I’m in Utah where traffic really isn’t that bad, yet people still seem to pay to go there despite it not going any faster than the other 5 lanes. Oh, and they cross the double white lines too, which is illegal. The difference for me between good and bad traffic for my 25 mile commute is about 10 minutes: 35 min on a good day, 45 min on a bad day. It’s really not an issue most of the time.
Yup, I’m in the Seattle area. It’s terrible traffic. It’s not as bad as commuting from L.A. to Orange county on the 405, but it’s pretty bad. It also gets really bad with far fewer cars on the road than Southern California, since most of the drivers up here are terrible, slow, and unattentive. That’s not just a subjective opinion either. An independent analysis put Washington driver’s as some of the worse in the nation. No amount of roadwork will fix our traffic when 80% of the drivers have their heads up their asses.
Wise man once said, only break 1 law at a time.
If you aren’t going 90mph on your way into Detroit you’re causing a traffic jam. Full stop.
