Regarding left lane drivers ...

[GloryDawg]

Yeah I have Carpal Tunnel issues with my middle finger because of those left lane driving Son of Bitches.

 

[patdog]

20/15 vision. Looks like I'm going to be driving, safely and responsibly in the center lane, for many years to come.

 

[SwampDawg]

OK, lets look at a scenario where everybody drives in the right lane unless passing or turning left. All of the vehicles that are now divided into two lanes will now be crammed into one. How long is everybody going to chug along bumper to bumper before they all decide to pass? Do they take turns passing and then cramming themselves back into the right lane? How long can they stay in the "passing" lane before they are law breakers? What if the congestion is so bad they can't quickly cram and must proceed in the left? Do they have to force their way into the right lane? Recklessly?

 

[GloryDawg]

OK, lets look at a scenario where everybody drives in the left lane unless passing or turning left. All of the vehicles that are now divided into two lanes will now be crammed into one. How long is everybody going to chug along bumper to bumper before they all decide to pass? Do they take turns passing and then cramming themselves back into the right lane? How long can they stay in the "passing" lane before they are law breakers? What if the congestion is so bad they can't quickly cram and must proceed in the left? Do they have to force their way into the right lane? Recklessly?

It's the idiot who is driving ten miles per hour below the speed limit in the left lane that we are talking about.

 

[bulldogbaja]

No really, neither statement would remotely true. Drivers going slow in the left lane (while still going some minimum reasonable speed) relatively speaking causes very few accidents. For starters, most accidents happen at intersections or on two-lane roads. You can drill deeper here if you are interested:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811059
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812630

 

[johnson86-1]

No really, neither statement would remotely true. Drivers going slow in the left lane (while still going some minimum reasonable speed) relatively speaking causes very few accidents. For starters, most accidents happen at intersections or on two-lane roads. You can drill deeper here if you are interested:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811059
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812630

I was interpreting that as slow driving in the left lane compared to drunk driving on four lanes, which I guess was not a correct interpretation of what he said.

But I don't think an accident happening at an intersection means a left lane driver wasn't involved. I would think that coincides a lot, as people driving checking blind spots, changing speeds, etc. coming towards an intersection is reasonably dangerous.

Also, unless I am missing it, I don't see anything about total wrecks and percentage of wrecks involving drunk drivers in your links. I've googled a little bit also and can't find it easily. Lots of info on drunk driving and fatalities, but not related to total accidents. As far as I can tell, the number of total accidents in the US is somewhere around 6 million a year. It looks like the number of fatalities involving drunk driving is usually between 10 and 11 thousand a year, but I can't find the number of actual accidents involving fatalities. Drunk driving fatalities are a huge percentage of the number of fatalities, but I don't think it works at all to try to use that percentage to make any kind of rough guess as to alcohol involvement in the total number of accidents.

 

[johnson86-1]

As much as I despise entitled driving style of mamaw61 and the like, I really hate the lawmakers in Alabama for taking this hot-topic issue head on, instead of something vastly more important, like distracted driving.

How do you propose they do something about distracted driving? Give a ticket every time they think somebody swerves or drifts in their lane without reason? Give a ticket anytime a cop sees somebody eating or drinking something in the car? Give a ticket anytime a cop sees someone whose lips are moving when they are driving, on the assumption they are talking to somebody? Make it illegal for cars to have stereo or AC/heat or GPS controls that operate while the car is moving?

Not being a smart ***; distracted driving is bad, but I just don't see an effective way to address it. And I don't think anybody really wants to address it; when they say distracted driving, they are implicitly exempting all the things they do while driving. I think the number of people that don't eat or drink in the car or talk on the phone or mess with the radio or deal with kids or whatever while they are driving is vanishingly small and the vast majority of people have more or less determined that distracted driving is ok.

 

[johnson86-1]

It's the idiot who is driving ten miles per hour below the speed limit in the left lane that we are talking about.

Personally, I am also talking about the idiot who is driving exactly the speed limit in the left lane or even 5-10 mph over teh speed limit. Even if somebody is being a reckless *** hole and driving way too fast in the left lane, making them switch into the left lane doesn't make it safer for the rest of us. Had somebody cut me off on the interstate literally yesterday trying to thread the needle between a car going too slow in the left lane and me. That was 100% the fault of the *** hole cutting me off, but it still wouldn't have happened if the guy in the left lane had yielded to the faster driver.

 

[Puppychow]

I know right?!?!? Our friendship suffered greatly after that revelation.

 

[RocketDawg]

I-565, Memorial Parkway... We have to flood those lanes, all of them, every day, Gary, just to navigate Huntsville traffic. I know, it sucks even worse where you live, in Madison, AL. I spent my time there....

Yeah, that's true Fletch, but I don't think the new proposed law is meant for urban driving situations. The "design" of that interchange forces drivers to do some rather non-standard maneuvers anyway.

 

[RocketDawg]

As much as I despise entitled driving style of mamaw61 and the like, I really hate the lawmakers in Alabama for taking this hot-topic issue head on, instead of something vastly more important, like distracted driving.

I suppose the cellphone lobby is too strong to have a reasonable law. At least texting while driving is illegal, but few people are going to do it when a cop is around. Texting is terribly distracting, but I wouldn't mind if they outlawed all cell phone usage while driving. At the very least it requires that the driver pay attention to the phone conversation at the expense of his surroundings. Hands free is not better but is still distracted driving.

 

[RocketDawg]

How do you propose they do something about distracted driving? Give a ticket every time they think somebody swerves or drifts in their lane without reason? Give a ticket anytime a cop sees somebody eating or drinking something in the car? Give a ticket anytime a cop sees someone whose lips are moving when they are driving, on the assumption they are talking to somebody? Make it illegal for cars to have stereo or AC/heat or GPS controls that operate while the car is moving?

Not being a smart ***; distracted driving is bad, but I just don't see an effective way to address it. And I don't think anybody really wants to address it; when they say distracted driving, they are implicitly exempting all the things they do while driving. I think the number of people that don't eat or drink in the car or talk on the phone or mess with the radio or deal with kids or whatever while they are driving is vanishingly small and the vast majority of people have more or less determined that distracted driving is ok.

All the things you mentioned are nowhere nearly as distracting as using a phone. Eating or sipping on a (non-alcoholic) drink are basically mindless tasks. Talking on the phone is not.

 

[Lowdog]

I put people

in the same group of A-holes that think it’s ok to put their seat reclined position on a airplane. These people have “No” courtesy to others. Is it legal to get in the left lane and have multiple cars jammed up behind them, maybe. Is it legal to recline your seat on a airplane and cause the person behind them to be cramped, yes. Is it the right thing to do? A thousand times NO!!!!!!

And you can argue all you want and your still wrong!!!!

 

[Go Budaw]

All the things you mentioned are nowhere nearly as distracting as using a phone. Eating or sipping on a (non-alcoholic) drink are basically mindless tasks. Talking on the phone is not.

Talking on a phone? Do you mean texting / browsing? Talking on a phone hands-free is no more distracting than talking to another passenger in the car sitting next to you. And considering every car made in the past 10-15 years is outfitted with Bluetooth, that should be the only way anyone talks on the phone in their car. If you are talking about actual smart-phone screen interfacing, then yes I agree with you.

 

[fishwater99]

Hope you get your license permanently revoked before you kill yourself.

lol, if you hit someone from behind it's your fault BTW..

 

[johnson86-1]

All the things you mentioned are nowhere nearly as distracting as using a phone. Eating or sipping on a (non-alcoholic) drink are basically mindless tasks. Talking on the phone is not.

Either can be bad, but in general, I'd rather be driving next to somebody talking on the phone rather than trying to eat in the car. Much more likely to be distracted by food dripping or dropping on them than just talking.

 

[dudehead]

Seems to me, MHP patrols the smaller, limited access and two lane state highways far more than the interstate. Which they should. Speeding on those smaller highways is more dangerous.

I rarely see MHP on I55 and hwy 78. I see them often on 6,7 And 8.

MHP is another government service that has been badly underfunded leaving some districts with 5 or 6 patrolmen at a time in an 8 or 9 county district. And the beat goes on...

 

[goodknight]

Georgia has a similar law

That is seldom enforced. If you’re in the left lane and obstructing the flow of traffic you can be ticketed. I might add it does not matter if you are going or exceeding the speed limit. If you are causing a backup or congestion you can be ticketed.

 

[SwampDawg]

The law doesn't apply ONLY to people driving the speed limit, or slightly above or slightly below. It says NOBODY can drive in the left lane unless they are passing or turning left. If the police enforce the law, as written, if I use the left lane to pass a car, and there is another car in the right lane ahead, I stay in the left lane at my own legal peril. Going by the law I should pull over to the right until I get right up on the second car and then pull over to the left to pass. Repeat as necessary. And all the cars behind me should do the same thing. Legally. Is this kinda stupid? Hell yes, but that's the law as written. Will the police enforce it? Remains to be seen.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

MHP is another government service that has been badly underfunded leaving some districts with 5 or 6 patrolmen at a time in an 8 or 9 county district. And the beat goes on...

Concur, I travel I55 from Jxn to Winona dozens of times a year and haven't seen MHP in years. It's the same all over the state.

Another problem is people towing trailers and campers with passenger vehicles driving was too fast and likely well overloaded, with no MHP to enforce laws, these people just create more danger.

 

[EurekaDog]

I wonder how your friend feels when he's stuck behind a LLD, who is

traveling slower ... than your friend is ...yet both are exceeding the speed limit.

 

[EurekaDog]

Deleted.

.

 

[RocketDawg]

The law doesn't apply ONLY to people driving the speed limit, or slightly above or slightly below. It says NOBODY can drive in the left lane unless they are passing or turning left. If the police enforce the law, as written, if I use the left lane to pass a car, and there is another car in the right lane ahead, I stay in the left lane at my own legal peril. Going by the law I should pull over to the right until I get right up on the second car and then pull over to the left to pass. Repeat as necessary. And all the cars behind me should do the same thing. Legally. Is this kinda stupid? Hell yes, but that's the law as written. Will the police enforce it? Remains to be seen.

And that's probably the reason for the 1.5 mile "limit" in the Alabama proposed law. I don't know if Mississippi has a similar phrase or not.

I wonder if they'll ticket truckers who seem to be compelled to pass another truck when they're just reaching a hill.

 

[$altyDawg]

Concur, I travel I55 from Jxn to Winona dozens of times a year and haven't seen MHP in years. It's the same all over the state.

This is absolute truth. They can make all the well-intended laws they want, but until they can bring MHP back up to the presence that they used to be, it's all empty talk and people complaining on message boards.

 

[$altyDawg]

I figured highway patrol funding issues didn't stop at our state line. I imagine the same thing goes on in Alabama and Georgia. Just no HP out there to enforce these laws.