State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its intended purpose: passing."We're doing 58, 59 miles an hour and they are just sitting there, traffic's passing them on the right hand side," Trooper Keith Leary said while pointing out a car in the left lane of Interstate 5. "That's exactly what we don't want to see happen."
People driving right at the speed limit in the fast lane of a wide-open freeway are like people talking loudly on a cell phone in crowded places: inconsiderate and oblivious.
Now watch, I get lit up with a speeding ticket on my next road trip.
h/t: Orb
Posted by Eric Earling at June 25, 2008 07:50 AM | Email ThisThey sit in the left most general purpose lane and refuse to move because they see pavement to their left and figure people should use that the pass.
You also get the other problem of trying to drive the speed limit while in the carpool lane and having people run up on your bumper thinking that it's the fast lane.
Posted by: Ken on June 25, 2008 08:23 AMIn order to keep traffic flowing well in two lanes, you have to either keep speed with the car in front of you, or get over. And for trucks, or cars towing trailers, it should be illegal to be in the left lane at all on a four lane highway or freeway. I believe that's the law in Oregon. And if it helps to get cell phone users more aware of their surroundings, that is good too. If one uses a headset and pays attention, driving with a cell phone can be safe. But it requires that extra level of attention, just like being aware of traffic flow and using the proper lane.
There are just a lot of oblivious and inconsiderate people. Hmmmm, which party do we have to thank for the coarsening of civility and general responsibility and respect for others?
Posted by: Jeff B. on June 25, 2008 08:36 AMThe violation of the law is passing on the right. Going the speed limit (Did I mention SPEED LIMIT, as opposed to SPEED SUGGESTION?) cannot be viewed as a legal traffic impediment.
The SP has a hard enough time policing up speeders and reckless drivers. This cover for a "work around" on the secondary violation rule is transparent, and will not be successfully implemented.
Posted by: Hinton on June 25, 2008 08:48 AMIt is no violation to pass on the right on a multi-lane highway: RCW 46.61.115(1) "The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass upon the right of another vehicle only under the following conditions:...(b) Upon a roadway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two or more lines of vehicles moving lawfully in the direction being traveled by the overtaking vehicle."
Thank you Christine Gregoire- your nanny state is completely backwards as one would expect in a socialist union.
Posted by: Andy on June 25, 2008 09:09 AMFor years I ran the Washington side of the river, from Long Beach to Longview. Regardless of the posted speed, too many drivers ran at 5 to 10 miles per hour below the posted speed. Following them to their destination meant the River Rat Trap in Cathlamet, or the Oasis, or O'Carols. They drove slow because they couldn't drive fast. If you were on the road on a school day during work hours, you were either on your way to, or back from, a bar.
Then there's the dumb driver.
In Washington the troopers enforce the strict meaning of speed limit. In Oregon, we're ruled by the basic speed rule, which allows for speeds in excess of the posted speed when conditions and circumstances allow. So, it is not unusual to see motorists traveling at 62, 63, even 64 miles per hour without harm.
Your Washington driver will wait until the highway widens, then pull into the left lane and park there at 55 mph. Not just one driver. Every single driver from Washington State. Oh, and my favourite...pulling into the left lane, speeding up to catch the car in the right lane, and running a double block all through two-lane passing sections. I guess being sober makes Washingtonians angry. Or is it belligerant?
Posted by: OregonGuy on June 25, 2008 09:13 AM2) Research has clearly shown that the safest speed at which to drive is that speed at which most of the drivers in your immediate area are driving. If everyone is driving 90 mph and you are obeying the speed limit at 60 mph, then it is you who are driving recklessly. The law doesn't recognize that however our good men and women of the state patrol do a very good job of recognizing that.
Posted by: Doug on June 25, 2008 09:52 AMPeople look at me like I'm some kind of crazy when I say I'd rather drive the LA freeways. There may be more traffic, but at least people down there know how to drive. And those that don't get run off the road.
Posted by: jimg on June 25, 2008 11:09 AMYou must be one of the idiotic Oregon drivers that is always weaving in and out of traffic like a nascar driver regardless of conditions trying to see how close you can come to bumper of people around you.
Apparently in Oregon the drivers only come in the idiotic variety. Never mind the eco-nuts of Oregon refuse to allow a refinery in their back yard, yet still hypocritically drive their carbon spewing vehicles all over.
I grew up in Chicago, learning how to drive on the multiple interstates and downtown one-way streets with elevated tracks overhead.
Since then I've lived several places in this great country of ours, and without any doubt Washington drivers are the worst drivers in the nation. There really is no comparison. I don't know the reasons for it; furthermore, I don't care.
It's Seattle Socialism that makes folks like Anonymous and Hinton above think that THEY have the responsibility to monitor and regulate traffic. And part of that is due to the fact that WSP abdicate their authority to common idiot citizens in patrolling the carpool lanes. Folks here have gotten the idea that it's okay to call in violations on other folks, so it's also okay to regulate traffic down to the speed limit. This is actually called 'vigilantism' (a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate); broadly : a self-appointed doer of justice), although many a Northwest citizen would deny that it is such. The fact that the WSP now want to enforce traffic laws appropriately to ease the flow of goods and services through our gateway state is not an expansion of the 'Nanny State' at all - it's simply asking the WSP to do their jobs, and not allow common citizens to do their jobs FOR them.
Furthermore, the most dangerous facets of interstate highways in Washington are not the drivers, but the carpool lanes themselves. These should be abolished immediately as they present a continual danger to drivers in any lane.
How many times have you seen an auto standing still in traffic in the left lane, pulling out into the carpool lane with traffic going 60 mph? How dangerous is that? How many times have you seen a motorist change lanes across a highway, from the on-ramp to the carpool lane, or vice-versa? These lanes don't help traffic congestion - the vast majority of the time they just put off the congestion for another mile or so, until everyone in the carpool lane must merge back into the left lane, thereby jamming up the FAST lane on the highway. Metro buses are instructed to use the carpool lanes if they are on the highway for more than one mile, so these buses commonly cross all lanes of traffic into carpool lanes, and then move back across resulting in more traffic congestion, when they should never leave the right lane. And the fact that these lanes are almost never patrolled only adds to the danger that surrounds them.
When I lived in the mountains of Denver, I learned the first rule of mountain driving - pull over. If someone is going faster than you and tail-gating - 99% of the time it's an idiot, and 1% of the time it's someone who needs to get down the mountain for medical help. You pull over 100% of the time, so you don't prevent someone from getting medical care 1% of the time.
If I want to speed ahead at 70 or 80 mph, it's my right. I may have a bleeding child or birthing wife in my vehicle and need to get to the hospital immediately - how would the person regulating traffic to 58 possibly know this? They wouldn't. They're playing Russian roulette. And it's also my right to get pulled over by the WSP and issued a ticket for speeding or reckless driving, for speeding ahead at 70 or 80 mph.
But it is not the right of anyone else to pretend they are the WSP and enforce laws that turn them into a vigilante.
Posted by: Larry on June 25, 2008 01:16 PMAs for truckers, there is a posted speed limit which they should not exceed. They to should stay put in the right lane. Truckers passing on grades is probably the major cause of road rage other than the idiots that swerve in and out of lanes in an attempt to exceed the flow speed.
Truckers are correct that the drivers in the NW are among the nation's worst.
Posted by: Paddy on June 25, 2008 01:17 PMWashington drivers seem to have some overdeveloped, misguided, and idiotic sense of social justice when it comes to driving - refusing to yield the left lane to faster traffic and merging a mile before a lane ends. The most ridiculous example of this was a construction zone where a sign noted that right lane would end ahead - a woman in the right lane kept pace with the car next to her for over a mile, stopping when they stopped and refusing to merge when the lane ahead of her was completely open.
To those that think enforcement of this is sometype of nannystatism or socialist agenda, get over yourselves. Just keep right except to pass and don't try to be an enforcer of a stupidly slow speed limit. If I get a ticket, that's my problem not yours. All your doing is causing unneccessary aggrivation for yourselves (do you really enjoy having a faster driver riding your tail???) and the other driver, and contributing to road rage and other vehicles weaving through traffic to get around you. That's far more dangerous than a speeding car staying in the fast lane.
Posted by: Darth Dogbert on June 25, 2008 02:16 PMWashington drivers are frustratingly oblivious to traffic around them, rarely checking mirrors or looking over their shoulder. Merging skills are also non-existent.
I also agree that the response to EMS vehicles is humiliating. Few drivers pull over and even fewer stop.
Rubbernecking is ridiculous too. Slowdowns for several miles occur simply because a vehicle pulled over to the side of a road. Emergency and construction flaggers also have some stories. Some people have stopped their vehicles in the middle of traffic, got out of and walked around their vehicles to take a picture of an accident. Talk about rude, inconsiderate, irresponsible, stupid and a few other choice words.
As noted by other commenters, I'm grateful to see something being done about vigilante and oblivious drivers.
Posted by: Ry on June 25, 2008 04:02 PMStupidly slow speed limit? I don't give a sh*t how fast you drive or how much gas you waste. If you get a ticket that's your problem, but you have no right putting the lives of others at risk in the process. Drive up on my bumper? You idiot, I take that as a dangerous and threatening gesture, slow down, and call 911. If you're going to rear end me, better it happen at a lower speed. No doubt you are one of those who pulls this manuever regardless of lane. Grow up.
Posted by: NW Denizen on June 25, 2008 07:36 PMNW Denizen, if you would actually drive where and how you should you would not have people pulling up to your bumper and flashing their lights at you to pull over. Learn how to drive or get off the road.
Posted by: iconoclast on June 25, 2008 07:52 PMEvidently, you couldn't get a ticket when you are obeying the law just because it keeps others from breaking the law.
Unless, of course, things have changed in favor of those who are breaking the law?
Posted by: Douglas on June 25, 2008 10:15 PMDon't blame me if you're an incompentant driver and your vehicle intimidates you.
60 mph is a stupidly slow highway speed. Surface streets are even worse, with a lot of 4 lane roads having only a 30 mph limit when driving 40 is perfectly safe. My driving is above the limit, but I do obey the basic speed law and keep my speed at a level that's appropriate for traffic and weather conditions - in free flowing traffic and dry weather, I don't see a safety concern with 70-75 mph unless retards like yourself sit in the fast lane for no good reason.
Now, regardless of my own speed, if a faster driver comes up behind me, I move to the right. It's actually quite simple to do. Since you seem to be perplexed by the idea, let me provide quick and easy instructions for what to do when you see a faster car approaching from behind in your rear view mirrors:
1. look over your shoulder to the right
2. put on your blinker
3. when the lane is clear, merge right
4. let the other car pass
5. if appropriate, repeat in the opposite direction and merge back to the left.
It's really quite simple and takes all of 30 seconds. With as much aggrevation as someone riding your tail seems to cause you, your refusal to just move over is perplexing. I think you'll find that if you just move it'll be much less stress on you, less stress on other drivers, a great win-win situation for everyone.
Posted by: Darth Dogbert on June 25, 2008 11:32 PM
However, what really pisses me off are those selfish little pinheads who are so absorbed in their own little world that they can't see that perhaps the reason I'm driving slowly in the fast lane is because there is a person is front of me who is going slowly. Even if I were to pull over for them, they wouldn't have anywhere to go. They'd be stuck behind the same person I was and I'd end up slowed down.
So, before running up on somebody's bumper and screaming at them to get out of the way, try taking a look beyond the person if front of you.
Posted by: Ken on June 26, 2008 08:54 AMI have not heard about this, though if the car in the left lane was both cruising in left lane--not passing a slower car and then moving to the right--and holding up more vehicles who also wish to pass it would make sense to warn/ticket the driver impeding the flow of traffic.
In California on a recent drive I saw large signs alongside the highway that requested/reminded drivers that it was the law to move to the right unless passing and that disobeying that law caused unsafe driving practices. I liked that and hope we teach the same here in Washington someday.
Posted by: iconoclast on June 26, 2008 09:13 AM
I've found many Seattleites (and liberals, though I repeat myself) have an outsized sense of entitlement.
Slamming on your brakes and blocking someone from using the full lane to merge are considered reckless driving and YOU will be the one given a ticket as well when the cops see you do this. So, grow up, mind your own business and pull over to let others pass. Watch what is in front of you instead of behind you and you may even lower your blood pressure. Having a heart attack on the highway is VERY inconsiderate driving.
And it is very laughable to hear someone from Oregon complain about WA drivers. The worst drivers in WA are:
1. Any vehicle with OR plates
2. Any vehicle with democratic bumper stickers on it
3. Any Subaru with bumper stickers on it
of course the worst drivers are Subarus with OR plates and democratic bumper stickers
Posted by: dogboy on June 29, 2008 06:33 PM