Group to reclaim left lane as fast one
Absent-minded slowpokes who putter along in the left lane, beware! A spitting-mad caravan of speeders is on your tail, and they're sending you a clear message: MOVE OVER.
The grass-roots group Left Lane Drivers of America is out to reclaim the left lane for true speeders and push any dawdlers to slower, right-hand lanes.
With vinyl signs stretched across the tops of their windshields reading "Move Over" - and arrows pointing to the right lanes - these drivers are taking to the streets to spread the good word.
"The idea came to me out of frustration," said J.A. Tosti, who spearheaded the movement three months ago. "Everyone has probably asked themselves, `Boy, I wish there was a way I could tell the guy in front of me to move over.' I think it's a common sentiment."
Get the story HERE.
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J.A.Tosti can stuff it. I ride the left lane at "normal" speeds aka 65-70mph. If a driver hogs my rear, flashing its lights to make me move...I will refuse to move for someone who wants to go faster than the speed limit. If he wants to drive faster than me, then therefore he should move!! As long as I'm going the regulated speed limit, I feel I don't have to give the right to the speeders to move over. Maybe I should make a bumper sticker for those saying " duhhh its 65mph...not 75mph" so get off my ass.
The first truism about driving fast is that there will always be someone going slower in front of you. In the photo with the "Move Over" vehicle drafting the photo vehicle, it should be noticed that the road is a 2-lane highway. That is a different can of worms than driving a multilane (3 or more) superhighway. If I am doing the speed limit on a 2-lane highway, the onus is on the following vehicle to pass me; not for me to pull to the right. Yes, it would be the courteous thing for me to do. But at 65+ mph, changing lanes is tricky under ideal conditions. Adding the anxiety and frustration that both parties face in the situation, the slightest miscue can be and often is disasterous.
On the metro superhighway, there are more options (lanes) to choose from. True, there are the few pokeys in the #1 or 2 lane and there always will be. Yet for the most part, there is too much traffic to allow full throttle speed.
Bottomline is that we have to be more patient and flexible in our driving. And I can assure anyone with a "Move Over" decal displayed on their windshield that if you are close enough for me to read that sign and I am going the posted speed limit, I will get your license plate number as you go by and file a complaint with law enforcement. You are the one following too close and you are the one using intimidating and aggressive tactics causing unsafe traffic conditions.
Just chill, back off. And we'll both get where we're going.
By being one of those jerks who refuse to move over because you are going an exact 63 mph not only puts your life in danger--but mine and my family's life in danger. As a result of refusing to move over you cause that impatient driver to go around you at an unsafe speed and manuverability. Driving a car is a privlidge--not a right and if you can't pull the lead out of it--get off the road. If you are too afraid of your car going over 60mph--then you shouldn't be behind the wheel in the first place. Just because you can get a driver's license out of a cracker jack box doesn't qualify you to drive a car. Take the bus!!
In light traffic, I set my cruise control for the speed limit. I don't mind staying out of the fast lane, but there have been far too many times when staying out of the way of faster cars weaving in and out of traffic would put me way over in the bumpy truck lane. No thanks!
This ain't Germany and the 405 certainly isn't the Autobahn. We don't have the greatest public transit yet, so we have plenty of teenage, elderly and other marginal drivers out there in marginal vehicles. Under the circumstances, our speed limits are reasonable compromises that should be obeyed for the common good.
Opportunistic speeding on short trips around the Southland isn't going to save anyone significant amounts of time. In moderate to heavy traffic, excessive lane changes cause turbulent traffic flows that steal minutes from everyone. Increased speed discrepancies cause or worsen accidents that waste hours and even entire lives.
Speeding is a much more serious problem than poor lane discipline on our freeways. If CHP is giving out hundreds of speeding tickets for every slowpoke in the fast lane citation, it has its priorities straight.
I guess J.A. has the right to express himself, but he probably needs to realize that he doesn't own the road. I think I'll just stay home in the Midwest where most people are maybe just a little more tolerant than you guys in CA.