One of the strangest things about the strange times we’re living in is how slowly people drive very quick vehicles.
The other day, I found myself behind one of them. It was new/recent-model-year GMC Sierra 1500, which is the fancier (and more expensive) iteration of the Chevy Silverado 1500. This is a truck that’s available with two V8s, the least powerful of the two – which is a 5.3 liter V8 – touting 355 horsepower, which is more power than a 1970 Z28 Camaro touted and 155 more horsepower than the little Prius hybrid I happened to be test driving when I rolled up on the Sierra.
The Sierra’s optional 6.2 liter V8 touts 420 horsepower. That’s Ferrari power. Or at least, it was – back in the ’80s when the National Maximum Speed Limit was 55 MPH and Sammy Hagar had a hit song about how when you drive that slow (in a Ferrari) it’s hard to steer because you can’t get your car out of second gear . . .
Fast forward to now and people Drive 55 – or less – voluntarily. In vehicles like the Sierra, a truck that is as quick as an ’80s Ferrari – in theory. In fact, its was being driven as if it were an ’86 Aries K-Car 9 (if anyone remembers them) that had trouble getting going much faster than 55 because there wasn’t much under its hood.
There is something ridiculous – and aggravating – about all these high-powered vehicles being driven as if they were low-powered vehicles. Of course, one reason why has to do with the fact that on secondary roads, the speed limits are in most places what they were back when the highway speed limit was 55. There are a few places where they’ve been raised but also many places where they’ve been lowered or are still the same.
And one other thing is still the same, too. Worse, actually. RoscoeP. Coltrane has retired and his replacement is Officer Anabolic, a steroid-jacked (and IDF-trained) Hut! Hut! Hutter! who is likely to order you to get on the ground, now! – with his Glock aimed at your head – if you pass him driving faster than 20 over the under-posted (the stagnant) speed limit.
So maybe that accounts for it.
But there’s also more to it.
This Sierra I rolled up behind had rolled up behind an even-slower-moving garbage sow. The two in tandem were doing 38-40 on a road with a 55 MPH posted speed limit. The Sierra’s driver not only made no effort to pass the scow, he maintained a following distance such that I couldn’t pass him and the scow – not without an extended open “window” of legal passing zone – and these are becoming as rare as pull-up emergency brake handles in new vehicles.
This is how vehicular conga lines form. And grow. All it takes is the second slow-mover to decline making an effort to pass the first slow-mover and that doubles the time/space needed to get around them both. It is almost impossible to do legally – because in order to do it, one must typically floor it and get up as much speed as possible in the least amount of time to get around the two slow-movers and that requires exceeding whatever the under-posted speed limit is, typically by at least 20 MPH and now you’ve placed yourself in peril of a roadside Hut! Hut! Hut! if Officer Anabolic happens to witness you making the attempt. 
Which probably explains why the guy in the Sierra didn’t. It makes sense, in a sad and depressing kind of way.
What doesn’t make any sense is the gratuitous, stupid waste of all this horsepower that’s almost never used and so isn’t needed. Driving around in a 420 horsepower truck that’s being driven as if all it had under the hood was a straight six and 130 horsepower. It is a lot like the way old men used to strut around 500 years ago wearing bulging codpieces, when they probably couldn’t perform anymore, either.
. . .
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Everybody knows that Donald Trump is the smartest man alive.
Everybody knows that Hillary Clinton is the smartest woman alive.
No argument there.
I’ll take Melania, the moron that I am.
B. She can fix a server with nothing but a hammer.
Coming to a state near you, lol.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/virginia-speed-limit-devices-judge-ruling-drivers/
Riot and burn down the city and you get a pass. Offend the sensibilities of GovCo and get it good and hard.
Anarcho-Tyranny at its finest.
The slow pokes want to be leaders of the pack but not because they are leaders, because they impose their will upon others. Kinda like that new Snow-White movie; rather than live happily ever after with the prince, she would rather demonstrate she is a woke, feminist leader, and impose Disney’s new Marxist-woke creepy ideology upon a classic. Walt is rolling in his grave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toRNbnSrxxM
There’s a stretch of Route 66 in Tulsa which I use every day to commute. The geniuses decided to cut it down from 4 lanes to 2 and add a bike lane on both sides, and a turning lane in the middle. Stupidity! One slow imbecile will back up traffic because no one can pass. No one but me. I’ve used the middle turning lane to pass a couple of times. The NPCs sure don’t like it when I do that! Much honking and flashing of lights.
I see this type of consumerism in every aspect of life. There are many jacked up 4x4s that see nothing but flat pavement. I also see 4,000 sq ft McMansions being purchased by a married couple with one or two kids. People think they need all this shit and spend the best years of their lives making payments and spending all of their spare money maintaining this shit, yet they don’t use more than about 50% of the utility of their expensive stuff.
These people are all looking to fill the voids in their lives with material goods they don’t need or even use.
Ditto here ML,
I never had that “hankering” for new (or lots of) stuff….with the exception of just blowing my cash on exploring the World…aka “The Big Blue Marble”.
Global travel instilled in me to never travel with more than a 5,000 cubic in volume Backpack.
Why? with a 5k pack you are a traveler…..
anything larger volume wise and you are a security guard for your belongings!
Sorry, I want to “Look around”. Isn’t that why most people say they travel for??
I can’t drive 55…or even 45 or 35 on some roads these days. Because traffic is so bad.
Traffic is so bad because the roads are so bad, among other reasons. I mean, our roads were basically built for half the population we have now.
Don’t get me started…
A mer ica will spend billions to build new but won’t spend the thousands to maintain. For the money we have given Ukraine, Israhell, Afghanistan and the ten percent for the deep state we could/should have the best roads on the planet. oops,,, now add 25% of those (not a tax) tariffs.
Eric, it boils down to courtesy. Most drivers seem to have a huge passive/aggressive attitude. Even in the mountains where you have “passing” lane zones these dawdlers will not move over and some cruiser biker groups even spread out to keep people from passing. Not to be outdone there are those that simply by-pass the “Slow Vehicle Turnout Lane” when going down hill as well. I consider those legit passing opportunities.
With such attitudes of the citizens is it any wonder that the rest of the world seems to think that the U.S. of A. is nothing but a big middle finger to the planet?
I find the midwest (including those who have migrated south along the I-75 corridor) and the west coast of the US to have the most passive-aggressive drivers. They’re difficult to deal with because they tend to road rage after their feelings get hurt. The most active-aggressive are in the northeast areas like NYC and Boston. I much prefer dealing with them. Traffic flows even with congestion and far less road rage.
Part of the problem is that with all these new fangled gadgets in their car people have forgotten that their number one job is to drive! It’s not to eat lunch, put on makeup, watch a video on your phone, .etc but to actually drive your car and keep an eye out for road hazards, pedestrians.
For some this has become a concept that they fail to understand and that’s why we are where we are today.
Reminds me of my old home town, people would lease “luxury cars” (Beamer/Benz/Audi/Lexus) and drive like little old Ethel in her Mercury Sable
Meanwhile while I havent used the whole Speedometer, do move unless I got an AGW behind me, only time I drive slow
“unless I got an AGW behind me, only time I drive slow”
Love, to you. Such truth is that. I do declare. Nothing like an overlords minion on your back to slow you down. They may as well be cracking a whip on you or trying to reach into your pants to do as they please, pervert-TSA-style.
…It’s The American Way, don’tchya know? Ripping you off, since you were born. …Before then, even.
Sure you didn’t teleport to Washington State? I’ve resorted to using the center turn lane as a passing lane a time or two, or more. 28 in a 35 no I’m not waiting any longer.
On arrival in town then it’s the joy of being the third car at a left turn signal, the first car takes forever to roll out thus only two get through “legally”. “Sparkey wasn’t that red?” “No, a bit pink I’ll take that turn “
Good example of the destruction of the culture, and perhaps, of manners, Sparkey.
It’s, every man for himself, now.
“Burned at the stake, or flee for your life”?
Prolly, a lost ideal?:
‘Seeking a Culture of Honor and Integrity with Charles Hugh Smith, Ep #64’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wd_jstU-9k
Some hope in Florida:
“Two identical bills, HB 545 and SB 636, would clarify it is illegal
for drivers to use the left lane unless they are actively passing
another vehicle or are being compelled to do so by road conditions.”
“On a road, street, or highway having two or more lanes allowing
movement in the same direction, a driver may not continue to
operate a motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane if
the driver knows or reasonably should know that he or she
is being overtaken in that lane from the rear by a motor
vehicle traveling at a higher rate of speed.”
https://www.mysuncoast.com/2025/03/31/lawmakers-trying-again-keep-slower-drivers-out-left-lane/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=organicclicks&tbref=hp
Man, I’m really,… worried? Maybe, discouraged, is a better word?
“Some hope in Florida:
“Two identical bills, HB 545 and SB 636, would clarify it is illegal
for drivers to use the left lane unless they are actively passing
another vehicle or are being compelled to do so by road conditions.”
In contrast:
I have photographed, um, self growing hydras in the blood. […] There’s all kinds of artificial life and synthetic biology crawling around human beings now. That’s a fact.” …
Vaxxed, or not, “Everybody’s affected. We’re totally All in this together”
https://rumble.com/v6r9u00-are-we-being-rewriten-the-war-on-humanitys-dna-with-charlie-ward-and-maria-.html
That’s some fucked up priorities.
Nah. None of us need another law to be a pretext for being pulled over. There are morons in every aspect of life. The key is to just deal with then as necessary and go about life. I don’t need another law.
So I’m doing 90 to keep the left lane open while the right lane is doing 45 so those with a perverted need for speed can get to the next Mcdonald’s drive-thru asap. Makes sense to me!
The entire reason for more than one lane was to increase the number of users. Hate to remind my fellow taxpayers but these clovers probably paid as much or maybe more, what gives the resident speed demons the rights to one entire lane?
Hi Ken,
The main thing isn’t the speed – it’s the being aware of others and doing what one reasonably can to avoid impeding other traffic. I usually drive faster than traffic but I sometimes drive slower – as when driving my old truck, for instance. When I am, I try to stay right and yield to traffic that is gaining on me from behind. Slow driving isn’t the problem, in other words. It’s preventing others fro driving faster…
It’s population density Eric. I live in both extremes. In the East it’s impossible and you just make yourself crazier by the mile. In the rural West, yes half do the speed limit, but half of those MOVE to the shoulder at 50+ mph so you can pass………. what a concept. And the speed limits are generally fair by themselves. And ohhhh, you might not see a car for a couple minutes at a time. At night, almost zero. It refreshes my concepts of mankind.
Don’t know if you can move your job or not. At least visit sometime, spend a week or two, non-tourist rural mountain west. Towns like 200-1000 people with the next town 20-30 minutes or more away. Might change your life for the better. It has mine, half the year.
My kids buddies (my second sons) call me Happy Mr. X when I’m out there and Grumpy Mr. X when I’m not………………….
Forced by the stupid to give way to others is a clear sign of even more stupid. Think about it. It will in no way reduce congestion. In fact it will increase congestion. Many complain about laws to prevent right turn on red,,, many don’t stop for a stop or yield sign if they believe no one else is around,,, if they yield to traffic coming onto a freeway by getting into the left lane.
Thank God for some leaders with not so common sense!
“The language of this bill is too broad and could lead to drivers in Florida being pulled over, ticketed and fined for driving in the furthest (sic) left lane, even if they are not impeding the flow of traffic or if there are few or no other cars in the immediate area,” he wrote in a letter explaining his veto.
“In addition, the bill could potentially increase congestion in Florida’s urban areas as drivers may decide to not utilize the furthest left-hand lane at all for fear of being ticketed,” DeSantis wrote.
What I’ve found while driving large vehicles with V8’s…it’s quite difficult to “just” drive the posted speed limit. You don’t realize you’re going 70 in a 55 unless you look at the speedometer. This is probably due to the speed being easy and the handling being so good.
I drive slow because I am no longer in a hurry. Most of the time, I was wasting fuel and wearing out my vehicle faster but not getting any enjoyment out of it. I still love high performance vehicles and the thrill involved but don’t I don’t need to do it all the time. As a teenager in the 80’s, my dad had an 11 second car(1/4 mile ) which was very fast at that time. Now many cars are that quick or quicker. If I would have drove that car proportional to its power back then, I would be dead now. I try to stay out of other peoples way and off the beaten path. Happy motoring.
I was duh-riving up in northern BC west of Prince George on the way to Burns Junction, I came upon a slow moving vehicle and had to pass, wondered why somebody was driving so slow.
I passed the pickup truck just to see an old codger about 90 years old making his way to wherever. I had a better understanding.
One way bridges in northern British Columbia have one-way signals, don’t disobey them.
Northern British Columbia has outstanding scenery.
I was a teen in the 80’s, too. RE: “I try to stay out of other peoples way and off the beaten path.”
It’s prolly good that you do. Howevah; I wish it weren’t so, but you’re being a dweeb.
I really really find it hard to believe that you, “still love high performance vehicles and the thrill involved”.
You write, ” I would be dead now.”
You may already be?
Dokken – ‘Into The Fire’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCBaOMBQFzU
Psft! “Happy motoring”??? …Who says that?
Slap yourself. Jump into a pool of icy water, or something.
Just to be clear, I meant, jump into icy water, polar bear style:
I wish I coulda found a non-MSM video to link, but this ain’t bad:
‘Record 2,461 Swimmers Brave Freezing Waters In Czech Republic’s Polar Dip | World News | WION’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWSbN2HtaoM
I didn’t see any pussy’s there. …Join them.
Hi Auto,
Driving slow isn’t the problem, per se. The problem – the one I’ve got – is with drivers who won’t make an effort to get out of the way of faster moving traffic. This is common courtesy as well as safe driving in that creating back-ups and increasing tension on the road makes driving less safe for everyone.
I drive slow because I do not have insurance, so I drive extra cautious as an accident could wipe me out. When in a town I make slow accelerations because in Oregon every town is loaded to the gills with marijuana dispensers, and stoners stumble out into the street in a brain fog not paying any attention that they are in a city street, nor do they use crosswalks.
Back in Covid era, say 2 years ago, a bunch of protestors decided to lay in the street to protest whatever the hell they wanted to protest, being lefty loons, I am not sure they even know what they are protesting. Such insane behavior is the norm in Oregon, encourage by Lesbo Gov Tiny Kotex and her obnoxious drunk “wife” who terrorizes the staff, all of them resigned.
Last year in Grants Pass, on Hwy 99, a full size truck came out from a dispensary and stopped in the middle of the road blocking both lanes – the person driving literally went blank and froze so potent was the hit they got at the dispensary. I waited patiently and drove by them way to the side in case they woke up and decided to do something with their big brand new truck. All that horsepower makes them dangerous.
All of the above is a good reason not to vote, especially in Oregon, where your voting registration is published online. What do you think a liberal judge will do to a right winger vs. stoner hippie you run over?
I missed that story, Jack…but still, Ain’t it great having all that legal weed AND the cartel violence and problems in Oregon.
Same in AZ. At least the cartel violence is mostly relegated to the border areas, Phoenix, and Tucson. Although our political system was captured by a cartel/Soros funded color revolution in 2O22, when you put some distance between yourself and the big cites, it is hardly noticeable, for now.
You & Bill Meyer going on about, “the cartel violence”, psft.
You guys never watched, ‘The Godfather’?
Are you guys Libertarians?
“If there is one thing that most conservatives have in common it is their support for the federal government’s war on drugs. Although conservatives claim to believe in certain principles that libertarians would likewise hold to, their support of the drug war shows that they don’t really believe in them at all.
Here is the conservative drug war creed.” …
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/06/laurence-m-vance/the-conservative-drug-war-creed/
Hi Helot,
I have never opposed anyone who wishes to take drugs – any drugs – taking them, for I am no other adult’s parent or owner. Ironically, many of the people who support the “war” on some drugs – the ones declared to be illegal – were very much opposed to the pushing of legal drugs styled “vaccines.”
helot, I don’t really like to be boxed in to any label and I hate all political parties. So I have no idea what you’re talking about. Never been on board with the drug war, or, at this point any of our imperial wars. A war on the few thousand sub-humans that make up the Garbage Elite, or a war on $cience would have my full support.
Same here Jack. I drive slow (2-10 over the underposted limit, because I dont want to have to use the Uzi I carry.
Dang! RE: “because in Oregon every town is loaded to the gills with marijuana dispensers, and stoners stumble out into the street in a brain fog not paying any attention that they are in a city street, nor do they use crosswalks.”
Seems like you’re confusing truly stupid clueless people with stoned people.
Nobody I ever knew in the 80’s who was stoned would act that way.
And, How dare they! Not use a crosswalk. Like, don’t they know you, and our overlords, expect order?
… You kinda write like a Neocon hyped up on furthering The War Against Some Drugs, or something?
Maybe, you got a hydra in your bloodstream which is fueling your anger?
https://rumble.com/v6r9u00-are-we-being-rewriten-the-war-on-humanitys-dna-with-charlie-ward-and-maria-.html
Come down to Florida where we have the opposite. While I agree generally with the premise that you should use the power your automobile has, down here we have legions of soccer moms, thugs and young vaping dudes in their 20s driving using the following method:
They floor it until they have to brake hard, doing that Over and over with no planning or technique behind their driving. Every crowded two or three lane road is a sea of brake lights. God help you if you want to make a left because some bushy headed teen with a mesh trucker hat with a fishing logo on with will be on your ass with a squatted Tahoe listening to rap music.
This is because the modern automobile is a CVT or automatic transmission that takes no skill and often turbo charged to accelerate quickly. Honestly these people are just as bad as the slow clovers.
I think it was ole Jack Burton that used to say “I never drive faster than I can see”. These folks have more horse power than sense.
RE: “These folks have more horse power than sense.”
The destruction of culture. That’s it. Plain & simple.
American culture has been, is being, destroyed.
Could any one of us imagine our grandfathers/mothers, or great grandfathers & mothers behaving the way Mike_FF paints a picture?
The late great Walter E. Williams wrote some good stuff about this subject, of which I would post a link, but what with The Internet being as shitty as it is about finding stuff written years ago, I guess you’ll just have to try & find it yourself?
…Or, ask some old people? There’s still some alive.
My daughter worked in Florida for several years, she had stories of car crashes that I found a bit overstated -until I went there to visit. Left the Orlando airport took the back way to her place near Lake Bryan. Rounded a corner in a 35 zone to find a blowout car wreck. Engine on the ground aways from what was a car. The other car a mangled mess. Now I understood why she said there are no fender benders in Florida it’s utter destruction and a Medivac chopper call.
I dunno, Sparkey. Rather than a call for better constructed roads, your comment reads like a gross call for more gobermint intervention & regulations.
Or, are you saying they all got a hydra in their bloodstream & therefore can’t drive for shit & have a passion for death?
No, take as a comment on the driving culture there, not advocating for the “man”. It’s wild there!
Another trip 10 years later Orlando area grown even more of course. The FL driving habits hadn’t improved!
Sparkey, all the vehicles(5) I owned in the five years we lived in Florida were hit while sitting still. One got run over by a truck hauling steel, three rear endings. The one that was totaled happened when a woman turned left in front of me on a two lane.
Not to mention the fatal accident that I was first on the scene that happened when someone pulled out in front of a 70’s Plymouth Satellite that hit the brakes, skidded into oncoming traffic and broadsided a van.
I don’t take my good cars to Florida.
My first thought when reading your article, Eric, was “turn in your man card, buddy, you do not need it. No point buying a vehicle with horse power if one is content to merely poke along like they are driving a golf cart. For I have gotten stuck behind just such a conga line, and it is frustrating to say the least.
Shadow
Speaking on conga lines came up behind a wide load with a( lack of) pace truck for and aft, with a six pack of clovers not in hot pursuit behind the trailing pace truck all going 60kph in a 90. This occurred on the number twelve highway between Kentville and Chester. Lots of flashing lights, the road is like most commie infastructure here in Nova Scotia fucked . Anyways I passed the whole string of arseholes and I can safely say I wasn’t doing the fucking speed limit all 250 horses were on display.
RE: ” For I have gotten stuck behind just such a conga line, and it is frustrating to say the least.”
Oftentimes, I think it’s a matter of poorly designed roads.
Imagine, if there was a stupid lane on every busy street and hyway and all the slow-pokes, old people, almost-blind people, farm tractors and tourists would be encouraged to use such a lane, so’s everybody with a lead foot, a need-for-speed, and people in a hurry to git somewheres, could all get there fast.
Yes Sir, it seems that every one of the complaints you guys have, almost, is more about the lack of well designed roads than anything else.
It’s just another way our overlords got us all at each other’s throats, than seeing ‘them’, for what ‘they’ is.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, could it be said that every irritation Eric & you guys have about insufferable Clovers really be about badly designed roads?
…And, the solution is, private roads?
Epiphany!?!
Indeed, our roads are still built for antiquated horse and cart traffic, and the mindset which goes with it. Why do we have pedestrian crosswalks and stop signs when there are tunnels and over walks. Why do we still have dumb traffic lights when we’re using automation, machine vision, and soon AI for everything else? And of course the rent seeking that is road construction with its continual tear out and rebuild with overpriced and inadequate materials.
Trucks today handle better than cars from to 90s. No reason to drive them slow unless you are slow.
I live down a 5 mile long country road and also have an under posted speed limit. 10 mph by my count and we have people who are afraid to drive even the posted 45.