There is nothing wrong with driving slow – i.e., below the posted speed limit, which typically means much slower than the prevailing speed of traffic. There are many legitimate reasons for driving slow, including being uneasy about driving faster – perhaps on account of age or not-so-great ability behind the wheel. Indeed, it is sound to drive at a slower speed if you feel uncomfortable driving at a faster speed.
There are also slow-moving vehicles such as RVs that can’t help going slow.
The issue isn’t that.
Just as the issue with “trans” people isn’t that they want to dress up as the opposite sex and affect the mannerisms of the opposite sex. Most people don’t care about that. But many people do care about being lectured by “trans” people that a man who dresses up as a woman and affects female mannerisms is – literally – a “woman.”
Because he isn’t.
That isn’t “hateful” – much less “phobic.” It is the truth. But the “trans” pushers want to change the subject. They want to turn it around. They use shame-words such as “hateful” and “phobic” to portray those who don’t care whether a man dresses up as a woman and affects the mannerisms of a woman as wanting to abuse them when in fact it is the “trans” pushers who are abusing people.
Not to mention the language.
Similarly, this business of driving slow. Which – like a man dressing in women’s clothes – is not the thing that annoys people. Drive slow if you need to. Even if you want to. But don’t use your slow-moving vehicle to slow-down other people.
Move over to the right lane, which is for slower-moving traffic. If there is only one lane and you see cars stacking up behind you, do the courteous thing and pull off the road when you can to allow the traffic stacking up behind you to get by. Sometimes, all you need to do is pull off onto the shoulder briefly, just enough to give the cars behind you the room they need to get by. Doing this takes just a moment and you’re going slow already, so what’s another moment spent pulled off onto the shoulder?
The drivers of the cars stacked up behind you will thank you, even if you can’t hear them. Some will give you a friendly wave – because what you just did was friendly. More finely, it was diffusive – as of tension.
As opposed to blocking the drivers of the cars stacked up behind you from getting by – which increases it.
Understandably.
Time is the currency that we spend every moment of our lives that we can never accumulate more of. Once spent, it is gone – forever. This idea – expressed by some slow drivers – that people who are annoyed by slow drivers who won’t get out the way are “impatient” (and worse) is not much different than a “trans” man accusing people who refuse to call him “Miss” or “Mrs.” of being “hateful” and “phobic.”
Nonsense.
If you’re a man who feels pretty and you want to wear a dress and lipstick, by all means. It is a free country. Well, it was – and maybe it will be one again. No one cares. More finely, most people are indifferent to what you do, provided what you do does not include imposing on them.
It is just the same with regard to slow driving. Most people understand that some people are not comfortable driving fast – or even driving the speed limit. Most people are empathetic toward older people who maybe haven’t got the best eyesight or whose bodies are arthritic and as a result have more difficult reacting quickly. We all understand that this will happen to pretty much everyone, eventually.
We all – well, most of us – know an SUV pulling an Airstream may not be able to go the speed limit up a steep grade. That truck loaded a pallet of sheetrock needs to go slow. And most of us do not have an issue with people who just want to go slow.
But – please – keep an eye on what’s stacking up behind you – and make an effort to stay in the right lane on a two lane and pull off onto the shoulder when you can on those one-lanes so that people who want to go faster and don’t want to spend their time going slower can get by.
These common courtesies were once taught new drivers because it’s not just a matter of courtesy to yield when you are going slower than the traffic that’s stacking up behind you.
It is – wait for it – safe.
Remember that point made earlier about diffusing tension? That makes the driving environment safer. It is less safe when you have one car effectively blocking other cars; the drivers of the blocked cars become understandably annoyed. They are not being “impatient.” Some will do unsafe things, such as tailgate the slow driver ahead or attempt a Banzai! pass that might entail more risk to that driver as well as to others.
The bottom line is it’s safer for everyone for the slow-moving driver to yield – and for all drivers to behave courteously toward other drivers.
As Rodney King said all those years ago, can’t we all just get along?
Absolutely. All it requires is looking in your rearview mirror – and driving accordingly.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
Man – I would normally agree Eric that its ok to drive slow in the correct lane – but today I saw the piece of shit government non-workers in my local council are proposing reducing the speed limit on one of the best stretches of road around where I live. It’s a couple miles straight of dual lane dual carriageway- with a traffic signal on one side and a roundabout on the other…. is brilliant fun, on both sides especially if you know how to time the roundabout correct when there are no other cars around. Best of all, all of it well within the letter of the law….
But today I dont want to give an inch so so fuck them and fuck bastard commies at the local council (who are the so called right wing “conservative” party)
I don’t know if it’s the same in other states, but in mine, at least, the law states that you must pull over to let traffic by if there are 5 cars or more stacked behind you.
(At least, it used to be the law, I can’t say I’ve checked recently.) Not that anybody knows or does it; and I’ve never seen a cop pull anyone over for not doing it, either, unfortunately.
> I don’t know if it’s the same in other states, but in mine, at least, the law states that you must pull over to let traffic by if there are 5 cars or more stacked behind you.
In Nevada, it’s 3 or more.
My favorite are the clovers that suddenly grow a sack and try to brake check you or go WOT and race. If you brake check someone and they actually hit you how do they think that is going to end for them? Probably into a telephone pole or some sort of crazy road rage fight with a tire iron.
Hi Snake,
Once, I was driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which has a 45 MPH speed limit. I rolled up behind a car doing 33 or so. I did not ride his ass; I never do that because it’s pointless and dangerous. But I did try to pass him. And then he rocked it up to more than 70, to try to prevent me from passing. I had to do 80-plus to get past this prick, who then rode my ass. These people are both mentally ill and stupid. What if I had been the kind of guy who slams on the brakes, gets out – and beat the shit out of the guy (or worse). You never know who you might piss off. And that’s why it’s smart as well as common courtesy to avoid pissing people off.
Speed is often a matter of will. The type of person to do that is often a control freak but not the most confident in their own abilities hence being normally slow. All you have to do is go well beyond their mind’s idea of a fast speed and you pass them every time if there is room, even when they try to block you. I hate these people, but I always take a look at them on passing to bask in their anger and have a good laugh.
I don’t drive slow. I drive the speed limit – usually from the right lane, and if necessary pass in the middle or left lane and then back over to the right lane. For the most part, I can maintain the speed limit without weaving in and out of traffic. Makes for much easier and more pleasant driving. Please don’t tailgate me as I drive in the right lane. And don’t use the right lane to weave in and out of traffic. I don’t speed, mainly because one ticket will increase my insurance by 30% for 3 years.
Me too Howard. I never get in anyones’ way and I’m 100% cool with people that want to drive 100mph — as long as they don’t kill anyone doing it. And I don’t like tailgaters either. I see some wreckless drivers sometimes — they weave back and forth between lanes going too fast to allow people to adjust to them … sometimes the bad drivers don’t let people enter onto the highway via the on-ramps — and sometimes there’s dangerous highway on-ramps — like when the on-ramp is on the LEFT side of the highway — the on-ramps is where all the big problems happen.
I don’t even get upset with people that weave across lanes to pass — as long as they’re safe about it. I like cars and I want people to have fun driving — I just don’t want to die from getting smashed into.
Yeah, I’m worried about “speeding” tickets too, that’s the main reason I drive close to the “speed limit”. I need to get a radar detector one of these days.
It sounds like you do not know how to merge with the flow of traffic. No one has any obligation to “let you in”. Either speed up with everyone else or get the hell out of the way.
What is written here is precisely the problem with some drivers. There are bull-mergers. They merge onto a highway without any thought to those who are already on the highway and will not adjust their speed. Then there are the selfish drivers who see someone who is trying to safely merge onto the highway and also will not adjust his speed to assist. Sometimes those who are merging do not have a “fast car”, or it’s a truck.
No one already on the highway should have to slow down because someone from an on/off ramp cannot figure out the speed of the rest of traffic and adjust accordingly. And if I have a left lane lugger next to me who refuses to pass me I cannot “let you in” as you self righteously demand other drivers do for you. Should we also stop at green lights so you can run the red light as well?
By all means I should be able to drive as fast as I want so I can get to my destination on time. After all, I don’t have to obey the speed limit since it was set too low! To hell with anyone else. And if they don’t like it, I’ll tailgate them and honk my horn and flash my lights. Maybe I’ll pass on the right or left shoulder. That’ll teach them that my needs are the only ones that should be considered.
Hi Howard,
I see it as a simple, common courtesy thing to do to pay attention to what’s behind you and to yield as soon as feasible, irrespective of how you feel about the other person’s speed. It is not our job to enforce the speed limit. And it doesn’t help to try. I grant that some fast drivers are operating beyond their capabilities. But that is not for us to judge. And some are operating within their capabilities. Same rule. It is no skin off my nose if someone else wants to drive faster than I am driving; that rarely happens but when it does, I yield. Because why not?
We all have different abilities – and schedules. Maybe some have the time and the inclination to take their time. This is fine. But it is also fine to drive faster than others like – because others’ subjective evaluation of “too fast” is not (ought not to be) determinative.
The gist of it is courtesy – same as on a hiking trail, as a for-instance. If some other hiker comes up behind you on the trail, clearly walking at a faster pace, everyone knows to step aside and let them pass. It’s not fundamentally different on the road.
Right?
Eric,
With all due respect, and I appreciate your blog, but I am commenting on what I see as the general discourteous and downright dangerous driving I see on the roads, by those who are driving much too fast given the heavy traffic and their own capabilities. I also agree that the slow-pokes are a problem as well. I NEVER clog up traffic by driving full-time in the LEFT hand lane. As I mentioned, I mostly stick in the right lane and let those who want to drive fast do their thing. However, it’s not the slow pokes who cause me the problems. It’s the discourteous and mostly dangerous traffic weavers who will tailgate me, and honk, and flash lights EVEN when I am in the right lane keeping up with traffic. After all, they think it is their right to have the use of all the lanes to practice their derby skills. May they be ticketed and banned from the roads!
No worries, Howard –
I have no problem with disagreement.
You write that “what you see” – are people “driving much too fast given the heavy traffic and their own capabilities” – which is to say, in your opinion. And that’s fine! This is not X or Facebook. You are free to express any opinion you have and I won’t suppress it. I do not support – and have made clear I do no support – tailgating and horn honking. But that is not the same as driving fast, which I do – and defend. No one ought to have to weave through traffic; this does not happen on the German Autobahn. Because people use their mirrors and yield to faster-moving traffic.
That’s all I’m defending.
I don’t understand what what the confusion is. Drive in the Right Lane and pass on the Left. On Multilane Highways: Drive in the Right Lane and Pass in the Left Lanes. Never pass on the Right. A simple process someone with a Driving IQ of 10 or more should understand. This simple process eliminates dangerous Passing on the Right and Road Rage.
True. In these parts it is not so much the drivers who cannot merge, it is the red light runners. They are getting down right scary. I can usually get around someone who is merging but the red light runners are another thing.
Shadow, it sounds like you need to learn how to share the road with others. We right lane drivers that go near the speed limit are not “in your way”. Me, Eric, and Howard all get along on the roads just fine.
Thank you for judging what you perceive as my lack of good driving and abilities to play well with others on the road. I refuse to let your comments anger me cause life is simply too short for that. My driving record of no accidents and 1 speeding ticket 18 years ago speak for itself. Perhaps your judgment of my crapoy driving skills I should wear as badge of honor? Either way I think I will do something more enjoyable. Such as listen to some good music.
Morning, Shadow!
I agree with you that a long record of “accident” free (in air fingers quote marks because most “accidents” are avoidable, the result of driver error) driving is powerful evidence of sound driving, whether the driver “speeds” or not. I think the deeper issue here is one that transcends so many facets of life. It is that people vary in their abilities and inclinations. I do not think a “one size fits all” standard – e.g., speed limits – fits. Nor is it just. If I drive 70 on a road with a 55 MPH speed limit, why ought that to be an actionable “offense”? Who have I harmed? The fact is a low-skill/distracted driver can cause an “accident” driving exactly the speed limit or less, even. The argument that driving faster is necessarily “dangerous”is fatuous, because it focuses on just one variable – speed – and does not factor in the driver’s skill, which matters greatly as it is compensatory. My ex mother in law never drove faster than the speed limit, but had “accidents” all the time. If a kid ran out in front of her, odds are she’d have run the kid over or wrecked her own car because she had no evasive driving skills and slow reaction times.
I much prefer a simpler, objective measure – that of harm caused or not. And of holding people accountable when they do cause harm but absent that, leaving them alone. Yes, I know. Some will still behave foolishly/recklessly and cause harm. Has posting speed limits prevented that? What it has done is turn practically everyone on the road into a target for armed government workers. That, to me, is a worse harm than holding responsible the relative handful of foolish/reckless people and leaving everyone else alone.
Sorry, but you do have an obligation to be considerate. If possible you absolutely should get over, slow down, or speed up to make room for mergers. Likewise when merging you are obligated to drive faster or slower to get in, but don’t be a dumbass and stop on the merge. In a merge, the merger has only 2 options to maneuver, faster or slower. The mergee (?) can get over, go faster, or go slower. In navigation, right of way goes to the less maneuverable vehicle, be it a supertanker, a hot air balloon, or a merging car.
I invariably speed up because in these parts speeding up with the flow of traffic is a difficult concept. There is however one particular merge area where the idiot DOT decided to remove the merge lane and it is a real bitch for drivers to get over to that far left lane in time for a left hand turn. In that area I immediately try to get into the left lane if I am able because the DOT decided to fix something that was never broken.
Well, I agree with most of what you wrote except that the weavers are a menace and are dangerous, to themselves and others. Sure the slow-pokes are dangerous too, but those who think they should be able to drive as fast as they want and to hell with everyone else as they weave in and out of traffic should have their licenses revoked. They have zero understanding of physics, and they vastly overestimate their driving abilities, their sight, hearing, and reflexes. I’ll leave the leftmost lane to these crazies.
I would posit that the guys who are weaving thru traffic are actually quite *aware* of their surroundings and are not distracted in the least! This actually makes them safe drivers, contrary to everyone’s perception of them. Now to be fair to you, I have seen drivers that are overwhelmingly speeding and weaving, to the point whereby I cannot tell why they haven’t triggered an accident. But these drivers are in the far-far minority of event the weavers that I have encountered. Use the whole road, I say.
And as a libertarian, a driver’s only responsibility is to not inflict physical damage to you, meaning to cause you to incur physical loss. Your feelings and courtesy be damned. I actually do remind myself of this whenever on the receiving end of motorist mal-courtesy.
“not inflict”!!! Oy, typos…
Fixed it for you, Tom!
Agree 100%.
I drive one of the slowest cars in the world (1982 Mercedes 240D manual transmission) fast, have no problem doing so, am always paying attention both to myself and my surroundings, even looking behind me to insure that I am not impeding anyone else’s travel, with no distractions such as drinks or cell phones as well.
Situational awareness is the key…all the time.
I agree with Howard — he/she makes perfect sense. I’ve seen people weaving that were just nuts. But I’ve also seen people driving fast and weaving but they were SAFE about it. So, I think the bottom line is just that there are some drunk/drugged/bad drivers out there.
Personally I’m just sick of it when I HAVE to get in the left lane to let a person enter onto the highway (from the right-side on-ramp), and then some other crazy person comes up from behind me in the left lane and they pass me on the right and block the on-ramp person from getting on the highway, and there is NOT enough space for them to do that — it’s very dangerous. And all of this happens in 10 to 15 seconds so this crazy person couldn’t even wait 10 seconds for the on-ramp person to merge and for me to get back on the right lane.
Wouldn’t it be cool if cars had a built-in FRS radio, and everyone knew to use one channel for driving — kind of like CB channel 19, but all of us non-truckers would use FRS — then we could talk to each other while we’re on the roads — Eric could talk to those people in the white Camry and say “Hey, could you please pull over and let the 100 cars behind you pass? That would be great. We’d really appreciate it.”
The car makers should put FRS radios built-in to all new cars for this, and have a big button that tunes to the designated channel that we all use.
You all probably already know all this but… I just saw an interesting journalism video. The latter ~half of the video is about the EV scam and lithium mining. I thought it was very bad but it’s 100X worse than I even thought and it’s way more prevalent than I thought. Basically it’s a huge plan to strip mine a huge portion of every single state in America, and so much more I can’t even summarize.
So EVs are not just a cockamamey grifting scam — it seems to me that the entire EV industry is a plan to DESTROY ALL LIFE ON PLANET EARTH. Seriously. I’m not kidding. The cars are like bombs just waiting to go off plus they burn everything around them to the ground too. Nevermind no one will be able to drive them since there”s not enough electricity, so they destroy our transportation which means we all die. Plus the lithium mining will destroy the planet and murder all life from the pollution it creates.
“What Is Also Going on in North Carolina (and Everywhere Else, Part 3)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukdvcQu9Xmg
Anti woke….
MGUY….
a new conservative 4B?….says he won’t watch or listen to any celebrity that supported commie la and the marxists….
Porsche is quietly proposing combustion versions of its EVs – a complete reversal of “EV versions of its ICE cars”
Bentley delaying it’s all EV lineup…
UK….used car sales up…new cars sales way down….the old cars are better and cheaper….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRdnttkPvrk
Yay! I pray Trump stops all this EV madness. I don’t like that Evil Muskrat guy — I think he’s a double agent trying to cozy up to Trump because he’s trying to DESTROY ALL LIFE ON PLANET EARTH with the EV madness.
APe News finally admits:
‘Donald Trump won Arizona on Saturday night, returning the state and its 11 electoral votes to the Republican column after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.’
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/election/donald-trump-wins-arizona-its-11-electoral-votes-flipping-state-red-again
312 electoral votes, bitchez. Like the 312 cubic inch V-8 in a 1956 Thunderbird. Urges you on down the road, don’t it?
APe News rabbits on:
‘PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Eli Crane has won reelection in a Republican-leaning congressional district covering vast swaths of rural Arizona.
‘Crane faced a spirited challenge from Democrat Jonathan Nez, the former Navajo Nation president, in the 2nd District race. Nez was vying to become the first Native American to represent Arizona in Congress.
‘Crane, a former Navy SEAL who served in the military for 13 years, is a member of the far-right [sic] House Freedom Caucus and a staunch ally of Donald Trump.’
Crane’s opponent, Navajo Nation president (2019-2023) Jonathan Nez, brutally locked down, terrorized, and forcibly vaccinated his people during the pandemic. Hundreds died — from covid, and then from the ‘vaccine.’
Any sympathy we feel for native Americans evaporates when we contemplate Leftist Big Pharma fellators like Jonathan Nez. He punished his own people. And he quite properly got flushed down the toilet as a prospective Congress Clown. Back to the rez, LOSER!
Election officials in Arizona are once again changing the ballot totals as the US Senate Seat has yet to be called.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/send-us-marshals-arizona-officials-caught-changing-ballot/
We have drivers like that up here, along with the left lane luggers that refuse to pass and refuse to move over. More than once I have passed said driver on the right and given them a dirty look. Sometimes they get a clue when several of us pass them on the right but only on good days.
Didnt even make it to the forehead before knowing it was a loser freak.
No woman neglects hair like that.
Too bad those unmarked white southbound busses are gonna be packed to capacity with outbound illegal invader criminals.
The geese are flying in V-formations probably 1500 of them, they stretch from a mile to the east and then a mile to the west 1000 yards wide at 2000 feet. They are maybe at 35 mph, no mid-air collisions, a huge flock of them, actually, never a mishap.
They can fly like crazy for miles and miles. They don’t have licenses to fly, but they still can and do. Snow geese fly in flocks with Canada geese, they don’t try to run another out of the flight pattern.
Learn to drive like the geese fly in the sky.
They’re getting shot at by hunters, but the numbers are too great to make them the Passenger pigeons or Dodos.
Other predators are out there in the fields, when the geese land, they’re vulnerable.
I bought orange juice and a bottle of Stolichnaya on election day, might as well celebrate for a few days.
Digging the rest of the carrots today, they’re orange, you know.
I heard an interesting antecdote once from a friend,
He read about the psycology of geese, how they swap out the leader by basically egging each other on then slowing down, making the next guy want to drive faster and the pack speeds up.
However it applied to geese, he tried this on a two lane highway when a pack was together, and the cars ended up going close to 90MPH by the time his exit came up after like 50 miles.
Our society has changed from one of *consideration* to one of *accommodation*. Minding our own business and being considerate of others were at one time values we instilled in ourselves and children. Today, the public schools have instilled in our children that *accommodation* is demanded of others and when not met, others are then bad people for not making the person’s *accommodation* their own business.
This creates a generation of grown children that don’t understand: freedom, respecting the rights of others, delayed gratification, the world does not revolve around you and your sorrowful life.
That is why you have some driving slow to make others slow down because *they* think you are driving too fast.
“Our society has changed from one of *consideration* to one of *accommodation*”
Bravo – I think this may be the best explanation of what I have been watching happen on so many levels over the decades.
Thank you for putting that into words!
Not only accommodation but I would include outright arrogance as well. Whether said person realizes they are or even cares is another matter.
I’m going to go off on a slight tangent here…
In my many decades on this mortal coil, I have noticed one thing about many foreigners who emigrate to the USA.
Almost every one brags about “how good life is in the old country”.
My retort: “If life was so good in your home country, why did you come here?”
Their dazed “deer in the headlights” look speaks VOLUMES.
They criticize us native-born Americans for “not doing better” not realizing that it is “foreign aid” from the USA that is propping up their governments as well as providing them with benefits that us Americans don’t get.
The “shItty little state” of israel is a prime example.
Not only are israeli jews rude, they are obnoxious to a fault.
Just a point … I am usually in the right lane. WHY? Cruise control. You set the speed and the truck keeps at it until I cancel the thing. Result? Higher Gas Mileage. Try it! You get there in about the same time, and best — with a savings of gas. Of course a lot of people don’t understand this nifty device, but for many years I have gotten an average of 22.8 MG in a fully loaded work truck. Yes it is heavy. The old days of E250’s it would average 12.4 MPG, now that I am in a small van, the thing still provided all the things I need on a job, and MORE and it is doing it at a good mileage rate. TRY it some time, and see for your self.
NOT to mention my LEO just watch me sail right past him! No AGW’s bothering me for ages. Just a side benefit of this little system.
Some random thoughts:
a) “fast” is relative, still if someone is faster than you, then you’re obliged to pull out of the passing lane
b) the volume of traffic is many times more than when we started driving (guessing most of us here are on the older side of the age arc), hence, any hiccup causes significant backups
c) I drive I-65 every day & it’s amazing how many trucks/suv’s are underpowered for their loads like campers & utility trailers
If it’s uncultured to drive slow in the fast lane isn’t it also to do the opposite? I usually drive in the slow lane (doing the speed limit) and I see people pass me, drive just a little faster than me and pass again minutes later.
Pick a lane, maintain a good distance from the car ahead of you, drive as fast everyone else in the lane and look out for idiots, cause there everywhere.
“Pick a lane, maintain a good distance from the car ahead of you, drive as fast everyone else in the lane and look out for idiots, cause there everywhere.”
Fail
The left lane is for passing traffic – not for picking a speed and forming a conga line.
Driving in Europe and particularly on the autobahn or autostrada is such a different experience – people actually trained to drive. I miss those days.
“ Driving in Europe and particularly on the autobahn or autostrada is such a different experience – people actually trained to drive. I miss those days. “
Absolutely correct! Germany does NOT hand out drivers licenses – proficiency first THEN the license. It’s also not an inexpensive process.
Hi Burn it Down:
Since I drive mostly in the right lane and just use the left lane for passing I’m already doing that but phrased it poorly.
I pass the even slower drivers and get back into the right lane, for what it’s worth it pisses me off to see people driving slowly in the left lane unless they are preparing to make a left turn.
There are rules, and there are reasons. If you’re in a dense traffic area and are slow, say hauling a trailer, the wise course is to camp in the middle lane of 3 or the left to allow everyone else to flow around you. And if forced into passing on a divided 4 lane, say with the same trailer passing a governed truck, the jackasses who decide to pass you on the right while you’re pulling ahead of said truck by 3 car lengths deserve to be run off the road.
Once again on the way to work yesterday, I’m in the right lane doing my usual PSL+5. Someone comes up in the left lane doing about 2 MPH more than me. They get about one car length away and… match my speed. They won’t pass. They just sit there. For thousands of feet. Then when there’s a governored semi or work vehicle coming up I have to cut them off or I’m hitting my brakes. This happens nearly every day, nearly every trip.
JUST PASS ALREADY! You were going faster than me, you’re in the passing lane, why did you slow down?
If there’s no one behind me I’ll sometimes slow down and force them to pass. On many occasions they continue to match my speed. When they finally pass they creep up on the next vehicle and do the same thing, except now there’s a line behind them, tailgating. I don’t understand it.
Yup! See this behavior all the time.
I think it’s some sort of primal herd behavior by the weak minded that just want to do what everyone else is doing.
Group up, don’t stand out, do what the rest of the herd does. If the heard walks you walk. If something spooks one in the herd and it begins to run, the whole herd runs even though they have no idea what they are running from.
OK fine, I’ll be leader of the pack. Just get behind me in the right lane (and a proper following distance) so that you’re not creating a situation where I have to take on more risk.
I should add, sometimes they’re yakking on the phone. Always the same way too, holding the phone in their hand like a piece of pizza, yelling into the bottom of the phone (most smartphones have several microphones all around). Just get a damn bluetooth earbud and be done with it Or better yet, don’t answer the phone when you’re driving. Nothing you have to say is that important.
Hi RK,
The reverse also is infuriating, I come abreast of a car I’m passing and the clover speeds up to keep me from getting ahead of him. WTF is wrong with these people? Makes me want a James Bond car with side firing missiles.
The tire-shredding knock off would be a great way to meet women who look like Diana Rigg.
Lol – so many dysfunction personalities on the US roads
I have had that happen to me as well. I was passing a truck recently on the left who only discovered his gas pedal when I tried to pass him. I still passed him but what an ass. Apparently it was humiliating to have a car pass him….
Bravo Eric
Great article regarding what used to be common sense and common courtesy.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the clovers begin!
Thanks, Burn!
Per Doctor Lector – I cannot abide rudeness.
Another shoe drops on energy policy:
‘What Ursula von der Leyen said today [import more American LNG into the EU] was an attempt to pressure Trump to retain Biden’s policy of subsidizing the EU (via expanded energy exports) while the U.S. consumer pays more. Watch Trump say, “no deal.”
‘President Trump gets leverage toward Putin’s agreement (perhaps acquiescence) in Trump’s Ukraine peace deal by holding the carrot of renewed [Russian] gas sales into the western (global) market; [Russian] sanctions essentially removed, in combination with the withdrawal of U.S. LNG pumped into the same market.
‘Trump already said, “the gold under our feet” will drive his Term 2 geopolitical strategy. This is the second iteration of the Trump doctrine.’ — Sundance
https://tinyurl.com/yx9hc2nx
Shutting in cheap Russian gas impoverishes the world. Victim #1 is occupied Germany, whose high energy costs are killing its manufacturing sector, including auto makers.
‘Drill, baby, drill’ not only is good for America — it’s good for dying socialist Europe, too, though Euro-weenies will bitch and moan all the way as they are led back onto the path of economic survival.
Green energy = death cult
Gasoline prices have remained stubbornly around the $3.50 level (or higher) all year. Wednesday morning, both the Love’s and Maverick in town dropped their prices to $3.29. Other stations along I-70 have done the same.
Politics driving business owners? Perhaps. Or maybe they’re seeing a signal that their input costs will be falling and want to make sure they’re ahead of the competition.
Gas in my neck of Dixie went up $.15 right after the election. Funny that.
Yet in the rural midwest I notice gas has stayed below $3/gal, despite being far from the distribution hubs. Something is going on that makes no sense.
The Evil That Never Sleeps is at it again. Now “Biden” is “allowing” U.S. mercenaries to got to Ukraine to “help” them with maintenance issues on the F-16’s etc. When Our Boys start coming home in body bags the cries for more war will inevitably ensue. Pray that Putin keeps his level head and realizes that in late January things will change.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/politics/biden-administration-american-military-contractors-deploy-ukraine/index.html
I hope you’re right Mark, I saw that neocon warmonger Mike Pompeo is looking to be Defense(sic) Secretary. Let’s hope Orange Man learned from his prior term and keeps out the swamp creatures, otherwise it’s more forever wars and impoverishment for the rest of us.
Nimrata and Pompeo are officially not coming back. Very good sign.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-rules-two-gop-stalwarts-joining-his-administration-inviting
Nimarata’s keyboard warriors vigorously repudiate Trump’s gratuitous slight of one of Israel’s best friends EVER:
https://x.com/PajeetWorldOr/status/1851747539697229971
Amen, Funk!
So far, it looks really good. Trump could prove to be great. I pray that he does.
Likely those ain’t mercs.
Taking a wrecking ball to the regulatory apparatus would be a nice start. However, if you thought you’d seen Lawfare in action, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
7,000 employees at the EPA alone? We’ll need an ocean of hydrogen peroxide to rinse out these pustules of parasitism. Let the cleansing begin. And may the courts implement the Chevron decision with zeal.
Indeed, Mark –
And the Orange Man has the mandate. How many divisions does the EPA have? Root them out, send them packing. Trump has the opportunity to be a latter-day Andrew Jackson, if only he’ll seize it.
‘Some will give you a friendly wave.’ — eric
Likewise, Orange Man plans to wave goodbye to Red Guard Regan’s EPA, as they are rusticated to Kansas or North Dakota or maybe Cambodia:
‘[Trump’s] transition team is particularly eager to move forward with Mr. Trump’s vision of relocating tens of thousands of federal employees, starting at the E.P.A. [They] are discussing moving the E.P.A. headquarters and its 7,000 workers out of Washington, D.C.,
‘[Proposed executive orders] include withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, eliminating every [environmental justice] office in every agency, and shrinking the size of national monuments in the West to allow more drilling and mining on public lands.
‘Mr. Trump is also expected to move swiftly to end Biden’s pause on permitting new natural gas export terminals, and to revoke a longstanding waiver that allows California and other states to set tighter pollution standards than the federal government.‘
https://archive.ph/tQb7q#selection-4757.0-4761.141
WAR ON CARB: this is the biggie. CARB’s outrageous, unconstitutional status as primus inter pares, dictating tailpipe pollution standards for Commiefornia and some 15 fellow traveler states, is OVAHHHH!
As the Argentine chainsaw president says, ‘Class 8 electric semi trucks, afuera! 2035 all-EeeVee mandate, afuera! CARB bureaucrats colonizing the EPA, AFUERA!!‘
CARB’s defenstration, in turn, will serve as the Fort Sumter event for Commiefornia secession. Governor
Jefferson DavisGavin Newsom will go to war to preserve CARB”s exorbitant privilege. He will lose.Then Commiefornia will pick up its marbles and leave, as actual Americans wave it a fond goodbye while singing the chorus to John Hiatt’s Adios to California. 🙂 🙂 🙂
This all sounds so good, Jim –
If he follows through, he could be truly great. Possibly the greatest president since Jackson.
Don’t crack open the champagne just yet, he didn’t do squat for us his first term. Hopefully the sequel will be better but I’m reserving judgement until we see some action.
If nothing else, you can get back to writing about cars again!
So I used to be a federale. GS-13 even, which is starting to get up there. Anyway, one trick up the sleeve is to move the headquarters far away from its current location while subsequently not offering any relocation assistance. The shtick is, “You can still have your job, but it’s in East Bum Fu*&(*^ck Egypt.” Many long timers would then say, “Eh, I’ll just retire.” This is b/c you cant just RIF federal employees.
Agente Federale!
Say it like Danny Trejo!
That’s interesting – and not surprising. I used to work in Washington, though it now seems like a weird hallucination. I cannot imagine dealing with that ever again. Not for any money. There is something priceless about being able to walk out the back door naked and shoot a gun at a lawn mower, if I want to, without the SWAT team showing up ten minutes later.
Oh no. Keep the EPA on DC. The rest of dont need it.
The EPA needs to be abolished, and I say this as someone that worked many years for a state version of environmental protection! EPA tended to create problems instead of actually working with facilities to fix any issue.
The entire USA is being punished by the imposition of unreasonable and unscientific “pollution controls” just because of the Los Angeles basin’s unique topography.
No amount of “clean up” will solve Los Angeles’ problem. The native Americans who occupied the region for centuries past called it “the valley of smoke” with good reason. Temperature inversions are responsible for most of Los Angeles’ “smog” problem. This was going on long before automobiles were even invented.
It is the geographical make up of the area, being situated between mountains and the ocean that is responsible for pollution being “bottled up” in that region.
The only way to “clean up” Mb>Los Angeles would be to ban all human activity from the area. Even then, that would not eliminate the problem as temperature inversions would still occur.
This is a major reason why California was allowed to establish its own stricter pollution control laws. The sad part is that the rest of the country has to “pay the price” for one geographical area in California—not good.
Just maybe Trump will bring California “back into the fold”.