• Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Yes. If these two things are true: 1. A car is stuck behind you. 2. There is no car to your immediate right. Then you should move over. You should obviously not merge into a car, you would use your turn signal and then change lanes like a normal person.

    This is because you are not so important that you get to break a common state law in order to inconvenience hundreds of other drivers on the road, because you don’t like that they want to break a different law that doesn’t inconvenience other drivers.

    • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right. Also if I’m still actively passing people, I’m not going to move over to a small open space on the right.

      • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Even if you’re passing people, you’re probably still obligated to move to the right, by law. You’ll have to check your state laws for your specific obligations.

        If somebody is riding your ass or going around you to the right, they absolutely should not be doing that. However it also means you’ve likely been camping in the left lane, impeding the flow of traffic for far too long by the time you reach that point, and you’re considered part of the problem if you’re causing other drivers to pass you on the right to get around you. When you’re driving on public roadways, it’s not about you. You need to do your part to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, so that everybody can arrive at their destination safely.

        If you want to drive slowly, just do so in the rightmost lane. They literally have a lane just for you to do that, where you can be free of tail riders, and it’s impossible to be passed on the right.

        • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I don’t camp the left lane, pinky promise. I pull into the left lane to pass and someone coming up behind me going 90 rides right up on my ass until I’m done passing, or they squeeze into the bit of stopping distance I’ve created before merging back right. If I’m passing and already going over the limit, they can damn well wait a few seconds.

        • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I’ll pass a semi and have someone fly up behind me going 15+ over and ride my ass. If I don’t get back over to the right immediately, they will cut off the truck to pass me on the right. Those are the people bitching about “left lane driving.” Very rarely have I ever seen someone just cruising in the left lane with nobody around. It’s often impatient assholes who think they are the main character.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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        7 months ago

        If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.

        There’s a reason they say “keep right except to pass” and “left lane for passing only” and “trucks trailers rvs and busses prohibited from left lane”. There’s a reason they don’t say “don’t pass on the right” anymore. Passing on the right isn’t the problem, being passed on the right is the problem.

        If you are going slower than the lane to your right, you are causing a rippling effect in the traffic behind you. People camping in the left or center lanes when they are going slower than the cars to the right of them are one of the biggest causes of congestion, and it’s quite evident if you watch who is at the lead of pockets of congestion.

        • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I don’t know how to be clearer, I only pass on the left and otherwise stay right, just not always at the speed people want me to. I like to allow the car I’ve passed some distance before getting back in front of it, which not everyone seems to like.

          • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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            7 months ago

            Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right.

            If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.

            I stand by what I said. You apparently do not.

            • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Because I think it’s important to make sure the car behind me has enough room to stop should it be necessary? Because they can’t wait 2 seconds for me to make a little space?

              • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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                7 months ago

                I don’t understand how cars that are supposedly going slower than you are passing you. Both cannot be true.

                Unless you are slowing down to yield to non-emergency vehicles on your right, in which case you are a worse and more dangerous driver than I could have imagined.

                • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Okay, here’s the scenario.

                  I’m driving in the right lane. I come up behind a car going slower than me. I wait for the left lane to be clear without any nearby traffic that’s going faster, then I pull into the left lane to pass. As I’m passing, say, a string of three slower cars, someone comes up fast behind me and sits on my butt as I’m passing. I finish passing the string of cars and put on my signal to merge back right, waiting a few seconds to build up a bit more space between myself and the car I’m about to merge in front of so they have a safe stopping distance should they need it. Butt-sitter behind me zips into the right lane just before I merge (sometimes as I’m actively merging), goes around me, and back into the left lane. I then merge right.

                  • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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                    7 months ago

                    Where the hell is butt sitter coming from? If the left lane was clear then you should have had plenty of room and time to safely pass three cars.

                    Otherwise the left lane wasn’t safe to enter. You entered slower than the car behind you. You essentially cut him off. I don’t blame him for passing you on the right and cutting you right back off. You damn near killed him.

                    The important corollary of “left lane is for passing only” is that you should never see a lit brake light in the left lane. If he’s riding your ass, you forced him to use his brakes.