GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Left Lane Campers

Rojito

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Florida
Car(s)
2021 GTI SE MANUAL
My wife thinks I’m exaggerating when I complain about people camping out in the passing lane. I honestly don’t understand the mentality and it drives me nuts.

A3454A4F-A641-4757-9A31-109136FE1D2F.jpeg
 

RudyH

Go Kart Champion
Location
Kitchener, ON
definitely an unhealthy North American trend - need to take an European approach.
The highway patrol believe that lowering speed limits is the solution, but it's not...why...as long as the right lane being forced to becoming the passing lane, it will be the the real danger.

The mentality is that its a safer lane to be in, because you don't have to worry about people merging onto the highway. Which is completely wrong.

Some states and provinces are slowly bringing in rules for left lane passing, else you get a fine which I am totally welcome of
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
The left laners sure screw up rush hour traffic. I believe the mentality is that they can get in the left lane and drive the speed they want to without having anyone close in front of them and are oblivious to the people tailgating them.
 

Rojito

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Florida
Car(s)
2021 GTI SE MANUAL
definitely an unhealthy North American trend - need to take an European approach.
The highway patrol believe that lowering speed limits is the solution, but it's not...why...as long as the right lane being forced to becoming the passing lane, it will be the the real danger.

The mentality is that its a safer lane to be in, because you don't have to worry about people merging onto the highway. Which is completely wrong.

Some states and provinces are slowly bringing in rules for left lane passing, else you get a fine which I am totally welcome of
Yeah, it's a law in Georgia already, but I don't think it's enforced very often. I wouldn't mind it so much if they didn't also pace the cars in the lane next to them.
 

Rojito

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Florida
Car(s)
2021 GTI SE MANUAL
so who took the picture the driver or the passenger?
Well, it's also against the law in Georgia to handle a cell phone while driving, even if it was only for the second it took to take this amazing picture, and even if I were to say I almost always use my hands free CarPlay while driving. So, it would be quite hypocritical for me to complain about other folks' unsafe behavior and their breaking of the law were I to also be participating in unsafe behavior and breaking the law while capturing their idiocy, would it not?
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
European approach? Here in Germany they video check your distance, and fine you. In april Police has sent pics and numbers of their work to the press. What do you see? - I see 12 cars, of the first 10 not a single one uses the right lane. It’s a law over here too. The police doesn’t care, although they have it on tape.
4C3DF355-D7D5-4824-BE0B-387A529200E0.jpeg
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Location
Aurora, CO
Car(s)
2014 GTI
It's the law here in CO too, but it's not easy at all to enforce, and the problem has to be resolved through education, not enforcement. Most people don't even know that they are breaking the law, and the ones who know just don't care.

From an enforcement perspective, the only way to catch people is for the police to be driving in traffic, it's nearly impossible to do anything if the police are parked and watching. There's only a short window to see if someone is legitimately passing, or if they are camping, then the police need to pull into traffic, and catch up. If the highway is empty, and people are camping, then it's not that difficult, but if traffic is relatively cluttered, the police can't possible enforce it with any reasonable success.

The solution is to teach people that it is illegal, and why it's illegal. The standard for getting, and keeping a license is pathetically low here, and the only way to fix some of these issues is to have higher standards for obtaining, and keeping a license.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Location
Aurora, CO
Car(s)
2014 GTI
The second part of the problem is that people merging think that they have the right away. This forces people in the right lane to adjust their speed to allow people in. This trickles down and causes issues for everyone in the right lane. The person merging is responsible for merging, it is not the responsibility of the person in traffic to let anyone in. Ideally, people in the right lane would simply maintain their speed and the person merging then has a reliable baseline to decide if they should speed up to merge in front of them, or slow down to merge behind them. If that speed adjustment occurs in the merge lane, it does not have to happen in the traffic lane.

If you are in the right lane, you should maintain your speed and give the people merging a predictable situation in which they can decide where to merge. If this happens then the right lane still moves smoothly, and the subsequent left lanes should move faster and faster. This would keep slow right lane drivers from moving into the faster left lanes to let mergers in, which ends ups screwing up every lane in traffic every time there's a merger into the highway.
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Location
nice try PPNT
Car(s)
MK5 Best GTI
oh, thats cute.

Here i deal with people passing me... on the fucking SHOULDER.
 

Rojito

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Florida
Car(s)
2021 GTI SE MANUAL
It's the law here in CO too, but it's not easy at all to enforce, and the problem has to be resolved through education, not enforcement. Most people don't even know that they are breaking the law, and the ones who know just don't care.

From an enforcement perspective, the only way to catch people is for the police to be driving in traffic, it's nearly impossible to do anything if the police are parked and watching. There's only a short window to see if someone is legitimately passing, or if they are camping, then the police need to pull into traffic, and catch up. If the highway is empty, and people are camping, then it's not that difficult, but if traffic is relatively cluttered, the police can't possible enforce it with any reasonable success.

The solution is to teach people that it is illegal, and why it's illegal. The standard for getting, and keeping a license is pathetically low here, and the only way to fix some of these issues is to have higher standards for obtaining, and keeping a license.
I agree with everything you said except how difficult it would be to enforce. All any trooper would need to do is drive down the interstate for a small distance and they would have a plethora of examples, especially in Georgia. Fish in a barrel kind of thing.

I do agree that increasing awareness would go a long way toward helping though.
 
Top