Old Doug
Posts: 8279
Joined: 5/12/2011
From: Atlanta, Georgia, US
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ORIGINAL: wine247365
And when you're pissed off  enough driving behind them to pass them on the right, the cops can ticket you for doing that! I love it in LA when there are four or five relatively open, moving lanes and you see 'that driver' cutting across all of them to get all the way over to the left lane only to go the speed limit. (the Germans have this SO right!)
June is "Lane Courtesy month." 
I remember being surprised, very pleasantly so, on my first trip through Texas, in 1982. On many two-lane roads, the shoulder was paved and wide enough to function as another lane - and drivers, upon being approached from behind, would move over and let you pass. This is still the way it is in some places - I witnessed it the past couple years.
Ben is right that Americans often fall short in their awareness while driving. There is an epidemic of texting and talking on the phone that feeds into this. Yesterday, I saw a 50 year old, maybe 55, going slow in the middle lane of 3 lanes going east, while weaving considerably. In passing, I saw they had a death grip on their phone, pinching it between the steering wheel and their thumbs, both hands, trying to type, one thumb then the other thumb. This gave them a hold on essentialy only the center of the steering column, making fine control almost impossible.
It comes down to how good a multi-tasker somebody is. Not advocating it, but if one can keep the vehicle straight and in the lane, perhaps use cruise control to maintain speed if their accelerator foot isn't firmly connected enough to an aware brain, then it works much better. I think studies have shown that on average, talking on the phone is a distraction equivalent to being at the legal limit for alcohol intoxication = .08% in most states, while texting equates to being twice the legal limit, so pretty hard to be "for it," per se, but if one does it, at least pay attention to your driving too.
Then there are the drivers that are really just "zoned out," sometimes to the point that they look like they are in a trance, even a coma. I have several "archetypes" of the people who appear thus, won't put them in writing, for now. One common thing is that you look at them, and think, "There is something wrong with that person..."
Or course we are a varied people, as a race, and allowances must be made for others - easy for us "Type A" driving types to be impatient with and scornful of others, hostile to them as we feel our "time urgency." Maybe that other person is in no hurry, and simply does not feel a need to be going faster.
On multi-lane roads, there is a lot of stuff that operates the same, everywhere. With 3 or more lanes in one direction, people don't want to deal with traffic merging from the right, so they camp out in the middle lane or even in the left lane, even if they're going slower than the flow of traffic. Really old people are wont to do this, and it's usually the middle lane, and I can understand that.
Then there is the "slow speed warrior" type who thinks that as long as they are going close to the posted speed limit, then they are okay, even if they're blocking people going 20 or 25 MPH faster. You come up behind them and get close, then flash your lights, then sound the horn, and they are pointing to their speedometer as if that's proof that nobody should be bothering them. Pfft... talk about scorn - if not getting the death penalty, then I say these people are fair game for what often happens - being passed on the right, often getting the finger, getting cigarette butts or wads of paper tossed at their car, people cutting in front of them, without much room, on purpose. Even giving them a "brake check," where you get in front of them and hit your brakes.
I've never seen any road-rage related gunfire nor actual ramming of vehicles, but did see one idiot lose control when he swerved in close to another car on his right, I believe it was try to scare them, then back to the left, lost control, smashed into the concrete divider on the left, going backwards, bouncing out into the middle lane of 3, his vehicle now going backwards, much slower than traffic - right in front my truck, the 80,000 lbs. of which smacked into him, me barely feeling it while his car was totaled. Dented my bumper, truck was still drivable. He was in big trouble, as he had a one year old kid in the car, no restraint. State trooper was mad at that guy.
That was on the west side of Wichita, Kansas, two years ago, and I leave for the exact same drive on Monday.
While not the "lost soul - in a trance" type, there is one "look" that I see frequently, as far as vehicles going really slow in the middle or fast lanes. Picture an Isuzu Tracker, little 4-wheel drive vehicle, plastered with stickers saying, "Save the Whales," and "So many trees to hug, so little time..." With some humor here, I am picturing them feeling like "driving slow produces less emissions and is better for the environment," so they go out there, intent on extending the "counter-culture," and go under the speed limit. Boston and the pacific northwest are absolute havens for this driver.
Almost all states have the principle of "slower traffic keep right" enshrined in law, though enforcement may be lax or non-existent. There are only 4 states that allow vehicles to go the speed limit in the fast lane, without moving over, regardless of traffic conditions. Alaska - not many multi-lane roads to worry about - Maryland, North Carolina, and Ohio. For what it's worth, I don't see those latter three states as particularly bad for the amount of people that do it.
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RE: my rant- i just couldn't help myself - 
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