In the DC area they actually have a word for this behavior, based on the name of some DC bureaucrat who once wrote a letter to the Washington Post arguing that he had a perfect right to travel at 50 MPH in the high speed lanes of the Beltway, no matter how much aggravation his behavior caused. Seriously, no matter what the speed limit, my experience has been that drivers who are not traveling near the average speed of traffic (whether above or below the speed limit, and even if the average speed is far above the posted limit) force other drivers to take evasive actions that endanger everyone on the road. Slower traffic should stay to the right, even if the "slow" drivers are driving above the posted limit. In Boston, the persistence of slow drivers in using the fast lane has led to an inversion of the intended traffic pattern: Slow drivers get the passing lane, so faster cars end up driving in the middle and slow speed lanes. Study after study has shown that most drivers adjust their speeds to current conditions and the speeds they choose have little to do with posted limits.

I think driving slow in the passing lane is a traffic violation in itself, although a rarely enforced one. In Germany passing on the right is a big NoNo, akin to DUI. I rememer in the late 70's the interstate speed limit being strictly enforced with use of CBs and Radar detectors being of limited use because of the number of cops on the road.

That is amazing that everyone is calling them assholes for going the speed limit. True, they *might* have been breaking a law by using the left lane, but I think you miss the overall point of their movie.

A 55 MPH speed limit is arbitrary. Does 55 MPH make the roads safer? I personally think not. I think their demonstration serves its purpose.

S

If you need a word for it, call it a "work-to-rule" action by the citizenry.

I thought that the sole purpose of the 55 MPH speed limit was to conserve gas, not to make the roads safer.

In Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas (and numerous other states, no doubt) some major interstate exits in urban areas are on the left-hand side -- so you just gotta get into the lane you will need.

I thought the purpose of having up to eight lanes moving in the same direction -- and notifying everyone a mile ahead of most exits -- was so drivers could choose based on what maneuvers they anticipated needing to make.

True, you shouldn't be on the interstate if you aren't skilled, adaptable, or alert enough to work with the speeds that may surround you, but one of the biggest mistakes a driver can make is to give control of his speed to some maniac in the next vehicle back.

People who try to force you to speed up by riding on your rear bumper are always dangerous drivers, and if the only way you can escape them is to leave the interstate temporarily, it's your responsibility to protect your vehicle and its passengers from that danger. You control your driving only. It's the responsibility of various state and federal agencies to see to it that the highways stay useful.

It's considerate to pull over (safely) or to stay in the right lane if that's possible, but sometimes the driver behind you has mentally latched on to you, or wants to stay in the same lane for ten miles, and won't pass. He justs keeps trying to push you faster.

Posting minimum speed limits could make sense (if every driver nationwide understands minimum won't apply during extremely hazardous weather, or in traffic jams caused by accidents), but pretending "the most reckless, highest-speed drivers on the road set the pace for all of us" is a bit much.

It's not just speed. Ten percent of the drivers in my state seem to think centering themselves on the double yellow line of a city street, or completely crossing the double yellow to "straighten the curves" in the mountains (at 50 mph around blind, hairpin turns) is permissable. You can't let those people set the standards or even start a trend.

For you lawyers out there: speed limits are a prima facie evidence of unsafe driving but it is not conslusive evidence. Comments?

In the DC area they actually have a word for this behavior...

What is the word for this behaviour? I mean, besides "assholeism."

For the record, although I know I'm not that good of a driver, I try to stay in the right lane if I'm at the speed limit or slower (primarily in unfamiliar areas). I also always (try to) avoid tailgating, and as such will often be passed by someone who then plops him/herself into the stretch of road I'd been using for a "following distance." I might be leaving too much, but at speeds >= 65mph, you cover the length of a car pretty quickly.

I appreciate MSK's post. I too drive in the Houston area and typically put 100 miles a day on my car. I observe some of the oddest behaviour in drivers.

I can easily identify the most dangerous drivers on the road by the fact they are driving a Chevy Avalanche Z-77. I don't know what it is about that vehicle, but I consistently see the drivers of them doing everything from tailgating, changing more than 2 or more lanes in under 300', and passing using emergency lanes besides driving at excessive speeds. I honestly cannot recall seeing one of these vehicles going down the road without witnessing some unsafe act by the driver.

Personally, I keep to the speed limit, try to stay to the right (Texas, particularly Houston has moronic civil engineers who design in left exits), and definitely keep around a 2 second interval. I appreciate the 10 mph variance, not matching speeds with vehicles in neighboring lanes, and the aggravation with slow drivers in the left lane. What I don't understand is the need to tailgate cars that are already limited by the speed of the vehicle in front of them, especially when there is plenty of room to pass the car whether on the left or right.

I think many of you miss the point, even as you acknowledge that the 55 mph speed limit is arbitrary.

The speed limit is indeed both arbitrary and artificially low, yes. It's also true that everyone exceeds the speed limit as a matter of course, and it's mostly ignored.

BUT.

That speed limit still exists... and if everyone is breaking it, it gives the po-lice an excuse to pull over anyone they choose. I wonder how many examples of "driving while black" happen on the Atlanta expressways?

David Matthews: "A common phenomenon I've observed is a slower, bewildered, increasingly panicky driver in the left lane, wishing to get into the right lane, but being so constantly and consistently passed on the right by impatient speedsters simultaneously cussing the slow driver for being in the wrong lane, that the slow driver can't get over. [SNIP] The lesson is, if you come up behind some slow geezer in the left lane, don't freak them out by riding their bumper, give them a chance to get over (and "chance" means: more time than it would take you to make the decision -- after all, they're ^slow^), don't just swing around them to the right."

Actually, the lesson is -- IF YOU'RE AFRAID TO DRIVE AT THE PREVAILING SPEED, YOU SHOULDN'T BE ON THE ROAD IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Whew. I feel better now.

/we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...