I'm driving my new XC90 from NYC to Toronto this weekend. Will see how New Yorker & Candian driver behave in left lane

 

I agree regarding the Wisconsin drivers. Not sure why, but they don't get it.

 

Those limits are antiquated and out dated, the highway safety code was written in the 50's. Car's in the 50's were more akin to ox carts than they are to todays cars.

 

Given the enormous increase in traffic since the 50s, the amount of stop-and-go driving, the number of stoplights, stop signs, gridlock, number of pedestrians, and a number of other issues, I don't think one can make the claim that today's speed limits are outdated or too low. Unlike the 50s, where, for the most part, you got in your car and actually went somewhere, today, in many places, you get in your car and sit still.

 

The more you increase speeds, the more people claim they're too slow or inadequate for today's cars or trucks. Increase the speed from 75 mph to 85 mph - people will say, "I want to go 100 mph, why can't I go a hundred?"

This is basically an escalation. The public roads are not a racetrack. Cars may have improved but I know drivers are still stuck in their primitive brain from 25,000 years ago. Can you detect a hazard and use your car's technology to stop soon enough? The faster you go, the more difficult it becomes for your eyes and your brain to process what is happening in front of you.

As far as left-lane-loungers. Yes if someone is doing it deliberately, then they are causing a traffic tie-up. But if they are accelerating to pass slower traffic and you are tailgating them because you're interested in playing NASCAR off the back bumper, it's you who are the problem.

It's one thing to come up on somebody and give them time and space to move over. It's another to whip right up on their back end and try to force them out of the left lane (a common tactic in Redneck Western Canada).

All I can say is if drivers had to drive the way pilots have to fly, ie. disciplined and cautious as well as following regulations to the letter and to the speed - the vast majority of today's drivers would be suspended and off the road.

 

a long time ago, drivers ed taught us to go with the flow of traffic regardless how fast it's going.

So if everyone in the left lane is going 85, you go 85. 65mph speed limit be damned

 

Well apparently the California DMV says different from what I can see. In the real world, yes you keep up with traffic but highly doubtful that keeping up with traffic is the same as aggressive tailgating or speeding unnecessarily.

DMV's pdf tells you this clearly: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/web/eng_pdf/dl600.pdf

 

In some jurisdictions the flow of traffic outweighs the posted speed limit. But just because the law says something doesn't mean it's ever enforced by the officers.

 

You pass in the left, and move back to the right lane.
Easy.
But the world never likes anything easy.
They like it done their way.

 

And I can imagine their mindset is also if I can pass one or two cars, why not pass every car on the right until my exit?
Driving in the Bay Area or California in general, people live in the left lane.. it's pretty ridiculous.

 

I don't recall VA to be too bad, been driving up and down there for the past 20 weeks.

California was pretty bad.............and my patience would expire pretty quickly with those folks who parked their car in the left lane.

 

What is more aggravating is the people who think putting their left signal automatically opens up a space in the left lane for them to jump into. You could have a line of cars and some idiot will jump in front of you to escape the right lane instead of waiting for everyone to pass.

 

Much of VA is so heavily congested, especially in the eastern part of the state, that it often doesn't matter what lane you are in.

 

i'm pretty sure that the quote at the end came from me

in my mind the biggest reason not to drive at 100 even if it's safe to do so is that you just use SO much more fuel doing it. fuel economy i'm pretty sure is why the autobahns are starting to have more stringent speed limits put in place. but as i and others have pointed out, the reason the autobahn works is all to do with people being able to follow a few basic rules... primarily, keep to the right except to pass, and ONLY pass on the left. people here are so entitled and oblivious it prevents this from happening. which is why we need a much more difficult road test and for left lane laws to actually BE ENFORCED rather than pulling people over for speeding which isn't necessarily dangerous, nor inconsiderate. hogging the left lane is both.

 

Excellent post by MattyG. Not only that, but one cannot evade the laws of physics. All else equal, the faster one drives (even if others around him are all doing the same), the more kinetic energy the vehicle has, the longer it will take to stop in emergency, the harder the impact will be in a crash, the mrs damage there will be to the vehicle, and the more likely one will get hurt or killed. Speed limits exist for a reason.