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The Safety-Based Case Against Left Lane Squatters

8K views 87 replies 34 participants last post by  Radish 
#1 ·


If you’re a motorcyclist, odds are that you aren’t one of those car drivers that squats in the left lane plodding along exactly at the speed limit while everyone else stacks up behind you with their blood pressure nearing the bursting point. Then again, maybe you are one of those mouth-breathers who believes it is their God-given right to drive in whatever lane they want, no matter who it inconveniences. (If you are, we’ve got a special place in Hell carved out for you to spend all of eternity listening to the Barney Song turned up to 11.)

While we’ve all experienced the aggravation of the left lane squatter, it turns out that slowing down traffic in the left lane is also a safety hazard because it forces faster drivers to weave back and forth between lanes, which can cause a cascading wave of deceleration in the right lane that further slows and stacks up traffic. Oh yeah, it increases the odds of an accident, too.

So, next time you see some doofus online, bloviating about how safe he is going the speed limit in the left lane instead of sticking to the right unless he’s passing, point him in the direction of the video below. While it probably won’t change the blowhard’s behavior, you might just inform some less experienced driver, like the narrator in the video, about proper lane discipline.
Read more about The Safety-Based Case Against Left Lane Squatters at Motorcycle.com.
 
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#3 ·
These are the same people who call child services if your children play in their own back yard without a parent within six feet. They have nothing better to do than get in peoples way. They were probably hall monitors in elementary school.

Years ago I had a co-worker who did this. One morning she came in furious - The CHP had ticketed her for obstructing traffic. Only time I ever enjoyed one of her tirades.
 
#4 ·
Spokane has started an emphasis patrol on I-90 for this. Tickets are being given to anyone using the left lane and and not pulling back to the right after overtaking another vehicle(No matter your speed.). This only applies if someone is approaching from the rear at a greater speed.
Seems to be working, as I've noticed a reduction in offenders.
 
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#6 ·
The Calif book of road rules recommends scanning your mirrors every few seconds, not every couple hours.
I followed a bone head down San Gabriel Canyon to day with my blinkers going and the silly driver was never aware of my presence.
Some folks are just oblivious to everything but themselves. It's not just the passing lane, fast lane but the whole friggin road way.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Down here, on multilane roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h (50mph) or more, the law requires drivers to keep left (equivalent to you keeping right) unless overtaking.

The law also applies on roads with lower speed limits if the road is so signposted.

I just wish it were better policed.

I've seen drivers enter the motorway and immediately move across three lanes to sit in the fast lane and below the speed limit. Gahhh!
 
#8 ·
I had an aunt (uncle's wife) who was the quintessential left lane squatter. She'd put the cruise on 1 to 2 mph below the limit and just park there. It was the "limit" of course so no need to edge quite to the limit. No amount of considerate constructive explanation to outright ridicule by friends and family could change her driving habit. This was during the Carter administration when the max limit was 55 mph! My folks would not ride with her after the first episode.
 
#9 ·
The left lane hog is a problem in some areas. Especially places where passing on the right is discouraged.

Perhaps even worse is / are the tractor trailer trucks that will not move into the right lane (where they belong) on a multi-lane (more than 2 in the same direction) limited access highway. They insist on hanging in the 2nd lane even when the 1st lane is empty, which means that autos either have to pass on their right or left. They do this so they don't have to deal with inept motorists that can't manage a merge onto a limited access highway and think their left blinker is a free pass to just come on in with no regard to matching speed with the existing traffic.

Most auto drivers won't pass a tractor trailer truck on their blind, right side, which in effect reduces a 3 lane highway to 2, or a 4 lane highway to 3.
 
#10 ·
I'll open myself up to tremendous criticism here by taking a lightly opposing viewpoint. One thing that people seem to disregard is the fact that generally the speed limit is the same for all lanes. Yes, I know that most states have some sort of law that says stay right except to pass. Washington does. I believe the original intent of the law was that IF YOU ARE UNABLE to maintain the posted speed limit, then you must stay in the right hand lane, UNLESS YOU ARE PASSING another SLOW vehicle, hence the verbiage on most signs that says "Slower traffic keep right" or the equivalent.

Over time that has gotten bastardized and misintrepretted by almost everyone (including LEO's) so that people think the right lane is for driving the posted speed limit and then the other lanes are for going progressively faster than the posted limit. Hence the term "fast lane". There is no "fast lane". All lanes have the same speed limit, unless otherwise posted as such. Using the far left lane for passing is correct and proper, but passing doesn't necessarily mean staying at 20 or more over the posted limit for miles and miles. It means pulling into the left lane, passing the car on front of you and then getting back into the right lane.

If you cannot maintain the posted limit, then yes, by all means you must stay in the furthest right lane so as not to impede traffic legally driving traffic, but if someone else wants to break the law and go 80 MPH in a posted 60 MPH zone, then why should they have a special lane resereved for their illegal behavior?

I stay in the right hand lane because I generally don't pass much and I drive the speed limit, or the little bit over that means keeping up with the traffic flow. I don't need a "fast lane" in which to disregard the speed limit all day long.

It's not my job to try and slow others down, but on the other hand, I see no reason why we should make special allowances for law breakers.

If you get angry with me for driving 60 MPH when you want to go 70, should the other guy be angry with you when he wants to go 80? And should that guy be angry at the next guy who wants to go 90? Or is it all just a free-for-all, and we all go as fast as we want?

The term "left lane campers" can be used two ways: For those who stay in the left lane while NOT passing, and for those who stay in the left lane at 20 over the posted limit for miles and miles without getting back into the right lane once they have passed the slower drivers.

Flame away.
 
#12 ·
The term "left lane campers" can be used two ways: For those who stay in the left lane while NOT passing, and for those who stay in the left lane at 20 over the posted limit for miles and miles without getting back into the right lane once they have passed the slower drivers.

Flame away.
You are completely missing the point. Speed is irrelevant, it is all about making safe and efficient use of the highway space.

If you're sitting in an overtaking lane when you're not overtaking, you're wrong. If by so doing you're also blocking traffic, you're doubly wrong.

Unless you're job is traffic control officer, your speed and the speed of the blocked traffic is irrelevant and there is no good excuse for such behaviour other than inattention which is itself an offence.
 
#11 ·
Not a lot of multi-lane roads where I am, but I truly hate the clown that insist on sitting in the passing lane when travelling below the speed limit, though not as much as the ones that insist on sitting notably below until there's an opportunity to overtake them, at which point they jump to just above the limit (on a highly policed road), before dropping back down when the opportunity is gone.
Just bl00dy RUDE.
 
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#13 ·
No, law enforcement doesn't misinterpret the law to mean that the ieft lane is the "speeding" lane.

What most police, what almost everyone, knows is that there is no way to move traffic efficiently on a multi lane highway if slower drivers (and I mean slower than the flow of traffic) don't keep right. That utopia where every car can maintain the exact same speed (and even more important, exact same safe following distance) may someday happen when all cars are self driving, but we're nowhere near that. Slower drivers who won't keep right may think they're being safe because "hey, the speed limit is 65 mph and I'm going 65 mph!", but they are creating a far bigger road hazard than the guy going 10 mph over the limit. Since it's impossible to keep everyone at the same exact speed, you're creating a backlog behind you where drivers who want to pass are bunching up, and riding each others' bumpers, and forcing them to the right (where they shouldn't be) to pass others. Following too closely and unsafe lane changes are a way bigger cause of accidents on a multi lane highway than that guy going 75 in a 65. Those left lanes are a pressure relief valve. If you're a left lane camper, you are the clog of toilet paper in the trap, and no matter how many times you flush the toilet, nothing is going to move until the clog is removed.

If you have the smug outlook that you're the safe one because you're going 65 mph in the left lane on a multi lane highway, so screw everybody else, you're dead wrong.

You're the clog.
 
#15 ·
And you just know that none of the smug bastards doing the limit in the overtaking lane have ever checked their speedo against a GPS, so they're actually doing less than the limit. Insert your favourite expletives here.

I have to say that when I see Youtube vids I am amazed at the total lack of lane discipline in the USA, its bad enough here, but at least if you come up behind a slower vehicle and flash they will usually move over. US lanes look like a free for all.
 
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#16 ·
"US lanes look like a free for all."

Ain't it the truth? In down town Vegas, the big rigs use all the lanes and since they added more lanes it's even more of a free for all.
Golly, it's a giant cluster F--k.
Our licensing procedure seem to be the equivalent of getting your certificate dispensed by a gum machine. Very little in the way of proving capability.
 
#18 · (Edited)
No flames here. You got it right: Passing (at an speed) means moving to a lane to the left of the slower traffic and moving back to the right after you get around them. Left lane campers include those who are going above the speed limit and think that this entitles them to stay in the left lane.

FWIW - The signs and laws in Maine say "Keep Right Except to Pass", but I have seen the "slower traffic stay right" signs in other states.

Here's a great link that shows what each state's laws (and one would guess their signs) say. They are not all the same, but it seems all states have the same problem.

 
#22 ·
No flames here. You got it right: Passing (at an speed) means moving to a lane to the left of the slower traffic and moving back to the right after you get around them. Left lane campers include those who are going above the speed limit and think that this entitles them to stay in the left lane.

FWIW - The signs and laws in Maine say "Keep Right Except to Pass", but I have seen the "slower traffic stay right" signs in other states.

Here's a great link that shows what each state's laws (and one would guess their signs) say. They are not all the same, but it seems all states have the same problem.


I was curious about your GREAT LINK but it took me to only the photo. Can you post up the real link?
 
#23 ·
However, if I'm already in the left hand lane passing slower traffic to my right, and I'm already well over the speed limit, don't bother rushing up behind me and riding my bumper to encourage me to get out of your way. When I'm done passing and there's a reasonable place to drop back into the other lane(s), I will do so. If the middle lane is doing 90 and I'm doing 120 (km/h, limit is 100), I may just stay out there for a while.


Here's one that's really annoying: tractor trailer drivers who just have to pass that other tractor trailer despite only having a .5 km/h speed advantage over it. Takes him like 5 minutes to pass, during which time traffic is piling up in both lanes behind them. I don't know if this is some sort of passive-aggressive "well, if I'm doing the speed limit nobody really needs to be passing me anyway", or just sheer incompetence, or a general disregard for other road users.
 
#25 ·
However, if I'm already in the left hand lane passing slower traffic to my right, and I'm already well over the speed limit, don't bother rushing up behind me and riding my bumper to encourage me to get out of your way. When I'm done passing and there's a reasonable place to drop back into the other lane(s), I will do so.


This happens all the time and you can see the person behind you screaming move over. I'm not the problem, you are.
 
#28 ·
If you're camped in the left lane just so you can prevent someone from passing you under some concept that you're the self appointed hall monitor of the interstate, then you're just flat out wrong. In a case like that, you're just creating turmoil and the potential for disaster, and for what? To prove whose dick is bigger? That's exactly how road rage incidents get touched off. If a guy behind you wants to pass you, what conceivable good are you doing by preventing that, other than getting an artificially induced cased of Big Balls Syndrome? The interstate isn't a sandbox for people to work out their frustrations. If someone wants to pass you, just move to the right and let them pass. It costs you nothing, unless your ego is so fragile that having someone pass you causes you some sort of internal distress; in that case, you're a bigger danger on the road than the guy who's passing you.
 
#32 ·
Annoying indeed. But preferable over dump trucks passing traffic, being driven like sports cars, and very capable of high speeds, all while dropping rocks and debris, with the "hit by a rock? too freaking bad" bumper sticker.
That's my little rant.
 
#33 ·
Anyone who has not driven in Europe (especially Germany) needs to in order to gain an appreciation of how traffic should work. Drivers there tend to be much better at driving that here in NA. Probably has a lot to do with the training/licensing process.

Another major problem (IMO) here is the use of cruise control. Once it is engaged, people seem to forget that they can still use the accelerator to pass another vehicle rather than let the very small speed differential accomplish the pass over several miles.

The culture, here in NA, is to increase safety by making changes to the cars/trucks. There is absolutely no political will to require more stringent training/testing for licenses. Driving in NA seems to be considered a right rather than a privilege.

Rod
 
#34 ·
I lived in Germany about 30 plus years ago, and one of the cardinal sins you could commit while driving on the Autobahn was failing to yield to overtaking traffic. The Polizei were serious about it too. Back then, the Autobahn didn't have a speed limit in many places, and yet it operated far more smoothly than the interstate system here. Primarily it was because German drivers had to have a whole lot more training in order to get a license than the US standard of, "Ok, you're 16, here's your permit". They also respected the "slower traffic keep right" rule. And if a driver approaching from the rear flashed his lights at you, you didn't freak out and go into DefCon 4 aggression mode; you just hit your turn signal and moved to the right to let them by.
 
#35 ·
I lived in the UK for a couple of years and we did a road trip family vacation to southern France... in August! We had all 4 us and luggage packed into this tiny Toyota, and I can tell you, if I saw ANY car coming up behind me I moved over asap! They (mostly Germans I think) were going really really fast and *expected* me to move over. If I didn't I think we would've been squashed like a bug in our tiny car. You learn real quickly over there, or else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#36 ·
I ride across Germany fairly frequently these days and most of the autobahn network has no speed limit. I tend to cruise at 90-95mph and when I need to overtake I check my mirrors right back to the horizon, move left to the lane divider and check again; it's surprising how often the first check was clear as far as I could see but the second check disclosed the presence of a Mercedes travelling way faster than me. Having crossed into lane 2, I'm keen to get past the slow traffic and move right again because the next fast car will not use his brakes or ease off the gas until the very last split second, if at all. Legally, the crash would be my fault for failing to get out of the way.
 
#37 · (Edited)
My experience as well. I have driven/ridden in Europe quite extensively and a lot of it in Germany. On the autobahn, I quickly learned that no matter how fast I was going, there was going to be someone going faster. Being passed, while at 150mph, by a car doing close to 200 needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Check mirrors twice, move, pass quickly, get back to the right. Amazing how good it works. Wish more people here would do it.

I should mention, for those that have not driven there, that the autobahn is not always going at high speeds. Many times it is going in the 60-70 range because of traffic and condition but it still flows because of the lane discipline. Also, if I recall, big trucks are restricted to the "slow" lane as are cars pulling trailers.

I have said before, and I will say again.....I feel many times safer driving/riding in Europe than I do here. You do not see as many accidents there and crash statistics seem to support that.

People seem to take driving more responsibly than here. When I hear things like "he can wait", I just shake my head and wonder just how that attitude develops.

Rod
 
#40 ·
Here's a link to the passing laws for the various states.
Left-Lane Passing Laws: A State-By-State Map

I find it kind of amusing this seems to be an issue on a motorcycle site. Aren't we the folks that simply slide by the problem drivers? (Well, here in the Peoples Republic of California at least)

This simply common courtesy. If someone wants to get by and you can safely get out of their way, why not? I do this every weekend up in the canyons. The cruisers let me by and I let the sport bikes by. We all enjoy our rides and everyone goes home happy. I do the same on the freeway or the highway on the bike or in the car. If Bob just has to hammer his way up the highway, I'll let him by as soon as I can. Not only will he soak up any law enforcement ahead but he won't be two feet off my rear bumper, twitching to get by at the first opportunity.

Without any evidence of my own, I do believe that driving slower than the flow of traffic in anything but the right lanes is less safe because of the people who then try to get around you.

Hint . . . if people are passing you on both sides, perhaps you should consider getting out of their way before one miscalculates and your vehicle becomes a ballistic object . . . for your own safety at least.
 
#45 ·
it forces faster drivers to weave back and forth between lanes
This is the dumbest freakin thing I have read in some time.

A slow driver does NOT force another to drive recklessly, weaving in and out of lanes.

In some states, regardless of speed, you must get out of the way of someone that wants to pass/go faster than you.

I find the left lane squatter mildly annoying.
 
#47 ·
Youre right they dont force me but I choose to pass the left lane dawdlers on the right at speed. I can sit behind or next to them andI think passing on the right may be unlawful, and then I become tangled up with many other possibly angry drivers in close quarters. On my bike and car I simply go around the dawdlers. They are a hazard to navigation and to be behind or next to them is a bad place to be sitting. Stranger danger go around.
 
#46 ·
My commute this morning was fairly typical here in Lost Angeles. The 10 East at 6AM is busy but not terribly crowded and moves at about 80 MPH in the faster lanes (1 through 3) until the 110 exchange when it slows to perhaps 50 MPH as people sort themselves out for the various exits. Once past downtown, speeds come back up to 80 or so and stay there until things bog down a bit at the 605 interchange. Even the semis are running 70-75 MPH. There are probably 50-60 semis per mile so imagine what it would do to traffic to have them all run at 65 instead of 75.

Most drivers will move aside for a faster car (in the 1 and 2 lanes, away from the trucks) and every morning there is at least one boomer that finds they just have to go 90 plus. I've had conversations with CHPs that acknowledge the higher speeds and still say they're more concerned with the odd idiot than they are with the speed. As long as the traffic flows smoothly they concentrate on the flow issues - such as slow cars in the faster lanes.

I should note that, as I drive/ride thirty miles through L.A. headed east I am passing bumper to bumper inbound traffic for most of that drive - I don't envy them that commute. I only have to deal with about 8 miles of congestion on my drive/ride home - thank you California for lane sharing.
 
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