PA has or had a left lane law, but it was never enforced. Basically, if you were in the left lane for some distance (maybe a mile) and didn't pass anybody, you were supposed to get back in the right lane.
The official idiot driver thread
- Thread starter Zorba
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PA has or had a left lane law, but it was never enforced. Basically, if you were in the left lane for some distance (maybe a mile) and didn't pass anybody, you were supposed to get back in the right lane.
All of this talk must have jinxed me. I just drove 5 miles stuck behind an old guy parked in the left lane who was pacing a Subaru in the right. If it slowed down, he slowed. When it sped up, he sped up. After a while the old man must have dozed off for a minute, so when I seen my break I made a run for it, then got stuck behind two box trucks doing the same damn thing, but at 5-10 mph slower. Hell, the old guy and the Subaru caught me just a mile after I got around them. 
I'm not an impatient driver, but damn if I didn't have day dreams of shooting out tires, and plenty of time to think about doing it.
I'm not an impatient driver, but damn if I didn't have day dreams of shooting out tires, and plenty of time to think about doing it.
All of this talk must have jinxed me. I just drove 5 miles stuck behind an old guy parked in the left lane who was pacing a Subaru in the right. If it slowed down, he slowed. When it sped up, he sped up. After a while the old man must have dozed off for a minute, so when I seen my break I made a run for it, then got stuck behind two box trucks doing the same damn thing, but at 5-10 mph slower. Hell, the old guy and the Subaru caught me just a mile after I got around them.
That's one thing I'll miss about my Superduty, planting my bumper squarely in their side view mirror at 3 feet usually gets them to move over.
when I was about 18 years old, 75 now, I was driving a VW bug. Some guy comes up on me like he's attached to my bumper. I'm doing 55, the limit, I speed up a bit he's still on me, I eventually slow down to 45, roll down the widow and wave him to pass. still there, now I'm flipping him off, speeding back up then he passes. Got my hand out the window middle finger up, look at the side of his car, it's the deputy sheriff. Must have been running my plates or just having fun with a local hippy.
A guy who use to work for my uncle did similar back in the '90s. He had just got his license back after being side lined for a year, like within the first week or two of having his license back, so he was out joy riding in his 5.0 Mustang. Well, he spotted another mustang and assumed that guy wanted to race, so he got up on his ass, revvin' up and trying to start a race, but the other car never responded, which pissed him off. So he did what any brainiac would do, he whipped it out into the other lane and passed the guy, making sure to flip him the bird as he went by, which is when he seen a big 'ol yellow star on the guys shoulder. I can't recall if it was a State Trooper or local Sheriff, but he said he just pulled on over and lost his license for another 6 months.
That guy had a lot of interesting stories.
KennethS
TJ Addict
There is no restriction about "passing on the right" on a multi-lane roadway.
I think it depends on the state. But legal or not it makes for higher collision risks.
KennethS
TJ Addict
What you posted seems to be in reference to a single lane of traffic in the direction of travel. We have very similar laws pertaining to a single lane of traffic on a roadway that is wide enough for 2 vehicles to safely be side-by-side (someone making a left turn, etc). That has nothing to do with roadways with 2 or more lanes in the direction of travel.
I’d never get anywhere in a reasonable time if I didn’t pass the left lane campers.
I had an incident recently that made me mad enough to want to take my glock out of the lock box.
I was following a calfire engine at about 45mph into town when a new Lamborghini and a half dozen porsches rip right up behind me and start swerving,honking their horns etc. We get to town and the fire engine pulls over. I was slowing down for the 30mph speed limit in town.
The lead clown goes around cutting me off and hits his brakes. I came within inches of driving up onto the back of his car. He plays more games and his buddies come up alongside and they all stop to block all traffic so they can flip me off.
Rich assholes!
I was following a calfire engine at about 45mph into town when a new Lamborghini and a half dozen porsches rip right up behind me and start swerving,honking their horns etc. We get to town and the fire engine pulls over. I was slowing down for the 30mph speed limit in town.
The lead clown goes around cutting me off and hits his brakes. I came within inches of driving up onto the back of his car. He plays more games and his buddies come up alongside and they all stop to block all traffic so they can flip me off.
Rich assholes!
You may be right, I always thought it was illegal. I still think it's a bad idea though, especially passing big rigs on the right.
KennethS
TJ Addict
So what is traffic supposed to do on a highway with 4 lanes each direction and a rig in the far left lane is going 5 below the speed limit?
In that case of course you'd have to get around it on the right. What I said before was they are making you pass on the right illegally, which as you said may not be illegal. But still unsafe. So I'll rephrase that and say the left lane campers are forcing you to do something that is less safe than if they would just move over.
Where it gets really dangerous is when people can't wait for a big truck to move over after it passes someone and they dart around it on the right. In the 3 lane sections it gets even worse when people are too impatient to stay in the left lane to pass someone in the middle lane so they dart over to the right lane to pass, then cut into the middle lane just as people in the left lane are ready to move into that middle lane having completed their pass.
But you live in Phoenix so I don't need to be telling you this. It's crazy up there.
BTW I have rarely seen a big rig left lane camping, have seen it 1 or 2 times out in deserted stretches where they were either trying to stay on smoother pavement or maybe tired or distracted.
I think the law is meant for people who camp in the left lane and impede traffic. I’m amazed how many people slow down when they come across a semi to their right and slow down next to them afraid to pass it them then realize they can go and speed up again. You never know when a truck tire will separate and cruising next to a semi can be fatal when it does.
When we had a fifth-wheel, this happened on fairly often occasion. Idiot would be sitting right about at my bumper (but in the lane to the left of me) sometimes for miles. There were a few occasions when I needed to change lanes, so I just flipped my turn signal on and came over on top of them - with the resulting honking horns and flashing lights. Well fucktard, either pass me or don't, but don't sit there in my blind spot off my bumper.
KennethS
TJ Addict
I had a near miss with one. Was driving my convertible home one weekend, came up behind a semi, moved into the left lane to go around it, heard a loud noise that was one of his tires blowing, and a huge length of tread flew up into the air and landed in the right lane beside me. Had I been in the right lane it would have come through the vinyl soft top and taken me out.
like practically everything else in life, idiot driver's are out of our control, they've always existed, always will, and will always present themselves in the day to day travels. The only part of the equation under my control is lowering the odds of encountering them & traffic congestion in general. I've literally designed my work & general life schedule around avoiding retards not only on the road but in general. I roll to the office well before the morning rush hour begins, roll back home well before the evening rush hour begins, go to the grocery store at 6am and so forth...
It all lends itself to a heightened level of peaceful existence amongst the chaos that would otherwise foist itself upon me.
It all lends itself to a heightened level of peaceful existence amongst the chaos that would otherwise foist itself upon me.
Yep, last few years I've changed how I travel on crowded interstates. I now hang back and stay out of the packs whenever possible. It makes for a much less stressful trip anyway and if the poop hits the fan at 75 MPH I don't want to be in the middle of the pack.
We do similar. It's almost amazing how just not running with the pack can make things so much better, and it's simple things too, like knowing what time to go or not go to a store. Doing the opposite of the crowd is generally my preferred method.
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