• agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      There’s no such thing as a “fast lane”. “Fast lane” implies that there’s a speed fast enough to justify staying there, which is false.

      It’s the passing lane. You use it to pass slower traffic in the middle lane before getting back into the middle lane. If you’re not passing people, you do not belong in that lane.

    • FishFace@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      Your desire to go faster than the car in front does not overrule rules of safe driving. If you think it does, or if you’re so impatient you are unable to think rationally in this situation, your attitude is not suitable for driving a two ton machine at 70-odd miles per hour.

      The sticker is wrong. Get out of the driver’s seat.

        • FishFace@piefed.social
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          3 days ago

          Just let me past bro. Just get out of my way bro. Just get out of my way or I’ll drive up your arse bro. My right to go fast is more important than your right to safely use the road bro.

          I’ll move over when I’m good and ready. Which will be slower if some cunt is right behind me, because I need to make very certain, by double and triple checking my mirrors and blind spots, that you haven’t already decided to undertake, and that there’s definitely nothing that would cause me to have to abort my lane change, because said cunt will already be squeezing past me and I won’t be able to.

          I’ll also need to lower my own speed so that their following distance is less likely to cause them to drive into the back of me in the event I have to emergency brake, and less likely to cause their own ruin if I have to swerve suddenly out of the way of some road debris that they than have no chance to spot because they’re trying to get into my back seats.

    • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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      3 days ago

      Incorrect in Wisconsin, FWIW. By law, we have the speed limit, and “slower traffic keep right.” And there’s no keeping-up-with-flow-of-traffic clause, either. So traveling at the limit in the left lane is completely legal, there’s no obligation to clear the way for lawbreakers.

      • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        3 days ago

        If you have slower traffic keep right, and there is no one to the right of the slower moving car, shouldn’t they keep right in that case?

          • tmyakal@infosec.pub
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            3 days ago

            It is also illegal to stay in the left lane when other people are speeding. If they are going faster than you, you are by definition slower traffic and obliged to keep to the right.

            Your job as a driver is not to police other drivers’ behaviors. It’s not even to follow the letter of the law. It’s to operate the vehicle safely. Creating obstacles for other people because you don’t think they should drive so fast is not a safe action.

            Really, we need to collectively get rid of the idea of a “fast lane.” The left lane is a passing lane. You should only be in it when you’re attempting to pass someone, and when the pass is complete, you should move over.

            • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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              3 days ago

              I’d just point out, as in my original comment, that is incorrect in Wisconsin. It is perfectly legal to drive at the speed limit in the left lane here. We don’t have any notion of a passing lane in state law.

              Out of courtesy, I stay to the right, but almost every semi is doing 65MPH when the limit is 70MPH, the adaptive-cruise people hanging behind them are even slower. So, I pass them. Interestingly, by following the speed limit, I’ll encounter maybe one or two left-lane campers in a four-hour highway trip. It would seem that the people trying to police the behavior of slower (than they’d like) drivers in fast or passing lane are the greater problem.

              • tmyakal@infosec.pub
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                3 days ago

                Just a quick bit of searching, and I found a Wisconsin sheriff who is far less definitive on this than you:

                According to state law, any vehicle traveling “at less than the normal speed of traffic” must be driven in the right-hand lane, or as close as practicable, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle.

                So Wisconsin does acknowledge that anyone going less than the normal speed of traffic should only use the left lane to pass. But, as the sheriff points out:

                “It describes normal traffic, so to say somebody going 80 is normal is going to be very difficult for me to say that. So normal being above the speed limit, you’ve got two conflicting sets of laws here.”

                And it’s okay that traffic laws conflict with each other because, again, the point is not the letter of the law, but the safe and predictable operation of the vehicle.

                • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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                  3 days ago

                  I can’t find it now, but the local newspaper asked the State Patrol about it some years ago. They were clear: They cannot issue tickets for “obstructing traffic” for driving at the limit in any lane.

                  It appears that the conflict described by the sheriff is that he’s reluctant to call breaking the speed limit the “normal flow of traffic.”

                  • Zoot@reddthat.com
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                    3 days ago

                    Why are you so hell bent on sitting in the left lane? It’s inconsiderate and creates a hazard for other drivers. Regardless of laws, if you want to police other people, go become a cop.

          • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Eh, I see nothing wrong with passing on the right. If you’re driving correctly, it shouldn’t even be possible for someone to pass you on the right.

      • architect@thelemmy.club
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        3 days ago

        There’s legal and there’s things you should do. If the highway is three lanes, move the fuck over.

          • Zoot@reddthat.com
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            3 days ago

            Nor is it yours. Even in your own comments you admit that the left lane is the passing lane. If someone is behind you, you’re slower traffic. You’re obligated to move over, and you’re in the wrong if you do not.

            What is it with you power freaks that just have to enact control by fucking with other people? Find a better way to get a rage boner.

      • too_high_for_this@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        So you’re the person who stays in the left lane with a mile of cars behind you?

        Do everyone else a favor and stay off the highway.

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        You need to have your drivers license taken away. Cops openly brag about being able to pull people over whenever they want. They can do this because there are so many rules of the road, that it is literally impossible to drive without violating them.

        So really, drop the bullshit “but it’s illegal!!!” cope. You violate the law every time you get on the road. Traffic laws are written to be selectively enforced. You make it illegal to speed and then leave it to officer discretion.

        Hell, I say we throw you in jail for life. If every law was enforced against everyone who violates them, then everyone would be in jail for life.

        You’ve committed enough crimes to get yourself locked away for life. Perhaps you shouldn’t appeal to the law so readily.

        • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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          2 days ago

          You raise a valid point about how our legal system can be used as a tool of oppression. However, in practice, the State Patrol here are generally pretty ethical, and they pull people over for speeding and reckless driving most of the time. Never for obeying the speed limit.