Ever driven behind a road block?

[LarryL]

In the past couple of days I've come up, in very light traffic to three cars driving side by side on all three lanes of the freeway. No other cars near, just this rolling road block. They were driving at exactly the speed limit 65mph. The flow of traffic is usually between 70 to 80mph. Today, Saturday, was the worst. Three cars going exactly 65 has me blocked for 15 miles. The blocked group started with me and one other car and at about 10 miles was up to 10 cars and where I turned off there were about 5 more cars. I know, they were within their rights because they were going the speed limit, but where the freeway had a long on ramp or off ramp people were passing on the right, buy using the ramp, and the three up front still did not give in. I guess it's good to know there there are self appointed people that are there to watch over us, like it or not.

 

[rjundi]

The only place I have ever experienced this is in the non "rude" driving areas of the US (eg South & Midwest plains). I find this practice inconsiderate whatever the law is on planting yourself in a lane with complete disregard & respect to other drivers. I am unsure if drivers feel they "own" the road or are just unaware.

 

[oilyriser]

It's normally illegal to obstruct traffic flow, no matter what the speed. Call for police on your cellphone because this kind of thing creates a dangerous situation when people try to pass on the shoulders.

I've even seen truckers doing this at 40 mph on I44 in MO.

 

[labman]

I think the law in most states is keep right unless you are passing somebody. However, it is a very poorly enforced law. I think the police wink at it. Your case sounds like a few arrogant, controlling freaks. Not sure about some of the people that get up beside a truck and stay there for miles.

It is a sad case we are spending billions to add a third lane to many interstates when we could improve traffic flow almost as much by enforcing the laws on slower traffic keeping right.

 

[LarryL]

The position of the police, having asked is that if that car in the fast lane is driving 65, there will be no ticket given. There is a radical idea to solve this, and as labman suggests, would make extra lanes more useful. That idea, now don't flame me, would be to educate drivers and give real driving tests for a license. I know it's never been tried with drivers, but education has helped in many areas of life. Even my Doctor has an education, so do I. We could call it Driver Education. The idea that traffic could be imporved, and made safer at the same time is a radical idea, although it would infringe on the rights of some drivers, soon most people would get the idea of getting along with other for the mutual benefit of everyone.

Oh, by the way, calling 911 in Southern California about a rolling roadblock, or barricade as Gary Allan calls it, would get no response.

Police coverage is so thin that they have more important things to do.

On the way home, today, I watched car after car, pull on the freeway in front of me and go right to the fast lane or second to the fastest lane. I drove by them all in the slow lane, which never had a car in it, during my 45 miles. I guess the more important people know they belong in the fast lanes, and lucky for me, today, there were no drivers that were willing to stay in the slow lane of three lands to complete the barricade.

Gary, when you get stuck in traffic, does it mean that your big bypass filter can do a better job?

 

[The One]

they own the road....so much so that if you did the pit maneuver on them they would spin out of it and keep going 65 mr. magoo style.

 

[pitzel]

65 is the speed limit, ie: the maximum speed one is legally permitted to operate their vehicles on the road.

Don't be surprised if people drive slower than that -- 65, after all, is the maximum speed permitted by law. Don't expect people to modify their own driving habits in order to permit your own illegal activity.

 

[blupupher]

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
.... Don't expect people to modify their own illegaldriving habits in order to permit your own illegal activity.

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It is illegal to obstruct the flow of traffic. Look it up. Even if you doing the speed limit, it is still illegal. Now will a cop do anything, probably not. But I have come across this while driving emergency traffic in an ambulance and it causes all kinds of problems.
It goes back to common sense and courtesy, which many seem to not have.

 

[Kestas]

A wise person once told me, "When you have one group of people telling another group of people how to live, you'll have serious problems."

These people in the rolling blockade knew exactly what they were doing, and that it would tick a lot of people off. They should mind their own business, lest they run into some whacko who doesn't want to be told what to do.

Like oilyriser said, they created a dangerous situation... more dangerous than any 70-80 mph traffic would pose.

 

[Dark Jedi]

my father in law a trucker. was going trough a city on the interstate once. he was doing 65 the posted speed limit. a cop pulled him over and told him that beings he was inpeeding traffic that he was giving him a ticket. my FIL was like I was going speed limit. the cop said yeah i know but by bunching up traffic you can have a greater chance of an accident. I guess its a grey area there. they tell you to go the posted speed limit or we will give you a ticket. but we will also give you a ticket if you have a string of vehicles wanting to go faster but cant because your going the posted limit and bottle lecking them. one of those screwed either way but they wont let you know which is the the right choice till you see the blue lights and the ticket tells you the choice you should of picked.

 

[brianl703]

Is it safer to pass on the left than to pass on the right?

In some places, such as Germany, passing on the right is illegal. (In Virginia, passing on the right is not illegal so long as it's in a traffic lane and not the shoulder).

 

[Master ACiD]

slow traffic keep right sounds good. i dont care if you want to do 40 on a 70 but just keep to the right please.

usually when people are doing a rolling road block i will be behind them flashing my lights and honking to get their attention. when they see me i motion to MOVE and they usually do. something about a ****** off looking guy with a mohawk making hand gestures is a compelling way to encourage someone to get over.

a while ago i had a problem on the 595 with school busses in the morning making rolling road blocks. i called the school board and complained about it saying its dangerous for busses full of children to have cars passing between them, and on the shoulders of the road. ever sence then those busses stay to the right lane no matter what. i bet the drivers got chewed out by somebody. i tell you that one phone call cut 15 mins off my morning commute.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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On the way home, today, I watched car after car, pull on the freeway in front of me and go right to the fast lane or second to the fastest lane. I drove by them all in the slow lane, which never had a car in it, during my 45 miles. I guess the more important people know they belong in the fast lanes, and lucky for me, today, there were no drivers that were willing to stay in the slow lane of three lands to complete the barricade.

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I used to run into this on the Jersey Turnpike. Once a week I had to go up to ..hmm..near the Medowlands ..South Plainfield. Anyway ..I had placards on and could not use the left lane. There were tons of people who, just because they were "passing through" decided that they would just sit in the middle lane and go to sleep. Their reasoning was that they didn't have to deal with merging or exiting traffic. For all of, at the time, about 12 instances of such events??? It wouldn't have been too bad if they had just kept advancing on the right lane traffic. I've seen a few bus drivers go halfway into the left lane and then ease back in ...forcing some slug into the right lane where they belonged.


I did, and do, take driving very seriously. Now I am not in a hurry as I was in the past. I have no need for speed. I still extend, whenever possible, every courtesy practical to every other car. When someone is merging, and I can move over, I do. If I can't ..at least I don't race them to the merging zone making a conflict. You don't know how many times there's a car in the right lane that only needs to stay going the same speed for me to merge ..but chooses to accellerate in a competitive manner to almost assure an intercept course. These people don't think. They react in all the wrong ways to situations that they encounter.

Heck, around here, you can't be left in peace even if it's 4:30 in the morning. The road is already filled with combination of high speed transcontinental commuters, merging traffic, and those in between getting out of the way of other two.

 

[mikemc]

I have noticed this a lot on I-75 in Kentucky, folks who seem to enjoy cruising in the left lane(s) at or below the speed limit. There are signs posted in Ky to stay right unless passing. It is more often than not Ohio tags involved. No flames intended, that's just been my observation. It may be just due to the sheer number of folks from Ohio traveling on I-75.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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Ever driven behind a road block?

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I call it a rolling barricade.

People like company. Most travel in packs. The problem is when different "packs" are in conflict. I used to see this all the time on the Maryland turnpike. The problem that you confront is if the "fleet" formation is too tight to navigate through. When I had my BMW ..it was no problem to weave in and out of such things ..now most people know the futility of attempting this ..and just stack up behind the guy at "the front of the line" ..waiting for their turn.


I've effectively used an annoyance technique. People are happy to be numb to you behind them. They just think that you're "in line" and are just as numb as they are. But if you just hang off of their hind quarter ..just like a presense in the peripheral vision ..it's irritating. You're usually leaving enough room in front of you for safety from THAT car ..but the proximity to the slightly out of phase road block can be irrestistibly anxiety producing.

 

[04SpecV]

Wasn't something similar to this on TV a while back?

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
65 is the speed limit, ie: the maximum speed one is legally permitted to operate their vehicles on the road.

Don't be surprised if people drive slower than that -- 65, after all, is the maximum speed permitted by law. Don't expect people to modify their own driving habits in order to permit your own illegal activity.

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Yes, and I suppose you are part of the problem when it comes to keeping speed limits well below what most people find reasonable. If you think 65 is the maximum you should drive, fine. Do 65, stay in the right lane, and don't harangue your legislators to interfere with the rest of us.

It is just plain stupid to have a speed limit of 65 on most of our rural interstates. If you don't like people breaking the speed limit, campaign for higher, more reasonable limits.

And by the way, it is not your place to force other people to obey the law. I find the ''But 65 is the limit'' smug, arrogant, and controlling.

 

[road_rascal]

I think you mean this video.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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Originally posted by labman:
And by the way, it is not your place to force other people to obey the law.

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Even if it were, how do they know their speedometer is really accurate?

People like that are every bit a control freak as tailgaters are. Tailgaters want to force you to speed up. Left lane blockers went to force you to slow down.

Here's an idea...maybe this will work:

Left lane blockers: Drive in the right lane.

Tailgaters: Learn how to pass in the left lane. This might be really scary, but once you learn how to do it, you'll quickly find that it's much easier and safer to pass someone than it is to try to force them to speed up.

Left lane blockers and tailgaters: Two sides of the same idiot driver coin.

 

[wantin150]

Here we go with another speed limit thread.

1. As was stated, the 65 limit is just that, the MAXIMUM limit allowed.

2. Traffic traveling UNDER the limit should drive in the two right hand lanes to allow faster (at the limit) traffic to pass on the left.

3. Less than ideal environmental conditions mandate that drivers exercise due care.

How can one justify the position that it is alright to break the law if x-% of people do it too? How can you be a victim if you are breaking the law yourself?

Now, no one mis-quote me here and take this post out of context. I will be happy to quote the law to you as I used to enforce it. Having said all this, speed limits are usually determined by the 80% "rule" if you will. If 80% of the traffic flows at 70 mph, say in a 60, then the speed limit may be raised to that higher limit. The problem is that these speed studies aren't really done often enough to update some areas.

The real problem is not with traffic at x-speed. The problem is when you get large variances in the speed of a set of vehicles on the road at a given time. I hear "respect" thrown out there. Why don't some of you respect people's right to drive the limit? Do I owe you something to get out of your way? Nope. Not a thing. What gives you the right to fly up behind me at 90 and then demand that I get out of YOUR way? If you get all ticked off, then you need to address your own personal issues.

I consistantly drive 10-15 mph over the limit so don't jump on me. I do, however, atleast request that the driver in front of me do the LIMIT when I drive on secondary roads. Higher speeds are inherently more dangerous but slower driver can be just as bad. We will never really make everyone happy because the higher we raise our speed limits, the greater the range of speed. Some older folks and newer drivers or just idiots will now be driving 20 mph under the limit and that is a problem. If the limit is 80 and I'm at 90, the last thing I want to do is close on traffic running 60 cause their scared. Oh, has anyone factored in the min limits too? What 45 in most areas? Bad, bad news when your closing speed is 40mph +.