Keeping to the right.

[BRIO]

Most western countries I've been to strictly enforces keeping to the right. Passing on inside is illegal and results in a fine. Here in Florida it is worse than most places in the USA. In my experience this results in a much less organized dynamic in which drivers have to worry about twice the real estate. It is a free for all in which many drivers linger in lanes with little regard for traffic flow with faster moving traffic weaving through. This becomes much more apparent when weather hits and accident rates skyrocket. Fatalities per capita is high compared to many countries. I read somewhere that a moving accident is the 4th most likely cause of death in the USA.

Where do you think this aversion to highway culture and legislation come from? Why are we not more focused on improving our infrastructure? I'm not talking about expanding the highway network. I'm talking about more efficient utilization.

[rocker59]

People are selfish.

It's just the way it is.

[Mark Dasher]

Most western countries I've been to strictly enforces keeping to the right. Passing on inside is illegal and results in a fine. Here in Florida it is worse than most places in the USA. In my experience this results in a much less organized dynamic in which drivers have to worry about twice the real estate. It is a free for all in which many drivers linger in lanes with little regard for traffic flow with faster moving traffic weaving through. This becomes much more apparent when weather hits and accident rates skyrocket. Fatalities per capita is high compared to many countries. I read somewhere that a moving accident is the 4th most likely cause of death in the USA.

Where do you think this aversion to highway culture and legislation come from? Why are we not more focused on improving our infrastructure? I'm not talking about expanding the highway network. I'm talking about more efficient utilization.

You've hit on a huge pet peeve of mine!  I grew up in Europe and learned to drive in Germany and the UK.  Drivers there are so much more disciplined vs US drivers making driving over there, even with their higher traffic density, much safer and pleasurable.

Left lane  "camping" is just not bad in Florida - it's bad all over the US.  I totally agree that we would have fewer accidents and also reduce road rage incidents if this simple rule were followed.  I believe it's not only a lack of rule enforcement, but also a lack of good driver training and more importantly a change in our social values.  Most people just don't care and don't want to care.  They just care about what they're doing and where they're going and f$#@ everyone else.

[John A]

Trying not to turn this political, I think that in North America, automobile drivers are not expected to be professional and are not held to a high standard . Most have the attention span of a fruit fly with a matching skill level. Add to this the general attitude that individual responsibility is a thing of the past not to be valued gets us to where we are.

[Red Dog]

Saw a bumper sticker the other day: "How am I Driving? Shoot me a Text!"

[oldbike54]

 Oklahoma enacted a law re staying to the right not long ago . I don't spend much time on multi lane roads, so no idea how effective it is . Of course , if a car occupying the left lane is doing the speed
limit ...

 Dusty

[Mark Dasher]

Trying not to turn this political, I think that in North America, automobile drivers are not expected to be professional and are not held to a high standard . Most have the attention span of a fruit fly with a matching skill level. Add to this the general attitude that individual responsibility is a thing of the past not to be valued gets us to where we are.

 

[Red Dog]

Trying not to turn this political, I think that in North America, automobile drivers are not expected to be professional and are not held to a high standard . Most have the attention span of a fruit fly with a matching skill level. Add to this the general attitude that individual responsibility is a thing of the past not to be valued gets us to where we are.

[/http://wildguzzi.com/forum/Smileys/default/1.gifquote]

In Gainesville Florida they are trying to cater to the bicycle crowd.

So far they spent many thousands of dollars taking one of the busiest streets from a 4 lane to a 2 lane to intentionally slow motor vehicle traffic down to help the bicycle riders.  A year later after a number of accidents between cars & bikes they put it back to a 4 lane.

Next they took another busy street and posted signs that state bicycles have the right to ride in the right lane.  So for awhile they would ride 4 bikes across totally blocking the right lane during rush hour wearing shirts that said: "Share the Road"!!!!!

[rocker59]

Oklahoma enacted a law re staying to the right not long ago . I don't spend much time on multi lane roads, so no idea how effective it is . Of course , if a car occupying the left lane is doing the speed
limit ...

 Dusty

We've had ours for several years here. Like many others, the slow traffic keep right law is lightly enforced.

[MGPilot]

Unfortunately in the US, you get replies like:
 - Free country, I can drive in any lane I want.
 - I pay taxes, I have a right to drive in the left lane if I want.

When people are struggling to climb out of single digit IQ's, not much you can do.

[BRIO]

I'm pretty sure people would keep to the right if the police started fining people regularly. A lot of folks would probably cry freedom infringement but the reality is that our freedom is restricted by collective logjam all because we don't want to be told what to do.

[Gliderjohn]

It is my understanding that most EU countries require much more training and enforcement in general is more rigid and fines more espensive than here.
Also not trying to sound political but I think the looseness here comes from our idea of freedom and don't F*%# with my car/driving, it's an individual right. Second, training is very minimal, especially since many schools no longer provide drivers ed due to budget cuts.
GliderJohn

[rocker59]

How many people even know about it. In the western states I travel, Texas is the only state that I have noticed any signs.
Having driven all over the world  I would say its a pretty universal in western countries and down under.

Yeah there should have been money budgeted for signage. Unfortunately people need regular reminders of the rules of the road.

I like the signs reminding people to move over for emergency vehicles at the roadside. They are pretty common in Tennessee and a few other states. Although the law here, we have no signs reminding people to move over for the emergency vehicles. Money should have been allocated for those signs as well.

[stevet]

No matter how many lanes of well-engineered pavement are available, another fact is that in large metro areas there are more motorized vehicles than can ever be properly served by an unlimited number of lanes.  There are too many people in large American cities, with possible exception of New York, who own cars, frankly.  Many need a car so they can live 10-30 miles from their job.  More want a car.  We need less cars.  The majority should want alternatives.  Private carpooling/ride sharing, public and mass transit, even work from home, etc.

Build it, and they will come (L.A. anyone?).  3 and 4 lane freeways are the norm in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area and daily they show themselves as insufficient for the amount of traffic flow.  There is too much volume for the majority of the cars to stay in the right lane.

Motorcyclists hate 4-18-wheeled vehicles.  4-18-wheeled vehicles are neutral to intolerant of motorcycles and hate bicycles.  Bicycles feel they are screwed by everything with an engine.  Will these notions ever change?  Likely not, not when all of us, in the USA, have the selfish idea that the individual owns the road and everything else around them is impeding their God-given right (actually a state-granted priviledge) to be on that road.

The simple fact is that there are too many of us.  Us being humans.  We are simply climbing all over each other, like a mound of insects.  That system works for insects, it does not work for humans.

Steve.

[RayB]

One of the problems people tend to think it is their freedom and their right to drive. Then it eventually turns into"Don't tell me how to drive or which lane I need to stay in"....who needs a turn signal anyway. Entropy ecpands and chaos results.
One of the first things I was told wrt to driving is "Driving is a privilege...not a right."

[oldbike54]

One of the problems people tend to think it is their freedom and their right to drive. Then it eventually turns into"Don't tell me how to drive or which lane I need to stay in"....who needs a turn signal anyway. Entropy ecpands and chaos results.
One of the first things I was told wrt to driving is "Driving is a privilege...not a right."

 There you have it . Not a "right" , rather a privilege extended by the state . As for signage , that only works when drivers believe a LEO is watching . The Jefferson highway runs near my house , and there is a tricky 3 way intersection in front of our neighborhood C store . There are stop signs with those cool flashing LED's around them , visible for at least 1/4 mile , and only 5% of drivers even slow down , let alone stop . But let them see a po po car , and everyone does the Driver's Ed approved stop 

 Dusty

[Triple Jim]

I know in Europe there is allot more training involved (and expense) to get a drivers lic. and a longer "supervised" period before a new driver gets full privileges.

Yes, as long as the policy of making it trivially easy to get a license is in effect, this problem and countless others will continue.  Ever since I started driving, I've believed that getting a license should require more training and more difficult testing than it does, and that written and on-road re-tests should be required when renewing licenses.  The trouble with this, of course, is the great expense that would cause the price of licenses to skyrocket.  Maybe reduced insurance costs would make up for it though.

[sbaker]

I travel in the left 'track' of the left lane... I pass everything... even the empty spaces to the right of me...

[dl.allen]

Watch the movie Idiocracy.  It all makes sense

[mgmark]

Watch the movie Idiocracy.  It all makes sense

That movie is too true to be funny.........

[Daleroso]

what's  remaining of the original American self independence (morphed into narcissism w/o regard for others & millenials who aren't familiar with the word "no") has turned into, and I quote from an elderly driver, "I'm in my car in my lane & if I'm doing the sped limit you can break the law & go around me."
Also from 2 moto-cop friends; " it's not worth the time & effort to pull some left lane rover to essentially only give them a verbal heads up."
As for populations impact, a very fast, smooth rider, Matt Pharr summed it up over lunch years ago when this subject came up & I quote; " there's a perfect place for desease & wars impact on populations."  👍

[John A]

I think of Minnesota as the land of the left lane homesteaders, no offense to those who can proceed 

[LowRyter]

we have a huge infrastructure debt in this country.  roads, schools, transportation, health, water.

if we spent as a nation, we would put people to work and stimulate the economy.  And yes public debt makes sense.

the reason we don't?  politics but I'll no further.   

[frans belgium]

As a European, I drove in 12 Us states during 2013 and 2015, and some highway behavior scared the hell out of me ;-)

[ITSec]

Actually, I'm just happy they drive in ANY lane (as long as they pick one). After all, it's hard to stay between the lines while you're texting... 

[Tom]

Driver licenses are too easy to get in the U.S..  The expectation to drive when age 15 is too low.  Cars are cheap enough that young drivers in the U.S. think of getting a car first vs countries that have scooters as the 1st option for motorized transport.

[charlie b]

Yep, drivers here are horrible.  And if you do a poll, 80% of the drivers think they are way above average drivers :)

Lanes.  Technically, if you are driving the speed limit it should not matter what lane you are in as no one should be passing you!!!  If someone is passing you, then THEY are the ones who should receive a ticket.   :)  :)  :)

When I am towing the RV I keep my speed to 65mph.  Out here in the west I stay in the right lane (or middle if there are three lanes in a city).  East coast, I could drive in the left lane since no one should need to pass me  :)  But, I do not, I stay in the right lane.  :)

[segesta]

I recall that Michigan will soon be ticketing people who drive too slow in the left lane.

Here in Illinois, we have a lot of immigrants, so you don't know if the person next to you learned to drive in Karachi, Warsaw, San Salvador, or Chicago. I think timidity is part of it--tiny ladies learn that if they park it in the left lane at 55 mph, they never have to change lanes, never have to pay attention, until it's time to exit. Of course they don't realize they are contributing to the crazy driving that they are so afraid of in the first place.

Driving in Europe is no picnic, even for those of us with a clue. There are three types of drivers on the autobahn/autoroute/autostrada: 1. a rusty truck going 45 kph with a bunch of chickens in the back; 2. a Mercedes driving 200 kph; and 3. YOU, wanting to drive a normal 130 kph, and you have to avoid both numbers 1 and 2.

[Tom]

+1 Very true.  Through in the mix of driving in SE Asia and you have a mess!

[Nic in Western NYS]

Comes down to what people thing the deal is between the individual and the group (state/community etc.)  If the only deal is take care of oneself, then expect larger vehicles that reduce risk to occupants and increase risk to others, and expect driving behavior that is uncoordinated among drivers at best and anarchic at worst.