Slow Traffic Keep Right!!! Please?

In two of my last posts I talked about driving fast and a few precautionary steps to take if you are going to drive fast. Today’s post is an off-shoot of these and just a bit of a rant. Not Porsche specific per-se’, but more general ranting about driving, the rules of the road and the fact that either no one understands them (it’s more likely they have never read them) and if they do, they blatantly ignore them.

You see the picture above; well, that’s basically the topic for today’s post.

Q. Are you tired of being stuck behind the big yellow school bus filled with kids (none of whom are wearing a seatbelt) driving 40mph in the passing lane?

Q. Do you find yourself constantly getting more and more aggravated at the “blue-hair” in front of you out for a Sunday drive? You know the type, two hands, white knuckling the steering wheel, fresh from getting a perm, head barely visible above the seat. This is the type that should be in a hurry, working hard to get wherever they are going before they die.

Q. What about the idiots that drive the speed limit and seem impervious to getting their attention in an attempt to have them move to the right? It’s as if they are saying “Look, I’m going the speed limit, that’s the limit, no need for me to move over and let you pass. Even though both the lanes to my right are open, why should I move? I’m driving the speed limit.” I find this to be most common when the cars are tagged with Maine license plates.

Massachusetts, like all other states, has a driver’s manual. Supposedly, prior to getting your license you are meant to learn what’s in this manual and even get tested to prove your knowledge. That’s all well and good, but from reading the local police reports it seems that most people these days don’t even bother with getting a license, so why should they read the manual. As a quick refresher here’s an excerpt from the MA Driver’s Manual on Highway Driving:

“Stay to the right and only use the left lane for passing. If you are traveling on an expressway with three or more lanes in your direction, treat the far right lane as a slower-speed through lane, the middle lane as a faster through lane, and the far left lane as the passing lane.

Use your rearview mirror, check your blind spots, and use your directional signals when changing lanes. Remember these three steps: (1) look, (2) signal, (3) move.”

Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it. STAY TO THE RIGHT! Heck there are even signs all over the highways to remind people of this. I won’t even get going on the idea of signaling or blinking. Let’s just say that in Massachusetts, car manufacturers could save a ton of money by simply deleting the entire directional system from the car; they are never used. More on this later.

How do we fix the problem?

Great question. Personally, I’m in favor of changing the laws slightly to allow faster drivers to gently bump or rub the car in front of them to encourage a lane change. I foresee a huge increase in push-bar sales were this to be allowed.

The folks at “The Slower Traffic Keep Right” Campaign Headquarters have an even better idea:

“Issue each driver, with their license, a paintball gun. Then, in the advent that they are stuck behind an inconsiderate driver, they simply shoot the back of the offenders’ vehicle with a paintball. Then, when the police see a vehicle with at least three different paint splotches on it, they cite the driver, suspend his/her license (assuming they actually have one) and tow their car.”

I know I’m not the only one this bothers and I know it’s not just something here in the states as witnessed by this site in the UK . Let me know your thoughts and what we can do to fix the problem.