Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 22:55:18 -0500
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: jgladu@bcm.tmc.edu (John Gladu)
Subject: Re: A little [W]ednesday humor to brighten your week!
At 8:09 PM 10/18/95, vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu wrote:
>I mostly stay in the middle lane on a three-lane freeway unless I'm
>entering or exiting.
>I've never really cared if someone passes me on the right on a
>three-lane freeway. I assume that they are exiting or in their judgment
>the left lane was a bad choice. As long as they don't tailgate before
>they pass I have no qualms whatsoever. Tailgating, however, makes my
>blood boil.
Agreement here...
Tailgating and people passing me without bothering to get out of "my" lane.
I consider the lane to be my personal property to the edge of the stripes
and for one car length front and rear. When traveling at or above 80ft/sec
it seems reasonable to allow 20ft before careening over, instead of
measuring the clearances in inches. Sometimes it seems like my fellow
drivers were trained on a big traffic circle in Mexico City...
One law says "speed limit x" and another says "slower traffic keep right".
The people stacking up behind me as I obey the former (in the middle lane)
want me to obey the latter (on a three lane road). But I have no intention
of exposing myself to the extreme idiocy of the people entering and exiting
in the right lane. Maybe one person in ten here understands that merging
safely involves velocity-matching and placement in gaps in the traffic.
The rest either match my speed right next to me and wish for me to alter my
velocity to allow them to enter or they just get to the end of the ramp and
stop. And wait. For a half-mile-long gap in the traffic.
Nope. I'll stay in the middle lane. They can pass me on both sides if they
want - I'm watching all of them and I know when they're there. If they
have such a terrible need to break the law and get there a couple minutes
sooner (on the 'average' drive, then *they* can expose themselves to the
enter/exit-idiots.
Okay, I'm through venting for now...
bcnu - G (John Gladu) Opinions are just that
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