Passing on the highway (US)

[chamberpot]

You haven't been to Nashville I see! Me thinks you'd be amending this list in about 12.2 milliseconds!

or Boston, or Massachusetts in general

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

You haven't been to Nashville I see! Me thinks you'd be amending this list in about 12.2 milliseconds!

So I heard, LOL! Nope, ne'er been to BNA or BOS.

 

[Mehrabad98]

I learned to drive in LA and similarly went to school outside of SF - but we need to correct something!

I can say with an extreme degree of confidence, that LA drivers are *FAR* better than SF drivers. I spent 2 years driving sparingly in the Bay Area (typical college stuff, not commuting everyday) and was rear ended 2x in traffic, one time totally my car.

LA drivers are fast and aggressive but typically more capable. There's far fewer left lane or carpool lane camper!

I visited LA for a single day in 2022 and saw 3 car crashes, one of which was a very severe crash. LA drivers crash a lot more, and part of it is on purpose. The personal injury industry encourages a specific type of bad driving. People will not try to avoid getting into a crash if the crash would not be their fault so they can get a fat check out of it.

 

[dogboy]

Two lane New Jersey circles can be a nightmare as well especially when the traffic is heavy.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

"He's go-ing the dis-tance...he's go-ing for SPEEEEEEEEEEED!!!"

Yeth...

 

[Muhdeee]

I visited LA for a single day in 2022 and saw 3 car crashes, one of which was a very severe crash. LA drivers crash a lot more, and part of it is on purpose. The personal injury industry encourages a specific type of bad driving. People will not try to avoid getting into a crash if the crash would not be their fault so they can get a fat check out of it.

Hmm, I'm not sure what relevancy intentional crashing has on SoCal vs NorCal considering they abide in the same state with the same laws, OR what relevancy it has to this discussion, but I digress!

I am prepared to prove a point, and I WILL die on this Hill (figuratively? I hope)

While outdated back to 2019 - Lets pull statistics and data into this!

Rough roads: California dominates cities ranked among the worst to drive in across US

24/7 Wall St. created an index composed of several driving-related measures to identify the worst U.S. cities for drivers. A majority are in California.

www.usatoday.com

Using this Data list lets look at top 10 most dangerous Metropolitan Areas, and compare SoCal vs NorCal:

Socal: The only one you could make argument that would count for LA is San Diego.

6. San Diego-Carlsbad, CA

Now lets look at The Bay Area

10. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

8. Sacramento–Roseville (Questionable to label Bay Area, I'll admit, so we can omit this one)

3. Vallejo-Fairfield, CA

2. Stockton-Lodi, CA

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

 

[Kirisin]

I've driven LA...it's okay. And I have decades of experience in Seattle & Portland driving. The worst cities for traffic, IMHO, are:

5. Indianapolis
4. Cincinnati
3. Louisville
2. Salt Lake City
1. St. Louis

Your mileage may vary.

Actually Salt Lake those people are just crazy Mormons. They where the first to put in an 80mph speed limit it's 70 in the city you never really see crashes cause everyone in town is going at least 75 I've found that the faster they can go the less likely they need to pass. Oh and by the way I've been on every mile of interstate in the United States except a 90 mile stretch in Vermont on I-91. Nobody not Chicago Not New York Not Atlanta Not LA. The worst drivers in the country are in BOSTON. There all Soccer Moms. They don't use mini vans they us SUZ stay out of there way or they will run your butt over.

 

[RoseofThorns]

When I learned to drive I was always taught to pass on the left and was always under the impression that passing on the right was illegal (not sure if it is or not). With that it's always urked me when I see people passing others using the right lane instead of the left lane on 3 and 4 lane highways. Today I was cruising in the middle lane going 5 over the speed limit which is pretty much standard practice on this section of highway. The left lane was completely clear and a truck behind me decided to pass using the right lane. I'm sure my mindset is a bit dramatic but whenever I see it happen it makes me sour. After all these years driving I've never seen an accident related to someone passing on the right so I understand how I might be blowing it out of proportion but it's never been something I've been able to let go. It's probably not illegal to pass on the right. It's just an incredibly frustrating driving practice I see from others quite often.

I grew up in Cali, as far as I know it's illegal and I've seen people get tickets for it. IDK about other states though and, yes, I have the same irk and have honked at people for it

 

[Mehrabad98]

I grew up in Cali, as far as I know it's illegal and I've seen people get tickets for it. IDK about other states though and, yes, I have the same irk and have honked at people for it

I believe it's actually not illegal in CA, although you could still get cited for unsafe/reckless driving.

 

[RoseofThorns]

I believe it's actually not illegal in CA, although you could still get cited for unsafe/reckless driving.

I haven't been there in a while so they could have changed it

 

[Mehrabad98]

I haven't been there in a while so they could have changed it

In driver's ed (2019) I was taught that we should pass on the left, but they never said anything about it explicitly being illegal to do it on the right.
I try to avoid passing on the right unless someone's being a total buffoon going 100 km/h in the left lane.

 

[RoseofThorns]

In driver's ed (2019) I was taught that we should pass on the left, but they never said anything about it explicitly being illegal to do it on the right.
I try to avoid passing on the right unless someone's being a total buffoon going 100 km/h in the left lane.

I took driver's Ed in 2003...

 

[chamberpot]

I took driver's Ed in 2003...

When I got my drivers license gas was .29 cents a gallon and we didn't have drivers education.

 

[Mehrabad98]

I took driver's Ed in 2003...

Damn I didn't even exist in 2003.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

I took driver's Ed in 2003...

1983 here!

 

[Kirisin]

I have seen some passing on the right on a 2 lane interstate. Those passing on the right on these Highways are just stupid drivers in a hurry to kill themselves. There in so much of a hurry that they can't wait the 5 seconds for the person in the left lane to get back in the right after a pass. The thing is they hope you will see them and not hit them. I personally have and also witnessed these drivers run off onto the sholder. We trucks have hudge blind spots called NO ZONES usually where paying attention until one if these idiots comes flying around us. It's dangerous and it's stupid nothing can be that important. I also have watched and sat in a line of traffic approaching a closed lane as people fly up in the closed lane and jam thereself in making the rest of us wait for there inpatients. They sometimes in some states call this a zipper merge except nobody knows how to do it. There was a video running around a few years back. A construction zone dump truck got the ultimate revenge on one of these car drivers. As the small car tried to run up the shoulder the dump truck just moved a little to the right. The car driver panicked jurked his car to the right flew past the Dump Truck and flew into the construction zone full of mud. I couldnt find it on YouTube. The extra 100 feet is it really worth your life.

 

[Kirisin]

1983 here!

1981

 

[Kirisin]

Damn I didn't even exist in 2003.

So that makes BSE and I old your parents where toddlers when we did Drivers Education

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

So that makes BSE and I old your parents where toddlers when we did Drivers Education

40+ years of licensed, safe driving. One accident, a few tickets, all minor (I beat one in court). License never lapsed, suspended or revoked.

 

[dogboy]

Yeah, I've seen people pass not just on the right, but on the right berm which is crazy.

When I took high school driver's ed so many decades ago, the other three guys in the car taking it with me were meeting some sort of parole requirement as they had been convicted of auto theft. This was on the Jersey Shore of course. The course was in the morning and every day our instructor would stop at a small restaurant and get a donut and a cup of coffee, leaving us in the car with the car running. The guys would look at each other and then debate as to should they steal the car. I would talk them out of it. They'd also talk about stealing wheels from parked cars, etc. Fun times, driver's ed.