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Re: Left Lane Bandits

To: Fred Marks <marks_fred@yahoo.com>, Triumph <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Left Lane Bandits
From: Steven Newell <steven@cravetechnology.com>
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 12:04:18 -0600
Organization: Crave Technology
References: <20010607135038.16977.qmail@web14504.mail.yahoo.com>
Fred Marks wrote:

> > Scott A. Roberts wrote:
> > But mostly, when I am running on a
> > highway, I am over 70 to about 75/80, and if I'm in
> > the left lane, I ignore flashes- I'm going fast enough...
>
> ...<snip> Hey, if I want to make 90 or better,
> that's my business, and it's between me and the laws
> (The Highway Patrol's AND Newton's)--meanwhile, do the
> courteous thing and MOVE THE HELL OVER!
>
> Left Lane Bandits cause accidents.  Being one at 75
> mph is NO LESS rude, discourteous or unsafe than being
> one at 45 mph.

If losing control at high speeds and crashing into another car, or
causing an accident through aggressive driving, were examples
of personal choice, I'd agree. But if you kill my wife and children*
because you want to drive 90 mph on I-25 through downtown
Denver -- MOVE TO GERMANY AND DRIVE THE AUTOBAHN!

And high speed driving on U.S. highways isn't a god given right,
nor is it part of the social contract. While on open interstates it
is generally both reasonable and required by law that slower
drivers stay to the right, it is not either practically or ethically
neutral to tailgate a slower car stuck behind another slower car
-- or one that is passing a slow truck, or in the left lane because
there's a left exit ahead. I'm frequently in the left lane, moving
slower than other cars, because that's what I have to do to get
to work. Sometimes I'm in the left lane because I believe I'm
least likely to be hit by another driver changing lanes. This is
actually legal on urban interstates. Not infrequently, I'm in the
left lane because it's fastest, and I'm driving with traffic.

While I've read that on the Autobahn, emergency vehicles are
dispatched with a coroner on board since they often don't
expect to find a living driver or passenger in a high speed crash.
Sorry, but that simply isn't the expectation when driving I-70
through Kansas.

*the wife and kids are fine, thanks. Ocassionally they are in the
left lane, though. Dark green/blue Discovery SE7, please give
it room. <g>

--
Steven Newell
Denver, CO

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