When changing lanes on the highway...

[Hikergirl]

Young teens learning to drive are quite awesome at making us remember to perfect our own skills again, aren't they?

Since my dd started driving I find myself saying "when you are driving don't do that" when she's a passenger with me

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Pennsylvania is a "pass left keep right" state, too. Well, kind of.


http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html

I found that out the hard way driving back to school in Illinois (several decades back.....). I had never heard of a passing lane (my home state did not have such a law). I was driving right at the speed limit and out of nowhere a police car comes up behind me with lights on and pulls me over. He read me the riot act for costing him a $90 ticket when he couldn't get around me. I thought he was going to write me one to make up for it, but I got lucky and only got a warning. Maybe it helped that I had out of state plates.

Haha, it kills me that he would write a ticket for that with all of the maniacs on the roads in Chicago. You must have been away from the city to get that kind of ticket!

The only kind of tickets people seem to get around here are parking tickets and expired plates! Driving-wise, it seems like pretty much anything goes! Although, now that I think about it, DS15 and I laughed like crazy when we saw a guy making a left turn in front of a police car, and the guy a couple cars back obviously didn't see the cop and was honking his horn wildly at the car holding everyone up in the left lane. He got pulled over a block later. HA!!!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Haha, it kills me that he would write a ticket for that with all of the maniacs on the roads in Chicago. You must have been away from the city to get that kind of ticket!

The only kind of tickets people seem to get around here are parking tickets and expired plates! Driving-wise, it seems like pretty much anything goes! Although, now that I think about it, DS15 and I laughed like crazy when we saw a guy making a left turn in front of a police car, and the guy a couple cars back obviously didn't see the cop and was honking his horn wildly at the car holding everyone up in the left lane. He got pulled over a block later. HA!!!!!

It was on I-55 in the middle of the state.

I'm not sure if I ever did pay the parking ticket I got in downtown Chicago 30 years ago though.....

 

[mom2rtk]

Since my dd started driving I find myself saying "when you are driving don't do that" when she's a passenger with me

LOL, my daughter *might* have heard that a few times lately as well.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

No, not period. It depends on the laws in the state. For the vast majority of states and territories, you can stay in the left lane if you are among the faster moving traffic.

States which only allow passing in the left lane:

• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey

States which require slower traffic to move right:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

States which require slower traffic to move right only if they are blocking traffic:

• Florida
• Georgia
• Nevada
• Utah
• Virginia

States which require drivers moving slower than the speed limit to move right:

• Alaska
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Puerto Rico

Blocking the left lane in Missouri is punishable under the road rage law. It's about the most serious driving offense you can get short of DUI. It's rarely enforced though.

 

[Jennasis]

I signal anytime I am changing lanes or turning...even into my own driveway on a rural road with nobody else around.

 

[mom2rtk]

Blocking the left lane in Missouri is punishable under the road rage law. It's about the most serious driving offense you can get short of DUI. It's rarely enforced though.

Seriously? I had no idea! I can't imagine how slow you'd have to be going to actually have it classified as road rage. Although I've been on I-70 heading across the state a few times with side by side trucks going the same speed. That might have elicited a few feelings of rage......

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

Find the gap first because the second that turn signal goes on people speed up.

My husband does this but doesn't signal at all because he swears people will just speed up. Grrr.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

When we lived in Arizona, we called using your signal, "giving information to the enemy."

My Dad taught, "Signal your intention, not your action," so I tend to always signal first, but mindful of the gap or lack there of. I hate changing lanes, so I tend to stay in the middle or even right lane, even if the car in front of me is slow. If it's heavy traffic, then DH is driving.

Ha, my husband has found his people.

Personally, I'm with your Dad on this.

 

[Disney Doll]

I'm going to agree with Flightless Duck. It really depends on the situation.

If traffic is normal or light, I tend to look and then signal. But if it's jam packed, then I signal and pray someone will let me in (or curse if no one doesn't, lol).

This.

 

[MickeySP]

I'm from Massachusetts. What is this signal thing you speak of? We have blinkers but I think they are optional?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Seriously? I had no idea! I can't imagine how slow you'd have to be going to actually have it classified as road rage. Although I've been on I-70 heading across the state a few times with side by side trucks going the same speed. That might have elicited a few feelings of rage......

You don't even have to be going all that slow, just slow enough to be holding up traffic for no reason.

The law stems from a gal who was doing this on Hwy 40 in STL County. A guy she angered eventually got around her, cut her off and slammed on the brakes. She swerved into the median, crashed, and died. When the law passed, they made sure to point out the victim would have been guilty of road rage as well.

 

[nkereina]

Then there are the folks who turn their signal on and then begin to drift over, thinking just because they have their signal on you see it and will back off and let them in. Turning on your signal doesn't mean you can instantly change lanes!

 

[Squirlz]

You don't even have to be going all that slow, just slow enough to be holding up traffic for no reason.

The law stems from a gal who was doing this on Hwy 40 in STL County. A guy she angered eventually got around her, cut her off and slammed on the brakes. She swerved into the median, crashed, and died. When the law passed, they made sure to point out the victim would have been guilty of road rage as well.

Yup. Riding in the left lane knowingly holding up traffic is the most common form of road rage. The State Police here in Michigan have just started a program targeting Left Lane Bandits.

 

[jrmasm]

Then there are the folks who turn their signal on and then begin to drift over, thinking just because they have their signal on you see it and will back off and let them in. Turning on your signal doesn't mean you can instantly change lanes!

That reminds me of toddlers that say please and then grab the toy.

 

[MIGrandma]

Yup. Riding in the left lane knowingly holding up traffic is the most common form of road rage. The State Police here in Michigan have just started a program targeting Left Lane Bandits.

I'm glad they're finally doing this. The left lane is for passing, not for driving. I hate seeing someone drive for miles and miles in the left lane, forcing faster traffic to pass them on the right. Stay in the right lane, pass a slower car in front of you, then get back over. But, I have also seen police cars driving in the left lane too.

As to the OP's question, it depends on how heavy the traffic is. If it's heavy I will put my signal on, then wait to move over until some kind soul lets me in. If the traffic is light I will put my signal on as I'm getting over, then I signal again when I'm getting back into the right lane. DH always gets so upset when people "won't let him in" if traffic is heavy and he wants to get over. I have to tell him to put his turn signal on and they probably will let him in. He does, and they do.