A few things about me: I commute a long distance to ULV, I am not a morning person, and I am easily distracted. Therefore, I am perpetually in a hurry to my classes.
It always seems that when I am late, I notice travel patterns more accurately than while leisurely driving. One problem on the road I notice is the misconception of the use of the left “fast” lane.
I think once drivers get in their cars and start playing their music, they go into their own world. While this self-involved driving is an enjoyable facet about being behind the wheel, it also sets the potential for problems on the road.
All personal anxiety issues of being late aside, it remains unsafe to drive at a low speed in the left lane, where the unwritten law states that it is reserved for passing or traveling at least five miles above the speed limit. Common knowledge? Or not-so common courtesy?
I am not speaking of generic rush hour frustration when all lanes are jammed. I mean the time of day where the roads are free flowing and the driver going 55 mph in the left lane when the right, “slower” lanes are vacant.
I still am not convinced as to whether it is that people are unaware of this rule or whether they are uninterested in the driving world outside their car. Either way, drivers need to wake up and follow the unspoken rules of the road because they might be the ones to cause accidents. That’s right—the slow drivers can sometimes make the roads unsafe.
I have no problem with slow drivers. When I am not in a rush, I can be found in the far right lane traveling at 60 mph for optimal gas mileage. So why am I allowed to complain? Simple: I am where faster cars expect me to be.
“Keep with the flow of traffic.” It works for many reasons, but in this situation, it ensures that other following drivers do not slam on the brakes from going 80 mph in the fast lane once they approach the car ahead of them going unexpectedly slow.
In a perfect world, we would not have inattentive drivers traveling 80 mph. But let us face it: California highways do not resemble any form of a perfect world.
Slow drivers in the left lane also evoke road rage, another all-too-common side effect of driving in California. What happens when a car is traveling 60 mph in a flowing stream of traffic is that a long line of impatient drivers forms and drivers begin tailgating in hope of nonverbally expressing that the driver needs to speed up or move to the right. The last thing we need is a string of frustrated drivers who are more interested in sending an unfriendly message than they are with the safety of the other drivers.
“Left lane for passing” signs are not displayed on select highways because of some obsessive compulsive desire to have cars follow a uniform order of movement. Rather, they are present because passing from either far side of the road is known to be more dangerous than doing so from a center lane. Common knowledge, common courtesy, yet not commonly followed.
No matter what driving skill one possesses, it can always be improved upon. This can mean anything from waking up 15 minutes earlier to being less rushed (ahem), or to be aware of how to be courteous to other drivers. So, please, I beg of you, respect the sanctity of the left lane!
Lesley Michaels, a senior communications major, is news and Web editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at lesley.michaels@laverne.edu.
