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Comment by mrshoe | Hacker News Reader

This man is a saint. For years I've wished more people understood these principles. Instead, I get drivers who are angry at me for leaving a big space in front of my car. If only I pulled up right behind the car in front of me, they'd be 60 feet closer to their destination!!

I wish more people would check this site out. Traffic is a real problem that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars and hours on the road every year.

Another idea to make the roads better: lane-specific minimum speeds. Think about it. It would actually solve a ton of common traffic problems.

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Another problem is drivers who insist on driving in the left lane at all times and refuse to move over. IIRC, the left lane used to be referred to as the 'passing' lane...

In the UK it still is, and passing on the left is illegal. I like that system more that all lanes equal.

So if there is a slow car there, what do you do? Does everyone wait behind them until they turn/exit or decide to switch lanes?

If there's a slow car in the outside lane, and they're not making any attempt to overtake anything, you generally flash them until they move over. They are, after all, breaking the law.

What if a car is in the passing lane doing the speed limit? Asking them to move out of the lane so another driver could pass by speeding, breaking the law, doesn't make much sense either.

Speed limit on an Autobahn?

(OK, there are speed limits on most patches of the Autobahn. But there are some without.)

If he's driving at the same rate as the cars in the inner lane, he shouldn't be in the passing lane.

It's a grey area, although usually accepted that 90% of drivers drive faster than the speed limit anyway.

If it's a 70 limit, and someone is in the passing lane doing 70, you'd still flash them.

Yes. It's amazing to watch if you're used to driving in the US. You'll get an unbelievable amount of grief if you allow yourself to be approached from behind in the inside lane. Even driving in the center lane, you are expected to move outside if there is room to do so. Try driving there long-term and you'll get fast drivers cutting you off from the passing lane just to teach you a lesson.

And no, nobody passes on the outside. Even if you're about to exit and the rest of the lanes are moving slowly, you'll still slow down considerably and look a bit sheepish as you drift past the main highway traffic.

Occasionally idiots pass on the outside.

Took me a moment to understand because I forgot that in the UK the sides are exchanged. Left = Right and Right = Left in traffic. :-)

It is the same in Germany. I always assumed it was that way everywhere.

IIRC from drivers' ed, it's illegal to do this unless you're passing or preparing for a left turn.

perhaps if this was enforced more routinely it would help with the principles discuss in the article.

There are even laws on the books specifying the left lane as the "passing lane". There seems to be a recent trend in making these more strict, so I wonder what effect they're having. This guy seems to have an up-to-date catalogue (green indicates more strict):

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

The thing that drives me nuts the most is slow people who stay in the left lane in the passing lanes that are sometimes put in on 2 lane highways (ie, 2 lanes going in the same direction for a time). Some states (Minnesota for sure) simply make a solid line to shunt drivers over to the right lane and it makes a huge difference, but around here (Wisconsin) they don't do that and inevitably I'll end up stuck driving 45 on a behind an old camper on a 2 lane highway because they refuse to keep right.

In Indiana and Michigan, left is a passing lane.

One problem here is that people driving the maximum lawful speed are still driving too slow for the prevailing speed of traffic.

So the difference is between "left is a passing lane" and "no passing on the right". In other words, it could be the slow car in the left lane that is breaking the law because it is not passing, just staying there, or it is the other cars that pass on the right that are breaking the law. I am sure the police would rather have both -- ticket those hanging out in the left lane and those passing on the right. Win-win for state/local budget!

There is no law against "passing on the right", at least not if this means "passing someone in a left lane while you're in a legitimate lane to the right of that vehicle".

For example, in the state of NY: Before you pass on the right on multilane roads such as expressways, make sure you check your mirrors, use the proper signals for lane change, and look over your right shoulder for other vehicles. After passing, be sure to check over your left shoulder, and to signal, before returning to the left lane. http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/dmanual/chapter06-manual.htm

I suspect that (some) drivers instinctively measure their speed relative to other cars rather than the background. If they're not overtaking other cars, they feel like they're not moving.

Yes, this is exactly right and is confirmed by nearly all of the research going on with regard to traffic and driving.

These ideas work, but only if you can get everyone else to play along, knowingly or unknowingly.

In Chicago at rush hour, if you leave more than a car's worth of space ahead or behind you, it will be filled instantly.

Is that an assumption or something you've tried?

If it's the former, he addresses that concern on his site.

In my experience these ideas work even if you're the only one following them.

It's from 25 years of experience. Noodle from Atlanta has a similar experience in the comments below.

People think this about 128 in Massachusetts, too, but generally what I observe is that people leave my "empty space" about as often as they enter it. I leave a big empty space for safety reasons, and also because I actually understand how inefficient constantly accelerating and braking is. I'm usually able to maintain it without too much trouble.

Whether or not it actually helps traffic, I couldn't say.

This seems like it'd create a danger if you're actually adhering to your goal of maintaining the "empty space": as soon as someone pulls into that space in front of you, you no longer have an empty space, and the only way to restore it is by slowing down to allow space to open up again. Which, as repetitively and suddenly as you'd have to do it, would pose a hazard to traffic behind you.

The typical solution to that situation is more like "Wait 30 seconds. The person who just pulled in front of you catches up to the car in front of him, and moves out of the lane to get around."

In the rare situations where this doesn't happen, I usually have a longer space than I actually need, so I just eat the difference.

Try it and report back to us.

Minimum speeds aren't a good idea because of adverse weather conditions.

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