From: cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne)
Subject: Re: sdebar re passing or right (was sidebar re 401 (: -))
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Ottawa
Distribution: can
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 92 04:45:10 GMT

In article <1992Aug16.030436.16402@unixg.ubc.ca> buckland@ucs.ubc.ca (Tony Buckland) writes:
>In article <3101@isgtec.isgtec.com> robert@isgtec.com (Robert Osborne) writes:
>>>  When I'm driving at the limit, I'll be buggered if
>>>  I'll inconvenience myself to accomodate somebody else's demand
>>>  that he be allowed to drive at whatever speed suits him.
>>Nice attitude.  Self-rightous jerk.
>>It's ok for you to break the 'slower traffic keep right' and
>>'stay right accept to pass' laws in order to keep me from breaking
>>the speeding laws.  Is this a theory of crime control that you
>>subscribe to or does it only apply to traffic control.
>
>  I'm not that interested in controlling other people's crimes.
>  That's the province of professionals (police) I pay to keep the
>  peace.  What I am interested in is enjoying the exercise of my
>  own rights and privileges under the law.  Nobody among the
>  several private and public responders to my remarks has yet
>  explained, except in terms such as that I am a jerk, why I should
>  put myself out so that someone else can have instant gratification
>  for their demands that I get out of their way SO THAT THEY CAN
>  BREAK THE LAW.

But when the law says things like "stay in the right hand lane except
when passing," you're sitting at the crux of a conflict of laws.

You're supposed to yield the left lane to people who are passing.  The
speed at which either you or they are travelling is IRRELEVANT.  Be
careful that you are not breaking the law yourself.

Refusing to yield the passing lane is dangerous behaviour.  And it is
frankly irrelevant whether or not the person breathing up your tail is
planning to speed or not.

The FACTS are:
(1) Person behind wishes to pass.
(2) You KNOW that they wish to pass.
(3) You are not a law enforcement officer, and are not permitted to
pull them over.  Enforcing the law is not your problem, as you have
stated.
(4) Slower traffic IS supposed to keep right.  I wish I had a copy of
the highway traffic act in order to quote section references, but it's
fairly certain that the law says this.  They wouldn't have signs
posted saying "Slower traffic keep right" if it wasn't in the law
books.

If you stay in the left lane, YOU are breaking the law just as much as
any speeder.

Of course, you'll probably never get charged with it, since it's one
of those "judgement call" situations.  It's easy for a cop to get a
radar gun and determine if you're speeding.  It's hard to check for
illegal lane changes, and the various sorts of "refusal to yield right
of way."  

I understand that the act never actually states that you can HAVE the
right of way - it just states the "negative" right, in that you must
"yield right of way" to someone else.  Receipt of right of way is only
implied - not given explicitly.

The "being a jerk" aspect of the situation is, of course, the issue
that is not related to the law.

If your actions are likely to cause anger to somebody else, then it is
likely that you are doing something that is at least SLIGHTLY foolish,
whether it is legal or not.  Causing anger is (a) not nice, and (b)
can cause accidents.  When the person behind you gets angry at your
driving habits, they tend to act just a little less rationally than
usual.  They may decide to tailgate.  They may start watching you, and
ignore the other traffic.  All of this makes accidents more likely,
and you're the car they are nearest to, which makes you a likely
co-victim of any such accident.

Letting them pass will allow you to avoid this problem of their anger.
Is their anger rational?  No.  But it's small comfort to get in an
accident, or even just increase peoples' blood pressure, just to feel
that you have helped enforce one law, while breaking another.

-- 
Christopher Browne
cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca
University of Ottawa
Master of System Science Program
Newsgroups: ont.general,can.general,soc.culture.canada,ott.general