From: matt@world.std.com (Matt Saucier)
Subject: Re: brain damaged drivers
Organization: Organization?!?  What organization?
	<1992Apr15.201047.389@lrc.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 15:06:57 GMT


>      Damn left lane bandits!!


Seconded!   

The other night I was driving on I-495 and I-95 in MA...   I was closely
watching the traffic, and I noticed something that annoyed the hell
out of me...  on a eight lane divided highway (4 lanes each way),
about 50% of the cars stay in the second-to-left lane (in other words,
the lane to the immediate right of the far left lane)...  I tried to
keep as far to the right as possible, and did not pass ANYONE on the
right, and found that there probably won't ever be a way, in the US,
to get people to keep right.  Why?  Because it is a LOT more work, and
more frustration, to keep right when EVERYONE else is keeping left!

I continued north, and drove on MA-128 (Peabody->Essex) which is a
four lane divided highway (2 each way), and I pulled up behind an OLD
white pickup, in the left lane.  There was a car in the right lane,
and he was passing.  No problem.  When he got clear of the car, he
didn't move right (and he had about 1/4 mile on the car when I started
getting REALLY annoyed)...  I was not tailgating, and I did not flash
my lights for that 1/4 mile, and I finally decided that this guy was
annoying me, for I wanted to go about 70 and he was going about 60...
so I flashed my lights... he pointed to the right lane...  I stayed
behind him and flashed again, and he pointed to the right again.  Now
I was annoyed, and I'll bet he was too... Oh, I forgot to mention...
there was _NO_ traffic on the right at all at this point.  So, what
did I do?  I decided to be an a**hole (flame away, I don't care) and
stay behind him, in the left lane, with my high-beams on.  Oh, sure,
when there was a car coming the other direction, I dimmed them, but I
turned them back on after the car had gone by...  FINALLY, after MANY
miles (Anybody know the distance from the NS mall to the BK on MA-128
north?  Yes, I did follow him all that way, he was probably VERY
pissed) he pulled to the right....  I decided NOT to hang around, and
took off like a BAT OUT OF HELL (well, only about 80-85), pulling in
the right lane as soon as I passed him.  What does this guy do?  He
speeds up with his high-beams on...  I wasn't all that bothered,
high-beams don't bother me, and I was thinking that I had just won a
victory over him (he got more P.O.'d than I did)...  He kept up with
me for several more miles (going about 80-85, I don't normally drive
that fast, I just wanted to get away from him) when I decided that I
really wanted to go to jail and I floored it until my exit (about 3
miles more at this point (exit 16 in Manchester)) I just wanted to put
enough distance between him and I so he couldn't see me get off the
road... so I wound up MY car to it's max (my current car isn't very
fast, it tops out just under 105 (that's why I've ordered a Tbird-SC))
and I'm sure I had a good distance between him and I, I'm sure his
pickup couldn't do too much over 85...

I've decided that there is no way, with the current state of drivers
in the US, that we can get people to keep right...  Because of
boneheads that think "if he want's to drive faster than me, let HIM
pass me on the right!"...  They don't feel that they should give way
to faster cars, they feel that the faster cars are doing something
more illegal than them.  I disagree, speeding is speeding is speeding.
Sure, the fine is larger if you go faster, but the guy in the left
doing 60 or 65 in a 55 is still breaking the law too, and I disagree
that it's to a lesser extent.

Sorry for ranting and raving!

Matt
-- 
Matt Saucier|matt@world.std.com|CI$:72371,3101|h:508-756-3397|w:508-753-2385
USnail:36 Harlow St Worcester MA 01605-3323   "Always Look On The Bright
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"Honi soit qui mal y pense"    wu+9