If life was fair cops would drag tailgaters out of their cars and beat them within an inch of their lives instead of just tasering college students and beating up minorities. What would be even better is if you were in a car being driven by that limo driver from the Get Smart movie (1:14 in the trailer
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) and when the tailgaters weretoo close, your driver would slam on the brakes, the tailgaters wouldcause an accident and when your buiding with hair of a limo driver gotout of the car and walked towards them, the tailgaters would need somedepends real fast.
You really have to much time on your hands and not enough intelligence to use them usefully.
And,
Two rungs short of a ladder.
Or
Three french fries short of a happy meal. If brains were gasoline, you wouldn't have enough to run a piss-ant's motor-scooter halfway around a Cheerio!' One brick shy of a load. A little loose in the loafers. If you took your and put it in a jay bird, if it could fly at all, it'd fly backards. One pepperoni short of a personal pan. Couldn't count water in a bucket. Couldn't find Memphis with a compass. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. A few clowns short of a circus. A few fries short of a Happy Meal. An experiment in Artificial Stupidity. A few beers short of a six-pack. Dumber than a box of hair. A few peas short of a casserole. Doesn't have all his cornflakes in one box. A couple sandwiches short of a picnic. The wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead. One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl. One taco short of a combination plate. A few feathers short of a whole duck. The porch light's on, but nobody's home. All foam, no beer. The cheese slid off his cracker. Body by Fisher, brains by Mattel. Has an IQ of 2, but it takes 3 to grunt. Couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. He fell out of the Stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. An intellect rivaled only by garden tools. As smart as bait. Chimney's clogged. Doesn't have all his dogs on one leash. Doesn't know much but leads the league in nostril hair. Elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor. Forgot to pay his brain bill. Her sewing machine's out of thread. His antenna doesn't pick up all the channels. His belt doesn't go through all the loops. If he had another brain, it would be lonely. Missing a few buttons on his remote control. No grain in the silo. Receiver is off the hook. Several nuts short of a full pouch. Skylight leaks a little. Slinky's kinked. Surfing in Nebraska. Too much yardage between the goal posts. Hmmm... Californian. He was fullgrown in body only. Somebody done stole his rudder. He was plumb weak north of his ears. Kind of off his mental reservation. So narrow-minded he could look through a keyhole with both eyes at the same time. His intelligence shore ain't in camp. He couldn't sell hack-saw blades in a hoosegow. He's now studyin' to be a half-wit. So nutty he couldn't see through a ladder. He's as shy of brains as a terrapin is of feathers. His brains don't weigh an ounce of ideas to the ton. He couldn't drive a nail into a snowbank. His brain capacity wouldn't make a drinkin' cup fer a hummin' bird. He ain't got sense enough to spit downwind. His head is so hollow he has to talk with his hands to keep away from the echo. Got nuthin' under his hat but hair. Couldn't find a football in a washtub. He'ld walk into a river so's he could drink standin' up. His brain's so small it would roll around in an ants head like a BB in a boxcar. He's not the brightest crayon in the box. Both oars aren't in the water. One quarter short of a dollar. One brick short of a full load. His elevator doesn't go to the top floor. He is a cup and saucer short of a place setting. He is listening but there are SO MANY words. and most probably, All foam and no beer.
I've been living in a Northern Calif. area where nobody tailgates. On the other hand, they don't stop for pedestrians very much.
After many years I drove south to Los Angeles at 55 mph. I just couldn't understand all the people and truck drivers who don't understand that the right lane is the slow lane, and they appear to punish you for being there by sitting on your tail for a bit before almost knocking your tail light off passing you.
Why don't they join the other 65+ mph folks in the left lane(s)? I think they may become disoriented surrounded by traffic out there.
Then there are the ones waiting to take the next off-ramp.
If you have to stop suddenly I'm sure that many of them would rear-end you.
Any driver out there could blow a tire, hit the brakes, and swerve all over the freeway. I've seen it happen.
The truck drivers are supposed to be professionals but they were playing monkey see, monkey do on those roads.
I was a truck driver myself. My mission was to keep away from the cars.
They've not seen such a slow driver before, and it does not occur to them that you are doing 55 out of choice instead of doing 55 on the way to 70+. Because they expect 70+, they are slow to react to your insistance to do only 55.
After getting a ticket for going 67 on 42 South in NJ from some cop who seemed indignant about the whole thing, I tried running that road at a true 55 (the posted limit) a few times.
Sheesh! A number of people were visibly upset, and some of them were actually accelerating away from me as they went down off-ramps.
Heaven forbid somebody going 55 should have to exit left.
Personally, I didn't feel safe and now that I've had my little snit fit, I don't intend to do it any more.
A true 60, yes - that works...on that particular road.
The problem is why don't people realize the left lane is the fast lane and stop hugging it and holding up those who want to go faster? This leaves the right lane open for passing the idiots who won't move over when they're talking on their cell phones and leaving a quarter-mile open in front of them. If you can't keep up with the traffic you should move over to the right. Your particular situation is due to the actions of others and the reaction of the drivers to your dilly-dallying is because they have grown accustomed to using the right lane for passing.
NOT when the speed limit is 55. If the speed limit is 65 or 70 then yes, but not when it's 55. _______________________________________
Interesting that only one poster came up with this perspective.
I have personally known of one person who got a ticket for going 55 in the left lane on the Turnpike in NJ. That was 2 years ago. 'Obstructing the normal flow of traffic' was the charge as she was causing a line behind her.
Also the law in NJ: 1) Illegal to pass on the right and 2) Keep right and pass left. These are selectively enforced. Tomes
When I flash my high beams at left lane campers they they get all pissed off and give me the finger or slam on the brakes. They don't realize that they're breaking the law and I'm not:
Virginia =A7 46.2-842.1: "It shall be unlawful to fail to give way to overtaking traffic when driving a motor vehicle to the left and abreast of another motor vehicle on a divided highway. On AUDIBLE OR LIGHT SIGNAL, the driver of the overtaken vehicle SHALL MOVE TO THE RIGHT to allow the overtaking vehicle to pass as soon as the overtaken vehicle can safely do so."
What's unbelievable is that you can get a drivers license without ever reading this stuff. Reading the complete vehicle code even one single time is NOT REQUIRED! Drivers Education was 99% Mothers Against Drunk Driving mandated anti-alcohol advertising.
When I flash my high beams at left lane campers they they get all pissed off and give me the finger or slam on the brakes. They don't realize that they're breaking the law and I'm not:
Virginia § 46.2-842.1: "It shall be unlawful to fail to give way to overtaking traffic when driving a motor vehicle to the left and abreast of another motor vehicle on a divided highway. On AUDIBLE OR LIGHT SIGNAL, the driver of the overtaken vehicle SHALL MOVE TO THE RIGHT to allow the overtaking vehicle to pass as soon as the overtaken vehicle can safely do so."
What's unbelievable is that you can get a drivers license without ever reading this stuff. Reading the complete vehicle code even one single time is NOT REQUIRED! Drivers Education was 99% Mothers Against Drunk Driving mandated anti-alcohol advertising.
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Nice link. I encourage everyone to check out what the rule actually is in the state that they drive in. It is not the same rule everywhere....
I do like the The Uniform Vehicle Code which states [this is lifted from the above site]:
"Upon all roadways any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic ..."
** and then the site notes this: "Note that this law refers to the 'normal' speed of traffic, not the 'legal' speed of traffic. The 60 MPH driver in a 55 MPH zone where everybody else is going 65 MPH must move right. Contrast Alaska's rule, 13 AAC 002.50, allowing vehicles driving at the speed limit to use the left lane, and Colorado rev. stat. 42-4-1103, prohibiting blocking the "normal and reasonable" movement of traffic."
**I note this: What bugs me is not only the left lane obstructionists, but also those that must just go to the middle lane immediately. If one is not actively passing anyone, one should be in the rightmost lane always.
I would also like to know what this Uniform Vehicle Code is and what its jurisdiction is. Tomes
The same person who started this thread as well as another one about big SUVs and ended up posting a link to a study which he thought proved that big SUVs are less safe than small cars, despite the finding of the study. He's an unhappy troll.
I remember an article in the paper when the national speed limit was set at
55MPH during the Carter administration. There were several guys in So. Cal. who were pissed off that most people continued to drive at 65-70MPH, so they got together and drove 55MPH side by side on a Los Angeles freeway. All of them, including the driver in the far right lane were cited for obstructing traffic.
Personally, I drive to the right, except to pass (even if I have to change lanes several times over the course of a mile), or when the freeway junction or exit I wish to take is one of the left lanes, then I speed up to match the traffic in those lanes, regardless of the posted speed limit. Also, when on a mountain road or a highway with only one lane of traffic in my direction of travel and someone comes up behind me, I find the first place I can to pull over and let them pass, regardless of the speed I'm driving or the posted speed limit.
Courtesy and safety go both ways - don't tailgate and get out of the way of faster moving vehicles. My father taught me "you might be right, but you could be _dead_ right, too." For the sake of this thread, if some one is tailgating, yeah they are breaking the law (you may be too), but what's the harm in getting out of their way and possibly avoiding a crash?
Sometimes they're right on your tail, so you can't dodge into dirt turnouts when they suddenly come up because you might get rear ended. But if they're not, you can take the first practical turnout.
This makes me remember what I wanted to do a long time ago, which was to mount a camera [even a fake one] on a pedestal and have it rise up from the trunk or bumper with a sign on it saying 'TailgaterCam'. I always wondered how that would have played out... Tomes
When I was in high school my friend was trying to race his German Ford Capri against a Dodge Challenger one night. We were right on the Dodge's butt and apparently the guy didn't like how close we were. Suddenly a bright light that had been integrated into the rear bumper lit up and blinded us enough to make my friend immediately back off and let the Dodge go. That was a very effective tailgater deterrent.
Hey, let's all agree to let Sal proffer his crap and not reply to it.
Niggle: The double-nickel was mandated by the Nixon administration in 1974 as a reaction to the oil embargo crisis of 1973. It was continued until
1987 when states were allowed to raise their limits to 65 mph on some highways . In 1995 all federal limits were repealed, allowing states to decide their own limits.
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