Road rager on Beltway 8

[Purplehood]

So how fast is fast? The guy was in excess of the speed limit by 6 mph. That isn't fast enough and he needs to get out of the way? Should he be doing a minimum of 100mph? Please move to Germany and drive on the Autobahn.

I don't really care how fast he goes as long as he leaves the left lane open when a faster car is approaching. Please move out of Texas if you don't intend to follow the rules: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/V ... tn.545.051" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You left out the rules pertaining to safe driving speeds. How convenient.

[joe817]

So how fast is fast? The guy was in excess of the speed limit by 6 mph. That isn't fast enough and he needs to get out of the way? Should he be doing a minimum of 100mph? Please move to Germany and drive on the Autobahn.

I don't really care how fast he goes as long as he leaves the left lane open when a faster car is approaching. Please move out of Texas if you don't intend to follow the rules: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/V ... tn.545.051" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yup, yup. That's what I do. If I'm in the left lane doing my thing, and I see some nutball, Texas Motor Speedway type coming up behind me, you bet I'll move over into a right lane. Him being required to weave in and out of traffic poses a real traffic threat to not only me, but also the others going slower than him/her/undetermined. Give it clear passage I say, and hope a LEO is just down the road.

[frazzled]

So how fast is fast? The guy was in excess of the speed limit by 6 mph. That isn't fast enough and he needs to get out of the way? Should he be doing a minimum of 100mph? Please move to Germany and drive on the Autobahn.

I don't really care how fast he goes as long as he leaves the left lane open when a faster car is approaching. Please move out of Texas if you don't intend to follow the rules: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/V ... tn.545.051" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It also says it is illegal to go faster than the posted speed limit. Illegality trumps.
The other issue is traffic. The above move left argument goes out the window when there is traffic. You can't shift a whole lane during rush hour when Cleetus the slack jawed yocal wants to go 80 when al traffic is reduced to 50 because of congestion.

Having said that I agree you should get out of the far left lane as practical for faster traffic.

[FlynJay]

A person that refuses to move out of the left lane is also violating the traffic code. "Slower traffic keep right" not "slower traffic except those who are going the speed limit".

I have seen police officers give both parties a ticket in cases like this, the speeder for speeding and the left lane hogger for not yielding the right of way.

One of the biggest things I see in Houston that causes major traffic is poor lane discipline.

[piscessmith]

I have a bike and have/do travele extensively across the south and mid-west. The normal rule of the road is stay right unless passing. I have seen 3 lanes of traffic with no one in the middle or left lanes. In one state on the way to Kentucky they even had signs posted on how much the fine was. Only in Texas do I continually run into people coasting in he middle and left lanes. I know in other states there are laws about it and they are inforced. I am so tired of people merging onto the highway immediately going to the center lane even before they are up to speed. This causes more traffic jams than almost any other move I see on our highways. If you can't drive with traffic correctly get off the road...
Sorry for the rant one of the above people almost ran me over this morning on the way to work.

[frazzled]

How do you know they were given a ticket for being in the left hand lane?

[FlynJay]

Because I knew both parties involved.

[gregthehand]

Well I too am familiar with the Beltway and I try to stay in the correct lane for my speed. Notice I said my correct speed. You guys want to cite Transportation Code to me go ahead. If you don't know me or have read any of my posts I used to tool around in one of those neat little white four door cars with stickers on the side and blue and red lights that went blink blink. You can't cite that particular section of the code without scrolling down a wee-bit and seeing.....

"(b) An operator of a vehicle on a roadway moving more slowly than the normal speed of other vehicles at the time and place under the existing conditions shall drive in the right-hand lane available for vehicles, or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, unless the operator is:"

So it was said earlier in the thread that if you're not going 70 mph you are getting ran over. Well it seems to me that 70 is a pretty standard speed for the beltway which is 5 mph over the posted speed limit. So actually I was traveling the NORMAL speed for vehicles on that roadway. Also the Transportation Code says:

(a) An operator on a roadway of sufficient width shall drive on the right half of the roadway, unless:

(1) the operator is passing another vehicle;

(2) an obstruction necessitates moving the vehicle left of the center of the roadway and the operator yields the right-of-way to a vehicle that:

(A) is moving in the proper direction on the unobstructed portion of the roadway; and

(B) is an immediate hazard;

(3) the operator is on a roadway divided into three marked lanes for traffic; or

(4) the operator is on a roadway restricted to one-way traffic.

Now I'm also an educated man and I can count past three so I know that the part of the Beltway I was on is 3 lanes. I also know that each North and South Bound lane are considered one way. If you don't think so hop on the South Bound lane and try to go north. They are not connected and have a center divider separating them into opposite lanes of traffic. Therefore the original intention of the law which was to give room for vehicles to pass safely without having to do so in an opposing lane of traffic does not apply here.

Basically what I'm saying is no I was not breaking any law. I was driving the normal speed for the conditions on that road which was three lanes, and marked for one direction of travel.

Now if you would like to say I was breaking a social norm by traveling in "the fast lane" (notice how the Transportation Code doesn't give a definition for a "fast lane") I would agree. However for your reasoning of me not driving there I can say that by me driving there as well as others driving there and just going a normal speed more highway deaths are prevented. I know of no statistics that say that so many people are killed a year in traffic accidents because someone was only going a little over the speed limit in the left hand lane instead of just blazing down the road doing 15 mph over the posted speed limit. I do know however that there are current statistics that people are killed every year for driving excessively fast. In fact I think it's now the number one cause of vehicle accidents in the US. Of course I already stated before that I don't make a habit out of traveling in the left lane. I've worked quiet a few accidents including fatalities that were caused by the single factor of speed. One was a 17 old girl that thought her truck could do 80 mph everywhere she went. She had just gotten her prom dress and was excited to go meet her boyfriend for dinner at his parents house. Took a turn too fast rolled the truck died. I was standing there when this young guy comes up to me and starts asking if she is ok? I told him we weren't releasing any names or information just yet (I didn't say until the JP showed up and confirmed she was dead). He said he was her boyfriend and that he knew it was her car and just wanted to know if she was ok. You ever have to tell someone their girlfriend was dead because she was driving too fast down a road she was very familiar with? I have. But hey it's just 80 mph. No big deal right?

Sigh... Rant off.

[gregthehand]

Oh and just saying "I knew someone who got a ticket for...." doesn't prove a thing without more details. Also tickets are written all the time for actions that's aren't illegal according to the code. Is driving in the left lane illegal if you are doing so at a speed higher than the speed limit or even at the speed limit? Sometimes but not always. Hey maybe Houston PD and the various Constables office should start heading out to the Beltway and start writing tickets during traffic jams to everyone in the left lane who is stopped or just barely crawling! That left lane is supposed to be open! I'm sure someone back behind them in that lane is going 5 mph instead of 0-2 mph. According to the logic I have seen so far if someone, anyone is traveling faster than you in that lane you are supposed to just get the heck out of the way buddy! Otherwise you are breaking the law! Think of all the revenue the County and City would make. The cops can even get out of their cars and just walk down the line!

Oh I guess blanket statements like "if your traveling in the left lane and not passing" don't work. Maybe we should read the whole section of that law and understand what it means before we just use our knee jerk reaction to spout out how it's always illegal when in reality it's only a illegal some of the time.

[DoubleJ]

fun times, indeed.

[Keith B]

folks. Keep this civil or the thread will be locked.

[joe817]

Good one D.J.! I like it! That's a well done painting too! I like the style of artwork, genre, etc.

Do you know who the artist is? I'd like to look them up, and maybe get a poster or 2, because I'm sure the orig. artwork is expensive.

On a side note, it looks like it might have been done in the 17th century, and the painting was an attempt at humor. Ships sailing off the end of the earth, as the church said, was flat.

Anywho, I appreciate artwork like that.

[frazzled]

Oh and just saying "I knew someone who got a ticket for...." doesn't prove a thing without more details. Also tickets are written all the time for actions that's aren't illegal according to the code. Is driving in the left lane illegal if you are doing so at a speed higher than the speed limit or even at the speed limit? Sometimes but not always. Hey maybe Houston PD and the various Constables office should start heading out to the Beltway and start writing tickets during traffic jams to everyone in the left lane who is stopped or just barely crawling! That left lane is supposed to be open! I'm sure someone back behind them in that lane is going 5 mph instead of 0-2 mph. According to the logic I have seen so far if someone, anyone is traveling faster than you in that lane you are supposed to just get the heck out of the way buddy! Otherwise you are breaking the law! Think of all the revenue the County and City would make. The cops can even get out of their cars and just walk down the line!

Oh I guess blanket statements like "if your traveling in the left lane and not passing" don't work. Maybe we should read the whole section of that law and understand what it means before we just use our knee jerk reaction to spout out how it's always illegal when in reality it's only a illegal some of the time.

Gregthehand employs the time honored US tradition of insane overwhelming firepower to win the argument.

[Purplehood]

Just to clarify. I tend to stay in the middle lane (if it exists). On the southern end of the beltway it is almost exclusively 2 lanes. I generally use the left lane to pass.
What irks me is the individual that thinks that my high rate of speed that is passing slower traffic to the right is not a sufficiently high rate of speed and therefore needs to read the fine-print on my bumper while we are both doing 75-85 mph.
It is common sense to "yield" to faster traffic. It is not common sense to force folks to yield by riding on their behinds at high speeds.

EDIT: I hope that was civil.

[frazzled]

Just to clarify. I tend to stay in the middle lane (if it exists). On the southern end of the beltway it is almost exclusively 2 lanes. I generally use the left lane to pass.
What irks me is the individual that thinks that my high rate of speed that is passing slower traffic to the right is not a sufficiently high rate of speed and therefore needs to read the fine-print on my bumper while we are both doing 75-85 mph.
It is common sense to "yield" to faster traffic. It is not common sense to force folks to yield by riding on their behinds at high speeds.

EDIT: I hope that was civil.

on all points.