driving laws/styles RE: [T3] HELP

[Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>]

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At 8:11 PM -0600 3/25/04, Jim Adney wrote:
> To me it's clearly a matter of courtesy, but I think that concept is 
> completely
> lost on most people. I hear that the situation is worst in California, where
> everyone wants a lane to themselves, so that if you ever got 5 cars 
> on a 5 lane


	In the middle of the desert on a major divided freeway (not 
highway, freeway -- the traffic engineers correct me at work whenever 
I say highway when it's a freeway!), with two lanes in each 
direction, under total free flow WAY below capacity, it seems to make 
sense to hang out in the right and just pass on the left when you 
overtake someone.  Er, unless the right lane is rutted and ruined by 
trucks... then you hang out in the left, watching your rear so that 
you can shift right when somebody comes up faster behind you.

	Most of the 5 or 6 lane (each direction) freeways in these 
parts spend many hours per day at or near capacity.  So, when they're 
not congested, traffic is PACKED and FAST.  Motorists MUST drive and 
stay in the left lane just to support the sheer volume of 
automobiles.  If they didn't, the onset of congestion would happen 
much sooner and there would be a near-empty lane on the left. ;)

	I can see people driving in lane 1 or 2 on a 5+ lane side of 
the freeway  when it's empty... they're used to driving over on the 
left all the time, and it totally avoids the on & off merging lanes. 
Why pack the right and middle lanes if there's tons of room?  If 
you're passing on the left, why not give a lane or two of buffer?

> It's interesting driving across the US, because you may notice different
> amounts of driving care and courtesy as you move from state to 
> state. I have no
> idea what makes the difference, but it's there, and someone ought to 
> figure out
> what the good states are doing right so that we can all start doing it.


	The freeway simulation folks at work note that California 
defaults to building onramps that are considerably longer than those 
in other states; gives you loads more time & space to get up to speed 
and find your merge spot.  So, some of the variation in driving 
behavior must certainly be related to variations in freeway/highway 
construction standards in different regions.

	Hm, I'll bet that long ramps are bound to be helpful for 
lower-powered cars like stock old VWs...

-Greg (who, even after eight years, could NEVER figure out how to do 
the freeway onramp merge dance with Michiganders...)

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