Slow-moving vehicles in left lane of highways are frequent causes of traffic accidents and road rage.

OVERLY TIMID DRIVERS ARE AS DANGEROUS
AS THEIR AGGRESSIVE COUNTERPARTS,
AND CONCEIVABLY EVEN MORE SO

TOO MANY MOTORISTS ARE CLUELESS
ABOUT TRAFFIC FLOW AND SAFETY
 
By David Maril
 
It’s certainly a relief to know that local and state police in unmarked cars are frequently targeting aggressive drivers.

There’s little doubt we have too many foolhardy motorists going too fast, following other vehicles too closely, passing in breakdown lanes and zigzagging in and out and in defiance of other drivers.

However there’s another group out there too often ignored who are nearly as dangerous.

And many of these motorists have perfect driving records.

They don’t get in accidents — they cause them.

If police really want to make an impact on reducing accidents and road rage, they need to also monitor and discipline the army of overly slow and unskilled drivers who put many of us in danger with poor decisions behind the wheel.

Impatience with their inept driving habits causes many cases of road rage.

While aggressive drivers, operating as if they are the only ones on the road are serious hazards, there’s also a problem with motorists failing to grasp the importance of traffic flow.

We could use a fleet of unmarked patrol cars, maybe slow and conservative-looking Dodge Caravans, looking for these troublesome drivers, whose annoyingly sluggish driving habits we all witness every day.

  Sedan crosses to left side of highway to pass slower-moving sportscar.

I’ve never understood what possesses some drivers to go below the posted speed limit while in the far left or center lanes of an interstate highway.

Whatever happened to “Keep right except to pass”?

Driving at a leisurely pace is acceptable as long as it is in the slow-speed lane. But why creep along in the center lane, creating a situation where everyone in the right lane is passing? This creates additional safety hazards.

Driving at a slow speed in the far left lane is even worse. Frustrated drivers, looking to pass, line up behind the slow vehicle, increasing the possibilities of taking risks, and ramifications from road rage.

You end up with horns honking, bright-beam lights flashing and attempts to pass from the right. And for some reason, these slow drivers are often oblivious to all this dangerous activity clearly visible in their rear-view mirrors.

Then, we have the overly polite driver/traffic director.

Come out of a parking lot turning left onto a busy four-lane road and many times a timid driver in an approaching car will abruptly stop, nearly getting rear-ended, and motion you to go.

Never mind that traffic is still flying along in the outer lane, which you may not be able to see, or it isn’t clear going in the other direction. While the politeness is appreciated, you’d prefer the car keep going and let you decide the time to make the left turn, when all the lanes are clear.

If you venture out onto the road simply because this car has stopped, you are putting yourself and dozens of other cars in danger by cutting across the other lanes.

And how would you like to be the driver behind this overly courteous motorist? If you didn’t leave yourself plenty of room, you’d slam into the rear of the car when the stop was made without any signal or warning.

Chances are this type of driver goes below the speed limit and there was probably a parade of impatient motorists following, triggering a chain reaction of rear-enders when the sudden stop was made.

Driving below the speed limit when the road conditions are excellent is extremely hazardous.

How’d you like to have this vehicle in front of you when you’re in a hurry and trying to pass?

How many times have slow drivers, going 10 to 15 miles below the speed limit, been responsible for impatient motorists taking unnecessary risks trying to pass, putting many of us in danger?

How many times have you been behind a car on a ramp entering a highway, that slows down and stops, waiting for a half-mile break in traffic to venture onto the lane?

Exasperated followers often pass on the right near the guardrail or swerve out to the middle lane. When these “turtles” finally do venture out on the highway, they are going so slow that cars in the lane have to slam on their brakes, causing more problems.

How about the driver on a busy road intending to make a left turn into a side street where a car is stopped, waiting to make a left?

Instead of simply making the left, going to the right of the waiting car on the side-street, the driver stops, halting traffic, and gestures for the car to come out of the side-street and make the turn onto the thoroughfare first.

Several things can happen here. First, there’s again the risk of several rear-end collisions because of the unexpected stop while everyone was figuring the left turn would be made.

There’s also  the possibility the driver coming out of the side street is going to get blind-sided by a car going around the one holding up traffic, on the right side.

Even worse is the driver who isn’t making the left turn, simply stopping, without warning, setting a basketball type of pick or screen to let the car coming out of the side-street onto the main road.

Again, the sudden stop can create a string of smashups and the driver coming out of the side-street is often thrown into unexpected danger thinking the coast is clear when it really isn’t.

How about the drivers who creep along and, being overly conscientious, put their turn signals on a couple of intersections before the one where they are turning?

You have people thinking they are turning, and passing them on the right, so that when the turn finally is made, it’s no longer expected because the cars trailing think the directional signal was put on by mistake.

   Slow-moving farm vehicle holds up line of cars on two-lane highway.

There’s nothing wrong with courtesy on the road and giving others a break in traffic. The key, however, is to give a right-of-way when it is safe and within the context of traffic flow.

Courtesy on the road without factoring in traffic flow is hazardous and a major cause of other people becoming aggressive drivers.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
EDITOR’S NOTE:   There are several circumstances in which drivers may be ticketed for illegally blocking or impeding traffic by driving too slowly or failing to yield to a long line of vehicles behind them.  Nolo.com, the online website of a publisher of consumer legal guides based in Berkeley, Calif., looks briefly at the most common of these.  Check it out:  click here.
 
THEN CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S “INSIDE PITCH” COLUMN:  click here
…and read archived Dave Maril columns  by clicking here.