When the subject of speeding and traffic works its way into the Daily News letter pages, I can count on someone complaining that all those slow drivers should stay over in the right lane and let the people who want to go fast do so (I know, the left lane is technically the “passing” lane but in practice it’s the “fast” lane).
Surprisingly, no-one ever points out the opposite: People who want to drive fast should stay over in the left lane and leave the right side of the road to the rest of us.
If I’m on the right side of the road, driving the speed limit or a little under it, I’m under no obligation to go faster just because the guy behind me is impatient. Driving so close behind me they can see right up my tailpipe doesn’t mean I am legally, morally or ethically obligated to drive any faster. And as a practical consideration, I WON’T drive any faster; it’s all I can do not to slow myself down another 10 mph.
I’m sympathetic to the left-laners who go crazy when someone’s crawling along the road ahead of them (I’ve had the same reaction often enough). But I don’t see any reason why the fastest drivers should be the ones who determine what’s an acceptable speed, either.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.