These guys are HUGE assholes. the left lanes are meant for passing. Sure, they're following the speed limit but they are not being courteous and thus huge jerks. In some states the guys on the left would get pulled over and ticketed.
Um, it was an experiment in civil obedience to show that the law is broken. It was not some form of prank just to be jerks.
Their point is well made and one that I feel applies locally for me. The interstate speed limit is 70mph, but as soon as you enter Louisville city limits it becomes 55mph. Traffic rarely runs below 65mph and as you drive through town the only difference between the interstate on one side of the city limits and the other is the amount of traffic. It is still limited access, still two or more lanes wide in each direction, and there is no pedestrian traffic allowed in the area.
And of course, cops love to sit and watch for speeders within a quarter mile of the reduced speed limit sign.
there are laws in some states prohibiting cruising in the left lane if traffic conditions are favorable
We have those here, and it is even posted "Keep right except to pass." I don;t know the law in Atlanta, where that video was made, but if they were violating it then it was a form of civil disobedience to make a point.
The question the video asks you is: If they are assholes for doing 55mph because the traffic flow is closer to 75mph, then why is the speed limit 55mph?
The thing that get's me the most is when people speed where you should never speed! Neighborhoods and school zones.
And construction zones. We had a construction worker killed a year or two ago when a car that was speeding lost control and broke through the construction barriers. There is also construction traffic entering and exiting the normal traffic and if you are speeding along you may not be able to slow down in time to avoid that dump truck that just pulled out, what should have been a safe distance, in front of you doing 55mph.
Often I see situations driving to work through construction zones (they are on a long-term project widening I-64 to three lanes each way between Louisville and Lexington) where construction zone traffic is flowing at around 65mph and all of a sudden everyone is slamming on their brakes because they didn't realize that large truck driving along was part of the construction crew and needs to exit the interstate on to gravel or dirt, thus slowing down to a near stop first.
On the original topic. I was under the understanding that Jim Prower was on a single lane in a neighborhood (no passing lanes). Doing the speed limit, to the chagrin of other drivers, does not make him a jerk when it is 1) an area kids/families maybe running around in, and 2) area cops are likely to heavily enforce. He is protecting himself and others.
If it is a two-or-more-lane section with a passing zone, stay in the cruising/right-hand (US) lane unless you need to pass someone. People who ride in the passing lane like some form of vigilante speed limit enforcer are making it more dangerous for everyone involved. Anyone getting angry for someone doing the speed limit in the far right lane would be better served questioning the speed limit than those wishing to avoid possible traffic citations.
