I was on I-95 driving North in the West Palm Beach area.  There were 4 lanes going each direction.  Heavy traffic.  I was in the far left lane with my cruise control set for 85 MPH, but I was only going 80, because there was a long line of cars in front of me going 80.  I couldn't go any faster.  

I guy comes up behind me, and follows along just like everyone else.  I don't take much notice, until after a while, he gets a lot closer.  After a few minutes, he manages to get into the next lane to the right and passes me, then swerves in front of me on purpose, so close he almost hit me.  He's waving his hand angrily to tell me I should have moved over and let him through.  

I suppose I could have moved over, but then he would have simply been behind the car in front of me, and in the same situation.  We couldn't go any faster.  Was he intending to force every single car, all hundred or so of them in the left lane, to move over and let him through?  

After a bunch of horn honking and obscene gestures from both of us, he zig-zags through traffic and disappears.  

But then I got to thinking, was I in the wrong?  Again, there was no way I could drive any faster, due to the cars in front of me, and there was no way he could, either.  Me moving over would have been pointless.  

Was I in the wrong?

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No, the only person in the wrong is the car in the very front holding up the line.

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I have two words for you. Brake check.

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Looking to troll? Don't bother, we supply our own.

 

 

I was on I-95 driving North in the West Palm Beach area.  There were 4 lanes going each direction.  Heavy traffic.  I was in the far left lane with my cruise control set for 85 MPH, but I was only going 80, because there was a long line of cars in front of me going 80.  I couldn't go any faster.  

I guy comes up behind me, and follows along just like everyone else.  I don't take much notice, until after a while, he gets a lot closer.  After a few minutes, he manages to get into the next lane to the right and passes me, then swerves in front of me on purpose, so close he almost hit me.  He's waving his hand angrily to tell me I should have moved over and let him through.  

I suppose I could have moved over, but then he would have simply been behind the car in front of me, and in the same situation.  We couldn't go any faster.  Was he intending to force every single car, all hundred or so of them in the left lane, to move over and let him through?  

After a bunch of horn honking and obscene gestures from both of us, he zig-zags through traffic and disappears.  

But then I got to thinking, was I in the wrong?  Again, there was no way I could drive any faster, due to the cars in front of me, and there was no way he could, either.  Me moving over would have been pointless.  

Was I in the wrong?

If you'd get out of my [BLEEP] way I wouldn't have to do that...

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I have two words for you. Brake check.

Not in the left lane. If someone's tailgating you with a lane to your left, yeah, test out your braking capability. If you're in the left lane and someone's tailgating you, get the hell out of the left lane.

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I someone is hauling backside, I try to give them space. If it's crazy crowded, slow down a bit, and we all get through the mess faster than if the one guy that wants to do 85-90 starts zig zagging and forcing cars to brake to maintain safe spacing.

Every flippin' time I take I-75 there's one of those situations, and it's precisely why traffic backs up. I'll get peeved if someone is doing speed limit or less in the far left, and there is nobody to their right. Otherwise, no issue with you maintaining your lane on a busy highway.

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I was on I-95 driving North in the West Palm Beach area.  There were 4 lanes going each direction.  Heavy traffic.  I was in the far left lane with my cruise control set for 85 MPH, but I was only going 80, because there was a long line of cars in front of me going 80.  I couldn't go any faster.  

I guy comes up behind me, and follows along just like everyone else.  I don't take much notice, until after a while, he gets a lot closer.  After a few minutes, he manages to get into the next lane to the right and passes me, then swerves in front of me on purpose, so close he almost hit me.  He's waving his hand angrily to tell me I should have moved over and let him through.  

I suppose I could have moved over, but then he would have simply been behind the car in front of me, and in the same situation.  We couldn't go any faster.  Was he intending to force every single car, all hundred or so of them in the left lane, to move over and let him through?  

After a bunch of horn honking and obscene gestures from both of us, he zig-zags through traffic and disappears.  

But then I got to thinking, was I in the wrong?  Again, there was no way I could drive any faster, due to the cars in front of me, and there was no way he could, either.  Me moving over would have been pointless.  

Was I in the wrong?

When I am in those situations on the highway and someone's on my [BLEEP] I'll typically lean to the right so they can see it's not me slowing us up but it's the other folks ahead of us doing it. If that doesn't work? I'll just brake check them. My dad has an old saying. And I agree with it. "If you're in that much of a hurry you probably should have left earlier". 

Me and my wife go back and forth on this. She literally runs it up to the last minute before we need to be somewhere. I hate that mindset. I don't care if I arrive anywhere between 15 - 30 minutes early. We can wait in the lobby, parking lot or walk around for all I care. But I like giving myself ample enough time to make up for other people's [BLEEP] driving skills in this city.

And no, you were NOT in the wrong. [BLEEP] that guy.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

I have two words for you. Brake check.

Not in the left lane. If someone's tailgating you with a lane to your left, yeah, test out your braking capability. If you're in the left lane and someone's tailgating you, get the hell out of the left lane.

I most certainly do, IF, and it is a big if, it does not cause me to have to reduce my speed or inconvenience my driving. Especially if I am already over the speed limit by a healthy margin. Otherwise they will have to wait until such time I can move over meeting the prior stated circumstances.

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Looking to troll? Don't bother, we supply our own.

 

 

Was I in the wrong?

I've done the i-95 trip from Florida to DC over 50 times in my life and run into the same thing every time.  If there's moderate to light traffic and someone comes up behind me I move to the middle lane.  However, if there is consistent traffic, as there usually is on holidays when I travel, I get in the left lane and go the flow, without regard to people behind me.  At times, I narrow the gap in front of me so they can't cut in which would ultimately cause a domino effect of braking just because of 1 idiot cutting.

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Anyone who tailgates at any rate of speed is an impatient idiot.

It takes very little brainpower to assess the traffic in front of you on the highway and determine a safe way to navigate through it if you desire to drive faster than the flow.

Idiot tailgaters lack this common sense and the minute amount of patience it requires.

I just get out of there way and let them endanger someone else when this happens. I'm under no etiquette obligation to let them by when I'm already driving over the limit, but I don't want to deal with it.
It's just so dumb to tailgate someone doing 80 mph in a 70 zone in the first place - but whatever. People aren't going to stop being idiots anytime soon.

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It depends on my mood. Most of the time I’ll just move over and let them be an idiot. I was never much of a brake checker, but if I’m feeling ornery I’ll slow up enough to make them go around and then close the gap.

What annoys me is the speed limiters hanging out in the left lane who refuse to move. I’ve been known to pass and then do the close cut-in on occasion. Not much anymore, though.

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It depends on my mood. Most of the time I’ll just move over and let them be an idiot. I was never much of a brake checker, but if I’m feeling ornery I’ll slow up enough to make them go around and then close the gap.

What annoys me is the speed limiters hanging out in the left lane who refuse to move. I’ve been known to pass and then do the close cut-in on occasion. Not much anymore, though.

Rebel.

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It depends on my mood. Most of the time I’ll just move over and let them be an idiot. I was never much of a brake checker, but if I’m feeling ornery I’ll slow up enough to make them go around and then close the gap.

What annoys me is the speed limiters hanging out in the left lane who refuse to move. I’ve been known to pass and then do the close cut-in on occasion. Not much anymore, though.

Rebel.

I like to live on the edge. And not just on a dinner table or bar.

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Tailgating at 80?

Yeah, I'll move over for ya, regardless of line. In general, if the lane just to the right of the fast lane is available, I'll hang out there instead of the far left lane.

Normally I'd say the guy at the front of the line is the jerk, but at 80 in heavy traffic...

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That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
- if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
- if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes

Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
  - if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
  - if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes
 
Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

The problem with that approach is that every now and then, about every 10 minutes or so, there would be someone in the next-to-left lane going less than the speed limit.  So I would have had to constantly change lanes to get around them.  

I felt really good going 80 in the far left lane, using the cruise control to attach my car to the car in front of me, leaving plenty of room in between.  The car was driving itself.  All I had to do was pay attention.  We were just sailing along- a 50 car caravan.  It was great.  Until that one guy got pissed off and wanted everyone to move out of his way.

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That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
  - if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
  - if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes
 
Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

The problem with that approach is that every now and then, about every 10 minutes or so, there would be someone in the next-to-left lane going less than the speed limit.  So I would have had to constantly change lanes to get around them.  

I felt really good going 80 in the far left lane, using the cruise control to attach my car to the car in front of me, leaving plenty of room in between.  The car was driving itself.  All I had to do was pay attention.  We were just sailing along- a 50 car caravan.  It was great.  Until that one guy got pissed off and wanted everyone to move out of his way.

 
I'd just slow down and pace the next 50mph middle lane driver for a while.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
  - if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
  - if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes
 
Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

You think people are going 70 in the middle lane?!

People are awful drivers no matter what speed they are driving. You're going to get frustrated no matter what lane you're in.

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That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
  - if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
  - if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes
 
Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

You think people are going 70 in the middle lane?!  

People are awful drivers no matter what speed they are driving. You're going to get frustrated no matter what lane you're in.

Not me.

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

That's an unnecessary high risk version of chicken, IMO. I will be blasted for suggesting this but here we go:
  - if you are traveling 60 miles at 80 mph, it will take you 45 minutes to get there
  - if you slow it down to 70 mph, it will take you 51.3 minutes
 
Leave 8.7 minutes earlier, sit in the center lane and let them all roar by. You'll be more relaxed, much safer and much less stressed. Plus you'll never get a speeding ticket.

I agree with Caldrac's sentiment of getting anywhere 15-30 minutes early and doing whatever, even walking around the parking lot.

That's pretty much the way that I drive anymore.  In my younger days I would be one of the ones that hung out on the far left lane with the hammer down.  I have learned over the years that if you stick to the far right lane and run 5 mph over the speed limit, you will have to move over to the middle lane every now-and-then to pass a slower car, but it's not as stressful and doesn't take much more time time.  One other benefit of running a slower speed is the mileage improves.

I did an experiment with a co-worker one time.  He is one of those "hang out in the far left lane and run it hammer down" types.  We were driving similar vehicles from here in Jacksonville to our other office in Orlando.  We left at the same time and got to our destination less than 5 minutes apart.  I averaged about 16 mpg where he averaged around 12 mpg.  He got to our destination in a shorter amount of time which was pretty negligible, and used more fuel than I did.

My bottom line on the subject is this.  The speed limit is posted for a reason.  Going 5 mph over is reasonable if it's safe enough to do so.  Going any faster then you deserve the ticket that you get and if you get in an accident you deserve any injury/loss that you get.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.