First post, Fast Lanes, and what they are for.

I think it is safe to say that most Southern California drivers have a sense of entitlement when driving their vehicle. Hence the reason we see one person driving a large SUV without any passengers or cargo getting 9mpg, these same people also feel they are entitled to $0.99 per gallon gas, but that is a subject for another post. What I am speaking about is while driving on a multiple lane road, especially the freeway Drivers feel entitled to drive slow in the fast lane. The California Driving code is very clear on how to use the lanes of a freeway or highway. There are large white signs with black letters on ALL multi-lane roads in the state that pronounce "Slower traffic keep right". What I find most interesting about this sign is the fact that is makes no mention of speed limits. There is no subnote stating the the rule only applies to those driving under the posted speed limit. Drivers entitlement allows people to drive at whatever speed they feel comfortable at while in the "fast lane" or the more accurate "number one lane". Notice what the California Drivers Handbooks says about how to use multiple lane highways:
http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/traffic_lanes.htm#choose_lane

This needs to stop. But how? The slower traffic keep right sign is not enforced. Could it be? Should it be? YES. It is obvious that the California Highway Patrol's main focus in life is to collect money for the state through traffic tickets, and to baby sit car accidents, again another topic for another day. So, lets start writing tickets for cars who are disrupting the flow of traffic on the freeway. Driving slow in the fast lane holds a number of dangers to all who travel on the freeway for it causes those who wish to travel at a higher rate of speed to slow down, some times rapidly due to a lane change into the fast lane, accompanied by slower driving in the said fast lane. It can also cause the faster vehicle to move into the number 2 lane in order to go around the slower vehicle. I noticed on my commute this morning on a 4 lane freeway that the number 4 lane was actually wide open and the traffic in it was moving faster then any other lane. This is in direct contrast with what the laws state about proper use of the highway, and can be very dangerous for those entering or exiting the freeway, but as many know it is a very common occurrence. Drivers Entitlement. Having slower drivers in the fast lane also adds to global warming and wastefulness, yes maybe in a small hard to measure way, but it still does. Driving slow in the fast lane adds to congestion, cars that have to slow down use the brakes when otherwise they would not leading to more brake dust, and more money spent to replace brakes more often. It also adds to greenhouse gases in the air since when a car slows it will eventually have to accelerate back up to speed causing higher RPM's and thus more waste of fuel and money spent on fuel. Driving slow in the fast lane also adds to the mental instability of many others on the road, choosing to be selfish and hold up those who want to move faster then you causes you to become a cause for contention on the highway. you can only control what you do on the freeway, not what others do or how they react, so why not try to respect others wishes. I once watched a program on the BBC where a psychologist was trying to help a man overcome his road rage. The man was taken to a shopping mall where he was asked to watch how people were able to walk in large crowds at different speeds and somehow manage to be polite and move out of each others way, no one ran into another. The reasoning behind it was that people are less likely to be rude to others to their face, but once shielded by metal and glass those inhibitions go away. I think this can be used to show slow people that just cause you have some metal and glass around you does not mean you have the entitlement to hold up those who are actually interested in making it their destination on time.

Some might say, why not go after the person who is speeding and forced to go around such an entitled driver. Well, that is already being done, and in the past 100 years or so of automotive existence has proven to not make the highways safer in any way. I was able to enjoy some first hand experience of what good highway driving is while in Italy in 2002. The Auto Strada, which is the name of the Toll road system used in Italy follows the "Slower traffic keep right" rule to the letter, and the flow of traffic is amazing. Most of the Auto Strada we drove on was 2 or 3 lanes. On a 2 lane section ALL traffic drives in the number 2 lane, ONLY moving out into the number 1 lane to pass, or if they are driving so much faster then the other cars that moving back and forth into the number 2 lane would be dangerous. When a driver is ready to pass a vehicle they put on the left blinker, move over and leave the blinker on to notify drivers approaching from behind that their presence in the number 1 lane is temporary. They quickly speed up and pass to move back into the slower lane to keep the number 1 lane open for faster traffic. It was a beautiful thing, and for the following 3 or 4 months driving in LA again after that trip my frustration with California Drivers was at an all time high. According to my Italian Grandfather who shared the wheel with me in Italy, that is the way it has been in Italy for as long as he can remember, and the percentage of traffic accidents caused by speeding is well below that in the US. Drivers in Italy respect other drivers (to a degree, city driving is opposite of highway driving in Italy) and thus traffic, waste and accidents are reduced compared to the US. All US drivers need to experience this in person.

So to sum up my first blog post here, GET OUT OF THE FAST LANE IF YOU ARE NOT PASSING ANYONE. Thanks for reading.