Mailbag: Tire pressure, left-lane drivers, white lines, and more
Posted on April 26th, 2007 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
Roadguy has gotten a little behind on his correspondence during this busy week, so let’s dig in.
First, a look at some analog mail that arrived at Roadguy headquarters:
Oops. That was supposed to be a picture of the tire gauge that Roadguy received in a promotional packet about National Tire Safety Week, but the gauge is nowhere to be found. Oh well – on the positive side, I’m less likely to get in trouble with the ombudsman for accepting a gift from a trade group. And you can still celebrate this very special week by testing your tire knowledge here (after you locate your gauge and check your pressure, of course).
Next up: A little shopping opportunity. The other day, Roadguy got an e-mail from Leftlanedrivers.org, “a diverse, very loosely affiliated group of drivers who share the common objective of reducing the Left Lane congestion on our freeways and multi-lane highways by politely encouraging slow drivers to move over.” The primary means for achieving this goal is a large $29 decal that goes along the top of your windshield; when drivers in front of you look in the rear-view mirror, they’ll see “MOVE OVER” in big letters with an arrow directing them to the right. It’s kind of a clever concept, and a definite step up from tailgating.
Also in Roadguy’s inbox this week was the latest from Dale the Truck Driver:
If you happen to notice four tire marks heading west on 94 at the double white line merge from 35W, that would be me. I would have to say that the state and the U wasted money on this one. No enforcement what so all. Some jackass doing about 20 mph actually looked over his shoulder at me and still moved in front of me, crossing the white lines. I then got the hands in the air as if I did not know what I was doing on the road. Why, I have only driven 2 million miles in a truck around the metro…. Well, hopefully all the rubber I put down will repair a pothole.
Roadguy went past this very spot again on Tuesday, but he didn’t have time to look for the tire marks — he was too busy watching drivers cross the double white line. It was kind of a bummer because earlier reports both in the news media and from alert readers had indicated that this effort had improved traffic flow. But as we know, on-the-road cooperation is always a challenge to achieve and maintain.
We conclude today with a note from loyal reader Erica over at Metroblogging. Erica wrote to inform Roadguy that he’d been selected to take part in a meme. According to the post:
Requirements are simple, fill us in on three things about MN ….anything … what you love, what you hate, where you visit, where you party, where you blog from, just keep it Minne-sooo-tan.
Because Roadguy likes to accentuate the positive, here are three transportation-y things that he is more or less in love with:
- The views of the Minneapolis skyline from southbound 35W in Northeast.
- Riding the bus along the University of Minnesota transitway to the State Fair.
- The Twin Cities’ mind-bogglingly vast and beautiful array of off-street bike paths.
Roadguy can’t officially tag you to take part in the meme (a word, by the way, that he once thought might be pronounced “me! me!” because of the inherent self-absorption), but feel free to share your list of three things, or any other thoughts, below.
32 Responses to "Mailbag: Tire pressure, left-lane drivers, white lines, and more"
1. The ever-growing interconnected bike paths though…
2. The unique diversity and distinctive identities of our neighborhoods.
3. The optimism of the legislators in this year’s Transportation Bill to move us forward (grab some Federal $$help) and be a transportation leader, instead of a loser. Please, oh please, pass this bill.
And tell the Governor to sign it. Sign it Governor Pawlenty. Sign it! Sign it!
I also love the view of the skyline from 35W southbound coming from the N/NE. I have yet to find a *safe* and good viewing spot to pull over and take a photo–any suggestions??
I also love the growing bike paths, however I think it is funny planning when a 10+ mile trail is separated by a few blocks to another 10+ mile trail and you have to figure out how to get through those few blocks on busy roads.
As far as lef-lane driving, my thoughts are pretty simple. No driver should be harrassed in the left lane as long as BOTH of these creteria are being met: 1) Passing slower traffic, and 2) going above the posted minimum speed limit.
If I am in the left lane (which is extremely rare in the first place) and I am passing slower traffic, I will NOT exceed the speed limit to make my pass go more quickly. If the person behind me wants to speed, then they have forfeited their right to complain and they will have to be patient. As soon as my passing is over, they can put as much effort into getting a speeding ticket or putting others in danger as they would like.
FWIW, being in the left lane while pacing cars in the right lane is not passing and is dangerous to begin with.
The left lane that everyone is so fond of could also be known as the “Death Lane.” Why? Because the combination of driver’s going too fast and the close proximity to to on-coming traffic creates a cocktail of destruction. This especially holds true to divided highways with grassy medians. Stay to the right. Your odds of survival are better.
Sean, if you pull off 35W on Industrial Blvd, go one block north, and then head west down Ridgeway Pkwy, you can stop and park on the top of the hill and take some great photography. It’s best around sunset, I think.
Here’s a URL link of the spot:
http://tinyurl.com/2rg53n
With regard to the double white lines, maybe it would be better if they were double yellow. At least in the L.A. area, the double yellow is used as the separator for the HOV lanes, with dotted yellow to indicate entry and exit points. Perhaps too many drivers are used to only double yellow being the “Do Not Cross” indicator and we should accomodate them.
WRT left lane driving - as long as the person in the left lane is actually passing people in the right lane, it’s all good for me, but far too often it seems that there are drivers who just like to be in the left lane without regard to what else is going on around them. Then again, that lack of regard to what’s going on around them seems to afflict a fair percentage of drivers.
I think there should be legislation that slow traffic must move right. It’s just a “suggestion” now.
As for Sean’s two criteria above, I agree with the first but not the second. You should at the VERY least have to go the speed limit. Alternatively, go whatever speed you want so long as left laners behind you don’t have to slow down for your self-righteous idiocy.
A certain breed of Minnesotans seems to have in instinctive reflex to merge into another lane at the earliest convenience, damn the paint on the road. I’ve noticed it for years at the Hennepin/Lyndale onramp to 94 eastbounds. Folks on 94 coming out of the Lowry Tunnel enjoy cutting across the paint into the onramp traffic before those coming down the ramp can even pick up speed.
It’s a different manifestation of those who queue up when road work is being done miles before the lanes are actually closed. And no, I’m not saying waiting until the last minute is the best way to do it.
And left-lane vigilantes. :headexplode: Please don’t plug up the passing lane out of a sense of self-righteousness. I can understand not wanting to exceed the speed limit. But when you are hanging out there long enough that you build up a rolling traffic jam behind yourself waiting for you to end the blockade, then you should accelerate to clear out of the lane. Seriously, if a left-lane vigilante found themself stuck in the left lane needing to exit off to the right, and the car in the lane to the right of them was pacing the speed limit (with a convoy of cars behind that car in the right lane preventing them from slowing below the speed limit to slide behind the pace car) you cannot tell me that the LLV would not speed up faster than the speed limit to make the exit. Left-lane vigilantes are happy exceding the speed limit when it suites their driving. Selfish and self-righteous.
3 tranportation things I love most in the Twin Cities:
1. Roads that still offer the thrill of driving: South Robert Trail, Sibley Memorial Hwy
2. Beautiful scenic drives: E and W River Roads, the lakes parkways
3. High mobility routes on the road less traveled: Ayd Mill Road, Shepard Rd
CC, I don’t understand your comment: “at the very LEAST, you should have to go the speed LIMIT.” That makes no sense.
If simply following the rules is self-richeous, then that is the best compliment anyone can receive.
When I am not too busy mentally griping about other drivers, I appreciate these three things:
1. The view of both city skylines from the Mendota bridge;
2. As mentioned, the scenic routes along the river and the lakes; and
3. The fact that buses can drive on shoulders, where permitted.
Sorry, Sean. The person who follows rules and then thinks he is better than everyone else - as demonstrated by trying to keep others from the choice of following those same rules or not - is not being complimented when he is called self-righteous.
Subconscious guilt must be causing unwarranted hostility towards Sean’s #2 comment.
Take 10 deep breaths and re-read that he stated that he would be passing SLOWER cars AND going above mininum speeds. Interpretation means that he is going somewhere between minimum and maximum (legal range for everyone), yet passing someone slower. Then he would move over. He does not want to EXCEED the speed limit in order to make the pass, nor should he be tailgated to go the speed the tailgater is trying to bully him to go. That is what we were ALL taught to do in driver’s ed. and it was a test question everytime I took my written test:
“It is legal to exceed the speed limit in order to pass another vehicle.” —FALSE
Interesting that tailgaters don’t see their behavior as self-righteous, or worse; dangerous, harrassing, bullying, and intimidating. In fact, the same type of behaviors that people in the past few days have complained that “thugs” are doing to innocent, law-abiding citizens on the bus. Hmmm…gun in hand, 1,000 pound vehicle. I guess the shoe changes foot depends on if you are in the automony of your private metal bubble.
BTW, the view coming towards the Mendota Bridge from the south is spectacular, in all directions.
Since I don’t drive my 3 favorite transportation things are.
1. The bike/foot bridge between Boom Island Park and Nicollet Island. If you want to see a great view of the Minneapolis skyline check out this route.
2. Buses on shoulders. I ride the #10 in Fridley on University this rocks!
3. LRT and hopefully someday Northstar Commuter Rail
Thanks, Dob. You made my afternoon! Finally someone who reads the ‘blog that understands what I am trying to say (and I am not viligant in any way–ride with me, y’all, and find out)!
As I also stated, it is extremely rare for me to be in the left lane in the first place, so I do not think I am better than everyone else, if that is what Laurie was implying. That being said, if I see driver A following the rules and driver B not following the rules, then driver A would get a lot more respect from me and, well, is in fact a better person in my opinion in regards to driving than the selfish person who bullies and pushes everyone else around to get their own way in an environment where everyone needs to learn to share.
My favorite transportation-y things in Minnesota (not limited to three)
1. Hiawatha LRT
2. The view of Minneapolis from 35-W north around Burnsville Pkwy.
3. The Mendota Bridge, especially on bike
4. The Como-Harriet Line
5. Pilot Knob
6. Cloquet’s Frank Lloyd Wright gas station
7. The Grand Rounds
8. Midtown Greenway/SW LRT Trail
9. Crosstown Expy. — the name (we need more creative names for our highways!)
10. Roadguy (aww…)
Sean, you and I agree. Sharing the road is the goal. If I happen to get caught up in traffic and speed (not that ever happens to me!), I do not consider that I have more or less right than a person going slower than me or a person going faster than me. I do not get annoyed by the speed people are driving; I get annoyed by the lack of accommodation some drivers have for other drivers - and all feelings of self-priviledge they have in this way of driving.
1. When the city of Mpls emerges in sight, on 94W from St. Paul, on a clear night! Beautiful.
2. Buses that get to use the shoulder… good one. We need more/wider shoulders, though!
3. Bike paths around the lakes.
Very similar things to comments above, but they’re all so true! Oh, and of course, Roadguy is #4… (aww, David!). 
Who thought double-white lines would actually prevent people from merging over? The only way would be to add a barrier instead of paint on the road.
My three things
1.) Another vote for the mind-boggling off-road bike trail system in the metro. I’ll expand this to include the Grand Rounds and the Hennepin County Parks system in general, both of which I use frequently and are, for the most part free.
2.) The state’s freeway system in general. Yeah we need more and wider freeways in the metro, but we’re a lot better off than other cities. In Chicago you’re out of luck if you want to drive anywhere but to and from downtown, and driving around the suburbs you have to stop and throw change in a bucket every couple of miles. Then you have places like Boston, Washington, or Baltimore with glaring gaps in their systems.
Outstate, we don’t have many freeways besides the interstates, but that ideology is changing. Our expressways are getting overwhelmed with traffic to the point that it’s causing operational and safety problems, so we’re going to see more outstate freeways eventually in places where allowed by the locals and justified by traffic. US 52 to Rochester will eventually be freeway, as will US 14 (for the most part) between Waseca and Dodge Center, MN 101 and US 169 from Rogers to Princeton, MN 24 and US 10 from Cleawater to Rice…
3.) Our rail system. Right now we have a single line, but that’s only the beginning. Northstar is coming, hopefully the Central line next, then the Southwest, then maybe they’ll be demand for rail in the Riverview Corridor.
Sometimes I’m tooling along in the left lane - going faster than the solid line of cars to the right of me, passing them all - and some bozo is behind me on my tail because my faster-than-everyone-to-the-right is still not fast enough for him. Do you suggest that I slow down and merge into the right lane? I’ve done that, and then can’t merge back into the left lane to pass again because of all the folks going at breakneck speeds that won’t let me merge back in!!! I always feel that as long as I’m going faster than the cars to the right of me, I’m ok. If the cars on the right are going as fast or slower, I move over.
If left-lane dawdlers are in no hurry, why do they drive in the “fast lane”?
Besides being common sense and common courtesy to keep right unless passing where practicable, there are other things at stake here.
Maybe the person you see as an arrogant tailgater just wants you to get out of their way because they have a medical emergency of some sort, taking their wife to the hospital,etc. or going to see a gravely ill relative.
My Dad was taken to Rochester on short notice a year and a half ago, and died a few days later. Let me tell you when I got the call that the end was near I FLEW down 52 on my way there, not knowing if he would hang on ’til I got there. That day there must have been angels escorting me, because everyone got out of my way.
My point is there are other reasons why people are in a hurry besides just being self-absorbed pricks. The tailgaters would not be what they are if people would just get out of their way. When most left lane traffic is doing 10, 15, 20 miles above the limit is it going to kill you to step your accelerator down a little to get by the car you’re passing and get over to let others pass? Do you think you’ll get pulled over for going 5 over the limit when the going rate is 10 or more?
Whatever the reason people are in a hurry, let the police deal with them instead of using the lame “I’m going the speed limit, so they can wait” garbage. It is not your job to be the speed enforcer.
Incidentally, I have been driving SB on 52 between 494 and Cty. 42 in Rosemount alot lately and notice a lot of left-lane morons on that stretch. Almost inevitably, the person holding up traffic for a mile behind them is taking the hwy. 55 exit off 52 to Hastings, which is a left exit. These people drive for miles in the left lane obstructing traffic simply because they are going to EVENTUALLY need to be in the left lane. Oh, for a 007-type car with a rocket launcher!
Speaking of that stretch of road, on my way home yesterday I was sandwiched in between two state troopers, less than a mile apart. They too were both driving in the left lane while backing up considerable traffic behind them with people too afraid to pass a cop (it’s not illegal, people).
Rather than finding a hiding spot to watch for speeders, they were creating unsafe road conditions. I ran into this once before on hwy. 169 by Mankato. One cop hanging out in the left lane had traffic backed up for a mile behind him, with road rage growing by the minute as the people in the back had no idea what was going on. The people paid to make the roads safer can be doing just the opposite.
I would of had four more stripes on Hwy. 55 just east of Buffalo, but today my trailer had ABS brakes. Lucky for the guy from Gassen Companies who ran through a stop sign. Maybe it was the same guy from Monday on 94? Boy am I having a bad week…………..
Dale, say extra thanks to your guardian angel! You probably need to get your brakes checked soon; you seem to be working them hard lately. And how much are new tires for semis, now that you left most of them on MN highways this week?
Luckily I don’t pay for them, I must be invisible this week.
Regarding the double-white lines and people crossing them, some sort of barrier would work much better.
And as a side note, I saw someone cross the double-white lines on the WB 394 HO/T lane *THREE* times Wednesday morning as I left town…
And regarding those people who just sit and “hang” in the left lane, Paul Brand from StarTribune Talk used a term for them years ago that has stuck in my mind: Left Lane Bandits, or LLBs for short. In my travels, the three states most notorious for LLBs are (in no particular order) New York, Louisiana, and Minnesota.
One big difference between driving here and driving in New Jersey is that out here, people drive like they’re trying to teach someone something. People are also convinced that everyone else is out to try and control them. Out east, folks drive like they’re the only ones on the road. All other drivers are irrelevant, except as things to avoid. Minnesotans take everything so personally. Everyone is so intent on how everyone else is driving, that they forget to keep an eye on their own driving.
C’mon, people. Stop worrying about everyone else’s motives, and concentrate on getting where you’re going in one piece. So the guy in front of you isn’t letting you be the fastest thing on the road. So what? Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Boy oh boy, have you gotten that right! Drivers here are judgemental and that is the crux of the problem. And they absolutely do take everything personal. Remember Ventura?
I remember once when I was driving in New York, I was told to quit driving like a Minnesotan or I would cause an accident. If I wanted to change lanes I was told (yelled at) to signal and just go already ‘cuz people would let me in. They did! I couldn’t get over it. They saw the signal, and don’t want to waste their time hitting me. If you signal and don’t go, it really ticks the people behind you off and they let you know it. I was told to quit looking in the mirror to figure out what the other cars were going to do, or I wouldn’t see what the guy in front was doing.
In short, New Yorkers drive forward and worry about what is happening in front of them, the guy behind him is inconsequential and is taking care of his front. It makes perfect sense. It all works and traffic moves forward.
If you doubt me, just take a cab ride there. For Minnesotans, it is a white knuckel, surreal experience and defies our logic.
Dob, good point on signaling — I can’t tell you how many drivers I’ve ridden with who keep craning their head over their neck trying to find a spot to merge into, all without ever turning on their blinker. I’ve said this more times than I can remember: Put your blinker on so other drivers know what you want to do. They can’t look into your car and read your mind. Sheesh.
My three favourite transportationy things:
- the bridge on westbound 94 over the St. Croix when you come into Minnesota from Wisconsin. It’s thrilling.
- the John Ireland Boulevard bridge over 94. I look for it every time I make the trek between MSP and MKE. It’s my favourite bridge in St. Paul (on 94 anyway; I don’t spend a lot of time in St. Paul) and leads to one of the most beautiful buildings in the Twin Cities.
- the Washington Avenue Bridge between the East and West Bank campuses of UMN-TC, especially on a wintery morning around 730 when the sun is just beginning its ascent and it paints the world beautiful shades of red, pink, and orange, with a fine mist coming up off the Mississippi. Plus, the whole idea of the bridge is terrific — pedestrians and bikers safely up top, traffic down below. Marvelous.
I seem to have a thing for bridges. I also thought of the Stone Arch Bridge, the pedestrian walkway bridge over Hennepin by Loring Park and the Sculpture Gardens on the other side, I could go on and on…
I love everybody’s lists of things.
Thanks for playing along, Roadguy!
Way to tell it, Morg! You’re right on, especially about the morons who move over into the left lane because sometime NEXT WEEK, they need to turn left!
Left lane hogs need to be bent over one of their fenders and kicked flat in the ass; apparently that is the only way they’ll learn. I stay fairly close to the speed limit, so don’t go dismissing me as a nut case, but I have places to go, people to see and things to do, so get the H out of my way.
