I've driven in Southern California my entire life and, while I am aware of the law requiring drivers to pass on the left, I'm also well aware that this is a law most often "honoured in the breach" than the observance. (Frankly, I'm as guilty of this as anyone, happy to zip past slower moving traffic in the right lane whenever things bog down on those inside lanes. [Let's face it… I've probably never met a speed limit I didn't like to break.] In fact, there's a section of the 5 near our house where I simply assume the right lane is the passing lane and dodge the incoming merging traffic as I cruise past the slower moving lanes to my left.)
I've seen the left lane treated as a passing lane in other states (drivers routinely move out of that lane after passing slower moving cars), but that may simply not be practical here, especially on LA freeways… LA traffic is, arguably, too consistently hectic to keep a lane open as a passing lane. But I don't think we limit our reluctance to 'playing nice' to the crowded confines of the LA freeway system.
This became annoyingly apparent to me on our trip to Vegas last week. For most of the distance between Barstow and Vegas, the freeway shrinks to two lanes, and that passing lane idea becomes a good one. But repeatedly I'd come up behind someone and watch as 3 or 4 cars would have to move over to the right lane to pass, then would immediately jog back into the left lane to continue on, obviously moving faster than the "speed-bump" in the left lane. I'd end up joining that line of cars, swerving in and out of lanes to continue on at the speed I was trying to maintain, and would usually see several more cars do the same thing after me, before said speed-bump was left in the distance. In almost no instance did the speed-bump realize he should move out of the fast lane to stop impeding faster moving traffic.
And I was left wondering if we're all really THAT arrogant in So Cal as to be convinced that, no matter what our speed is, we don't have to get out of the way. (An "I'm doing the speed limit… that should be good enough for you!" kind of attitude.) Sadly, I think the answer to that may be a resounding YES, though an argument could be made that it's more clueless than arrogant. One glance at the vacuous looks on some of these drivers faces would argue for that position. But I think I'll still hold out for arrogant. Maybe I've been driving in LA too long to think otherwise.
I've seen the left lane treated as a passing lane in other states (drivers routinely move out of that lane after passing slower moving cars), but that may simply not be practical here, especially on LA freeways… LA traffic is, arguably, too consistently hectic to keep a lane open as a passing lane. But I don't think we limit our reluctance to 'playing nice' to the crowded confines of the LA freeway system.
This became annoyingly apparent to me on our trip to Vegas last week. For most of the distance between Barstow and Vegas, the freeway shrinks to two lanes, and that passing lane idea becomes a good one. But repeatedly I'd come up behind someone and watch as 3 or 4 cars would have to move over to the right lane to pass, then would immediately jog back into the left lane to continue on, obviously moving faster than the "speed-bump" in the left lane. I'd end up joining that line of cars, swerving in and out of lanes to continue on at the speed I was trying to maintain, and would usually see several more cars do the same thing after me, before said speed-bump was left in the distance. In almost no instance did the speed-bump realize he should move out of the fast lane to stop impeding faster moving traffic.
And I was left wondering if we're all really THAT arrogant in So Cal as to be convinced that, no matter what our speed is, we don't have to get out of the way. (An "I'm doing the speed limit… that should be good enough for you!" kind of attitude.) Sadly, I think the answer to that may be a resounding YES, though an argument could be made that it's more clueless than arrogant. One glance at the vacuous looks on some of these drivers faces would argue for that position. But I think I'll still hold out for arrogant. Maybe I've been driving in LA too long to think otherwise.
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