Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bmcg.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice From: bprice@bmcg.UUCP Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: >55 mph and Legality Message-ID: <1054@bmcg.UUCP> Date: Thu, 21-Jun-84 16:08:52 EDT Article-I.D.: bmcg.1054 Posted: Thu Jun 21 16:08:52 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 27-Jun-84 00:42:44 EDT References: <809@pyuxa.UUCP>, <470@drutx.UUCP>, <187@loral.UUCP> Organization: Burroughs Corporation, San Diego Lines: 46 >From: simard@loral.UUCP >Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA >When I am driving somewhere between 55 and 65 (yes, I confess; it has >happened), and some inconsiderate moron piles up behind me, leaves nine >inches between my bumper and his, and expects me to slide over for him, >I may, purely in the interest of safety (as I would avoid any other >careless, hazardous driving menace), but I find that attitude infuriating. > >Nobody has any right whatsoever to drive above the legal limit, unless >s/he has a little red light on top and a siren. If you are intent on >exceeding the limit, DO IT AT YOUR INCONVENIENCE, NOT MINE! If you are >unwilling to change lanes to accommodate your unsafe, illegal impatience, >WHY THE %&*!! DO YOU EXPECT ME TO??? >-- >Ray Simard >Loral Instrumentation, San Diego Ray, I don't expect you to, but the Motor Vehicle Code certainly does. I'm not going to look up the section reference for you, but any library in the state of California, and any Calif DMV office has a copy of the MVC that you can use. Most likely, you could get a CHP officer to quote it for you. The section I'm referring to is the one that is summarized on the little signs beside the freeway--the little signs that say "Slower traffic keep right." Neither the signs nor the law exempt 55-mph-drivers from the requirement to keep to the right so that faster drivers can pass. The basic philosophy of the California MVC--and probably that of other states and countries--is "keep the traffic moving, safely". As a good rule of thumb, anything that keeps the traffic moving, safely, is probably legal: anything that obstructs traffic or is otherwise hazardous, is probably illegal. Your proposed misbehavior does both--it obstructs traffic, and demonstrates an ego problem that marks you as a danger on the road. The faster driver is, indeed, driving at a speed that violates the "Energy Conservation Speed Limit" law--but that has no bearing, under the law, on your requirement to move over. He might be driving at an unsafe speed: that, too, would not excuse you from the legal duty to allow him to pass. If he is impatient, it may well be that he is being impatient because of your illegal egotrip, that your misbehavior is the cause of his impatience! Notice that this is not--and should not be taken as--legal advice. This is merely reporting what I have read and concluded from the MVC book that the DMV will gladly sell you for $2.00. It is part of the basic information and experience you, too, could get, if you cared about the world around you. -- --Bill Price uucp: {decvax!ucbvax philabs}!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice arpa:? sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice@nosc