Let us begin with this: it is possible to go much faster on North American public roads than the law allows. Much faster. If you are interested in exploring the upper limits of this possibility, read on. If you find this idea morally, legally, ethically or spiritually repugnant; please return to your regularly scheduled bailout coverage. If you’re a member of law enforcement, please consider this a work of fiction.
In theory, I’ve been driving “too fast” on public roads for more than twenty years. In that time, I may have learned a lot about what works and what does not. I will share this hypothetical knowledge—bought and paid for in terror, twisted steel and sleepless nights—with you. Or not.
Before we begin, a caveat. The fast-road driver needs more than skill, more than training, more than a fast car. He (and it is almost always he) needs luck. Luck eventually runs out. When that happens, people get hurt. Sometimes innocent people get hurt—if any of us are truly “innocent” in this world. Sometimes the driver will go to jail or beyond that to the penitentiary. Sometimes people die. You have been warned.
To drive truly quickly, you will need a level of preparation and skill roughly equivalent to what is found in NASA’s Time Trial class. Your car needs to have its fluids at the appropriate levels, its tire pressures checked and its suspension components torqued. Your tires need full tread, no plugs, no camber wear.
You, as the driver, need to be alert, sober, rested, and ready to look all the way down the road. The trained fast-road driver scans the horizon and looks to the end of his available vision. That’s where the cops are, that’s where the accidents happen, that’s where you start to intuit the movement patterns of your fellow drivers. Practice identifying cars in the oncoming freeway lanes as soon as they are visible. At any time, you should be able to close your eyes and recite the makes and models of the cars around you.
We’ll use a limited set of the race driver’s toolkit in our pursuit of maximum street speed. Trail-braking is out, deliberate contact is out, drafting is out. Instead, we follow the old Bondurant curriculum. All braking is done in a straight line, every time. If you have ABS, don’t be afraid to engage it. We never steer and brake simultaneously, particularly on the freeway. We don’t accelerate out of turns with the steering wheel “pinched” and we use formula-car hand positioning on the wheel. No shuffle-steer. Ever. This isn’t autocross. Get the wheel straight and put your right foot all the way down.
Traction control is left on at all times, with the exception of when we need a Jarno Donut (to be covered later). Turn the radio down or off. Sit close enough to the wheel that your wrist falls naturally on the rim of the wheel. If you have a CG-Lock, you can left-foot brake. If you don’t, don’t, because when you panic-brake from high speeds you will have nothing to keep your body in the seat. Get your heel-and-toe together, pronto. And for God’s sake, put your seatbelt on because you’ll eventually need it.
We’ll start with freeways. Speeding on the freeway is easy. Anybody can do it. The trick is in maintaining a consistent pace of twice the pack speed or higher. To do this we extend our vision to the horizon as mentioned above and watch the cars ahead. Look for lane changes, look for shifts in traffic, look for drivers who are slow, distracted or wobbly. Most of our passing is done to the right. This offends wanna-be Autobahn drivers, but we don’t care.
Cops expect you to speed in the left lane and they tend to look down the left lane. Stay to the right. Truck convoys are the exception. They will punish you for right-lane passes.
Our passing method is simple. We come up on a car-to-be-passed from directly behind. We do this to attract the driver’s attention into his rear-view mirror. When we are two hundred feet behind, we change lanes (to the right, if possible) and pass as far away as possible. While we prepare the pass, we look at the adjacent lane and we have a backup plan in case the car we are passing wobbles.
If there is no lane, evaluate the shoulder for heavy marbles, dirt, obstacles. If we see those, we dial back the speed to 100mph or less. Get in the habit of driving on the shoulder. We learn to drive on the shoulder because we’ll have to do it many times in the future, both to avoid panic-swerves and to pass recalcitrant lane-blockers.
In Part II, we’ll discuss night freeway driving and basic evasion techniques.
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I’m horrified and intrigued.
Please tell me this is a joke?
Shoulder passing. Not the best idea nor remotely legal. If you want to get the attention of LE this is a way to do it.
When cannonballing on a motorcycle you have the advantage of a small footprint so you can slip around people. Of course one miscalculation and you’re dead but that’s the deal.
Jack is preparing for a raft of shit over this series but we need to be fair and let him proceed. After all the stories are written well and as adults we are free to ignore his writings.
Or not. If you need to get across country in a hurry these suggestions may prove valuable.
i am intrigued by your ideas
how do i subscribe to your newsletter/pamphlet/Watchtower…
I know it’s wrong, but I’m looking forward to part II.
I can only agree with your fourth paragraph. That should be the state of mind of all drivers.
The following quote may be appropriate: You can’t handle the truth.
Two things can be learned from the basic training of any good motorcycle rider:
Whenever one wants to drive quickly through a turn, the best technique you can use is to look where you want to go. Turn your head and look through the turn, past the apex – never straight ahead, never into the middle. Learn to scan the road surface in your peripheral vision for obstacles, potholes, bumps, and gravel. Correct as needed but don’t make the mistake of looking at your obstacle – this creates what we call target fixation. You tend to go where you are looking. If you are looking at that log in the road, you will probably hit it. The same goes for slide/skid control. Look where you want to go and you’ll have a much better chance of getting there, if you know how to wrangle a squirrelly vehicle (if you don’t nothing will save you but luck).
Second, drive like EVERYONE on the road is actively trying to kill you. If you always assume the driver ahead of you will cut you off, merge without signalling, or generally do something idiotic that will get you killed, you will never be surprised when it happens. Unlike the rest of life, assuming will keep you alive on the road. Assume that car will cut you off. Assume you are always in someone’s blind spot. Assume that blind corner has a moron drifiting over the centreline in the opposite lane. Assume the traffic cop is hiding under that overpass or on the lumber road.
i am seeing shades of alex roy and a blue e39 m5 done in polizei livery
Looks like that picture comes from Interstate 270. A great 56 mile ring around the hellhole of Columbus, OH. (The southern half is MUCH easier to go fast on than the northern 1/2, even with the increased number of lanes, due to law enforcement reasons).
Best personal “ring” time: 34 minutes, plus a few seconds.
I guess this explains the high-speed traffic in the right lane when I’m motoring along in the middle highway lane, going with the flow. When I’m merging right to exit, it would be nice to know that I’m not about to be rear-ended by someone going 20mph faster than me. Sheesh.
Every now and then, I see someone in a car doing flash-to-pass in the second lane from the left when they clearly could pass on the left. Is that part of this secret society, too?
I understand the appeal of (significantly) higher than legal speeds, and if the only person at risk was the person driving, then so be it.
But they usually aren’t the only people at risk. I am, even though I choose not to do it myself. More importantly (to me, at least), my children are at risk.
The most important part of the article is paragraph two:
“Luck eventually runs out.”
“Sometimes people die.”
I don’t care how good you are or how awake you are. You don’t have the right to risk other people.
Bizarre and wonderful and strangely 18th century.
Yes, bring on part 2 of what is truly a DRIVING DEATH WATCH.
Passing on the right… Jeesh…
On the German autobahn – at least it used to be – when you see the sign with the circle with the three lines through it like Wolverine hacked at it, you could put the hammer down. I traveled once from Frankfurt to Berlin, a trip that at normal speeds takes approx. 8 hours, took less than 5. I had a 98 Ford Contour SVT hovering at 150 mph for nearly two hours straight and have a little anecdotal insight.
1. German drivers are far superior to American drivers. At the time, it cost nearly $1500 and one year of a kid’s life before he/she could get their license. They would have to drive at all speeds, at all times of the day, in all traffic and weather conditions, twice, before being passed as a safe driver. Americans take scissors and cut the cereal box tops off to send away to get our license.
2. German roads are better. They have sprayers on the sides where de-icing solution will spritz to keep the roads frost free. The autobahns are meticulously maintained and are virtually trash free.
3. Everything comes at you incrementally faster as you increase in speed. The car 1/4 mile away is suddenly behind you as you fly by it fast enough to feel the color of its paint. F@#$ the radio, climate control or any passengers in the car, concentration takes every bit of your mind.
4. Awareness is heightened. Anything can go wrong and if it does at 150 mph in a Contour – albeit the nicest one – you’re street pizza. One rock that shouldn’t be there, patch of oil or water, dead bird, moron in a cheap Fiat cuts into your lane, engine temp suddenly going Chernobyl under the hood, anything can happen and its constantly on you mind.
5. Its WAY adrenalizing. And very addictive. I highly recommend doing it at length at least once.
I agree that some roads in America could use higher speed limits. Just about any highway that runs through TX, OK, KS, or NB comes to mind. However, America has got to get some better driver education and better roads.
Some of what you are saying is how Germans drive on the autobahn.
Other parts of it, such as passing on the right to avoid being ticketed, is something I cannot safely respond to in a family oriented manner.
Public roadways are NOT racetracks. American drivers are NOT trained anything like well enough to cope with Autobahn speeds.
There is a real-world reason that it takes the equivalent of months to years and thousands of dollars to obtain a German driver’s license.
If you want to go fast, get a racecar and rent a track.
Seriously? Three for three on these articles…
Solid post from a gent who knows what he’s talking about.
I drive this way sometimes (sorta, although not to the degree discussed here), often on long-distance trips. As such, I’ll often pass on the right (often at 20+mph faster than the passed vehicle) because every roadway is choked with morons driving 56mph in the left lane (and think that it fast, lol) while the right lane is often empty (or less crowded at any rate).
It’s not proper, and I wish it didn’t need to be that way, but the US isn’t Germany and what Mr. Baruth says regarding LE is correct.
Know what else is fun? Drugs. Lots of them. Being loud and drunk in public, too. Sleeping around and hurting people. Joining the KKK.
Just because you can do things, means you should!
If you find this idea morally, legally, ethically or spiritually repugnant; please return to your regularly scheduled bailout coverage
We do not “find” the idea “morally, legally, ethically or spiritually repugnant”
It is objectively ethically repugnant to risk other people necks for quicks and giggles.
While I don’t come near the speeds that Jack is talking about. Much of what is said is simply good driving technique at any speed. As for passing in the right lane, I often do it myself on three lane roads as it is much easier to negotiate a pass and speed without having to worry about the moron going even faster than me coming up from behind. With right lane drivers, their style is much more conservative and predictable. That said, I don’t usually do above 80 mph and often less than that.
Also the same techniques you need to drive a motorcycle at any speed. Or my scooter at 70mph on 13in rims with a front disk brake and rear drum.
I have hit 100mph a few times on I40 between Gallup and Albuquerque in my F150. That was pretty scary given the hilly and curvy nature of that road.
(Disclaimer as a former Ohioan: Don’t try any of this in Ohio, we’ve got more State Police than just about any other state per capita.)
Few quick points….
Passing on the right always bad
German driver’s license requirements good
Drinking (Europeans do not understand why we have cupholders in our cars), talking on the cell phone, fiddling with Navi screens, eating, also all bad
There is nothing inherently wrong with traveling at a high rate of speed, however Americans have shown a great disdain for any restrictions on their ability to operate non-roadworthy clunkers, as well as for any tax structure which would actually pay for the maintenance of 46,000 miles interstate highways.
In keeping with all the cliches, we’re fat, lazy, uneducated. People blame speeders, though everyone does it to some degree, because it’s easy, like saying the government is inefficient then doing nothing about it. At least half of the drivers and vehicles on the road have no business being there.
Solution (no fun if you don’t have one): increase drivers license fees and tetsing, inspect ALL motor vehicles (like England’s MOT), increase taxes on heavy trucks, increase gas tax (instead of CAFE), actually maintain the roadways (ACSE says our roads get a grade of D)….then one can drive at 150 all day long safely and legally…political third rail due to the aforementioned, fat, lazy, et al
I guess this explains the high-speed traffic in the right lane when I’m motoring along in the middle highway lane, going with the flow. When I’m merging right to exit, it would be nice to know that I’m not about to be rear-ended by someone going
20mph faster than medouble the speed limit Sheesh.There, I fixed it for ya.
On another note — who thinks we should get a pot going to get Mr. Baruth, say, a 2001 600cc sport bike to do his speeding trials on? At least everyone else’s family here would probably be alot safer if he rear-ended/side-swiped them.
A long time ago I drove fast and I enjoyed doing so (and was lucky) but now living in the crowded city of Phoenix I have given up stick shifts and any hope of finding much open road.
I really agree with dolorean23’s advice above: F@#$ the radio.
OK, I speed. But TWICE the speed of traffic? No way. 20% over the posted limit is plenty for me.
An important, if seldom mentioned, feature of driving on a race track is consent: the consent of the other drivers around you.
Please do not suggest passing on a shoulder. There is too much junk there and often the slope differs from the main roadway to afford better drainage. The last guy I knew who passed on the right on a shoulder (at, you guessed it, twice the speed limit) is now a quadriplegic. The relatives of his dead passengers have not forgiven him and his family is bankrupt. The guy before that killed himself and his wife and left behind a long wake of law suits.
DaddyofPayton, you should have been around when 270 was completed (maybe you were) and there was little traffic (back in the mid/late 70s). The stretch running from Westerville past Gahanna (up to where 670 is now) was dead straight, no hills, and was our favorite place to run flat out. Never did a timed running of the whole thing however.
I pass no moral judgment on any of this, but I have to point out the big obvious problem with your whole “200 feet/pass on the right” concept. Suppose that I am proceeding at 65 mph in the left lane on a three lane highway. Let’s assume you coming up behind me at 125 mph and that the middle lane is unoccupied for some reasonable distance around me, but not the rightmost lane. My math may be faulty, but I believe you would be closing on me at about 90 feet per second. Suppose that I happen to spot you in my mirror when you reach the 200 foot distance (you will be covering ground so quickly that I may not have observed you even if I had checked my mirror just seconds before). I, having no knowledge of your plan to pass me on the right, will likely do the conscientious thing and put on my blinker and attempt to change lanes. Meanwhile, you will have begun your own lane change just as you observe my blinker come on and conclude that I am going to change lanes myself. You now have a choice to make. Do you abort your lane change and attempt to pass me on the left? Do you continue to pass on the right assuming that I will see you doing so and abandon my own lane change? Remember, the right lane is crowded, precluding a double lane toss. So you make your choice. Meanwhile, I observe your behavior in my mirror and make my own choice. Perhaps we pass unscathed, or perhaps we have both chosen the same lane and must repeat the same dance, with another second or so elapsed. And time is distance. Are you seriously willing to risk my life on your ability to maneuver around me at less than 100 feet? Note that I don’t give a hoot about your own life.
Okay, after doing the math I have changed my mind – I am passing a moral judgment. I own a high performance car have been known to drive above the posted speed limit on the highway, but never at a speed that would actually require me to violate standard driving conventions or otherwise behave unpredictably merely to avoid killing myself or others. This is just stupid. Please stop trying to kill me and my family with your two ton high speed projectile.
trolling at its finest. my hats off to you if you pull this off.
I drove a tractor trailer for 35 years.
1. I know every trick in the book to run a maximum speed without getting bagged
2. You’re a rookie and dangerous.
Passing on the right shoulder is a great way to really piss off a cop or a trucker…also a great way to get killed by a sleepy senior citizen.
That said, here is a great video of a couple kids joyriding daddy’s GT3.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Porsche-GT3-vs-CBR1000RR_208206.htm
I eventually learned to drive fast when it’s possible, and take it easy and follow the traffic when it’s not. It’s not the speeding that is risky, but the accidents.
I got a star on my car and one on my chest
A gun on my hip and the right to arrest
I’m the man who’s the boss on this highway
When you see me coming, get out of my way
If you break the law you’ll hear from me, I know
I’m working for the state, I’m the Highway Patrol
Jan Andersson :
May 20th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I eventually learned to drive fast when it’s possible, and take it easy and follow the traffic when it’s not. It’s not the speeding that is risky, but the accidents.
It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end. lol
This whole article seems like post bait. But..
One thing I have learned is that it really helps if you drive a car that doesn’t look sporty. I used to collect ticket in my Porsche for not going very fast. I started driving a wagon (a WRX, but very subdued– no fancy rims, looks like an economy car) and I swear I never, ever get a ticket. Once a guy I was passing (on the left) was pulled over! He was driving a BMW and I am sure the CHP looked at him first.
People who change lanes suddenly, drive too fast on city on residential streets, pass on the shoulder– are fools. The time you save is not worth the risk that someone else will cause a dangerous accident, no matter how great a driver you are. If you love to drive– go to a track or an open country road.
yournamehere:
“Please tell me this is a joke?”
Exactly what I was thinking. Is it really April 1st?
Hey, about this? I drive a 35 mile comute each way to and from work. On a 3 lane interstate. 70 MPH posted. I go 65 MPH. And guess what? I get there only a few minutes later, I’m more relaxed and refreshed, and I can even drink a coffee and listen to the radio while I do it and still be fully aware of what going on around me. I just let everyone pass me as I go down the right lane and save gas (even though my car is a 4 banger with a stick, 5 MPH makes a real difference). I would like to see one of us write an article about going slower.
I live in Idaho. One of those states that has way more open space then drivers. I am from Montana, the state that does have good roads and did for a while, remove it’s speed limits, until they discovered that the tourists coming to Montana to drive without limit were killing off too many of the local taxpaying citizens. Being from these states, and owning a Saleen, I am not ashamed to say that it is not all that uncommon for me or many others to exceed into triple digit driving. What bothers me the most about this article is not that it endorses driving fast; it is that it arrogantly defies what the rest of the general public expects of any mature driver. I would ask Jack to consider reading the previous article about driving Nürburgring Nordschleife. Where the professionals know enough and by habit train themselves to pull to the right when you see some on approaching from behind, so that the faster vehicle can safely pass to the left. Risking others people’s lives so you can avoid Johnny Law is immature. I have 5 sons between the ages of 18 and 25 who I constantly have to rebuke for driving like they are in a video game. Jack needs to grow up and realize he is not invincible nor are the others on the Road. If you want to drive fast in America, there are more than enough lonely roads out there to be as dangerous as you like without hurting anyone but yourself and maybe the cow or coyote that wanders out in front of you. To even imply that it is somehow acceptable to play NASCAR or F1 with a bunch of commuters in Prius’ and Soccer moms in vans and SUVs is shear lunacy. Any drive that would follow these instructions should be locked up fast. They are the ones that make it harder on those of us that do respect the right and or the confidence of the majority of other drivers on the road who do not feel they need to push the limit of their vehicle or expertise.
Jack, did you apply any of these techniques for your last piece where you described your chance escape from a deadly accident while doing 123 MPH down I-95? It certainly got a lot of replies and controversy certainly does keep the page hits coming but this is just plain irresponsible and also very misleading advice. If you happen to have the means, time and inclination to risk your life in this manner, please keep it on the track where it belongs.
There was a time when I would have found this interesting. But getting older is weird. These days in my car I’m more interested in Bloomberg on XM than on hauling ass for the fun of it. Age is a funny thing.
But I do love that photo!! 308 is it?
@WildBill & @DaddyOfPayton
Yea. Good ol’ 270. ColumbusRacing.com is a popular site, where people organize (thousands) in the central Ohio area for racing and runs.
Recently (due to some deaths) Columbus and Highway Patrol are cracking down on street racing pretty heavily.
This article is good. And going fast as hell (just got rid of a 350z) on the highway is an awesome rush. And although your article is controversial it does cover important things such as vehicle maintenance etc. Even in a my Z I made sure everything was top shape before going 100+mph.
Passing on the shoulder is a no-no however. If you are going for max speed make sure you have lots of room to do it in, 3+ lanes and minimum traffic.
Anways. Good stuff! Looking forward to more articles.
ok, NOW you are officially trolling with these posts. I love them and I wholeheartedly approve of the sentiment.
I can’t imagine holding (attaining yes) the speeds you mention on public roads though, and passing on the shoulder is a seriously dangerous move, worse even than doubling the speed limit. I also don’t own a Porsche, Phaeton or A5, all of which are cars that can handle those speeds with relative aplomb. Still, passing on the shoulder is bad advice (if I thought I might need to I’d slow down first), keeping an eye on the shoulder for evasive reasons is as far as I would go. Maybe that’s what you meant though.
As to passing on the right, I do it too now, and it’s still a huge pet peeve of mine. I’d rather pass on the left and risk the ticket. Too many American drivers simply do not care about lane discipline, mostly because they don’t want to be bothered by merging traffic (too scary I think). The alternative is to terrorize people out of the left lane, which ends up causing a lot of aggravation and bad driving all around. On the other hand the idiots left lane clogging are causing the faster traffic to deal with mergers and hugely increasing their own risk of being sideswiped. I’ve heard people say words to the effect of “not my problem” with regards to the faster cars being forced right, and I’d say they are dead wrong about that, and might be officially too stupid to drive.
I doubt you are dodging many tickets in the right lane btw, NYS troopers have fixed radar front and back that identifies the fastest target as well as the biggest (or is it smallest?) for each end of the car. If they’re parked parallel to traffic flow they’ve got a number for your car everytime if you fit either criteria. You may be dodging laser hits, but they’d still eyeball you in that case and be able to write an estimated ticket. I’ve got to assume that what you actually do to avoid tickets is use detection devices. If not you have huge, rhino sized balls.
u can find really good driving advice here:
http://www.smith-system.com/
i took it and i was suprised what a bad driver i am (was).
Lots of advice on how to avoid accidents, some of it mirrored in this article. Keep away from everyone, give yourself an out, etc. I drive alot for work, we took this course, its good for anyone, but especially for those who need to got from place to place quickly and safely.
I once was an hour away from my wife (then girlfriend) at a party when she called me and told me she was fearful of getting sexually assaulted by a drunk guy.
I owned a 1988 thunderbird turbo coupe in ~2003 with 140-150k miles on it. Lightly modified.
I drove ~130mph on two roadways where the flow of traffic was ~65-70mph, at night. I passed on the left, right, and shoulder at one point when someone unexpectedly cut me off.
I looked downlane about 1/4 mile at a time, avoided obstacles, and usually only braked when there was no clear choice.
I regret that evening, but moreso I regret what I had to do, not that I did it. Sometimes you need to know how to drive an absolutely obscene speed.
I think the wisdom in this TTAC post is not in the education behind speeding, but in identifying when the risk/reward sways in which direction.
Btw, I’m guesstimating 130mph. The speedometer ended at 85 but had notches to 95mph. But 4500-5000rpms in 5th gear indicates I was hauling.
Nowadays, when I’m driving 65, I can close my eyes and name every car around me including make, model, and where I expect it to be 5 seconds later.
But that took years to develop.
Joe
Very mixed emotions in reading this… I love speed and I have yet to experience anything like the feeling of speeding on the street. I spent the first ten-twelve years of my driving life generally going as fast as possible on motorcycles and in cars, both here in the US and the UK and Germany where I lived for a number of years. I was lucky in that I never had a major high-speed accident and I never hurt or killed anyone, though I did rack up a fair number of offenses, including multiple license revocations in the US and a three month ban in Germany.
So I get the need for speed thing. Completely. But I also recently had a child and boy has my driving changed. I still do get over to Germany occasionally for business, get a nice rental car and do a 155mph blast on the autobahn but never high speed in the US. Too much risk to me, my family and others families. So I understand where you are coming from, but I hope that you and anyone else taking your column’s advice, gains similar perspective before showing up in my rear view mirror and putting my family at risk. Just schedule a trip to Germany and get it out of your system – you can probably pay for the trip with the saved legal expenses!
“Let us begin with this: it is possible to go much faster on North American public roads than the law allows. Much faster.”
This is because all of our roads are straight. You’re heard of the tail of the dragon? Well how about the tip of the arrow? 318 miles, one turn. The longest, straightest road in the world.
BTW, take your junk to the track comma monkey.
From us race drivers and experienced high performance driving instructors (what do we know about high speed driving? anyway…well not much I guess). However I am now laughing as from previous author’s article regarding his talented escapes from 100mph+ public road driving exercises that this “track & racing experience” didn’t count for anything – but for some reason the learning how to properly use your vision does.
We all speed (even me) but: double the speed limit; 100mph + in light traffic; driving like you are a time trials racer through traffic, etc.
How about this analogy (it is a slippery slope but oh so relevant)…it is illegal to discharge hand guns in public…but it’s not illegal if you don’t get caught right? So what’s wrong with just discharging guns in public when we are careful where we aim (such as a trained professional sharp shooter) – remember their skill doesn’t count for much, or it does (I’m confused now by the author’s point in this regard). I think I can let off some rounds into / nearby a small crowd where I’ll make sure the aim (hopefully) won’t hit anybody as I’m good b/c I can do it often and not get caught.
Moral of the story: It’s the professional and mature attitude that stops this behavior in the first place.
I assume the context of pointing out the stupidity and/or inexperience of US drivers as compared to Germans is to reinforce the idea that high speed driving on US roads is not comparatively safe. Otherwise, I don’t see the point.
The right lane is usually empty because that is where the on-ramps are, and it seems most US drivers don’t know that accelerating to highway speed is supposed to start on the on-ramp. While I would like to drive in the right lane and let Speed Racer use any of the other lanes, I don’t like slowing down to 56 every time Soccer Mom decides to use the freeway for two miles.
During peak traffic flow (meaning three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening) the “passing” lane is full of commuters. That’s where I am. I want to go fast. So does he. I know this because I can see him dodging in and out of lanes behind me for the last couple miles. This is fine. But I don’t wish for him to cut me off like he did to others six times in the last 90 seconds. So I will leave a gap, which he will fixate upon while enthusiastically attending to the accelerator. The gap will start to close. But not abruptly. In fact, he will need to make a decision about how fast the gap is closing and decide if he can hoon his way in front of me. It’s unclear whether I’m oblivious to the situation or I’m doing it deliberately. That’s why it’s so exasperating.
For him.
@Matthew Danda:
There was a time when I would have found this interesting. But getting older is weird.
Yep. Live to drive (then) vs. drive to live (now).
On second thought, I don’t have as big a problem with the article as I do with the fact that it has been posted. Either this is a joke (in which case it’s a lousy one), or TTAC believes this is an appropriate driving practice (in which case I expect more from a supposed “car enthusiast” site), or it’s a shameless attempt to rile up the readers and drive site traffic (in which case it is highly unprofessional).
Feel free to ban me for the observation, because I will no longer be commenting – you have just lost a reader.
Respectfully yours,
Brownie
I really don’t like your pass-on-the-right preference. As other posters have mentioned, if I see someone coming hot on my tail I’m moving right to let him by. I’d hate to get rear-ended, or induce instability in my vehicle trying to duck back into my original lane.
That said when I’m riding fast (on my motorcycle, my car doesn’t do fast) I will pass on the right when necessary, but my preference is always to pass on the left. On freeways with traffic I usually cruise at a max of 90-100, so I’m not close to your speeds. I’ve also got mondo brakes, so I can haul my speed down in a hurry, and I’ve had to on a few occasions. No ABS, though, so my adventures are strictly on dry pavement.