Lesley Carhart Aug 21, 2024

I need a sanity check from the fediverse. After all, I'm a mere Illinois driver. I was just informed my dad and his friends have this deep pet peeve while driving that I have absolutely never been aware of or concerned by on safe roads in America.

Imagine you are driving on a multi-lane highway. Yes, I get the "right lane is the slow lane, left lane is the passing lane" thing. But imagine it's like pretty empty road, out in the country, and you're driving the speed you want to go in the right or middle lane.

Another car is along side you in the left lane. There's nobody behind them who wants to go faster. They just hang out at the same-ish speed as you. So you have a car kind of driving next to you.

This makes my dad deeply uncomfortable and he finds it incredibly rude. Fediverse, if the driver is doing nothing else objectionable, is it him, or me?

Show threadtechtask

@hacks4pancakes yep, pet peeve, but also increases risk for no reason. They’re in the wrong - they should fix themselves, but I’ll fix it myself since I know many don’t care.

If you can slow down or speed up so no car is around you, it increases your “escape routes”… say they have a mechanical failure that causes them to swerve, or you do.

I mean, I understand the risk is actually low, but the minimal effort to mitigate it makes it a no brainer to me.

I even do this in heavy traffic - always try to have an open spot to one immediate side at the minimum, plus safe following distance.

Aug 21, 2024 at 4:32amWeb