Progress on my "Do the RIGHT Thing" campaign?...

...or mere happenstance?

Whatever, I saw two messages several times on the 401 pixelboards yesterday that gave me some hope.

One read, "Keep left lane free for passing".

All right!

The second said, "Slower Traffic Keep Right".

This is only part-way all right, because of course, according to common courtesy, common sense, safety, efficiency and The Law, ALL traffic should keep right, except when actively passing another vehicle.

Or 'equestrian', but that's another story...

The problem with this pixelboard sign wording is that few people want to think of themselves as being 'slower'.

Also, to some, if they're going the speed limit they aren't 'slow', therefore have the right to drive in any lane they want.

Er, no they don't.

The Highway Traffic Act provisions which deal with keeping right make no reference whatsoever to speed, other than "the normal speed of traffic at that place and time", or if another vehicle is travelling "at a greater speed".

In other words, obeying one law - the speed limit law - does not give you the right to break other laws.

So while these pixelboard messages don't quite get it 'right', I'll take whatever I can get.

Comments

[Andrew]

Question: on 2-lane sections of the 401, let's say someone is driving 105 km/h on the right lane, and Idiot moves to the left lane, then proceeds to drive side-by-side said someone at 105 km/h but at the left lane. In other words, no one behind can pass nor drive above 105 km/h. Would that make 105 km/h "the normal speed of traffic at that place and time"? Given that no other vehicle is travelling "at a greater speed" either, can anything legally be done about Idiot? Thanks.

[Bernard DeGagne]

I always thought the reference to slow and the right lane was counter productive and that a better slogan would be 'Drive Right, Pass Left.'

[C2100]

I agree 100%

I loved driving on the autobahns for the 3 years I lived in Europe. Lane discipline at its best and the vehicles were in excellent condition.

North American drivers are typically sloppy as this photo I took last week shows

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4912358283/in/set-72157624733706182/

[John from Ajax]

I've read many comments over the past few years about the "Slower Traffic Keep Right" problem on our highways. I heartily agree with the concept and encouragement to move to the right to cruise.

However, as a person who puts a minimum of 50,000km per year on his personal vehicle, mainly on the 400 series of highways, I feel that this problem has been greatly exaggerated. My observation is that excessive speeding outnumbers incidence of slowpoke-in-the-passing-lane syndrome 100-, nay, 1,000-to-1 (outside of the ubiquitous rush hour jams, of course).

Drivers on the 400 series have come to believe that they have a Divine Right to drive at 120km per hour with frequent examples of 130km/hr to 140km/hr. I have further observed that no matter how fast I drive, someone will come along behind me within 10 minutes who wants to drive faster.

I have even played this game to test my theory on the Toronto to Kingston 401 corridor at the risk of being caught by OPP. The hypothesis holds. It is the Theory of Relatively at play: "slow" depends on how fast the accuser is travelling. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy for the accusing driver: if he/she speeds at 160km per hour, he/she is bound to encounter a slow-poke (driving at 140km per hour).

Remember, the speed limit, like it or not, is 100km per hour on the 400 series of highways. No matter how much one moans and stomps his feet, it's 100km/hr. If one wants to drive at 160, he'll just have to put up with the inconvenience of others around him who want to drive a tad closer to the speed limit.

[Jim Kenzie]

Hi Andrew:

A chap tried that some years back, just to determine what the 'real' speed limit was. He and his girlfriend side-by-sided, him moving over occasionally to let traffic pass.

The O.P.P. eventually charged him with the Criminal Code violation of 'blocking a Queen's Highway' or some such, the same thing that the Surete Quebec laid on the Mohawk First Nations' people during their blockade of the reservation near Montreal. A major bit of over-reaction, I'd say.

If police forces everywhere would just do their job w/r/t left-lane bandits, none of this would be necessary.

Jim Kenzie