Enthusiastic amateur tries traffic engineering.

Problem would take care of itself if the police just started policing the issue. Saw a study not too long ago about the dangers of someone traveling 5 mph slower than the flow of traffic vs someone traveling 10mph faster than the flow of traffic. The slower driver was several times more likely to cause a wreck. I have a buddy whose wife is that person. Everybody else is a maniac driver and accidents happen all around her but never to her. My daughter is learning to drive now. I keep teaching her that its her responsibility to maintain proper speeds, keep a gap between her and the car in front of her but not too big a gap that it invites someone to pull out in front of her and to generally stay out of the way of overtaking traffic. She just doesn't get it. Yesterday a truck pulled out in front of her. She hit the brakes way too hard and said he was a bad driver. She just could not understand how it was her fault for leaving the perfect sized gap. Nor could she understand that braking too aggressively for the situation could have caused an accident in back of her. "He should not have pulled out in front of me and those people in back of me should not have been driving so close to the car in front of them."

As a motorcyclist, the idea of those rumble strips, used in that fashion, scares me.

There used to be a runway at Disneyland, Florida, upon landing the strips played "When You Wish Upon A Star".

Crxpilot wrote: On big divided U.S. highways the leftmost lane is set aside for passing. We've seen the signs and know the benefits yet some travelers still camp out in the left. It makes safe passing more difficult. I'm here to help. The big idea behind this design is to encourage folks to merge right ASAP. The rumble strips would be cut wide enough so you couldn't avoid them and the noise would drive you nuts, buzzing every 15 seconds of travel. Has this been done before? Do you hate it? Who's going to pay for it? What are your thoughts?

It's great that people are so worried about drivers who make them drive more....

One big thing that nobody has mentioned- ruble strips provide some nice drag. So for people to pass others, it will take considerably more effort. Which is kind of a waste.

The other thing that gets me, and has been mentioned- this will only work in areas where the traffic flow only uses one lane. If the flow requires two, then this will make traffic worse.

In instances where the flow is so small that it can be concentrated in one main lane and one passing lane, for the few people who drive on the left- it's a lot cheaper to pass them on the right.

The only way people stop parking in the left lane is behavior modification. So either ticket people who park out there, or fix the roads so that the right lane isn't such a POS that people are forced to drive in the left lane.

The last one is really bad in Puerto Rico's highway 52 in the south part of the island. When I first visited back in '94, the right lane was so badly chewed up and not maintained, most drivers stayed left. A few times, the road has been fixed, and I was bummed to see so many people stay left, but two weeks ago, we were just down there, and the right lane, again, is almost obliterated. Sadly, it makes traffic really hard to navigate when people are doing 50mph in the left lane in a 65 zone. But they do. And given the state of the road, they are allowed to.

It may take an entire generation once the roads are fine. If that ever happens.

In reply to Huckleberry:

Keep left, pass right. That would help explain the unpredictability I have noticed in Canadians on the interstate since my commute became an interstate run last year.

spitfirebill wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: I remember driving through one of the Southern states in 1999. Tennessee? Anyhow, the right lane of the interstate was so damaged by trucks that everyone drove on the left until someone came up behind them. I was in convoy with some Germans, and it was driving them completely crazy

I remember having to drive in the left lane of I95 in NC for the same reason.

I assumed that the right lanes of all NC highways would be in pristine condition, because no one ever berking drives in them. At least they should be based on my observation of NC drivers when they're not in North Carolina.

Appleseed wrote: As a motorcyclist, the idea of those rumble strips, used in that fashion, scares me.

Don't ever take I-90 through Cleveland, then. They use rumble strips across the whole road to alert drivers to a certain corner. Along with a aircraft landing strip lights on arrow signs.

Just use the far right lane.... emergency stopping area for passing. The rumble strips are there too... And all the shredded semi trailer tires too

The problem with left lane only passing around here is there is just way too many cars for the design of the highway. It was designed in the 1940s when most cars couldn't really reach the speed limit of 55mph.

If the traffic is flowing smoothly it's miles of idiots tailgating each other at 65+ now. Bottle neck the lemmings at all with 20ft of orange barrels in one lane and I the flow of cold molasses turns immediately into a parking lot.