🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 08 Jul 1998 09:14:08 -0700, Richard Berkeley <bummer@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Rahul Dhesi wrote:
>
>> In <35A30653.5C710815@prodigy.net.nospam> Tony Wang
>> <tonyw44@prodigy.net.nospam> writes:
>>
>> >Plus, last time I checked, the interstates in San Diego and Los Angeles all
>> >had multiple lanes -- as in more than two.  Come to think of it, the ones I
>> >drove on had like four or five.
>>
>> >So you mean to tell me that you can't leave that left lane alone except for
>> >passing?  Bull.
>>
>> It would mean packing the vehicles in the remaining lanes even closer
>> together.  Even with all lanes in use, following distances are short and
>> unsafe.  It doesn't make sense to make them even shorter and less safe.
>>
>> Leaving one lane essentially idle is stupid in any case -- a waste of a
>> construction cost of a few million dollars per mile of highway.
>>
>> I stand by my claim that the following assumptions are not true in
>> most urban parts of California:
>>
>> 1.  There is sufficient room on the highway to hold all vehicles at safe
>>     following distances while still leaving the leftmost lane nearly empty.
>> 2.  Repeated lane changes do not increase the chances of an accident.
>> 3.  Highway onramps are long enough to let merging traffic easily
>>     accelerate to highway speed before it gets on the highway, thus
>>     allowing normal highway traffic to safely drive at a steady highway
>>     speed in the rightmost lane.
>
>That's funny because I've found more space on the right lanes than the left.  In
>all cases, they could have SIMPLY moved to the RIGHT!
>
>There is something wrong with the way people drive in California.  I'm an Orange
>County resident which is between L.A. and San Diego and there are four to
>six-lane highways.
>

Yes, I noticed this especially when I was commuting SD to LA.  There are
a number of places, such as northbound approaching the border check in
Onofre, where a couple of well-timed lane changes to the right can blast
you past hundreds of slower cars, without speeding, weaving, or being
particularly unsafe.  The basic problem is too many people think they have
(as beemer put it not long ago) "left lane credentials."  It's almost as
silly as the keep out of the left lane "rule" someone wants.  It all goes 
to hell on the weekends, when people become tourists and still drive as 
though they are commuting, except really slow in the left lanes.  I've 
seen Sat 10 AM on the 5 be as bad as any weekday rush hour.

>And we have the best highway ramps - very long.  Problem is the stoplights on
>ramps.  I have to go down to 0 mph then when I get the green light to proceed
>onto the freeway, I have so little space to accelerate to 75.  (75 is the
>average speed around here).

Certainly fuel wasting, but I think it actually does help when properly
utilized.  It is not always properly utilized.  And it can be a PITA
when you are just driving through but have to stop briefly.

>
>Richard
>


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