Why Do People Drive 5 MPH Under the Speed Limit (or more!) in the Left Lane?

Do they even care?

I can still remember it 20+ years later, like it was yesterday. I was on my way driving to work early morning and turned onto a road that didn’t have a passing lane. Some little ‘ol lady was in a car in front of me. Just my luck! I could tell she was old and frail and probably not seeing so well. How could she? She was so short that she had to look between the steering wheel and the dashboard to see out the windshield!

In a 40 mile-per-hour zone, she was driving about 16 mph. My trip to the highway on this little road was about 10 minutes on a normal day. Today, it would take nearly 20…an eternity in commuter time.

Who was SHE to dictate MY speed on the road? And, how could a person be so uncaring about others that she would be driving at such a slow rate of speed?

About eight minutes into the trip, I realized the guy in the car behind me was reaching his patience limit. He started swerving back and forth behind me, tailgating ME, as if there was something I could do to push the lady in front of me to go faster. I looked back behind him, and there was a line of cars that had to be a mile long. We were ALL reaching our patience level.

Suddenly, I remembered there was a very short second lane coming up. You know, one of those lanes you come onto a street from a parking lot so that you can get some speed going to merge into the lane?

When I got there, I revved the engine, dropped it into 2nd, and floored it! Passed the little old lady in a half a second with room to spare in the side lane! I honked the horn in victory! Waved my fists in the air and shouted “WOOOO HOOO!!!” as I pulled in front of her intending to make up for lost time on my way to work.

No, my brain had other plans.

Instead of speeding up, I slowed down. Whereas she was driving 16 mph, I slowed her down to 5 mph…just so she could see what it was like to be held back from going the speed she wanted.

After about two minutes of this reverse torture, I sped up and made my way to work. At that time, I was about 22 years old, young and aggressive. Instead of feeling compassion for the little old lady, I had feelings of accomplishment as if I had accomplished some sort of duty to impact humanity in a positive way by giving her a taste of her own medicine!

The Point to the Story

We have all wanted to do something similar, haven’t we? Everyone has their story of the nightmare on the road with terrible drivers.

Today, I live in the Denver area. I’m reminded of my experience with the little old lady at least five times a day driving around the metro area. Nowhere in the country have I experienced such a high percentage of drivers going slower in the left lane than the speed limit sign allows.

I’m much older now, with far more patience with drivers. I’m still an aggressive driver though and I like to get where I’m going in the shortest amount of time possible. I speed up to get through yellow lights but I come to full stops at stop signs.

The little old lady probably had many mental challenges. If I would face a similar situation today, I would be much more sympathetic toward her driving.

But I say that because I just don’t understand why people drive so slow in the left lane in a multi-lane road.

Why Do People Drive So Slow?

If there are two or three lanes going in my direction, and the speed limit is 40, they’ll go 32 mph. If we’re on the highway with a 65 mph speed limit, the person will go 52. On a 75 mph tollway, there will be a LINE of cars going 67 mph in the left lane!

Then, the weirdest thing happens. These slow drivers will exit and they’ll come to a stop sign at the end of the off ramp. Instead of stopping and waiting for twice the normal time you would expect a car would stop at a stop sign, the dude slows down to about 7 mph and then flies through the stop sign!

So, these people have a driving style of:

Drive slow where you’re supposed to go fast. But, when you’re supposed to stop, keep going!

These people are road rage bait if I ever saw it! And, I just don’t understand why so many people drive like this. Are they simply uncaring about other peoples’ schedules and safety? Are they simply preoccupied with texting and talking on their cell phones?

The question remains unanswered to this day.

I’m going to drive my daughter the short 15-minute distance to her school like I do every day. And, I’ll bet before I get there I will have experienced at least three or four drivers that will annoy me somehow.

Is it just me or should I be more accepting? Yet another question that will be unresolved for today anyway.

What Kind of Driver Do You Want to Be?

My 15-yo has been driving with his learner’s permit for six months now. I’ve taught him three main points about driving so far:

1. Expect EVERY driver is going to do something stupid and be ready to react to it. A driver in the right lane will always come into your lane without signaling or looking. So, always be watching for the guy next to you.
2. Be polite by giving people way more room in everything you do on the road. If you see someone barreling up behind you, speed up even if it’s going over the speed limit to pass the car next to you so that you can get into the other lane and let the faster driver go by. Never be so inconsiderate as those slow left lane drivers who seem to enjoy holding you back from going the speed limit.
3. Never trust your own commitment. What I mean by this is to always look over your shoulder, then left, then right, then left again, and turn around again and again when you’re driving in parking lots or backing up. Why not just look once and go? Because that’s exactly what the OTHER guy is doing. People drive worse in parking lots than they do on highways. You have to be the one that chooses to be the better driver and watch out for others, because they are definitely not watching for you!

So, to summarize this bit of a rant on drivers, I’d just like to say move over if you drive slow. You don’t want some aggressive driver like me calling you an old lady 20 years from now!