Calling All Utah Drivers

This is in response to a blog post by my friend, Ashley Jones, about those drivers who foolishly slow down to balk at accidents or even any sort of distraction while driving 70 mph in dense traffic. I hate that too!

While this behavior may be a problem in most if not all 50 states, I would like to say that there are certain driving tendencies that recur frequently in the state of Utah that annoy the heck out of this "California-driver."

1. First, the "Utah Roadblock." I googled this term that I frequently use and it turns out that Urban Dictionary actually has it defined, perfectly accurately too. It says it's "when you and your friends take up one whole side of the road with one car per lane going as far under the speed limit as you think you can get away with." And although U.D. defines it as a sort of intentional prank, this phenomenon happens inadvertently all the time by unsuspecting Utah drivers who are afraid of appearing too aggressive by passing the other car that happens to be going the same speed (usually below the speed limit). This practice prevents other drivers from passing safely on the left.

2. The other thing is the tendency of some Utah drivers to automatically drift into the left lane as soon as they get on the freeway... just because its their default lane of choice. This is a problem because it is customary to pass on the left, and its a little hard to do that when there's an old lady going 55 in the fast lane!! That's why they have signs like these posted all throughout Utah!

That's also why there are websites dedicated specifically to teaching this safe practice such as this:

http://www.slowertraffickeepright.com/

and this...

http://californiakeepright.com/

It's not the "I'm going the speed limit" lane.
It's not the "I'm going fast enough" lane.
It's not the "you can go around me" lane.
It's not the "cell phone use lane" lane.
Have you ever had any of these thoughts while in the left lane?
Well, then you need to
GET OVER to the RIGHT!

http://www.circlemp.com/stkr/stkr.html

I like this visual for all my friends who don't quite have a testimony of this principle. As you can see, there is a car in the left or "fast lane" and what you can't see is the car is labeled, "Rude Jerk (60 in 65). So, don't be a jerk. You may think that you're just being safe by going the speed limit, but if the flow of traffic is going faster than that (hint: your sign for this may be when dozens of cars speed past you on the right whenever there's an opening) then you need to get over to the right to make their passing of you safer. Thank you.

3. The last thing I'm going to say that annoys me is the drivers who think they're being considerate when they stop for the single pedestrian who hasn't even gotten to the curb yet! In fact, one day I was going to be picked up from campus and I was waiting for my ride to arrive. I was standing a good 5 to 10 feet from the curb. Standing, not walking. I obviously had no intentions of crossing the street. Then some driver stopped to let me cross and even waived me on! I then insisted that he keep going by waiving him on. Okay, of course there is the other extreme of jerky drivers who swerve around pedestrians as they're crossing the street as soon as there's room to squeeze their car, nearly hitting people as they go. To those people I am very tempted to give the finger! But the drivers who stop needlessly and naively for would-be pedestrian street crossers, all the while, holding up 5 cars behind them when all the cars could have easily gone by before the walker got to the street... they need to get off their "nicer driver than thou" high horse and just drive sensibly!

In conclusion, I admit that I'm a recovering road rager. What I have to realize is that I'm not a perfect driver either and I make mistakes. The point is, let's all just resolve to be a little bit better and a little bit safer on those roads out there so that we can all get on with the road of life a little bit faster.