Audi Caravan

[Peter Berrevoets]

If they passed you on the right, you were in the wrong, watch your mirrors
even if you are going over the limit.

Wouldn't you rather pull over and slow down momentarily to let a bunch of
faster drivers pass than hog the left lane and make them do a dangerous and
illegal move?

I pick my speed and drive so as to not encourage others to behave illegally.
If it means pulling to the right when I'm doing 130 or 160 kph to let a
faster car by, then I'll do it so as not to impede him/her. I hope that
others would try and provide the same courtesy.

It's all too often that I come up on some slow poke in the passing lane,
give him a polite (and brief flash) of the hi-beams to let him know I'm
there only to have him hold his/her ground because they obviously feel that
they are traveling at a speed no one should exceed, or have them speed up
just enough so that they can stay in the lane and then slow down again.

Not too long ago, I had the misfortune of witnessing the perils of right
lane passing;
Driving north on a four lane highway I was passing traffic at a rather
leisurely 140 kph choosing lanes based on traffic. A (I think it was)
Mitsubishi 3000GT came from behind in the left centre lane, I was in the
right centre, and literally blew by me weaving in and out of traffic in a
very aggressive manner before getting boxed in in the left lane surrounded
by slow moving cars. I passed him in the far right lane - not having changed
speed and only one lane change - and had the kids ogling his car which they
thought was very cool (they're still young). I was almost half a km ahead of
him and was debating with the kids the merits of German iron over rice
power, when traffic allowed me over into the left lane still without having
changed speeds. with the three lanes to the right of me relatively full with
cars, I approached an airline limousine in the passing lane and gave him a
quick flash. He put his signals on and waited to pass slower traffic to his
right. I glanced in the mirror to see this Mits' coming up behind me with
considerable closing velocity, without signaling he tried to jump two lanes
over to his right and pass me, the limo and the slower traffic immediately
to the right of me in the next lane.

This is where it went seriously wrong for this kid. When he discovered that
there was nowhere for him to go he hit the breaks hard enough to start
smoking the tires, he then fishtailed radically in his lane and with traffic
around him actually moving away from him and slowing down behind him it
looked like he had it under control... almost. One last twitch, put him
three lanes left (two driving and the shoulder) and into the concrete
barrier scraping along with sparks flying, he then seemed to jerk the wheel
right slid sideways a bit and then hit the barrier again backwards, bounced
off and careened across the four lane highway, an on-ramp and onto the
shoulder having totalled his car.

The kids where sickened, and I was on the cell calling 911 before he hit the
second time. Mercifully he didn't hit anybody else.

Let them by even if you have to slow down to do it.

Peter

Cheers!!

Peter

Mississauga, Ontario
1990 200Q
1989 200Q Parts
1987 Coupe GT 2.3



-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
Behalf Of Jacob Behm
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 4:48 PM
To: 'Marc Swanson'
Cc: qlist
Subject: RE: Audi Caravan




> > If you are in the left lane and don't move over for a
> > faster car, you are impeding traffic and you are in the wrong.
> > You don't own the road, you only rent it. Very little irritates me
more
> than
> > people who dawdle in the left lane and refuse to move over.
>
>
> While I mostly agree with you, some tolerance needs to be given for
> situations where say, traffic in the left lane is moving at 60 on a
> 65mph 2 lanes each direction road and you move over to pass at say 75.


Thank you.

As is often the case in a populous area (near Minneapolis), the left
lane of a two lane highway is not "reserved for passing".  It's the fast
lane.  There are too many cars on the road all traveling at different
speeds.  Of course I am familiar with the principle of staying right
unless passing, but as I was going faster than most of the traffic, I
would have been switching lanes every 30 seconds.  Wisconsin state law
requires drivers to "stay as far to the right as practical."  The term
practical is left up to the driver's discretion.  As such, no one has
the right to demand a place in either lane.

Additionally, a group of 6 cars going 100mph can't expect the entire
left lane to clear out of there way.  One would expect to do a lot of
weaving around traffic going closer to the legal speed limit.  In fact,
the first three courteously switched to the right lane well before
catching up to me.  As far as legality goes, a driver caught going over
100mph in WI can lose his license, so I don't think this driver was
concerned with getting caught passing on the right, a recommendation
more than a law in this state.

Finally, I know the difference between a polite request to pass and an
obnoxious demand.  This driver was less than 30 feet off of my rear
bumper and flashing his light continuously for the 10-15 seconds I
waiting while another 100mph Audi screamed by me on the right.  This guy
went out of his way to be a jerk.  Nothing irritates ME more than
someone being rude and obstinate about what he considers his 'rights' at
the expense of someone else.

Incidentally, the request for apology was made in jest.  I'm not taking
it as seriously as some of you.  We can all relax now.

For those that make more reasonable comments/request, the cars were all
different colors and as I recall, they all had regular state issued
plates.  They all appeared to be the same year/model although I'm not
sure.

Jacob