IS THE DARK HORSE ROAD RAGE BAIT?

[davidsteele1975]

I'd welcome advice... As a Brit, it was beaten into me to always move over after passing, a discipline I continue in the US.

To my mind, move over means moving to the right most lane. However, I know of people who are dedicated members of the MLOC, Middle Lane Owners Club. She's like, I'm not in the left, folks can pass me either side, and if I'm in the right lane I often have to merge to avoid merging traffic.

I'm not going to be the one to try to enforce road policy as a passenger because what do I know but passenger advice welcome! Shut up and let them get on with it or try to encourage a change in behavior...

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[Junkyard Dog]

I'd welcome advice... As a Brit, it was beaten into me to always move over after passing, a discipline I continue in the US.

To my mind, move over means moving to the right most lane. However, I know of people who are dedicated members of the MLOC, Middle Lane Owners Club. She's like, I'm not in the left, folks can pass me either side, and if I'm in the right lane I often have to merge to avoid merging traffic.

I'm not going to be the one to try to enforce road policy as a passenger because what do I know but passenger advice welcome! Shut up and let them get on with it or try to encourage a change in behavior...

Move over should mean all the way to the right. It meant that when I lived in Germany. Unfortunately, the law in Georgia applies only to the left hand most lane when the road has more than one lane proceeding in the same direction, so, if there are four lanes on the interstate, tooling along like a jackass in the third lane is not illegal.

Tooling along in the third lane like a jackass, however, has a deleterious effect on traffic flow. Mrs. MLOC forces everybody who is driving faster than her, no matter how much or how little, to be funneled into that one lane to her left. If somebody is driving 3 mph faster than her, then that driver must go to her left. If somebody is driving 15 mph faster than her, then that driver must also go to her left. Multiply that times dozens of vehicles driving all different speeds over miles and miles and it is easy to see the problem that she is creating.

Traffic flows best when driving to the right and passing to the left, no matter how many lanes are involved.

But often I can go faster and farther by setting my cruise control and driving in the right hand lane when there are four lanes, because Mrs. MLOC and others like her refuse to drive in the right hand lane, forcing everybody into that funnel. Meanwhile, in the right hand lane, I can see for miles and miles . . .

I would change the law, but I do not have the fight in me anymore to change laws. I have done so in the past, and the fight takes a lot of energy, dedication, and time. I do not really have it in me anymore. Too many other things to do.

 

[Frogdog1]

I drive I-85 from Brazelton towards Greenville regularly and if you drive all the way on the right hand lane, you'll be right in the middle a solid line of Class 8 trucks going up and down hills and not very fast. Most other car drivers are awake enough to see this so they migrate to the middle lane and, of course you have enough lane hogs in the far left lane(s) to cause a clusterf__. That's when power matters if you want to get anywhere. Nothing is fair or logical on interstates today or any roads for that matter. If I'm in the Mustang, I look for the rare open areas of the road. One issue is the number of trucks on the roads today. Everything comes on a truck.

 

[TMR]

So I took a couple drives today.
I took the wife’s X3 for a bath. I don’t drive it often so I put it in sport plus to prevent carbon build up. It is fairly loud and pops and bubbles with the valves open on the quad exhaust. I had some fun from lights and around curves, but did not really exceed the speed limit. In a short drive I had both an old Camry and an old Armada feel they had to challenge me. The Armada even zoomed ahead and dove into a backed up turn lane almost causing a wreck with with his rear stuck out in the through lane. Just crazy when I did not engage anyone, aggressively or otherwise. Did they take my fun as a dis toward their vehicles? Clearly not just Mustangs or Dark Horses. The drivers with the chips own their behavior.

A few hours later I took a top down ride with my son on this beautiful 70+ Christmas Eve in the South. Relaxed driving but in Sport so the exhaust was singing on the downshifts and burbling when off throttle. 1 maybe 2 light pulls since I am breaking in. Nobody engaged…excepted a couple other Mustangs who waved and nodded.
Shout out especially to the modded blue S550 who endured me at the speed limit for a couple miles and gave a wave as I turned into the hood. Good looking coupe.

it is a pretty great community.

 

[Paul's stable]

I‘ve had my Dark Horse with the handling package for only a couple of months. With the cold temperatures, the rain and the snow here in Pennsylvania, the break-in process has been going slowly and I’ve only been able to put in ~350 miles. So far. in the few times I’ve taken it out, i’ve been gentle, keeping the RPMs below 4000, but still driving reasonably at the pace of traffic. But still, I‘ve found myself tailed by aggressive drivers who come right up to my rear bumper, almost bumping me, even when there is nowhere to go because of traffic. One time, after tailing me bumper to bumper, a Ford F-250 passed me aggressively on the right. Another time, a Volkswagen SUV that was also following me bumper to bumper went into the oncoming lane to pass me and the two cars in front of me while we were at a red light. On another occasion, another SUV pulled the same stuff, after following me aggressively, he gunned his engine and switched lanes to pass me on the right after I had signaled that I was merging into the right lane, almost causing a collision.. But it hasn’t been all negative. Several times I’ve gotten thumbs up and “nice car dude”, but in the few times I’ve taken it out, I‘ve definitely gotten some hostile vibes. Have any other Dark Horse owners out there gotten similar vibes?

I have found with road rage it's not the vehicle it's 100% the driver.

 

[glenng6]

Merry Christmas. You would know the road. 222 in Trexlertown. When still working, did not enjoy my rides up 22 to Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas to you! You are right! 22 can be a bear, so we avoid it as much as possible. 222 isn't bad, but there is one light with the two gas stations, near the house with all the wrought iron railings, that can cause backups. We have spent quite a bit of time in Amish country and use 222 to get there. I’ve been making that drive for probably 50 years. Glenn

 

[glenng6]

Yep. The Georgia State Patrol was very aggressive about enforcing it when the law first passed (well, it was always there, but the legislature removed the part about the speed limit). Lots of folks were howling with indignation online about getting a ticket for "not speeding fast enough." LOL. Some folks are just too stupid to be on the road with the rest of us.

The law has, however, reduced the number of folks who just cruise in the left lane and do not move over when a faster car approaches from behind. I can actually tell a difference when I cross state lines and more drivers are just camping in the left lane. There are still some in Georgia (idiots), but not as many as in surrounding states.

We could use that Georgia law in PA! Glenn

 

[glenng6]

I'd welcome advice... As a Brit, it was beaten into me to always move over after passing, a discipline I continue in the US.

To my mind, move over means moving to the right most lane. However, I know of people who are dedicated members of the MLOC, Middle Lane Owners Club. She's like, I'm not in the left, folks can pass me either side, and if I'm in the right lane I often have to merge to avoid merging traffic.

I'm not going to be the one to try to enforce road policy as a passenger because what do I know but passenger advice welcome! Shut up and let them get on with it or try to encourage a change in behavior...

I will admit that I am a MLOC member. But not for the reason you specified. I do it because I want two options when I need to escape an ahole! Glenn

 

[Frogdog1]

The most scary part of driving is that not everyone out there can speak or read English, some don't have licenses, and a lot of people either don't have insurance or have the minimum amount which is not even close to enough for them or others. That's why I try to drive in open spaces away from "the pack". Easier said than done.

 

[Hadelson]

not everyone out there can speak or read English, some don't have licenses, and a lot of people either don't have insurance

Unfortunately, a very true statement. I worked Logistics many years. The last five years, we noticed marked increase with DOT CDL drivers who did not speak English. This caused many delivery/pick-up issues. Also, we had an employee one day practicing driving in our parking lot on lunch break. Lost control of the SUV and hit the building bouncing off and hitting another employee's parked car. Fortunately, no injuries. When police arrived to sort through and complete accident report, it turned ugly. Driver causing accident, forged license, invalid registration and no insurance. Car hit by this person, Forged license, invalid registration and no insurance. A deeper dive found both illegal's working with forged documents. We terminated both immediately and police had cars towed. No charges as accident occurred on private property. IMO opinion, just a very sad state and this also reflects on road driving habits or lack there of

 

[Rocket Man]

don't know about the road rage problem but cars run the way they are broken in. Your's is not going to be the fastest Dark Horse if you never exceed 4K rpm's after 350 miles. Run that baby up to 5-6K every now and then. Might not be too late.

 

[Upacurb]

Maybe they don't get aggressive around my GT because of the non-threatening powder puff blue color!

My buddy has a C8 in that similar powder blue …. So he got personalized plates

 

[LouG]

I used to pull over drivers who sat in the fast lane, even at the limit.
They'd say that anyone passing them is breaking the law. To which I'd say "you're not a cop". That usually ended the discussion.

 

[glenng6]

I used to pull over drivers who sat in the fast lane, even at the limit.
They'd say that anyone passing them is breaking the law. To which I'd say "you're not a cop". That usually ended the discussion.

Now we need to clone you! Glenn

 

[LouG]

Now we need to clone you! Glenn

No, there's enough a**eholes already.

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