[euge]

What chapping it right now? Any current tests of your serenity? This last one's making me tired and disappointed.

Tonight, while we were tracking the trespasser going throughout our offices and work areas throughout my floor and directing security towards him... at least another was in the parking garage breaking into my car. Hopefully that was the only break-in!

Sumb****es are getting smart. While Security was escorting the decoy off campus the other was smashing and grabbing. At least that's how I see it.

I only discovered it because my supervisor let me off early. Busted out my driver's side and stole my GPS. Broke the mirror off & can't find it either.

Silver lining in there is to replace the driver's side window, already cracked windscreen and mirror will only cost me $50. And I might be able to claim my GPS on my Home-owners.

So I'm having a Light & Stormy, smoking some wings and watching No Reservations. The material is replaceable...

[egminer]

Now that's just wrong.  I hate it when those who feel work is beneath them take from those who work hard to get what they have. I hope that the decoy is made to sing and they can track down the others.  At least as you indicated the silver lining is in a new windshield/window/mirror and POSSIBLY a new GPS. I feel for you on this. 

[dhacker]

My serenity is tested twice everyday. Once on the way to work, and once on the way home from work. There are an incredible number of mindless idiot drivers on the road. Most of whom are either yakking on the cell phone, texting on the cell phone, or have a wheelchaired license plate.


LEFT LANE FAST, RIGHT LANE SLOW! 

[nicneufeld]

See, I'm kind of opposite of you there.  While I try to stay to the right, just out of safety concerns, I don't think anyone has the "right" to exceed posted speed limits, and if someone is going within 2 or 3 mph of the posted speed limit in the left lane, he or she should be considered "fast" traffic and slower traffic (5-10mph below posted limit) should stay to the right.  More often than not in my experience, drivers who get sanctimonious about people driving slow in the fast lane are upset because those drivers are only going 5 mph over the speed limit!  The horror!  Only breaking the legal limit by 5!!  Thus violating one's civil rights to do 20mph over!

If you want to break the law that's fine, but its thoroughly hypocritical to get holier-than-thou about generally unwritten "rules" of the road, like the concept that if you're going the speed limit you should stay to the right, when most of these same people are upset because non-speeders in the left lane are constraining their ability to flagrantly violate the very clearly written, and posted, laws regarding speed limits.

But your mileage (and MPH) may vary! 

[Robert]

Those GPS units are hot tickets. Never leave them out and visible. It sucks for you Euge, but I don't know how many I've seen stolen. I would never leave a big ticket item visible in my car, regardless of how "secure" I felt the environ....

[dak0415]

In NC we have a new law that requires drivers to 1) Slow down while approaching and passing emergency and police vehicles on the  right shoulder or 2) Move to the left lane.  My issue is with those who do both.  Move to the left and slow down to 50mph where the posted speed is 65!

Just me?  I don't think so!

[nicneufeld]

Yeah that's a little silly!  Some folks can't distinguish between AND, and OR.  Let's hope they aren't our database administrators! 

[euge]

Those GPS units are hot tickets. Never leave them out and visible. It sucks for you Euge, but I don't know how many I've seen stolen. I would never leave a big ticket item visible in my car, regardless of how "secure" I felt the environ....

The Officer that came out said pretty much the same thing adding that there's a large stolen GPS ring here and they can't figure out why. Hmmm.... who would need a cheap disposable GPS? I don't have to think very far on that one.

And, even taking them off the windscreen doesn't keep your parked car safe if you leave the dirty suction cup rings. Screams GPS or radar detector. Now I'm sorta nervous because my address, phone number and name is in that GPS. I won't make that mistake again.

On a lighter note:

I've always regarded the left lane as a "passing lane". Isn't this the official designation for the left lane? Pretty inconsiderate of the driver "doing the speed limit" to have cars dangerously stacking up behind them in the passing lane. It's called common courtesy & common sense regardless of whether anyone is violating posted speed limits.

Cell phone usage while driving (unless hands-free) should be a ticket-able offense everywhere not just in school zones.

[Hokerer]

See, I'm kind of opposite of you there.  While I try to stay to the right, just out of safety concerns, I don't think anyone has the "right" to exceed posted speed limits, and if someone is going within 2 or 3 mph of the posted speed limit in the left lane, he or she should be considered "fast" traffic and slower traffic (5-10mph below posted limit) should stay to the right.  More often than not in my experience, drivers who get sanctimonious about people driving slow in the fast lane are upset because those drivers are only going 5 mph over the speed limit!  The horror!  Only breaking the legal limit by 5!!  Thus violating one's civil rights to do 20mph over!

If you want to break the law that's fine, but its thoroughly hypocritical to get holier-than-thou about generally unwritten "rules" of the road, like the concept that if you're going the speed limit you should stay to the right, when most of these same people are upset because non-speeders in the left lane are constraining their ability to flagrantly violate the very clearly written, and posted, laws regarding speed limits.

But your mileage (and MPH) may vary! 

In Virginia, in addition to speed limits, another law on the books (and prominently posted on every interstate) is "slower traffic keep right".  Regardless of your speed, if someone's going faster than you, you should be in the right lane.  If you're only doing 10 miles over the limit and someone else is doing 20, both of you are breaking the first law but, if you don't move to the right, you're also breaking the second.

[tschmidlin]

My serenity is tested twice everyday. Once on the way to work, and once on the way home from work.

Just imagine if you had to deal with this: 

China Traffic Jam Could Last Weeks
BEIJING—A 62-mile traffic jam near the Chinese capital that officials say could last until mid-September [...]

Officials say traffic has been snarled along the outskirts of Beijing and is stretching toward the border of Inner Mongolia ever since roadwork on the Beijing-Tibet Highway started Aug. 13. [...]

[EHall]

'Now I'm sorta nervous because my address, phone number and name is in that GPS. I won't make that mistake again.'

Hope you have some firearms! Keep a shotgun close by for a while... I don't know how  bad home invasions are in TX but here in AZ, they are going up...

I get tested everyday too... all day long... asshats on the way to work, asshats at work, asshats on the way home... it never ends... oh and asshats running the state into the ground!

[nicneufeld]

In Virginia, in addition to speed limits, another law on the books (and prominently posted on every interstate) is "slower traffic keep right".  Regardless of your speed, if someone's going faster than you, you should be in the right lane.  If you're only doing 10 miles over the limit and someone else is doing 20, both of you are breaking the first law but, if you don't move to the right, you're also breaking the second.

The idea of "slower traffic keep right" is much more a principle than a law.  One I generally agree with, too!  But as a law, how are violations even definable?  Its thoroughly simple for an enforcement officer to gauge whether a vehicle is exceeding the posted speed limit, within a reasonable degree of accuracy.  It's a simple comparison...your vehicles speed versus the posted speed, if A > B, you have a violation.  But "slower" traffic keep right?  Slower than what?  The average speed of all vehicles on the interstate?  The average speed of the top 50% of cars on the interstate at the time?  Some other arbitrary construct?  How about all cars moving slower than the fastest car on the interstate keep to the right?  Then one fellow would have a run of the left lane, until someone else overtook him.  Of course, this is all completely indeterminable in a practical sense.

So, to make sure I never run afoul of the law in VA, what exactly does the law say would be the offense I would commit in violation of this statute?  Would it be driving in the left lane at a rate slower than another vehicle on the highway at the same time?  Are many such citations handed out?  

I view the left lane as a passing lane, and so I don't cruise down the road in the left lane.  Occasionally I'll pass multiple vehicles so I might be in the left lane for 30 seconds or more, but I usually get over soon after, giving the right lane cars a small bit of berth so I don't seem like I'm swerving in front of them or cutting them off.  So I'm good with the idea of a passing lane, and not obstructing it to block traffic.  But most of the unsafe gits that swoop up on me in the left lane (even in just a few seconds as I pass a slow truck in the right lane) doing 80 or 90, and then park on my bumper to show their displeasure (another principle like "Slower traffic keep right" was to maintain a certain number of car lengths between vehicles per 10mph of speed, something that I've rarely seen aggressive passing lane residents abide by) are breaking the law, endangering lives, and driving unsafely, and then they have the unmitigated gall to blame someone driving with strict observance of traffic laws for being unsafe because they had to apply brakes on the highway while speeding.

EDIT: Found this on a "lane courtesy" website:  "This means a driver going the speed limit in the left lane can still be a serious problem. They can cause abrupt lane and speed changes, as well as hostility or road rage."  ROFLMAO! They might cause road rage?  That's the equivalent of the old "dressing seductively causes rape" chestnut! 

[tschmidlin]

The idea of "slower traffic keep right" is much more a principle than a law.

Umm , pretty sure this is much more of a law than a principle, at least where I am.  It is typically applied in a way that if you are causing a traffic problem, ticket.  Holding up traffic, ticket.  Also, if you are all alone in the left lane with no cars around you and you irritate the officer, ticket.

It has been my experience from talking to a lot of police officers that they really don't care how fast you are going from a mph standpoint, they care if it is safe.  A little over the speed limit they consider safe.  And a car in the left lane going 57 mph in a 60 mph zone where the prevailing speed of the cars is usually 70, that is the one causing the problem.  Like it or not, that is the one that is usually going to get the ticket.

[Hokerer]

The idea of "slower traffic keep right" is much more a principle than a law.  

It really is a law...

Virginia Code § 46.2-804. Special regulations applicable on highways laned for traffic.

Whenever any roadway has been divided into clearly marked lanes for traffic, drivers of vehicles shall obey the following:

1. Any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions existing, shall be driven in the lane nearest the right edge or right curb of the highway when such lane is available for travel except when overtaking and passing another vehicle or in preparation for a left turn or where right lanes are reserved for slow-moving traffic as permitted in this section;

...and yes, they do issue citations, generally for "impeding the flow of traffic".  And no, "normal" doesn't have anything to do with the posted speed limit.

[nicneufeld]

Thanks for the text!  I didn't disbelieve that it was codified, just that the idea is more like a principle, because it is so arbitrary and full of undefineds.  It's a somewhat blank check for law enforcement, and I generally understand those being fairly reasonable.  The hypocrisy of posted limits and arbitrary enforcement I still see as needing correction.  If speed limits aren't speed limits, then take them down and be done with it.  Or raise them to what we might now consider unsafe speeds.  Whatever you do, make the written law and the enforced law somewhat consistent.  Which I concede is a tall order!

The "fast lane" partisan websites bemoaning the fact that somebody driving the speed limit in the left lane causes road rage is laughable to me though!  They don't have enough self-control and so blame such modest provocation on the other driver going the speed limit for why they commit acts of violence?  It's like saying everything that irritates me is "unsafe" because I might fly off the handle, so people will only have themselves to blame if they irritate me!   

I do agree that hanging in the left lane of an interstate for non-passing purposes is inadvisable and discourteous (whether driving fast or slow) and I find the use of cellphones and mobile devices while driving (particularly on the highway!) irritating, because driving requires attention and alertness, and many of these people cannot be attentive and alert while phoning, and thus became a danger on the road.  I think generally speaking most fast lane driver types and I would rarely have much to be upset about at each other, as I strive for alertness and courtesy on the road and do not cruise the left lane.  But then there are always the thoroughly unsafe and discourteous drivers that feel they own the road and like to whip around you with inches between bumpers, never a thought for a turn signal to announce their intent.  Those sorts of, for lack of a better term, "rectums" seem to be as common as the left lane 55mph dreadnaught cruisers, at least around here, and at least as unsafe.

It is amusing how deep and strong of feelings this issue engenders.  Reminds me of an old Disney short about driving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAZ_xu0DCg