Hiding in the Backwaters Just one more blog on the net.

Freeway Etiquette 101

1. Just because the posted speed limit is 65, that does not entitle you to drive 65 in the inside lane. Believe it or not, the law requires you to allow people to pass, regardless of their speed. Go to church and pray for all the godless sinners who exceed the speed limit if that makes you feel better, but I'd lay odds even God thinks you're being insufferably arrogant.
2. If I turn on my blinker I am doing you the courtesy of informing you of my intent to change lanes. I am not asking your permission. Don't speed up to try and close the gap.
3. Don't ride my tail in the middle lane. I have a lead foot as it is. I am not going to feel bad that you can't do 85 in the middle lane. The left hand lane is called the passing lane. Use it.
4. If traffic is heavy and we are in the left hand lane, don't expect me to ride the tail of the person in front of me so you can feel better about riding mine.
5. If someone in front of you is going 67 mph and you pull in front of me to pass them, going 67.4 does not constitute passing.
6. If my passing you snaps you out of whatever reverie you were lost in and you now realize how annoyingly slow you were going, don't decide to speed up and pace me. Either maintain your current speed or speed up and pass me, but get the hell out of the way.
7. Don't expect me to move over just because you haven't figured out that the HOV restrictions on the left lane ended 500 yards back. See #3.
8. If I move over to let you pass me and I have 100 yards or less before I over take the car in front of me, then, for crying out loud, pass me! See #5. Riding my tail and then just creeping past me officially makes you an obnoxious asshole.
9. If you are going to jump into my lane, cut me off, and then maintain your current speed causing me to break to avoid running you over, there had better be debris in the road—you know, like a dead cow or a steel safe. "The mood grabbed me" is not even a valid reason for changing lanes, much less for cutting me, or anyone else, off.
10. It is okay to pass a highway patrolman at 70 mph. It is not okay to pass a highway patrolman at 80mph, though we appreciate you taking him out of traffic and breaking up the log jam of cowards who don't have the gonads to pass him at all.