[Schenk]

[ejain]

[boot up]

If the truck is in the right lane as it legally should be, no one would be able to pass on the right.

[ejain]

[like2thruhike]

I wonder how many of the folks who complain about lane campers practice tailgating.....

[boot up]

I wonder how many people defending lane campers ARE lane campers? Going the usual 5to 10 mph under the speed limit in the fast lane, ideally matching speed to a car next to them, with wide open freeway in front of them and a wave of traffic stuck behind them?

[Boywonder]

I drive roughly 25,000 miles every year commuting into Seattle and have been doing so since 1998. The #1 worst offender in traffic in my opinion is the tailgater. I will sit in the right hand lane on 167 in the early morning hours before the big traffic backup and still get tailgated. I am talking a few feet off of my bumper. The left two lanes over are wide open but they think they can get me to drive faster. I get the exact same kind of idiots on I-5 even sitting in the right or middle lane. If I am not driving at least 70 I get tailgated. I drive roughly 61-64 to give you an idea. Save the environment and slow down you will burn less fuel. And yes most folks around here have not clue how a four way stop works. 2nd worst offender are the folks who drive the Toyota Prius on the highways headed to Mt. Rainier. During the commute every day most Prius's I see are going well above the speed limit (especially the yellow cabs). But for some reason on the weekends headed to the mountain 99% of all Prius drivers slow down to 10 under the speed limit. Baffles the mind. 3rd worst offender are Subaru drivers - overall extremely impatient. Not all of them but most I have seen. And 99% of them driving up to Paradise in the winter will tailgate unless you are driving 40 in the compact snow and ice. Holy cow rant city - I feel better now getting that off my chest.

[Ski]

^ that's because the guy driving the Prius is the one who used to drive a Volvo. I don't drive that many miles anymore. used to do at least 100K+ every year in sales (7 states). I would agree that the greater menace is the tailgater. between the Ardena curve at Fife and Des Moines a guy might think he was on the LA freeway at 8 am.

[Daryl]

[Voxxjin]

This is what I have noticed about traffic after having moved here last year. Now mind you that most of my driving is in the south sound area (Tacoma down through Olympia). I have never seen so many people on the freeway that stick to the speed limit. I see people all the time in the left lane doing 60! Not passing anyone. Even when they have a line of cars behind them. I remember years ago when I lived in VA that some people got on the freeway and took up all the lanes and just went the speed limit. caused a huge jam of cars behind them. Eventually the state police pulled them all over and cited them for obstructing the flow of traffic. And do they teach people to NOT speed up to merge with traffic up here? Not sure how many times I have gotten behind people who trying to merge onto the freeway doing 45mph. Finally just remember that everyone slower than you is an ass#### and everyone faster is a maniac.

[Boywonder]

[Ski]

[Voxxjin]

[Ski]

if you can get off (southbound) at Mounts Road you can cross the river at Old Nisqually and connect to Martin Way.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Agree that left lane campers are extremely annoying and can cause traffic to stop flowing the way it should. However tailgaters are a whole different kind of problem. Extremely dangerous and unjustifiable. No matter how good of a driver you think you are, a few feet is not a reasonable following distance probably even on surface streets, let alone a freeway. I will repeatedly brake check tailgaters. They usually are not capable of learning, but I try to educate them anyway. I am particularly sensitive to tailgaiters because I have been rear-ended 4 or 5 times, I've lost track. I thought for a while I had a magnet or a target on my back bumper. And no I wasn't brake checking in any of those instances. Oh, another tailgaiter defense technique is to just take my foot off the gas until they back off. This sometimes works for about 30 seconds, but they have short memories. I get over and let them pass when I can, but sometimes it's not really an option. I don't know what their mindset can possibly be. Often I'd like to be going faster as well but there are 100 cars in front of me, I can't driver faster than the car directly in front of me is going. Tailgaiters SUCK!