The first being that in Germany for example it costs serious money (up to $3,700) to get a drivers license only after completing a rigorous Fahrschule (driving school). You must also be 18 to obtain said license.

In Germany one of the most serious infractions is “Lane Restrictions”, passing must always be done on the left, never on the right (except for traffic accidents or traffic jams). In other words if somebody is camping in the left lane you cannot overtake them on the right, oh wait a minute we are talking about Germany, NO BODY CAMPS IN THE LEFT LANE!!

In our country you will see signs occasionally that say “Left lane only for passing, slow vehicles stay to the right”. The problem is that these signs are wasted on Americans apparently because we are so self consumed that we are oblivious to the fact we are holding up traffic by camping in the left lane or we are completely stupid or much worse we don’t care.

These individuals are the reason for most traffic problems and road rage issues. Imagine if we had harsh deterrents on lane restriction and the ability to enforce such deterrents. Imagine if we as Americans had consideration for one another and admiration for horse power and those that want to utilize it.

Imagine if you were cruising from Seattle to Spokane on I-90 and you had your cruise set to about 78 Mph and the guy in front of you steps aside and lets’ you pass rather passing the car he is passing at 1 Mph faster. That is what I am talking about when I use the word “consideration”.

If you are passing and someone is coming up from behind go ahead and step on the pedal a little and get out of the way, your vehicle will settle right into the same cruising speed previously set once you let of the peddle, it’s not rocket science, it’s called consideration. Consideration for the world around us, for the person who is late for a meeting or maybe on the way to pick up a sick child or maybe just maybe, is attempting to employ the freedom the open road should allow.

Ok, here is the rub, all you who are getting your hackles up and saying that such a person is endangering the rest of us by speeding, to which I reply, hooey..

Germany has less fatal accidents per capita per mile driven than the United States why is that, because of good driver training, consideration for other drivers and strong deterrents.

You may have realized this far into the article that left lane drivers are my personal pet peeve, I assure you however that thankfully, I have matured over the years and now am just annoyed in this situation rather than invoking my use of the middle finger. What I really wish existed is some sort of device that could be used to immobilize the vehicles of left lane drivers so we could put them in a “time out” for being stupid and inconsiderate.

Just imagine being able to use such a devise, you could say “there you pull over for awhile and think about what you have done”. Oh my sweet Lord, how cool would that be.. Or maybe a series of small electric shocks sent to the seat of left laners to remind them that there is a whole world going around them and it does not revolve around them.

We who drive BMW’s are enjoying a vehicle that was designed for Autobahn driving; however we are unfortunately not getting to take pleasure in that particular aspect of the vehicle.

My E38 was produced in Dingolfing Germany with the intent of cruising at speeds of 120 Mph all day long; I will never get to engage in such delight here in the US and maybe I shouldn’t given the fact that our highway systems are designed for much slower speeds.

I would however love to cruise at conservative speeds and be rest assured that myself and others around me are being considerate of the driving conditions. I would love to come up behind someone and know that they are not going to pull out in front of me selfishly just to pass the car in front of them at 1 Mph mile faster than they themselves are traveling. I would love to be confident that the car in front of me is going to move when it sees that I am moving much faster than it is.

For now I will just fantasize about such things, maybe someday I will be able to drive on the Autobahn and get out of the way of a faster moving Porsche or better yet, have a slow moving Benz move aside for me….

Today, the culture is in upheaval, as we isolate, dwell inwardly, and jettison old mores and social constructs. Etiquette and manners are how we smooth interaction and help others be comfortable. It involves an expected behavior and compliance with that behavior.

Today the expectation that faster traffic occupy the left lane is not universal. Obviously, it is useful to group like speeds together, because excessive speed is only in relation to something else, usually other vehicles. It is this differential in speed that creates the danger. As long as weather and road conditions permit, speeds in excess of 100m ph would be safe, just like on the autobahn. But lack of acceptable lane discipline creates significant danger and tension. There are several reasons that I see for our lack of universal left lane use.
• It is not taught as a significant part of driver education.
• It is not reflected in enough road signs to that effect (a generation ago unnecessary).
• It is not a part of enforcement strategy by law enforcement - meaning, the almost exclusive focus of law enforcement on speeding when much more dangerous actions occur that do not show up on a radar gun display.
• The failure of cities to expand highway capacity to meet demand.
• The increase in immigrants, including illegals, that bring a different driving culture into our country, usually borne of the chaotic driving behavior from their own homelands.

To decrease this void between what we have today and what we could have will take a concerted effort. However, the new social paradigm is not one that studies ways to improve social cohesion, but looks for the silver bullet laws that can make people behave like gun laws, no-smoking laws, helmet laws, etc. The quick fix, give me a pill to feel better attitude will prevent us from any meaningful improvement, I am afraid.

Prof. Ricardo