Interstates versus secondary roads

mabynack wrote:
I usually try to pull off and let others go by. I don't like the stress from having them tailgate and I think it's just polite. I've had close calls when someone gets frustrated and tries passing me on a corner.

My last trip was only 60 miles and I got behind a slow motorhome. The guy behind me got impatient and tried passing both of us on a blind corner and ran a car off the road. It could have been fatal for several of the people involved.

In Montana (and many other states), that is the law!

Montana Code Annotated 61-8-311. Minimum speed regulations.
(1) A person may not drive a motor vehicle at a speed slow enough to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.

(2) On a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe because of oncoming traffic or other conditions, the operator of a slow-moving vehicle behind which four or more vehicles are formed in line shall turn off the roadway at the nearest area where a sufficient and safe turnout exists in order to permit the vehicles following it to proceed. If the shoulder of the highway to the right of the slow-moving vehicle is wide enough and is in a condition allowing safe travel, the operator of the slow-moving vehicle may drive onto the shoulder and proceed at a safe speed until passed. As used in this section, a slow-moving vehicle is one that is proceeding at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place. The department of transportation is authorized to designate and construct turnouts and to erect official traffic control devices at appropriate places advising motorists of this statute.

(3) If the department of transportation or local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on any part of a highway impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, the commission or the local authority may set a minimum speed limit below which a person may not operate a vehicle except when necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.

You CAN get a ticket if there are 4 or more vehicles behind you and you don't move over and let them by IF you can safely do so!

I use the road that will get us where we want to go. Since there are only three freeways in this state (I-15, I-90, and I-94), that means we often use 2 lane roads.

You get to see a lot more of the country off the Interstate. I came home from Edmonton, AB with no freeways until I had to cross the Big Mac bridge back in Michigan. We just went East until a road ended and then went South until we found another road going East. We saw a lot of things not visible from the freeways.

MTPockets1 wrote:
I'm the guy with the fifth wheel on the 2 lane driving the speed limit at most, and enjoying the casual pace. If cars tail gate it's their problem. I have the same right to be there and if they don't like it, they can take the interstate.

If you are going 5 to 10 under you may just see me coming past you in your drivers side mirror!

Not crazy, but given a clear road I will pass a slower vehicle on a two lane road while towing. Right after asking DW for permission!! :B

Interstates around here are slower than side rads at peak times and some times all day.
It depend on knowledge of the road whether we take a side road with the Mh. I prefer the side roads if there is not a stop light or sign or little town every five miles.
So many semis and governed to 65 impeding traffic with their games have really slowed down the Interstates and caused a lot of wrecks.

When I worked for a living and only have short vacations, it was always get to the destination and back home.
Now it is take your time and take it easy. Smell the roses along the way.
I have been watching the last few years many rigs flying down the highway. They normally pass me a couple times as they stop for fuel and other issues.

TInmania wrote:

captnjack wrote:

NMDriver wrote:

I would rather chat with a trooper about shoulder driving then to discuss what happen at an accident.

I doubt if you would ever be cited. In some states and maybe in most impeding traffic is a ticket offense. In CA slow moving vehicles must pull over and allow faster vehicles to pass if 5 or more are behind them. I think there is a similar law in CO. If you drive in TX you see most slow vehicles pull over and use the shoulder like another lane of traffic where it is wide enough (most places).

AS for the "I have a right to impede traffic" line of thought. Do not try that with my nephew a NM state police region commander.

If he's doing the speed limit, how could he be impeding traffic?

Because with 5 or more cars stacked up behind you, you are indeed impeding traffic. It doesn't even matter if you are going 5+ MPH over the speed limit: you are impeding and can get cited. My brother, Arizona DPS officer, has given citations to drivers--yep, usually RV--for both impeding traffic AND speeding. He wouldn't normally write the citation for speeding at only 5-10 MPH over the limit but he feels drivers who refuse to move have caused too many head-on collisions that he has had to deal with.

And if you think don't care about the person behind you, at least consider the person they might hit when, frustrated, they try to pass you at the wrong time. When you impede traffic you put innocent people in danger.

If someone is behind me and wants to pass, I let them by, whether I'm in my car, or in my truck towing my TT. I do that even if it means moving over to the shoulder. I try and imagine they need to get somewhere faster than I do: perhaps to get home to a sick child or pregnant wife.



MIchael

Bet those tickets were thrown out. No Judge is going to find you guilty for speeding and impeding traffic. More likely. he would want to know why the other also speeding were not cited. I would too. My lawyer would have a field day. And the officer would get a stern talking to. For encouraging drivers to break the law.

Regarding tailgaters- don't let them stress you out. Note they're there, and implement your action. Move over when possible, wait for another car or two to build up, whatever is appropriate for the road and behavior of the tailgater. Follow a system.

If you're familiar with Ortega Highway in southern CA. you can put the above in context. I'm very impressed by the typical cornering g forces generated by the average commuter on that road. Commuters familiar with the road, ones who drive it everyday. If you're in an RV on that road, you will be pulling over to let people by-and quite frequently. An RV simply cannot corner with the forces that a Toyota Corolla (or better) can.

So a crowded commuter route-let a few legally build up, pullout let them by. If someone seems particularly unstable back there, let them by sooner. Once in that routine it isn't stressful.

Why make it a choice between Interstates and secondary roads? Why not use the 400,000 miles of primary U.S. and state highways that are not part of the Interstate system? The ones used by those of us that don't have Interstate highways anywhere near where we are nor where we want to go.

We like the secondary roads cause that is where all of the 'history' is. You know thw old cars in the yards, countless farm tractors, lawnmowers, amusing mailboxes, mystery crops, mystery roadkill & always an easy stop for potty or stetch leg break.

As a rule I'm not doing cars any overtaking favours especially if they have been tailgating & missed opportunities because they can't see. I will make more than a small effort to let a truck go by, moving over, signalling, even slowing down some for him. Almost always get a 'thankyou' flash. Been caught behind slow moving large farm equipment. Oh well, they never seem to be going far.

What drives me into a raving screaming madman is the driver of the first car in line who, when we get to an uphill with a passing lane, creeps by ever so slowly preventing others behind from getting by as well in the limited space. Thoughtlessness for anyone behind him. That is all there is to it. Sends me ballistic.

The narrow roads don't bother us. You have to see Bermuda roads to understand why. Here in Bermuda we think nothing of opposing vehicles being only inches apart the roads are so narrow. Losing mirrors is not unusual.

Once I'd gone to the store to get medicine for my sick wife. While there I called home (this was before cell phones) only to have the phone answered by my five year old daughter telling me momma was lying on the floor! I'm sure I broke every speed law and angered many people in my haste to get home. Whenever someone tailgates me in an obvious rush that evening comes to mind and I pull over and let them pass.

Steve

BTW I got home put my wife back in bed and she was just fine. She was running a high fever and had grown tired and sat down on the floor on her way back from the bathroom and she fell asleep.