Drivers and Highwaysby Dave ClarkWhat’s with drivers who hop on the freeway, immediately get into the passing lane and never look back? Do they think the right lane is for common people and the passing lane is all theirs? It’s bewildering how many drivers cruise in the passing lane when they’re not passing and never look at a mirror. My intent isn't to promote speeding, however I can’t remember the last time I was on a freeway when every car moved at the posted speed limit. In fact, sometimes it seems dangerous to drive at the posted speed limit because every other car is going faster. Sometimes there is a state trooper driving along up ahead, in which case he’s being followed by a long line of cars going exactly the speed limit. The passing lane is for passing. If you’re not passing, you should be in the right lane, leaving the passing lane open for someone who might need/want to go faster. For the purpose of this discussion, passing would be defined as quickly going past another car that is going slower than yours; not traveling for several minutes in the left lane next to that other car; the latter behavior being a leading cause of “road rage.” I can’t understand littering; i.e. throwing trash out the window. So you have something you no longer need...you throw it out the window?!! Is it really too much trouble to keep it until you see a trash can, like at your next gas fill-up? I suppose it is too much trouble. Our town, like others, holds an annual clean-up day every year. Dozens of volunteers collect hundreds of large orange bags full of trash and leave them along the road every 50 feet or so for pick-up. That’s a lot of trash on the ground in a year! It’s not my trash. It’s not the volunteer’s trash. Whose is it? Is it tossed out the car window by folks who don’t want to pay for trash pick-up at their homes? “Honey, the trash bag is full. Would you please throw it out your window on the way to work tomorrow?” Or maybe there’s just no more room for trash on the car floor. “Dang, this fast food bag is in the way of the brake pedal. Better toss it out the window.” I don’t understand the signs along the road that say “These two miles were adopted by the Hooterville Cub Scouts.” Trash-heads who throw stuff out of their car might see those signs and say “ah, they got somebody here to pick up the trash, so here it goes!” No offense to the volunteers, but does anybody know why those signs are posted? I suppose it’s good advertising and PR for the volunteers — but it encourages dumping. “Gosh I wish I threw the trash out at that last adopted trash area! Now we have to wait until the next time we have to pee. Nah, let’s just chuck it out the window here. Somebody will adopt this mile after we do.” Please, don’t throw trash, and keep right except to pass. Thank you.
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