US driving

[Firesong]

If I remember correctly its illegal to impede the flow of traffic. Even if its above the legal posted limit. So you can get ticketed if your holding up people.

That being said (being a former vw owner) I only pull over if I can see down a straight. Never curves. About 15 years ago ish there was a bad accident. Someone came around a corner and hit (at the time my girlfriend's friend) a car changing a flat.

Some moron trying to do crazy passes is dangerous too.
Be safe.

[nxski]

Another interesting aspect is our American cousin's approach to fossil fuel consumption; I thought that energy self reliance and conservation was becoming politically important, and yet the vast majority of vehicles I saw motoring at these high speeds were SUVs and full-size pickups. How anyone can afford those fuel bills is beyond me. Remember the double nickle in the 70s after the last energy crisis? I guess even at 1.35/litre, gas is till very cheap.

Have you seen what Ford has done with their new EcoBoost? HP and Torque like a 460 and 3 times the MPG.

My neigbour has one, it doesn't perform as well as advertised, he says you can either drive with basically no power, or make use of the power and get 4L/100km!

[CREGAN]

When I drove my Westy around the pacific northwest I flew around because there was my wife and I in the van. The carpool lane was dead so it worked out well for us! Drivers suck everywhere, I just try not to suck with them.

Craig

[Yokohama]

This has been an interesting conversation. I do have some concerns about pulling onto the shoulder to let people pass, as I was under the impression that you are only allowed to do this under unusual/emergency situations (hence the solid line), and if you simply move over to let people pass you are in essence driving on the shoulder, which is illegal, and if an accident ensues while someone is passing you can be held liable.

Here, on rural highways/interstates, there are other roads that just end at the highway and have no designated turnoff lane, so the correct procedure is to pull into the shoulder at speed and use it as a deceleration/turnoff 'lane'.
There is no way to slow down in the flow of traffic and make the turn, so 'driving' on the shoulder is OK as long as you are not really 'driving' on it. If there is no shoulder to slow down in, just signal as normal and start slowing down way before the turn as to give others behind out as much warning as you can.

I have never heard of anyone being held liable for pulling over (i.e. not 'driving') to let others pass.
I would, if concerned about 'driving' at speed on the shoulder to let other pass, slow way down from say 60 to 40 MPH.

If I remember correctly its illegal to impede the flow of traffic. Even if its above the legal posted limit. So you can get ticketed if your holding up people.

That being said (being a former vw owner) I only pull over if I can see down a straight. Never curves. About 15 years ago ish there was a bad accident. Someone came around a corner and hit (at the time my girlfriend's friend) a car changing a flat.

Some moron trying to do crazy passes is dangerous too.
Be safe.

As is pointed out, one should only pull over on the straight areas, and don't pull over where you would be topping hills, etc. You are never really certain what is on the shoulder on the other side.


I would also point out a safety point based on an actual event I am aware of; be aware of where you are pulling over, especially at night. Here and other rural locations, people will sometimes abandon broken cars and never come back for them. So you end up with a dead, dark car with no flashers or other illumination. It is sitting there in the dark, alone, sometimes just barely on the shoulder out of traffic. And it can be weeks or months before it is towed away. SO, a person comes driving along and needs to pull into the shoulder and does not see the dead, dark car until it is too late. At that point, you must do what you can to avoid it.