Lane Hogs

Now, i'm sure that regular readers of this site will be more than aware of my opinion of a lot of the drivers that i have encountered on the road here in Charleston. Even before i got a car, I was already laying into them somewhat for the many near misses that i'd had as a pedestrian when someone nearly hit me, nearly always as they were busy chatting on the phone at the time. I don't think i mentioned the near accident I had just before Thanksgiving where a driver behind me swerved into a ditch at the side of the road to avoid hitting me - bear in mind that I was at the end of a queue of stationary traffic, it had been raining all day, she was travelling far too fast, and was also on the phone at the time (as well as having a CD going). Plus, it was early evening dusk - and you can say, is it any wonder that she was in a position where she was going to hit me to begin with. Add on to this that the lady in question was 8 and a half months pregnant, and you can see why I was so shocked at it all. Anyway, I digress. One thing that has been bought to my attention of late are the sheer number of lane hogs that there are over here. Now, whilst this is not to say that no such drivers exist in the UK or anywhere else (they do), it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as bad as over here in my experience (maybe as there are far more two and three lane roads here)

So, you know the drill - you're driving along and meet someone trundling along in the middle or outside lane at 40 mph (despite there being a MINIMUM speed limit over here). No matter what happens, they absolutely refuse to move over - be it left or right, and you end up either stuck behind them or having to undertake them. This is particularly infuriating when you end up with two cars in each lane with both travelling at pretty much the same speed and so you can't do a thing about it. What i find even harder to believe is when these drivers have a steady stream of cars undertaking them and pulling back in front of them to carry on - they really don't get the hint or idea that they're basically being a nuisance. What then makes things even worse, is the fact that you end up with a lot of lane weavers who perpetually scoot from one lane to the next and back again in order to get around them. In short, driving in the US means that you have to have your wits about you. So much for the highway code!