[Rant] Why is it that no one in this state seems to understand how to use a multi-lane highway?

[6enny]

People who drive slow in the left lane is an annoyance, but they don't cause as much traffic as people that get in accidents.

[mixiboi]

Sadly, its not jsut a philly problem..google any city and you'd see that driving is INSANE everywhere in the world...

[Gio7707]

Aahhhh... Die gute alte deutsche autobahn ....

[Volanova]

Sadly, its not jsut a philly problem..google any city and you'd see that driving is INSANE everywhere in the world...

This is entirely true. The rant portion was just directed towards those I experience most often.

[JBL]

We give out licenses like candy on Halloween. Driving isn't a right, it's a privilege.

Make it a major fee to get your license initially...$1-2,000. All of that money goes towards infrastructure and mass transit for those who can't afford the fee or pass their test.

Tests should be tougher and a probationary period should be instituted until you're 21.

After that, you're retested every 2 to 5 years, depending on your driving record.

Moving violation fines should be higher and enforced.

Drunk driving in any capacity should be entirely unacceptable. I have no idea how there are people on the road who've had so many DUIs. Also, why we haven't filled the city's coffers with DUI fines of people leaving bars in Philadelphia, like the unnamed one on 3rd and Spring Garden, is beyond me. Old City should be a cash cow.

2 second gap between all cars, regardless of the road or speed. Traffic cameras similar to traffic light cams but on overpasses can time it and fine people accordingly.

Highways should have much further lead time (and much better) when accidents or major slowdowns occur. When traffic backs up at the Zoo on the Schuykill, take the speed limit down to 40mph back at KOP and enforce it, helping alleviate the congestion. No sense in running 75 only to hit a traffic jam when I know I can go without stopping at 40.

[johnnie]

So basically give a lot more money to the state/city to piss away and have much longer waits at Penndot retaking the test every few years? Brilliant.

[Volanova]

We give out licenses like candy on Halloween. Driving isn't a right, it's a privilege.

Make it a major fee to get your license initially...$1-2,000. All of that money goes towards infrastructure and mass transit for those who can't afford the fee or pass their test.

Tests should be tougher and a probationary period should be instituted until you're 21.

Amen to all of the above.

After that, you're retested every 2 to 5 years, depending on your driving record.

I'd say 10 years if you don't have any serious moving violations.

Moving violation fines should be higher and enforced.

This is one area where I don't have a problem with a graduated system. Either percentage of income or percentage of the value of the vehicle being driven. Some kid driving daddy's $250,000 Ferrari is slapped with a fee that actually hurts just as much as the person driving the $20,000 minivan with the kids in the back.

Drunk driving in any capacity should be entirely unacceptable. I have no idea how there are people on the road who've had so many DUIs. Also, why we haven't filled the city's coffers with DUI fines of people leaving bars in Philadelphia, like the unnamed one on 3rd and Spring Garden, is beyond me. Old City should be a cash cow.

Problem is, repeat offenders oftentimes just don't care that their license has been suspended.

2 second gap between all cars, regardless of the road or speed. Traffic cameras similar to traffic light cams but on overpasses can time it and fine people accordingly.

I like it.

Highways should have much further lead time (and much better) when accidents or major slowdowns occur. When traffic backs up at the Zoo on the Schuykill, take the speed limit down to 40mph back at KOP and enforce it, helping alleviate the congestion. No sense in running 75 only to hit a traffic jam when I know I can go without stopping at 40.

THIS! More sensible management of speed limits would help a LOT of things. No traffic and the road conditions are good in an open area? Set the speed limit to 80 or 85. Coming in to the city, it's raining, traffic is heavy, and there's a wreck 3 miles ahead? Knock it down to 40.

[Volanova]

So basically give a lot more money to the state/city to piss away and have much longer waits at Penndot retaking the test every few years? Brilliant.

Going back to my example of the Germans, their driver's license issuing authorities do little more than print the license. Private driving schools take care of pretty much everything else.

[the mule]

If the speed limit is 35mph, as on Henry Avenue or Kelly Drive, I have zero problem with a person cruising in the left lane at 40 or 45 and allowing traffic to build up behind them. At what level of breaking the speed limit does a person need to give up the left lane to facilitate speed demons? The right lane on Kelly Drive has many dips and also a spring wetting it down, and I prefer not to drive in it. The Schuylkill Expressway has a speed limit of 50 mph. If a person wants to cruise in the left lane at 60 or 65 I'm fine with that, especially if they're coming up to a left exit, as I do at the Lincoln Drive exit. Lincoln Drive itself has a speed limit of 25mph. I have zero problem driving at 25 or 30 or 35mph on Lincoln Drive and not ceding the left lane.

So you're saying you're ok with breaking the law when it suits you.

"Keep right pass left" is in place to keep the road safe - even if other people are speeding. By sitting in the left lane and bottling up people behind you, you don't make the road safer, you make it more dangerous. You create a situation where the speeder's only opportunity to pass is in the right lane. Because almost nobody respects the "keep right pass left" law and police rarely enforce it, drivers here are much too comfortable passing on the right where people aren't expecting it.

My self-preservation instincts tell me to move to the right when someone is flying up behind me in the left lane. I want them to pass me and get far away from me.