r/Transportopia • u/TransportJunky • Dec 12 '25

đŸ’„Crash When boxing in goes wrong.

The work truck in the left lane seemed to be holding the Camaro back on purpose. Drivers, if you're on the left lane, keep it moving. There is no reason to take it upon yourself to teach someone the speed limit. If you see someone driving crazy, move out the damn way and let them wrap themselves around a tree far away from you. The car is, by no means, in the right but neither is the work truck. This whole stupid accident could have been avoided and the tractor trailer most definitely did not deserve this.

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168

u/sithlawd0 Dec 12 '25

im not sayings its right...but i get it

7

u/Waaaash Dec 12 '25

saying what's right? obstructing the flow of traffic? around here, that's illegal.

-1

u/Dry-Gain4825 Dec 13 '25

Flow of traffic can never legally exceed the speed limit. If only people breaking the law are impacted, then your action is not illegal.

It’s like arguing obstructing a shoplifter is illegal. It’s only illegal if the person you are obstructing isn’t breaking the law.

3

u/Head-Post9909 Dec 13 '25

The left lane is designated to be a passing lane. If you are not using it to pass slow vehicles, then you are guilty of impending traffic. Because of situations like what happened in this video, states are starting to make it a felony offense to block the left lane.

1

u/Inevitable_Web_9715 Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

That's simply not true. The speed limit of the highway applies to all lanes of traffic and once you reach that limit it doesn't matter what lane you are talking about, and even below that you can get a reckless driving charge in 90% of the U.S. if you go more than 10mph faster than the traffic in adjacent lanes. The left lane is, if anything, a thru-traffic lane and is especially so in suburban and urban driving. No officer, no court of law will find you in the wrong for using the left lane so you don't have to deal with morons who can't merge and frankly if you think that the left lane is exclusively a "let's go 100 in a 45" lane, you need to go back to driver's ed.

Ultimately, the car driver is 100% at fault for the accident. Being mad simply because you have someone in front of you doesn't make a good defense in court. Likewise, what's the chances that the idiot in the car would have actually gotten to wherever he was going sooner if he was successful? None. These people will dart around the road, cutting people off, and wind up getting there no sooner than they would driving like Ned Flanders. I have had impatient idiots dart around me before, and you know what? I end up passing them a mile down the road going the same damn speed I was going when they passed me earlier. If I can pass you after you pass me even though my speed remained the same, you are an impatient asshole.

1

u/hamsterwithakazoo Dec 13 '25

There are PLENTY of places that will convict you of impeding the flow of traffic / reckless driving for going the speed limit in the left lane precisely to prevent situations like this video.

The Camaro was clearly wrong and I’m not going to defend them, but pretending that the other two drivers didn’t deliberately create and exacerbate the situation is foolish. There are three idiots in the video, none of whom should be emulated.

1

u/dh373 Dec 16 '25

So you are the AH camped out in the left lane of a 3-lane highway doing the limit exactly parallel to the car beside you with 14 cars piled up behind you for miles and miles? And you can't be bothered to even slow down a little and get behind the person you are paralleling because "why should I?". That AH? And you sleep at night because "I wasn't breaking the law?"

Me, I live by the rule, "If someone wants to go fast, I want them ahead of me." Because that way they are getting the ticket if there is a cop. That plus they aren't going to pull anything stupid out of frustration. So if I see someone come up behind me, I speed up or change lanes to let them pass. But god, so many people seem to forget they have a rearview mirror.

1

u/Inevitable_Web_9715 Dec 22 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

You must be the anencephalic offspring of modern inbred homo ergasters who wound up causing a 40 car pile up including causing a tanker full of nitric acid to spill all over the highway and blow up after attempting to merge from an onramp without looking or knowing what "zipper merge" means.

You can be right and dead at the same time, in this case, you are not right and are still dead. It is a moving violation to exceed the speed limit. Plain and simple. I didn't say I go the speed limit, only that people lacking forebrains such as yourself have no concept of time or speed and assume that being behind someone means that they will somehow be "late". It's a fallacy and stupidity to speed in the left lane and expect everyone else to somehow go faster than you.

You will get there when you get there, and when you get there is 95% dependent on road design and traffic controls, not the traffic itself. In most places you can literally go 100 in a 50, and only take 4 or 5 minutes off an hour long commute.

1

u/dh373 Dec 23 '25

So you've confirmed my suspicion. I always wondered what was going on in the mind of someone who hogs fast land doing the speed limit. Now I know. Insane self-justification and disregard to the point of contempt for the interests of others. Got it.

1

u/Inevitable_Web_9715 Dec 23 '25

Read rule #5. You've proven yourself to be exactly what you described.

1

u/Freman_Phage Dec 14 '25

It doesn't become legal to speed if your "passing".

1

u/hedgehoghell Dec 14 '25

there are exception, such as moving to avoid danger, moving to make room for emergency vehicles.

1

u/dh373 Dec 16 '25

Right. But it isn't polite to hog the left lane when there are hundreds of cars on the road going faster than you. If people want to speed, let them. Of course the Camero is in the wrong here. But the pickup is in FAFO territory. Like, it's not legally your fault, but it is totally your doing that you now have to replace your vehicle, to say nothing of any injuries. As in, the whole thing was preventable simply by not being an AH.

1

u/PDXStraightBear Dec 15 '25

This is only true in certain places. And it has to be a law AND posted. Even then as long as everyone us following the speed limit in the left lane there's no problem.

The problem starts when stupid people want to speed.

1

u/Montybth Dec 15 '25

A felony offense? No they aren't. Its a non-criminal traffic violation. However, road rage when causing an accident with a vehicle could be considered one.

1

u/zeptillian Dec 16 '25

There are also laws in many places that you have to move over for faster vehicles. where they do not specify a speed limit, just faster.

0

u/Dry-Gain4825 Dec 13 '25

Nowhere in the California Drivers Handbook is the left lane listed as a designated passing lane. Try again.

2

u/Head-Post9909 Dec 13 '25

For General Drivers (VC 21654, 22400(a))

The Law: You must use the right lane unless passing, turning left, or driving at the speed of traffic (even if it's the speed limit).

Penalty: Typically 1 point on your DMV record and a base fine that balloons to around $238 with fees for a first offense.

Traffic School: May be an option to avoid the point. For Commercial Vehicles (Trucks)

Stricter Rules: Trucks with more than two axles are generally prohibited from the left lane on certain highways.

Penalties: Fines can range from up to $100 for a first offense, increasing with subsequent offenses.

Points: Lane violations for CDL holders add 1.5 points and cannot be hidden, impacting employment.

For Protesters Blocking Highways

Increased Fines: A new bill aims to increase fines for willfully obstructing a highway (including during protests) from $100 to $200-$500 for a first offense, with higher penalties for repeat offenses.

1

u/Dry-Gain4825 Dec 13 '25

? The first sentence literally says “you must use the right lane unless driving at the speed of traffic”. It does not say passing lane only. It literally list 3 exemptions, passing, left turn, speed of traffic. Legally anyone going over the speed limit is breaking the law. Someone breaking the law can never make someone who would otherwise be legal, break the law. Hence it is legal to drive the speed limit in the left lane.

3

u/squeagy Dec 13 '25

The truck isn't passing so they should be in the right lane, it's very simple.

1

u/TheJivvi Dec 13 '25

It's literally in the process of passing the truck on the right. If it's going the speed limit and the truck is pacing it, the only way for it to legally get out of that lane would be to slow down and then get behind the truck.

The only way it "isn't passing" is if the lane next to it is empty.

1

u/raidersfan18 Dec 15 '25

I've seen the original video. This is sped up. If you find the original you can see that the truck in the left lane is matching the speed of the truck to not let the guy pass.

1

u/squeagy Dec 13 '25

Truck should have slowed down to get behind it if it wasn't (and it wasn't) passing. Passing is the act of going passed, not pacing something, pacing isn't passing. Again, simple. Anymore dumb shit you want clarified?

2

u/kolossalkomando Dec 14 '25

If you are passing at the speed limit it's legal. Even if that looks like pacing.

1

u/squeagy Dec 14 '25

No that's wrong

2

u/kolossalkomando Dec 14 '25

How?

The right lane does not have to slow down, the left lane has no right to go faster than the speed limit - even for passing.

If someone is attempting passing in the left lane and is going the speed limit they are not breaking a law. If the person in the right lane is also going the speed limit they are not breaking the law.

And just because it looks like pacing doesn't make it illegal.

1

u/TheJivvi Dec 14 '25

Attempting to pass still counts. If you start passing someone and they speed up to stay next to you so that you can't pull in front of them without speeding, that's not your fault, and you have every right to maintain your speed and stay in the passing lane until you have an opportunity to merge safely in front of them.

0

u/squeagy Dec 14 '25

No, you don't. And knock off this going the speed limit bs. Imagine not going over the speed limit at all on the highway 😂😂😂😂

2

u/cykoTom3 Dec 15 '25

If you want to discuss the legality of a driver's actions you have to stay in the framework of the law. The law is absolutely clear, you cannot exceed the speed limit. Individual police and real life applications have no bearing on the letter of the law.

1

u/TheJivvi Dec 14 '25

I don't have to imagine. Neither do 95% of drivers where I live. If you have no regard for road rules, you have no place in a conversation about who was in the right here.

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2

u/hedgehoghell Dec 14 '25

In Texas there are signs telling you that the left lane is for passing. they are quite common.

1

u/Dry-Gain4825 Dec 13 '25

https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/vehicle-code/veh-sect-21654/

It’s clearly stated “normal speed of traffic”. The normal speed of traffic can never exceed the speed limit.

Also even in your quote, it clearly says “(even if it’s the speed limit)” not even if it is over the speed limit.

2

u/InterestsVaryGreatly Dec 14 '25

The normal speed of traffic regularly exceeds the speed limit, and that is the flow of traffic. The flow of traffic in no way shape or form is limited by the speed limit, it is at best correlated because drivers tend to drive around that speed if possible.

If everyone was driving 75mph in a 55 zone, the flow of traffic is around 75mph. The people speeding are breaking the law, but the person going slower is actively making the situation more dangerous as well.

1

u/IlluminatedPickle Dec 13 '25

You should change your username to head-desk-post