Are you a ‘passive passer?’
Some motorists seem to have been conditioned to regard a safely executed fast pass as “unsafe” and for that reason, most don’t even try to pass.
Instead, they meekly follow. Their pace is determined by the pace of the car ahead of them, whose driver refuses to drive even the speed limit.
If you drive slower than that, you are driving well below the speed most other cars are traveling and by doing that, you cause traffic to slow, often to a crawl.
The obvious solution, of course, is to speed up to at least the speed limit and if that’s “too fast” for you, then the least you can do is take action to facilitate other motorists passing you.
This means briefly moving to the shoulder, for instance. It’s not even a minor inconvenience. But it is very considerate.
If only more people would practice such courtesy when driving, traffic would flow faster and smoother reducing the time we all have to spend in traffic by lessening the aggravation of it.
Instead, many just drive at their slow pace, indifferent to the way they are slowing up traffic. But as bad as that is, it is compounded when a driver behind the slow driver is too timid to pass. That makes it harder for the car behind him to pass because they must now pass two slow-pokes. If they don’t pass, then it becomes three, and that often makes it impossible for the next car that rolls in behind to pass.
Sometimes, these non-passers then tailgate the slow car ahead of them. This is fascinating since the reason non-passers will often say they don’t pass is that it’s not “safe” for them to try, which is true if the pass is passive.
It is almost impossible to ever pass if one isn’t willing to “speed” because of the time it otherwise takes to complete the pass and the limited (by time) opportunities to do the deed. They dread passing safely, which almost necessarily entails “speeding” so they squat instead.
Often right on the bumper of the car ahead as in the case of the video accompanying this rant.
It is absolutely not “safe” to follow the car ahead too closely because then you do not have enough to slow to a stop if need be if the car ahead suddenly slows (or stops).
As opposed to the purely hypothetical assertion that driving any faster than any speed limit, anytime and anywhere, is by definition “unsafe.”
But tailgating a slow-poke you’re afraid to pass is both obnoxious and dangerous.
Not passing will likely not motivate the slow-poke to drive any faster. It may motivate them to drive even slower or to even brake check you (the deliberate slamming-on of the brakes so as to unsettle the driver of the car tailgating).
If you can’t stop in time and hit them from behind, you’ll be the one getting the ticket and points on your DMV record, plus the bill (i.e., the premium “adjustment”) in the mail from your insurance company if you don’t get canceled altogether.
Wouldn’t it be better to just pass?
Isn’t that what all that power (there has never been more of it) new cars come standard with is for?
If you’re not going to make use of it, why bother?
Isn’t it spectacularly stupid to spend money on an engine (and the gas to feed it) that serves no operational purpose? Is it not like building a battleship and floating the thing in a backyard pond?
Once upon a time, there was a good reason for not passing that had nothing to do with legalities. Prior to the early 2000s, cars often lacked the power to safely pass and it might have been actually unsafe to try, absent plenty of road and time to make up for the lack of scoot.
But here we are, in a time of plenty, as regards power, and many refuse to use it, even when it’s clear they’d like to.
Instead, they squat and express their dislike of having to slow down by tailgating.
Not safe, nor courteous.
Eric Peters lives in Virginia and enjoys driving cars and motorcycles. In the past, Eric worked as a car journalist for many prominent mainstream media outlets. Currently, he focuses his time writing auto history books, reviewing cars, and blogging about cars+ for his website EricPetersAutos.com.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
