Left lane slowness is for sure a problem, and it bothers me, but honestly, what bothers me more is the lack of headlight usage.
I'm not sure about your state, but in mine we have a law, if the wipers are on, the headlights have to be on. Kinda a simple.
Just this morning as I was coming to work I lost count of all the cars without their headlights on, the worst example was a Rochester city cop, WTF, the idiots who are supposed to enforce the law can't even be bothered to follow it???
And of course there is also the retards in the GM cars that fail to understand, if their DRL's are on, and the headlight switch is off, yes they have headlights, but all of us behind them are blind because they have no taillights turned on.

 

Here in CA, we have a similar law. But it is not simple. The problem with legislating common sense is that it gets very complex. For example, what constitutes "wipers on"? If my wipers are on intermittent, do I have to turn on my headlights? If I choose not to turn on my wipers (let's say I apply Rain-X on my windshield), then can I keep driving without headlights no matter how bad the visibility gets? If I use my windshield washer on a clear day, do I have to turn on my headlights first (for the few seconds that the wipers are on)? How long do the wipers have to be on for the wipers to be in "continuous use" (that's the term used in the law), is it 5 seconds, 1 minute, or 20 minutes? Is it 5 wipes, 10 wipes? And who determines whether the wipers are in "continuous use"? Things get legalistic very quickly and so people end up ignoring the law, even law enforcers; because the law basically cannot be enforced. On the other hand, if drivers are taught from the beginning that "when visibility is bad, turn on the lights so others can see you", then it is just common sense.

 

When people camp in the left lane of I-66 coming out of D.C. I watch as folks ride a foot off their ass and flash the headlights. Of course the moron in the left lane can't see the lights and ignores the guy on their butt. Eventually, the guy behind them will pull to the left and use the berm illegally as a passing lane. Usually, if I look to my right I will see someone using the right hand berm illegally as a passing lane too. Shortly thereafter, the folks using the berms are sure to cut in early, as to piss off the slow pokes. Since all of this is generally happening about 75 MPH, I normally get off at the first possible exit and cruise to the next on ramp. I hope that when I get back on, on will find a little more common sense.


It usually doesn't work, but it keeps me from using the berms.

 

DOWN WITH LEFT-LANE BANDITS and MOVING ROADBLOCKS!

Three cheers for the Washington State Highway Patrol.

Laws requiring drivers to merge left when approaching emergency vehicles parked on the right sholder are spreading and are, I think, a good thing overall. Mississippi passed such a law last year. Several cops have been struck and injured or killed by passing motorists in the last couple of years. It's enough to ask an officer to approach a car at night with who knows who in side armed with who knows what without asking them to worry about getting hit passing traffic.

 

the population of retards has grown exponentially. DRL is a standard feature on several cars. Last time I was at Lime Rock there were cars in my run group that did not have their headlights on in pouring rain, making it very hard to see where they were located in the spray. Reported this to Control after the session following which an announcement was made.