I commute along a congested stretch of I-95 near Washington DC. All three lanes serve to move cars, so there's not much to speak of as a "passing" lane. I like to roll along with traffic in the left lane for most of the trip. First of all, its the "through" lane for most of my trip. Secondly, I have the left shoulder to escape to if the idiot(s) in front of me aren't watching traffic and have to stop suddenly.

This probably makes me a "left lane hugger". I think its the smartest place to be for the circumstances. I'm not holding anybody up - I'm rolling with the heavy traffic and there's cars in front of me.

I get a kick out of the prima donnas that think they have the right to flash their headlights and wobble in the lane behind me as if I should move over and let them by. They'll just do the same thing up the line. I'd have to find a slot to move over in heavy traffic, make a dangerous lane change, and figure out how to get back over in the left lane - just to let their candybutt gain 1/2 second.

So, here's what I do:

1) Wave as if they're a long lost friend.

2) Proceed with the brake light tapdance described above.

3) Slow down a bit to increase the safety zone in front of your car, proportional to how close they're tailgating. Remember, you're stopping for two now.

4) Make a slow, deliberate motion to flip the rearview mirror fully to the right.

5) Wire the backup lights to an auxiliary toggle switch. Throw the toggle switch a few times.

6) Diesel Fog-'em a few times.

7) Use specially modified windshield washers that are adjusted to spray over the top of the car.

8) I have secondhand knowledge of this solution: "Do you know what a .22 bullet will do to a radiator?"

9) Slow down a few times using the emergency brake.

10) Weave out onto the shoulder when you see a nice patch of gravel.

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If you don't hear from me in the future, I guess you'll know what happened to me.
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To give you an idea of how aggressive traffic is around here, just this morning there were heavy traffic-congestion conditions along with a military convoy headed up I-95 to the Pentagon. Approximately 50 military vehicles in a line in the right lane. Someone decided that they just had to take the exit right away to get off the interstate, and tried to cut in front of one of the convoy vehicles. (Maybe it was a 5-ton truck ) They missed. Closed down two lanes and stalled the convoy.

Might as well have been a terrorist attack.

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Ken300D