left lane "cruisers"

I want to please address the issue of the left lane drivers.

When you drive on a freeway or an expressway the left lane is called the passing lane. You use it to pass. Driving the posted speed limit is fine, IF, someone doesn't need/want to pass you.

Passing is completely legal and not used just because someone is in a rush. If passing wasn't legal, we wouldn't have passing lanes, and signs telling us we can or cannot pass.

If someone is tailgating you in the left - you're going too slow. Don't get huffy. Don't get indignant. GET OVER! If you can. If you can't it will be obvious to the person behind you. So relax.

It's a generally recognized rule as well as a common courtesy. Most states have laws against staying in the left lane when it is clear to move right, or unless planning to turn left shortly. There is nothing worse than being in a long line of cars that can't go anywhere because the lead cars are just strolling. On two lane freeways, in the rural areas, that is the worst.

If you want to drive the speed limit, stay on the right. It isn't a hard thing to do. I do it all the time. Use the left when you need it but don't just putter.

I'm talking about courtesy here. Manners. Proper driving etiquette. Get off your high horses already. It is perfectly legal to fart on a packed elevator. Most of us opt not to. Why? Manners. Same thing with burping. Some do it, some don't. Manners.

One more thing. If someone is obviously trying to pass you, speeding up to prevent them is STUPID. And just as dangerous as tailgaiting.

This is the easiest way to look at it:

If you are driving on three lanes:
Left to Right- Fast, medium, SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

If you are driving on two lanes: (HOV)
Left to Right: Fast, and, I dont want to get to work on time.

See how easy that is??

:'}

I find it, that in northern virginia that if im not passing fast enough in the left lane, the busy bees jump right on my keester. Just the other day I was passing traffic, but not fast enough and one of the busy bees were right on my bumper. Everyone needs to slow down.

I dont know of any states where riding in left lane and not passing is illegal, but I do know in places like Germany, if you are rear ended and your in the left lane, its your fault. I dont think Virginia has any autobans either, so I doubt it applies.

I also understand that driving 55 anywhere on the beltway or 95 is suicide and can at times be dangerous. I did not like the comment "if you want to do the speed limit stay to right". I thought 65 means 65. I dont know if there is a law that gives a person legal right and authority to exceed the speed limit in the left lane.

I agree with the writers comment of not speeding up so one cant pass. That only provokes aggression on the highway, along with tailgating.
Please, lets all just be careful out there.

Let the cynics talk. Tom Cruise is in love -- and he just can't restrain himself.

"You know what? There's always cynics. There always has been. There always will be," said Cruise, who hasn't been shy about displaying his affection for "Batman Begins" actress Katie Holmes. "I have never worried ... about what other people think and what other people say."

Cruise, 42, and Holmes, 26, went public with their romance in April, smooching and posing for photographers in Rome. They recently became engaged.

Many have doubted the romance -- the words "publicity stunt" have rained down on the couple like an alien invasion as Cruise has been busy promoting his new film, "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg, which opens on June 29.

"I have to tell you. It's just a great time in my life," Cruise said in an interview that aired Friday on NBC's "Today" show. "I'm really happy. And, you know, I'm engaged. I'm going to be married. I can't restrain myself. It's like you've got two little cords on your mouth and you can't stop smiling."

The actor, whose marriages to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman ended in divorce, declined to say what Holmes has brought to his life that wasn't there in the past.

"I don't want to compare things," Cruise said. "It's that thing where you just -- in life when it just happens. ... You meet someone. And it's -- I can't even describe it."

When asked if he could be with someone at this stage in his life who doesn't have an interest in the Church of Scientology -- Holmes has said she's embracing the religion -- Cruise told interviewer Matt Lauer: "Scientology is something that you don't understand. It's like you could be a Christian and be a Scientologist.

"It is a religion. Because it's dealing with the spirit. You as a spiritual being. It gives you tools you can use to apply to your life."

When Lauer mentioned Cruise's earlier criticism of Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants, Cruise told the "Today" show co-host he didn't know what he was talking about.

"You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do," Cruise said.

The interview became more heated when Lauer, who said he knew people who had been helped by the attention-deficit disorder drug Ritalin, asked Cruise about the effects of the drug.

"Matt, Matt, you don't even -- you're glib," Cruise responded. "You don't even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, OK. That's what I've done."

Oh.... I'm sorry I thought this was a Tom Cruise tread. My fault.

a thousand pardons........