Help Prevent Road Rage: Don't "Hover"

I was listing to one of my favorite radio stations here in Sacramento, it was either KWOD 106.5 or KRXQ 98.5 and a commercial came on for some kind of candy bar or something. Basically, it was saying that ordinarily you are bothered by what other people do, but if you eat the candy bar you go to a happy place with harps playing and won't care at all about those things. The example they gave was when a driver "hovers" around you on a freeway or highway. This article you are reading is part of a series I am producing on how we can all help prevent road rage by being better drivers. All of my ideas come from my experiences on the road and I keep a list of ideas for articles. I had to write this "hovering" issue down on my list because it is such an interesting phenomenon. Why do drivers hover around one another? I remember they called large groups of cars on the freeway "wolf packs" that I think are caused in part by hovering.

I haven't heard it called one particular thing or another before, and I think the term "hovering" is perfect. When a driver is hovering another driver, they are driving right next to you at the same speed in the next lane over. You may or may not be bothered by this - personally I am because I no longer feel as free to pick my nose or play the air guitar when Metallica's One comes on. Anyway...there is a bigger issue here.

When a driver hovers another driver, they are blocking the flow of traffic. I have an article devoted to this topic you can access through my Squidoo lens: www.squidoo.com/drivebetter. When two drivers are hovering each other, the driver on the left is in the wrong. The left lane should be used for drivers to get around other drivers who are traveling slower than they are. So, the driver on the left should pass the driver on the right and merge back into the right lane if there is traffic behind them waiting to pass.

I won't get into the points I make in my article on blocking the flow of traffic. So, on the topic of hovering, don't hover. It's rude for one thing, and you are blocking the flow of traffic for another. Even if there isn't another driver behind you at a particular moment there will be eventually. Help prevent road rage and improve traffic by not hovering - just speed up and merge right!

Access all of my articles on the topic of preventing road rage and improving traffic on my Squidoo lens: www.squidoo.com/drivebetter. PLEASE!