Driving Rant

I have a problem with the driving in Texas. Now, I'm not saying that I don't enjoy one of the finest Department of Transportation's in the US, the highly maintained road surfaces, or the friendly waves of passing vehicles; thankfully there will always be good things to counteract anything bad. No, I'm complaining about the "ethic" of Texas driving to pull over onto the shoulder and allow a faster moving vehicle to pass when there isn't room, more often than not in a double-line/no pass zone. And there is an expectation from some that if you aren't going fast enough you should move over to let them by.

I imagine this practice started when good ol' farm boys with beat-up pick-ups or equipment needed to use the road and they were trying to be nice and allow faster moving vehicles room to pass. Then it is fueled by the incredibly wide shoulders of Texas highways (I'm not kidding, they have to be wider than a regular lane in some places). But the potential for accidents is too high with people driving on the shoulder: three cars abreast while passing on a highway spells disaster, the car on the shoulder could get "trapped" right before a bridge or dead animal or stalled vehicle suddenly appears, even a bicyclist could be using the road for transportation or training. They just aren't maintained to be used as a lane of traffic.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Thanks for hearing me out. Just remember to think twice about the implications of driving on the shoulder in the future.