Road driving pet peeves...

Cars and driving have been a passion since I was a kid.
I learned to drive in two lane roads where you really need to drive defensively. After years of driving this way, you learn to pick-out the potentially-problematic drivers (a.k.a idiots) on the road and how to stay away from them.

Now that I have been towing a trailer for 6 months, I have noticed how people react to RVs and how other RV drivers behave.

My main pet peeves have always concentrated on driving and passing in two lane highways. It seems that very few drivers know when and how to pass safely.
To aggravate this situation, RV drivers do not seem to know how behave in two lane and passing situations.

The main annoyance that I have noticed with RV driving is Yo-Yo speeds. 10 or more miles under the speed limit, then acceleration to 5 or more miles over the speed limit.

Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for RV driving in 2 lane highways:

If you are not holding up traffic behind you, travel at your leisure speed or the speed where your rig saves the most gas/diesel.

If you are holding traffic behind you:

• Determine if the cars behind you can pass, if so, lower your speed about 5 miles below the speed limit, swing a bit to your right and let them pass. While a car is passing, make the pass safer and less stressful by slowing down a bit more so the pass is faster.
  
• If there is no safe passing section, speed up to the speed limit until you reach a safe passing section, then, slow down and swing to the right.

One annoying mistake that I constantly see RV drivers do is that when they realize that they are holding up traffic, they speed up, sometimes even over the speed limit.

I guess they are thinking that they are doing everybody a favor by speeding up, but in fact they are making life harder for everybody around them. By speeding up, they make passing them more difficult and risky.

RV drivers need to remember that nobody in their right mind wants to hang behind an RV mile after mile, no matter the RV speed. It is not safe. RVs have huge blind spots, they spit rocks, and they block the view ahead. It is just not safe to travel behind them.

In Alaska it is illegal to hold up more than 5 cars behind your RV. If you do not know how to slowdown and swing to the right, you are required to pull over and let the vehicles behind you pass.

Happy passing!