Wow, Jake Meador with a tremendous response to Gushee and terrific writing as well.
The Lie of Sin Without Suffering
Yes, it’s a terrible lie.
Andy Stanley—We Cannot Arrive at the Empty Tomb without a Bible
Josh Buice gives a great response to Andy Stanley.
Don’t Waste Your Basal Ganglia
Basal Ganglia isn’t the name of a medieval monk. Tim Brister has a great title and comes through with a great article.
Yes, a thousand amen’s, I’ve been saying this for years now I have a video to back it up:
I agree that slower traffic should keep to the right-hand lane. There are mitigating factors to that traffic video, however.
First of all, slow drivers who ride the left-hand lane don’t cause drivers who are faster to drive unsafely. Starting from the 30-second mark: “The truth is that when drivers hang out in the left lane it makes traffic worse and more dangerous for everybody involved.” Along with this narration they show a couple of clips of people breaking other laws in order to try to get around the person. Just off the bat I can say that just because a slow driver is hogging the left lane doesn’t give people license to drive unsafely out of frustration. At the 53-second mark the narrator says this: “It forces them to make dangerous moves…” That’s a lie. It doesn’t force them to do anything. If they make dangerous moves, it’s because they are already an aggressive driver and don’t have self-control over their behavior. So the argument for this is flawed from the beginning.
When I encounter a slow driver in the left lane, I wait patiently until it’s safe to maneuver around them. That’s the only good way to handle the situation.
I’m a mid-speed driver. I might go a few miles an hour over the speed limit while I’m being passed by people going 15 or 20 miles an hour over and passing others going the speed limit or less. Here are some of the other frustrating drivers I encounter:
1. What I call “Yo-yo drivers” – these people go under the speed limit when you are behind them. When you try to pass, they speed up to whatever it takes to keep you from passing them. Then you have to get back over behind them. When that happens, they slow back down.
2. Many drivers almost subconsciously speed up slightly when you try to pass them. This means that it takes longer to pass them than the speed demons coming up behind you would like.
3. Most people are Close-quarters drivers. That means that they don’t practice a safe driving distance and they don’t expect anyone else to practice a safe driving distance either. You should be able to brake to a complete stop within the distance between you and the driver in front of you. The reason is because there many be significant debris in the road that you don’t see coming and can plan for. Also, if they are texting or somewhat otherwise not paying attention, they could look up in time to slam into the person in front of them. You’re next in the pileup if you are too close behind them. I’d say that not practicing a safe driving distance is far more dangerous than the left-lane hog. Particularly annoying are the people who think that your safe driving distance is good for them to change lanes into.
4. Pressure Drivers. These are people who intentionally drive mere feet behind you and threaten your life with their car because you are in their way. I get these a lot on back roads. But I also get them on the interstate when I’m not passing someone fast enough for them. The passing lane is not only for the fastest drivers, but also for the mid-speed drivers. Sometimes I get a pressure driver when there is a line of people passing in front of me – who happen to be passing slower. They come up behind me and are upset when I don’t get over and let them pass first. By the way, you could also call these “Proctology Drivers.” I figure they either need a medical license or a marriage license to drive that close up someone’s hindquarters.
This brings up another concept that mitigates this law at times: traffic saturation. Under normal circumstances, traffic saturation varies throughout a length of interstate. It tends to increase at merge areas. When someone is entering the interstate, it is often a safe practice for slow traffic driving in the right-hand lane to temporarily move to the passing lane to allow merging traffic to enter safely. Traffic also tends to clump at certain saturation levels. Sometimes this is caused by a left-lane hog. Sometimes this is caused by mid-speed traffic passing. Sometimes it’s just caused by the accumulated speeds happening to generate moments of congestion. But at some high levels of saturation, there simply isn’t enough road to handle the majority of the traffic in the right lane with a few speeding cars in the passing lane. Traffic will spill into the left lane out of necessity. At that time, no one should have any expectation of traveling at their desired rate of speed. The best thing to do is for everyone to be patient. Is this not the fruit of the Spirit?
My experience, however, is that those of us who are in the left lane are actually speeding. We’re not “safely following the flow of traffic” as I’ve heard many people say. We’re actually exceeding the average speed of the flow of traffic. That’s breaking the law too. It seems hypocritical to angrily admonish other people to follow one law in order for us to break another law. That’s what liberals do.
By the way, a friend gave me a name for the fastest people on the road: “Trooper Magnets.” I’m happy to let them go and clear the interstate ahead of me of the troopers. I’ve had many times where someone has passed me only for me to pass them later on as they sat there getting a ticket. Trooper Magnet indeed.