My wife can't work out how I keep going. I explain that I'm like the Energizer Bunny. But that blog name has gone already. So here are the musings and pet peeves and so on of the "Bunny With A Drum".
(As it happens, it seems that the Duracell Bunny came first)
This message was sent out to our neighbourhood mailing list a few months ago (not by the unnamed Rabbi in question, rather by someone else).
Rabbi [redacted]'s final Shu"t shiur at [redacted] that was supposed to take place tonight has been canceled, due to his wife, B'Sha'ah Tovah, currently being in labor (a little earlier than expected). We apologize for the last minute noitce, and any inconvenience caused, but B"H it's for a good reason!
Is the Rabbi's wife's name Bashah Tovah and he misspelled it?
Use parenthetical comments by all means, but mind where you put them...
I was so glad to see this on our local email list today:
i just got back from jerusalem and i got pulled over bythe police and received a ticket for 250 shekels. i knew there was a police car behind me in the left lane so i was trying not to drive my usual speedy way and i even thought about moving to the right lane and let the police pass. for some reason i did not move over and the next thing i know the police car is next to me and telling me to pull over. when i asked what i did wrong they were shocked. i thought it was for speeding and it turns out i rode for 5 km in the left lane without "overtaking" another car. apparently you can only use the left lane to pass a car in the right. it is actually illegal to just drive in the left lane for the sake of driving. as he was writing the ticket you can see lots of cars in the left lane just driving, no overtaking going on and he said that i just got caught. these laws apparently are in effect since the 1920's. i guess it's better to weave in and out then stay in one lane for too long. just be aware!
I want to emphasise - it is better to do what the police said to do but that is not to "weave in and out". It is to keep right and only move left into another lane when overtaking (or to allow others to merge on to the road; this is a form of proactive overtaking). Weaving in and out is precisely what is PREVENTED by keeping right. As is described nicely in one of the replies:
Hooray - you've made my day. I'm not rejoicing at you getting a ticket, but I am very grateful to you for posting your experience, because it brings to light a serious driving problem that has always been underscored by the spectre of speeding. The reason why people dangerously weave in and out of lanes is because there are drivers straggling in the left lane. The left lane is not called the left lane, it's called the fast lane. If you aren't driving fast, then you should be in the right lane, for slower traffic. There is only one legal way to overtake, and that's in the left lane. Traffic jams accrue and accidents occur (due to weaving and pent-up frustration not being able to overtake) because drivers stay in the fast lanem without pulling back into the slow lane, and prevent faster drivers from being able to overtake legally.
I am SO glad that the police are finally finally getting this message. After driving in Israel for 29 years it has long been my opinion that this - together with a serious lack of indicating - are the true causes of most accidents in this country and are certainly the roots of very bad driving that give rise to road rage.
Although your explanation below was written as a warning to other drivers to prevent them getting a driving ticket, you have actually brought to light proper driving rules and behaviour. I sorely hope your warning will be heeded. Thank you for asking it to be posted on the list.
Wishing all road users tzeitchem l'shalom,
Another response was heartfelt, albeit that "driving in one lane" might possibly be misconstrued as meaning to do what the original writer got the ticket for:
I have to say it saddens me to know that drivers can write, guilt free, "I was trying not to drive me usual speedy way". Having lost a friend at age 14 to a driver who was driving his "speedy way", which was not actually that fast, I hope everyone will consider leaving a bit earlier and driving the speed limit, and NOT weaving in and out of lanes but driving in one lane with proper distance between you and the car in front of you, passing only when necessary. I agree speed limits and driving laws can be a pain, but they are there to protect us and our children, not to be a pain. I think this is an especially important message as we approach Purim, time of the drivers who drink but think they are "not really drunk".
Please be safe ,
Having spent a lot of time on Road 1 over the last few years I agree wholeheartedly with both responses and particularly the second writer above; it has been very clear to me that most of the "heavy traffic" on the way home is due to a few drivers tootling along in the middle lane at about 95km/h, while others jockey to pass.
Not infrequently have I been on the road with little traffic and moved over two lanes to pass a car in the middle and on my way back to the right-hand lane I've had to watch out for some lazy *@%*)! who just whizzes along on the right-hand side apparently oblivious to the fact that as I pull back over I will not be able to see him coming as he emerges from behind the car I passed and slips nicely into my blind spot. Not that I don't pass someone on the right once in a while but only when it's very hard to pass properly and when I do it I am VERY careful and drive only barely faster than the car I'm "undertaking".
Now, there is more than what I quoted, but nothing says that the rules are any different on intercity roads. (If you want, the rule book seems to be here)
For a long time I've been wanting someone to make a nice video which SHOWS what happens.I was very pleased to discover tonight that the Highways Agency in the UK made one:
(I confess that I have to listen to that copper. I have to calm down myself a little and just let those poor oblivious souls continue on their way in the middle lane - I tend to sit behind them a few moments, flashing my lights at them)
This picture was taken right near where I work. Isn't it a bit much? First of all, the building you see on the left goes all the way to the edge of the property - the area leading up to the lower door, and where the stairs are, used to be a municipal flowerbed between the private property and the pavement. The balcony ahead of us originally wasn't covered and only overhung the walkway about a third of what it does now. But what really gets me is where they've fitted a washing line! Their damp laundry hangs right over the middle of a public walkway!!!
(Postscript: Since this photo was taken they've closed in the far end of that balcony with polipach as a "storeroom"!)
