Drive 55

There's a Web site out there in the magic of the Internet called Drive55.org; this site encourages us to drive 55 miles per hour.

I was in Seattle recently, driving on Interstate 5. There were four lanes...three regular lanes, and a far left "high occupancy vehicle" (HOV) lane. We had three people in the car, and appropriately were travelling in the HOV lane. This was not rush hour--traffic in all lanes was moving along at highway speeds.

We came upon an automobile with a "i Drive 55" bumper sticker. Not in the middle or right lane, mind you. Not even in the left "fast" lane. The car was in the far-left HOV lane.

Here's what I don't get. If your intention is to save fuel, why choose the left-most lane to slow down other drivers? Ours was the 4th (and not the last) car to have to mash down the gas pedal to accelerate and pass in the "fast" lane to get around drivers who apparently have an interest in saving gas. The two right lanes were easily doing 55 MPH. Why not position your gas-conscious car there, where everyone is doing 55?

Sometimes I just don't understand it when we say we want one thing, yet our choices push for the opposite result.