It’s no secret that Denver has some of the worst traffic in the country. Not on the levels of New York or Los Angeles, but it can get particularly unbearable on certain days. Now that it’s getting warmer in the state and more people are going outside to enjoy the weather, you can expect the roads to get very congested in the next couple of months.
While Denver does have plenty of lanes for drivers to spread out on the highways, they don’t always work out as planned. Westword recently published a list of what makes Denver a terrible city for motorists, and one of their complaints was the number of local drivers who don’t go fast in the fast lane. It is important for drivers to understand why this occurs frequently in the city and the consequences that could come from going too slow.
Why so slow?
The fast lane is reserved for people who expect to be on the road for a long time or are in a hurry to get to their destination. However, not all of those people end up on this lane. One of the most common factors that leads to slow driving is how old the driver is. Senior citizens tend to go at a brisk pace and newly licensed teenagers may be afraid to go even a mile above the speed limit. Now that summer is here and more people will start getting their licenses, expect to see more of that in the next few months.
There is also the issue of distracted driving, but not all of it has to do with phones. Denver is a very popular city for tourists on the western side of the nation, so some drivers might slow down to enjoy the sites on the sides of the road or to ponder directions.
Slow speed, quick consequences
Even though you often hear most car crashes are a result of a driver going too fast, there are several dangers for motorists that go too slow. Many of the drivers that go in the fast lane go there because the right lanes are testing their patience. They may not react quick enough to someone going slower in the fast lane, or they might get angry at them. Colorado is one of the worst states for road rage in the nation, and having an aggressive driver behind a slow one rarely ever ends well for both motorists or the people surrounding them.
As the traffic starts increasing in Denver, so do the chances of coming across a slow driver or an accident caused by one. Make sure you know what legal options for recovery you have before you head out on the highway.