D. Patrick Caldwell on The Joys of Flight

So, the other day I had a non-aviation awshit. My fiance's air conditioning is out in her car. That's a much bigger problem for her than it is for me so I've been driving her car and she's been driving mine. Well, there was something about her car that I didn't know.

You see, in an airplane, I check my fuel level indicators as a part of my regular scan. Before every flight, I know how much time I can spend in the air and I make sure I have appropriate reserves. In a car, however, I only want one binary piece of information; do I need gas or don't I?

It seems I've gotten into the habit of not looking at the fuel gauge in my car and just waiting for the "fuel low" indicator to come on. The fuel gauge in my girlfriends gar is inoperative (now I know why the FAA requires inoperative equipment in airplanes to be placarded as such, CFR 14 Part 91.213.3.ii).

In any event, I was cruising up 400 and the engine suddenly choked out. I tried to get an indication of why and there were no warning lights at all. I checked my mirrors to find a reasonable means of escape and there was a large 18 wheeler cruising up on my right. As I popped the car into neutral and noticed the gas gauge . . . empty.

So there I am coasting up 400 in the third lane from the shoulder waiting for this truck to pass me. Naturally, I'm slowing down and a line of cars starts to form behind me. The lady immediately behind me is annoyed at first but she seemed to notice my urgency and she simmered down.

I cycled between looking for an opportunity to change lanes and looking for the emergency blinker button (by the way, that'll be one of the first things I identify when driving a new car from now on). About the time the truck cleared my path, two cars behind me peeled off and started passing me on the right.

There were a few things I knew for certain. First, I was going to run out of momentum and come to a full stop. Second, if I was stopped on 400, someone was going to get into an accident. Third, there was no way in hell I was gonna push that car off of the freeway. Fourth, as long as I didn't hit someone, I couldn't get in trouble if I caused an accident.

I decided that my best bet was to just change lanes and hope they see me before I either merge into them or get rear ended. I started over abruptly and was met with near collisions and very angry gestures. I rolled onto the shoulder and the car came to a stop without any brake input from me.

I sighed with relief, put the car in park, and turned off the ignition. Now, I know that the no passing on the right law applies to passing on the shoulder, not legitimate lanes of traffic; however, I think now that passing on the right should be a moving violation. If it were and it were also a moving violation for slower traffic to travel in the left lanes, then I could count on traffic to my right being clear.

Thus, those two cars which peeled off behind me would have peeled off to pass on the left and any cars on the right would've slowed down to keep from passing. In an emergency, you could count on being able to change lanes to the right without being hit by irritated passing drivers. Then, after only a brief upset to the flow of traffic, everyone would be able to go about their commute without incident.

Have fun. Be safe. Happy Piloting.