Yo US East Coast 95 drivers, this is you. Chill the eff out. - from someone who loves following traffic laws to see you pissed off everyday but hopes you don’t hurt yourself and others.
Oh this is one of my favorite stories
I lived kinda far outside of the city that I worked. I drove a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, with the 2800 supercharged engine. My commute home often had traffic, and I was tryna get home asap. I found myself behind a car in the left lane, going the speed limit, and I was like manically desperate to get around her.
Finally I have the opportunity to pass, and I roar past her, glancing over to see an older woman in a headscarf, I assume Muslim, with a flip phone wedged between her headscarf and her ear, having a lively conversation with someone. I increase my speed until she is just a dot in the background.
I come to my exit, at the bottom of which is a stoplight, and I wait: white knuckled, sweating bullets, heaving and seething behind the wheel. A car pulls up next to me at the light and look who it is: the same woman, phone to her ear, talking to whoever, oblivious to my existence.
I considered her, then considered myself, and realized I was a fucking maniac likely doing harm to myself and god knows who else, and I didn’t get anywhere any faster than someone going the speed limit.
Then and there I decided to chill the fuck out about driving.
But I miss that car
“space on both sides”
Please keep to the right when you are able.
At least where I am in the US, it’s generally good etiquette to be in the middle lane so cars can merge onto the highway easily.
Where I am the on ramps aren’t so frequent that it’s implausible to move over once in a while when there’s an onramp.
Well thank god we all live where you do. Shame traffic is awful now that we have 9 billion people and inconsistent on ramps though.
Where I am in the US that is a violation of traffic laws and you can get a ticket for it.
You should be leaving enough stopping distance between yourself and the next car that someone can merge easily and you have time to react by slowing down or moving to the next lane to make space for them. If you don’t have that much stopping distance, then you’re already in danger if the car in front brakes suddenly, e.g. if they need to do an emergency stop because of something you’ve not seen, they have a medical event making them lose consciousness and accidentally step on the brake pedal, or their car breaks down in a way that forces the breaks on.
It really doesn’t have anything to do if there is a car in front or not.
At least in the Pittsburgh area, because of the hilly terrain, there is often not enough reaction time between seeing if a car is waiting on an on ramp and switching lanes.
Also, it isn’t just me. AAA driving instructions say use the middle lane for through-traffic.
https://autoclubsouth.aaa.com/Assets/PDFs/freeway_driving.pdf
Generally, the right lane of a freeway is for entering and exiting the traffic flow. It is a staging lane, for use at the beginning and end of your freeway run. The middle lanes are for through traffic, and the left lane is for passing. If you are traveling on a roadway with more than two lanes, you should move out of the right lane unless you are driving at a slower speed or preparing to enter or exit.
this is completely incorrect—stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be on the highway for a while. if there are 3 or more lanes, the right is generally for exiting, far left for passing and middle for general travel.
Wrong.
Several states have “stay in the right lane unless passing” laws.
When there are 3 lanes? I think most of the laws are to stay OUT of the left lane, not that you must stick to the right lane. I could be wrong but 2 passing only lanes seems a bit excessive.
You might want to read those laws more carefully.
You might want to read those laws for the first time.
That doesn’t make any sense
Which part?
Oooh, you’d suck driving in Europe.
Depends. If in the US the majority of states have “keep right except to pass” laws along with “failure to yield” laws. Some states do have exceptions for busy merging areas that say taking the center lane is acceptable for the duration.
So if someone is camping the center lane slower than prevailing traffic in that lane they are potentially violating two laws.
I don’t know where you are, so I write this for US people seeing as there seems to be a growing issue of people using the center of three lanes as a slow lane and it really fucks up the flow.
It really doesn’t fuck up the flow people are just driving 20 over and going “hurr this guy going the speed limit or 5 over in the cruising lane is breaking the law!” Then still pass on either side
Countries where you have to drive as much to the right as possible also have laws stating it’s illegal to overtake on the right. Overtaking on the right has the same fine as jogging the middle lane if there’s space on the right.
I guess this mostly indicates to always check the actual road laws of the regions you’re driving in. But generally in Europe hogging the middle lane indicates you’re a danger on the road who should not be allowed to drive a car.
There are several US states that can cite for passing in the right, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it happening.
It depends on the country. In France for example, middle and left are for passing.
How is it supposed to be efficient to use an entire lane only for exiting?
Check the laws in your state. I doubt it says anything like “stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be in the highway for a while” or “middle is for general travel”, which means you’re probably the driver camping in the middle lane when you should be moving over.
can you cite a state’s traffic law that says (in so many words) “don’t use the middle lane for long term travel” ?
I am speaking toward common sense driving in the US. Not 100% adherence to local traffic code minutia. If you’re going to be on the highway for ~a while~ and it has 3+ lanes, get in the middle lane and set your cruise control to the speed limit. then adjust for local conditions. this isn’t rocket surgery.
Yeah, why be in the right lane (of a 3+ lane highway) if you’re not planning to exit soon.
Yeah, why be in the left lane (of a 3+lane highway) if you’re not going faster to pass for whatever reason.)
of course, there are situations where this doesn’t apply
If you can’t figure out the solutions to those situations, maybe don’t get behind the wheel.
Please tell me what you think the middle 1-5 lanes of highway are REALLY for, other than my suggested assumption of “general travel” (meaning: you’re probably not going to get off the highway for the next 5-20 exits.)
It depends on the flow of traffic. The rightmost lane makes sense when there isn’t slow and frequent traffic in it and there isn’t someone going faster behind you, otherwise you are creating more traffic by constantly switching lanes and making everyone else deal with it. It also depends on whether the lanes are going to be bifurcated or have to deal with exits or entries.
I disagree that changing lanes “creates more traffic.” Even moving right for 30 seconds allows faster traffic behind you to move over. In fact, lots of country roads have passing lanes open up for 2 km stretches where cars are expected to move over only for that distance.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8535848/
https://www.teguyinc.com/post/key-common-sense-behaviours-that-can-improve-traffic-flow
https://scisimple.com/en/articles/2025-09-29-the-impact-of-lane-changes-on-traffic-flow--a9pvypw
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09014-x
You do you, which apparently means skipping over the conditionals of my comment. If that’s your attention to detail, then you should definitely stick to the right lane. Here, have some articles which are actually nuanced about how changing lanes can contribute to traffic, hopefully they’ll instill a greater sense of awareness.
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Middle is for cruising with 3 or more lanes. Right lane if there are only 2
Not really though, all lanes except the rightmost lane should be passing lanes. It is different in urban areas where they often open up 2 or 3 lanes for exit only or if there is constant heavy merging. But in general, keep right unless passing
in Ontario every lane is a passing lane.
Middle, and the right if no middle available.
Yeah, people are trained by society to engage in negative dopamine loops. Like the dopamine we get when we hurt somebody we hate.
Same with people who are desperate for someone to be mad at on the internet.
It’s partially how the rich keep people isolated and individualistic.
I’m a school bus driver and I get tailgaters like this all the time. They don’t seem to grasp that I absolutely cannot see them at all when they’re that close, not in my mirrors nor even through the windows in the back door. It’s extra fun when they do it in a 15mph school zone and lay on the horn for good measure. Like yeah dude, I’m going to speed through a school zone in a fucking school bus so you can get to the red light up ahead five seconds sooner, thanks for letting me know.
Dude yesterday I was driving the few hundred feet between 2 school zones at about 8am and this car comes up behind me and honks at me for going 22ish and at first I go “huh yeah I suppose I should have my lights on it is kinda overcast out” and turned my lights on. Then I realized as they tailgated they were mad that I was going a couple mph under the limit. So when I reached the next school zone (which is actually setup for a park so no children present at 8am) I slowed all the way down to 15mph which really got them to lay on their horn. They then sped off from behind me into the high school when I turned onto the road the highschool is on. Like bro, if you’re that late to class the extra 30 seconds of commute time driving a bit slower isn’t going to make any difference, but your anger level absolutely will
Anyways folks need to calm down on the “gotta go fast” mentality. I’ve biked that same route, as in all manual hauling 100lbs of kids behind me. If it makes no noticable difference going 2-10mph (depending on hills) while biking it’s not going to make any difference at all whether you go 22mph or 27mph. And I find it wild that folks don’t play with that at all. Even when I had a 70 mile commute I tested it and found no noticable change in commute time whether I went exactly the speed limit or 5-8mph over the limit (speed of traffic) but I did see a noticable reduction in gas consumption by going a bit slower, as in an entire gallon of fuel each direction saved
I hope you slow down a little when they lay on the horn
Nah, I don’t want them thinking they’re influencing my actions in any way whatsoever.
Yes they do. Most People who have rage won’t admit part of them likes it. A small feeling of power. No matter how infantile. They love it.
As self destructive as it is.
For those saying “Get out of the middle lane!” What if I don’t know the area and I’m trying to minimize the amount of suddenly needed lane changes I need to do to get into the correct one?
What if I’m driving a clunker and my transmission doesn’t handle constant speed changes well making staying on the on-ramp lane a little risky?
What if I’m already fucking going 9mph over the speed limit? Look motherfucker I’m risking being late to work too, but I’m not going 10+ I can’t afford a fucking ticket either and I’m not slowing down or dangerously constantly changing lanes because your rich ass can afford repeated speed tickets.
That’s…the main traveling lane though?
We’ve updated the sign to “Don’t hog the middle lane. Except for ayyy, they’re allowed”
I had a dude once tailgate me and honk at me for going 25 in a 35. I had just pulled out of a parking lot and was getting my bearings. It was a two-lane road. I was in the right lane. He finally went around me, and I gave him a dorky wave.
30 seconds later, he was in front of me at the next red light, so to be a dick, I honked at him.
Dude spent the next 10 minutes in front of me going like 10 miles per hour. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I thought I’d just let that play out. Later, when I switched lanes to avoid a turn-only, he switched immediately after. I realized that he intended to stay in front of me driving slowly presumably until I got home.
So I eventually faked him out and lost him.
Dude wasted 10 minutes of his life proving some kind of insane point. He had a young daughter in the back seat. I feel bad for her.
When I see or meet anyone on the road that does anything stupid … I avoid them like the plague.
I’m not sticking around to see if the other guy/gal is going to lose it and do something stupid that will either cause a minor accident … or kill someone.
This is the smart move. Don’t antagonize them, no matter how much they deserve it. It’s not worth the risk.
Tell me you’re from USA without telling me you’re from USA.
I kid, people have died from road rage in every country, just their car is dangerous enough.
Given that the US is extremely car-centric compared to other countries, it makes sense we’d have more road rage incidents!
Want to go so fast they’ll go slow for it.
That’s they get for driving on his road!
I was once driving to work very early in a bank holiday morning. Dual carriageway, literally nobody but me in either direction. I’m doing 70 in the left lane (which, for those who don’t know, is the correct lane and the speed limit here in the UK).
Suddenly, a guy comes haring up behind me at what must have been at least 100. He doesn’t overtake, but instead sits an inch from my bumper. I do what any reasonable person would do - i take my foot completely off the accelerator and just let my car slowly slow down, to encourage him to overtake.
I shit you not, my car got down to 30 MPH before he pulled out and started overtaking.
And then he gave me WTF gestures as he shot past.
Reminder - this was a dual carriageway, two lanes in the direction we were travelling, and there was literally nobody else on the road.
It’s the weirdest thing.
If i were Freddy Kreuger I’d invade the dreams of tailgaters and give them a different nightmare every night - one night they’re paralysed for the rest of their life from an accident they caused, the next they have to live with having killed a child, etc - until they stop fucking doing it.
What is it with people who stay in the middle lane whilst driving slow when there’s nobody of the right lane which is were the driving code says they’re suppose to be?
they’re selfish and ignorant
This depends on the country/state, the speed limit of the road, and possibly other local laws.
Broadly speaking, in the US on roads with speed limits at or above 55mph: the laws for many states require keeping right except to pass. [Generally] On roads under 55mph: there is no such rule but it’s not uncommon for people to think there is, probably due to confusion with the 55+ law, or perhaps there’s a different state or local law where they live.
99.9% of people don’t look up differing traffic laws before driving through multiple states, which is why most differences are posted with road signage.
EDIT: An obvious exception to the speed limit rule are interstate highways where the speed limit will drop in urban areas but still require to keep right except to pass.
Depending on the road, this might be reasonable.
The right lane is often used for exiting or merging, so being in the middle lane is safer and allows others to use the right lane for this purpose more easily.
Frequently switching between right and middle lane because of the occasional slower/merging car only increases the chances of a collision, because switching lanes is more complicated than staying in one lane.
Staying in one lane all throughout the drive reduces cognitive load for the driver. This means they’re less distracted and can respond better to surprises or emergencies. (I’m assuming they’re not distracted by something else like using their phone, that’s a whole other topic)
In urban areas, the right lane is closer to parked cars, cyclists and pedestrians, making it inherently more dangerous to drive in.
So yeah, if the right lane is completely empty of cars and it’s not an urban area, they should use it. Otherwise, middle lane is probably the best choice.
The middle lane is an overtaking lane just like any other lanes toward the middle of the roadway (reverse that for the handful of countries that drive on the other side of the road). Every country I’ve sat for a drivers test in has had that as a very basic concept and the single country I’ve actually seen it followed had the best damn driving experience (German’s follow the rules and their roads are better for it).
I agree with you. The thing is, the overriding principle (and law) of driving is to be cautious. By my interpretation, all other laws can be bent if bending them is safer than strictly adhering to them. Hence my previous comment.
You thouched the core of the thing at the very end: basically how appropriate or not it is to ride in center lane when there’s plenty of room in the rightmost lane depends on how frequent exits and entrances are in the stretch of road you’re in as well as how those entrances and exits are setup (basically, how long is the merge lane), the speed you’re going at and the risk due to things on the side of the road.
I don’t think anybody is contesting not being on the right lane all the time in an avenue in the middle of a city where there are constant junctions with side streets.
That said your “cognitive load” theory is all about doing what’s best for yourself and fuck everybody else - if somebody is needlessly on the center lane when there’s plenty of room on the right lane and plenty of distance between entrances, then they’re just needlesslesy forcing others to endanger themselves by going into an even more dangerous lane, and doing because they lazy and selfish (because having to pay attention maybe once every couple of minutes to entrances or overtaking isn’t all that much cognitive load unless one is an actual moron in the scientific sense.
That’s the same logic used by people who don’t use direction indicators unless it’s helpful for them personally.
The optimal level of selfishness so that the road is as safe as possible for everybody is quite a bit below “whatever is less of a hassle for me”.
Thanks, I think we’re mostly in agreement.
Regarding the selfishness thing: first, I should clarify that I only meant that part assuming the right lane would occasionally have obstacles (other cars). If it’s totally free, there’s no reason to leave it.
I’m talking about when the choice is either constantly zigzagging between middle and right, or staying in the middle. In that case I think staying in the middle reduces cognitive load both for yourself and for other drivers. Less lane switches on the road, less chaos. It’s not as selfish as you make it out.
Also, each time you switch lanes you temporarily occupy both lanes at the same time, so if you zigzag you’re taking up more of the road, which is arguably more selfish.
Comparing to people who don’t indicate is not fair. They’re just idiots, even selfishness can’t explain it because they’re making it more likely that they’ll be in a crash. There is not a single sensible argument to not use turn signals.
On highways in town no such rule.
Why does the guys in the middle lane have to be driving slow? The speed limit is usually 65 on highways by me, and if the fella is doing 75, can he not stay in the middle lane? If he is not getting off for a time, 75 in the middle lane seems reasonable? He could be doing 80 and this scenario can still happen.
You’ll have the guy in the truck come up behind you doing 90. Is the car really slow, at ten over the speed limit? Or is the car only slow once someone fast doing 90 shows up? Why must the barely rule abiding citizen, yeild to the blatant speeder?
The speed limit is usually 65 on highways by me, and if the fella is doing 75, can he not stay in the middle lane?
Traffic flows more smoothly when drivers keep to the right when possible, even if you’re speeding a little bit.
I swear my drivers ed book said the right most lane is for entering/exiting the highway, middle lane is for cruising, and left lane for passing.
Y’all I cursed myself anyway, just drove the highway today, I don’t have to take it often these days, and no less then three times was a fella in the left lane doing 60mph. I get the gripe, I don’t understand the need to go 90. But that’s me and kind of irrelevant unless theres a left exit to take.
I think there are as many drivers who should get some patience for others, as there are folks who need to move tf over. Both are dangerous to other drivers.
If that were true there should be only two lanes per direction, and no use to the third lane.
What BS. So everyone in right lane who goes slower then YOU. is the answer.
Everyone to the right, regardless of speed, unless actively passing is the answer.
The determining factor isn’t speed, it’s the availability of the right lane. If there aren’t any vehicles to your right, that’s where you belong.
I don’t care if I’m doing 90, if there is no one slower than me that I’ll catch up to in the next 20-30 seconds, I move right.
That’s terrifying for any car that now has to merge onto a highway starting at 90mph
Why would they have to do that? If they’re in front of me, I’ll move left to pass. If they’re behind me, they’re already behind me. Have you never driven on a highway before? This is pretty standard stuff.
If you’re speeding, you won’t be likely to see them in time to move over.
If they merge in front of you and you were going 90 in the right lane because it was “empty”, you are personally trying to recreate a train by merging your cars together.
Choosing to go as fast as you want in the most unpredictable lane is bad driving even if you consider it standard bad practice.
So, I suppose I’ll have to move left, as I said. Or, if the left lane isn’t available I guess I’ll have to summon up the energy to lift my right foot a bit, accelerators can be in more than one position.
This is not a difficult concept. Allowing someone to merge is a perfectly normal thing. I don’t understand how you don’t understand this.
Reading your comments is like watching one of those commercials for some cheap gadget that “solves” a problem I can’t believe exists. You know the ones, where some hapless dweeb is struggling and fumbling to complete some simple task then looks at the camera and says “If only there was an easier way!” You can’t believe anyone would buy this thing, but then you think if people this stupid didn’t exist, neither would these commercials.
I guess what I’m saying is, assuming you’re not just being contrary or trying to justify your own shitty driving, if you really think simple highway tasks are this hard, then for your own sake, since you obviously don’t give a shit about anyone else, stick with surface streets and stay off the highway.
I’m not gonna live your fantasy, nor legitimize it.
Your insistence that I don’t see things your way when at the root level I disagree with it is not changing me. Nor your petty insistence that I am somehow incompetent for being safe and cautious about driving instead of… Self indulgent.
You share the highway with people that aren’t you. Get used to it.
Story time. There is a long winding road through the woods from a friends place to my old home. It was late at night, we were coming from an overly long D&D session, and as I was a bit tired, I stuck to the speed limit on that road, despite it being nearly empty.
Suddenly, a BMW popped up in the rear view and instantly tailgated me. And kept there, because the road is winding and overtaking in the curves and bends is seriously bad. And as if cursed, whenever we ended a longer straight strip, someone was coming our way, so he could not overtake either.
He tailgated me for about five kilometers, getting angrier by the second judging by his movements, when the last bend came up. From there, it is a longer straight strip towards the city limits, where we knew was a permanent speed trap right behind it.
He started overtaking us in the bend and flew towards the city, probably attempting to catch up on the time he “lost” to us. And we all were waiting. Was the speed trap armed tonight? He was already quite far ahead of us despite the short distance, when FLASH he got caught. With at least 50km/h over the speed limit in the city, this was a sure ticket to lose the driving license.
this was a sure ticket to lose the driving license
Thank you stranger. This story has warmed my heart on a cold morning.
I probably would have slowed down considerably on the straightaways, giving them more time to pass. It’s not just for the other driver’s sake, but for my own; it’s not safe to be tailgated like that
Good, fuck that guy. How is a BMW different from a porcupine?
I only know what they have in common: A porcupine doesn’t use turning signals, either.
Probably irritated that they’re in the middle lane instead of keeping right except to pass. (or left except to pass in countries that drive on the left).
It’s an indicator that the center lane driver is not paying attention. I want to be far away from drivers that are not paying attention.
It could be, but I just think they think it’s OK to chill in the center lane. Everyone else is doing it, after all, never mind that everyone else is also causing traffic to be worse.
Edit: After returning and reading more comments, yeah, a lot of (likely) Americans think it’s OK to be a middle lane camper, even in more rural areas.
Another class of driver I want to be far away from
Absolutely
The California DMV handbook literally tells you to do that. If there’s three lanes, cruise in the middle lane. If there’s two lanes, cruise in the right lane. I don’t think it’s a requirement, but it is the official recommendation in California.
Interesting, that is directly illegal afaik in many EU countries, where the rule is you must keep as far right as possible at all times. I.e use only left lanes when overtaking.
Interesting, that seems to me like it would encourage people to pass on the right. In my experience driving with 3 lanes the right lane is often bare and clear while the left lane is clogged and the middle lane is moderately busy which is, of course, the opposite of what it should be, generally. In cities, obviously, cruising in the middle lane can make more sense, as there’s much more merging on/off of the freeway.
I looked it up to see if they provide reasoning for it, and discovered that they’ve removed the language about where to cruise (at least I couldn’t easily find it) since I took the test years ago, but they’re kind of saying it between the lines:
Here are some tips for choosing a lane:
Use the left lane to pass or turn left. Use the right lane to enter or exit traffic or when you enter the road from a curb or shoulder.
Sidenote: In my experience, on/off ramps in California are ridiculously short, often with low visibility until you’re on it, so they’re kind of relying on the right lane not being all that crowded.
Yea, in cities it can make sense to cruise in the middle lane. Where there’s an exist every few miles, nah, keep to the right.
Passing on the right is also… Not that big a deal. The only thing that supposedly makes it worse than passing on the left is that supposedly people don’t check when moving right. Realistically, the people who don’t check when moving right are also mostly not checking when moving left.
Legally speaking it’s a big deal in some states. California discourages it at highway speeds, but doesn’t ban it.
When did they change that? No wonder traffic is so fucked. That literally conflicts with the LAW that says ‘slower traffic keep right.’
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Why are you saying that the signs are bad? The signs above the road are pretty clear. Each arrow above the lane points to its destination. I can’t say much about the situation around Stockholm but personally I have never had any issues following directions on the highway.
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I am glad I don’t need to drive in Gothenburg as well then 😂 I agree that quite a few people here don’t know how to drive properly but compared to what I persons have experienced in other countries I would say that we are good drivers in general in Sweden.
Sonetimes that’s the turning lane. It doesn’t make much sense to bop in and out of that one. If it is a regular lane and additional turning lanes are to the right of that then sure
If I merged onto the highway on the left, I have to eventually get right. I’ll move to the middle lane when it’s safe, but then 1-2 miles before my exit, I’ll move to the right lane (for right exits). But it’s unreasonable to expect drivers to crowd the far right lane all the time, making merging/exiting the highway more congested and dangerous just because I only drive 0-9 mph over the speed limit at the speed of traffic flow…
As long as you’re not impeding the flow of traffic that’s fine. Some people stay left or center and impede traffic because they want to make everyone go slower. My brother is one of those people.
I tell him he’s not the police and is actually being more dangerous than just getting the fuck out of the way.
Just like someone wants to go slower. Let others live and they can live or die with the consequences. Don’t inject yourself into a dangerous situation to prove a point.
Let others live and they can live or die with the consequences
Most of the time they will be bringing others with them in the “die with the consequences” phase. Speeding benefits nobody, not even the speeder (speeding doesn’t save any noticable amount of time at all)
My point is that if you are not in a police vehicle, You should focus on keeping yourself safe and get out of the way.
If I am going the posted limit and others feel like speeding, why is it my job to get out of the way? Whether it’s a country road with intermittent passing lanes or a multi lane highway with plenty of lanes to the left, that’s their choice to speed but I ain’t risking my license because some chucklefucks choose to be hostile to anyone they share the road with
Whether they feel like speeding or running red lights, they’re going to have to contend with other drivers who don’t feel like breaking the law, and they’ll have to choose to either abide by best driving practices or to continue to be careless
I’m not saying you HAVE to. But the safest thing you can do for yourself is get out of the way. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be safe? There’s a reason that it’s called defensive driving.
Whether or not specifically going out of your way to allow an aggressive driver past is definitely a matter of risk tolerance. Personally, when I’m on a 2 lane road (that’s one lane per direction of travel) I’ll typically simply set my cruise and not change my behavior other than slowing/moving right when it is a passing zone so that they can more easily and safely pass.
Where I live, the country roads are very lightly policed so some folks really test how fast they can go and maintain control of their vehicle on the curves and hills, many going 80+ on narrow 55mph roads with limited visibility and frequent deer, Amish buggies and farm equipment around blind curves. This practice works well for me here because it might prevent a fatal accident where some poor family was just trying to get to church and the speeder couldn’t see them in time, but more importantly I’m not disrupting my drive for other people’s insanity. I’ll continue to drive with my tolerance for breaking the law (which is extremely low), and other drivers can choose to drive at their tolerance level, and maybe the minor inconvenience of encountering vehicles that aren’t speeding excessively will help make the choice to speed excessively make less sense
Yeah. If I stayed in the right lane, every couple miles I’d need to change lanes to avoid an exit only, or free up space for entering traffic to merge. But that leaves one of not two open lanes to my left.
Also changing lanes is stressful for me: the situation changes quickly, and even after checking blind spots I’ve almost sideswiped someone a couple times. (Also honked to keep a pair of cars in front of me from picking the same moment to shift into each other.)
So, I get the principle, and I also am annoyed with slow traffic in the left lane. But if there’s room to pass on the left, that’s what I see as necessary.
It is the job of the person merging onto the freeway to find a safe place to merge. The person on the freeway is also able to move out of the right lane if they so desire, but they aren’t required to from what I understand.
All of that said, I see people being center lane campers all the time whether it be in the middle of a city, where it’s arguably fine, to rural but populated areas where it causes traffic, to the middle of nowhere, where it isn’t inconveniencing me, but is just weird.
It is the job of the person merging onto the freeway to find a safe place to merge. The person on the freeway is also able to move out of the right lane if they so desire, but they aren’t required to from what I understand
Part of merging is to let the vehicles merging safely merge. That might mean slowing down a bit, speeding up a bit for a moment or moving a lane over. The only time when doing nothing for a merging vehicle is okay is when there’s literally nothing you can do due to the quantity of traffic
But it’s entirely unreasonable and incredibly dangerous to expect someone on a freeway onramp to stop and wait for an opening. Drivers must leave enough room to allow a speed-appropriate merge in front of them.
When did I say stop and wait for an opening? Don’t stop on an on-ramp.
But it’s unreasonable to expect drivers to crowd the far right lane all the time, making merging/exiting the highway more congested and dangerous just because I only drive 0-9 mph over the speed limit at the speed of traffic flow…
So what do you do when there are two lanes? Ride the left lane? No? But then how do people possibly merge? Huh, somehow it works. Shockingly, you can move to the other lane when someone needs to merge because, whoa you guessed it, the lane isn’t full of people going slower.
It’s not unreasonable, and there’s a reason why it’s the (sadly often unenforced) rule almost everywhere to keep right/left. Somehow it works in Germany where it is more heavily enforced. Oh, and guess what, it’s safer for everyone.
This is totally psychological (thinking it’s crowding the right lane and causing merge issues). You may not realize it, but you’re doing this just because you unconsciously feel more comfortable with more space (for yourself) on both sides. It’s called the “space cushion”. You might even tell yourself you are safer because you have more directions to escape to if a situation arises. Or you might just be lazy, as it’s a lot easier to sit in your cushy middle lane and not have to think about what you’re doing.
But you’re actually creating more problems by riding the middle lane, leading to people passing on both sides, doing more dangerous weaving maneuvers, reducing the optimal flow of traffic overall, and making the road less safe for everyone. And did you know you’re probably making merging worse? Yeah, the fact that you think you don’t have to change lanes to assist with people merging just because you’re in the middle lane means that you’re part of the problem. You still have to pay attention and be ready to move over, in case there is already someone in the right lane who needs to move over.
It’s pretty selfish to be honest. Stop being a lane hog.
Yeah, if I come up on someone in the middle lane when there’s clearly space in the right lane, I get pissed. I don’t even drive fast, so if I catch up to you, you really have no business being anywhere but the right lane.
Why are you in the middle lane than? What speed is ok to be there? Genuinely asking. People seem to make up own speeds and rules that are ok in each lane when the limit is the same…
Chances are I’m in the middle lane because I’m passing someone going slow in the right lane, as is its intended purpose.
People often forget, this is only on highways/motorways. On surface streets (recognizable by their lack of entry/exit ramps/infrastructure and same level intersections) left lanes are for those expecting to turn left next, right lanes are for those expecting to turn right next, and middle lanes are for those who will be going straight past the next intersection, with some variance expected on occasion.
Surface streets
3 lanes
You don’t need to tell me where you live.
Its sadly not only an America problem. Its not uncommon here in China to see 3 lanes each way, a seperated motorbike lane that’s like 10 feet wide, a seperated bus/bicycle/car parking lane, 5 feet of bike parking, and then 15 feet of sidewalk.
And somehow cars still drive on the sidewalks.
Stroads.
Which country do you think this picture got taken in? Hint: It’s not America, China or Dubai
Probably some parade street in North Korea.
It’s Myanmar
Based on the overall frequency of people from Southeast Asia vs. the US on Lemmy, my guess is still going to be “US” when people tell me about 3+ lanes on municipal roads, even though I am of course aware that such roads exist in other countries (including my own).
Where do they live?
One thing I don’t like about NY, there isn’t a stay-right law. It’s actually a “use any open lane” law. Crazy.
Plus all the Stroads.
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This is the 4th time you’ve commented this, something isn’t going right on your instance (or my instance), I thought I left this bug behind when I left reddit haha.
On my connection or app, I think.
Somethin’ like that
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That’s a lot of lane.
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I’m convinced regular driving is not good for our brains. I am lucky to live without a car and I am a really relaxed person but it takes about a day driving before I start getting angry at other drivers again.
I’m a Gearhead and I love driving, but don’t entirely disagree tbh. It’s probably more of a “doing something you dislike but must do to function” type of thing. Driving is akin to working a dead end office job for a lot of people. Hell, even I dislike driving in any medium-large sized town/city.
If that ain’t the truth! I miss having a half decent public transit option.
Switching to a walking commute is one of the best things I ever did in terms of stress reduction.
As it so happens walking at least half an hour a day is also good for your cardio-vascular system (according to a study that came out some years ago, it reduces the chance of cardio-vascular problems by 70%)
Public transport is the answer. But if that’s not an option, a tip someone gave me once was to imagine all other drivers as toddlers. Its kind of a compassion hack. Or elderly on medication.
Imagine that all other drivers are late for something super important, stressed, and lost.
Assume all drivers are idiots until proven otherwise.
This is also a good safety practice for pedestrians (maybe even more than for drivers since when a car collides with a pedestrian they’re more likely to die).
In practice most drivers are not idiots but the defensive practices of going around assuming they are definitelly pay up when you do face and idiot driver and avoid a collision (or, as a pedestrian, getting run over) because your level of being careful was the right one for being faced with an idiot driver.
I concur.
One only has to look at how many people make cars their entire personality to see why building society around car-centric design is wrong.
In my local experience, these are actually just profoundly incompetent. Hanlon’s razor.
They tailgate because they are actually incapable of maintaining a following distance (you know the kind, when the road is empty they alternate between mashing the gas and driving well under the speed limit, and somehow if you’re a passenger they’re totally unaware that they are doing it even if they are not distracted, how it is possible to be this bad at gauging speed and distance I do not understand but these people do exist).
Then as their malfunctioning brain randomly processes that they want to go faster, they overtake, and since the lane is clear they mash the gas.
Then when they are done and they merge back, their brain performs a hard reset and they somehow drive slower than before they passed you. They do not notice. You pass them, and they are not looking distracted; the only explanation is that their brain is doing the simpsons-monkey-cymbals.gif.
I think this is also a psychological effect. Back in gym class, our teachers used to tell us that slower runners should pair up with fast runners for the 100m dash, because running behind someone pushes you to run faster. The same happens in traffic, where simply driving behind another car makes some drivers want to overtake it, even if they’re not actually going faster. I also observe this effect when I cycle to work and feel the same urge when I’m behind someone else, until I remind myself that, sure I can push myself briefly to go faster, but do I actually want to maintain that speed afterwards? My usual answer is “no”.
True, except it works both ways. The passed car also tends to speed up during/after being overtaken like it was some unforgivable insult.
I took an Uber a few months ago and the guy had apparently just learned to drive. The entire time he was always mashing either the gas pedal or the brake, so it was constant speeding up and slowing down. I tried to tell him that he could sometimes just have his foot on neither pedal to cruise and get a smoother ride, but he looked at me like I’d just grown another head.
Reminds me of driving in LA. I did my usual Midwestern (oh there’s a red light a couple hundred feet ahead, I’ll start slowing now and come to a gentle stop" and the other drivers were visibly confused by this driving behavior. LA is very much a “slam on the gas, slam on the brake” kinda place. The minivan I inherited from my family in LA has wear on the break pedal that stems from this kind of driving, you have to push the pedal really hard for it to fully stop (2 mechanics have confirmed the breaks are in good working order)
Love that gif:
