Slower Traffic Keep Right (or: Learn to How to use the Freeway Correctly)

One of my pet peeves is the problem of people impeding traffic, so I’m going to use EC as a place to rant about it even though it doesn’t have much to do with LGBT issues. My current commute is ~1.5 hours round trip, but it could be faster if people drove correctly, which, sadly many people in my part of the world don’t know how to do. People think it’s OK to hang out in the left lane of the freeway, and it’s generally not (at least in America where we drive on the right side of the road). In most states, this lane is designated as either the passing lane or the fast lane, and all but 2 states have laws about staying out of that lane when someone behind you wants to go faster than you (hence, many freeways with “slower traffic keep right signs”), and for good reasons.

There are so many safety and traffic flow reasons why traffic should generally vacate the left lane unless they’re passing someone. For one thing, staying in the left lane forces traffic to either bunch behind you or to pass on the right. Traffic bunching behind you is dangerous because it increases the chances of collision with vehicles in closer proximity. Passing on the right is dangerous in part because it requires traffic to go faster than you in a slower lane. Passing on the right is also more dangerous than passing on the left because if everyone passes on the left, it’s a lot less likely that two people from two lanes apart will move into the same lane simultaneously.

Staying in the left lane when traffic behind you is trying to go faster causes major traffic flow problems. It can create a wall of traffic that blocks people from, or slows down people’s ability to, pass you. Even if it only slightly slows down people from passing you, milliseconds of slowdown can contribute to gridlocks and stop-and-go traffic. If you don’t agree with that check out the video below [YOUTUBE]Suugn-p5C1M[/YOUTUBE]

In this video, a traffic jam is cause in spite of the fact that there were no bottlenecks. The white car at 0:08 caused the wave of slowdown simply by slowing down a little, yet that wave persisted for long enough to cause slowdowns for everyone behind him/her.

Even if it doesn’t cause dangerous stop-and-go traffic, people camping out in the left lane will still hinder the overall traffic throughput of the freeway. This means that each given vehicle, on average, will spend more time on the freeway. With each vehicle spending more time on the freeway, there will be more vehicles on the freeway at a given time, which means more chances of collisions.

Notice that it’s, “slower traffic keep right,” not, “slow traffic keep right.” It doesn’t matter if you’re going a billion mph, if someone behind you is trying to go a billion and one mph, you must get out of the left lane when safe to do so. If you don’t, you’re impeding traffic. The law in my state (California) says that the obligation to stay right applies, “Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limit” (vehicle code 21654). That means that even if you were driving the fastest legal speed, you cannot legally stay in that lane if the person behind you is attempting to break the speed limit.

If you’re staying in the left lane to force everyone to drive slower, you’re causing problems. Going fast isn’t dangerous per se. In fact, the statistics (at least in the US, where speed limits are usually too low IMO) show that freeway drivers going 10 mph under the speed limit are more likely to get into an accident than someone going 10 mph over the speed limit. The ?fact that the Autobahn is statistically safer than the highway systems of most countries, in spite of ~70% of the Autobahn not having a speed limit, is evidence of this. The Autobahn works because it accounts for the safety issues of speed, one of which is traffic traveling at different speeds in the same lane. This problem is addressed by Germans strictly keeping to the right on the Autobahn (or so I’ve heard from people familiar with the Autobahn).

So to anyone reading this, try to stay out of the left lane except to pass. Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t taught this, as driver training in the US is abysmal IMO. In fact, many licensed US drivers have never been trained to drive on the freeway with an instructor, and many don’t know that “slower traffic keep right” is the law (in every state except 2 I think). Unless your moving out of the left lane wouldn’t allow the person behind you to go faster (because there’s a wall of traffic in that lane going the same speed), if you’re in the left lane with someone behind you, you should move to the right.

 

It can be fine to pass in the left lane without going fast, so long as:

1) You don't cut anyone off, which means that if traffic is going a lot faster than you in the left lane, you should wait for a significantly large gap in traffic before switching lanes so you don't slow down someone too much.

2) You move back to the right as soon as safely possible after passing. If you have more traffic you want to pass, you should move to the right first, let the faster traffic pass you, then pass the traffic going slower than you.

3) You're not going too slow for the freeway in general.

 

Wow. usually, for most US freeways, the posted speed limit is actually slower than ideal for the road (which I think is a byproduct of having the 55 mph national speed limit as late as the 90s). Driving 15 mph under the limit in good conditions (i.e., no ice on the road) is just stupid.

---------- Post added 17th Oct 2015 at 01:05 PM ----------

It's one thing to stay in the passing lane until you reach a large gap on the right, it's another to stay in it indefinitely.

---------- Post added 17th Oct 2015 at 01:12 PM ----------

...but that would require tax dollars, and Americans have been unwilling to foot the bill for infrastructure (which is why well be facing significant problems pretty soon about bridges/dams/etc falling into disrepair).

Two lane (per direction) interstates can work fine for lightly traveled routes so long as people use the road correctly. I drove ~2,000 miles across I-80 multiple times driving back and forth from college a few times, and for the most part, two lanes was plenty for me to be going 80+mph. However, it may have been different if I weren't making those trips in the middle of the week. Three lanes obviously work a lot better, as you can have the rightmost for trucks/very slow drivers, the middle lane as the cruise lane for cars or passing lane for trucks, and the left lane for passing.

---------- Post added 17th Oct 2015 at 01:19 PM ----------

It's amazing how much people in the Bay Area will slow down just for a light rain.

---------- Post added 17th Oct 2015 at 01:27 PM ----------

Other things that piss me off about stupid/incompetent/careless drivers are those who merge onto the freeway at 45 mph (every driver should be required to watch this video) to avoid such stupidity, and those who don't maintain a constant speed. It's not OK for you to vary your speed from 75 to 60 mph without cause. Most cars have fully functional cruise control systems. Use them (unless the road is wet, in which case cruise control may be dangerous)! I hate having to constantly adjust my cruise control setting just because the person in front of me doesn't keep a constant speed.

A lot of this comes down to poor training. I feel like the process of getting a driver's license in the US (or at least California) is a joke. I was fortunate enough to have a drive instructor who actually trained me how to drive on a freeway and also in the mountains, and he said that his employer strongly discourages him doing that because of gas consumption. When I first got onto the onramp for the freeway, to emphasize how much you need to speed up before getting to the merge point, he literally pushed my knee down so that we'd get up to freeway speeds. Once on the freeway, he said that, "If you're going 65-70, you're doing good," in an area where freeways have a speed limit of 65 mph.