Driving in the Third Lane

I must say, this labor day weekend was absolutely beautiful.  As is normally the case, we were up in Vermont for the entire time camping and the temperature never rose out of the 70's.  On top of that, the humidity was almost non existent and the evenings were wonderfully cool.  But more about the weekend later this week.  Today, I want to talk about traffic and driving in the third lane, or second for that matter, on longer trips.  With yesterday being a fairly big travel weekend for some, the traffic coming home yesterday was nice and heavy.  Despite the congestion, it still managed to move along at a very good pace, there just happened to be a lot of cars on the road.  In general, I find that the majority of people know how to drive on the highway and actually know how to follow the unwritten rules of the road.  However, there are the few people who take matters into their own hands and create the traffic and backups that every driver despises.  (OK, so maybe there are a few twisted people out there who actually enjoy sitting in traffic, but I am not one of them).  Now the written rules differ for two lane highway travel versus three lane highway travel.  On a two lane highway, you are not supposed to pass on the right, only on the left, and after you pass on the left, you are supposed to move over to the right lane for normal travel.  On three lane highways, its pretty much a free for all with passing allowed on the right or left.  On three lane highways, there are certain designations for the lanes which some people have forgotten about.  The right lane is for slow travel, the middle lane is for normal travel, and the left lane is for the speeders and passing.  Where I drive is dictated by the amount of traffic on the road.  On the way up to Vermont, there wasn't much traffic and as such, I drove mostly in the right and middle lanes except to pass.  The trip back was an entirely different animal with a much larger amount of cars on the road. 

So what did I do then, I pretty much rode the left lane all the way home.  The only time I will travel almost exclusively in the left lane is if there is enough cars to create a pack and if there are perpetually slow drivers in the right lane.  Both factors must be met for me to travel non stop in the left lane.  For me, if these factors are not present, I consider it too great of a risk for getting pulled over by the police for speeding.  Now, a pack of cars to me is at least 6-8 cars in one lane traveling approximately the same speed.  I find that if there are at least this many cars, the odds of getting picked out of the line to get pulled over diminishes greatly and you actually get to drive faster.  However, one driver can wreak havoc with a normal flow of traffic if they don't know what they are doing.  When driving in the left lane, there are certain unspoken rules that most people should follow.  (Let me preface all this by saying that yes, I know that everyone in the left lane is mostly likely driving much faster than the speed limit, but that is not the point.)  If you are the driver of the first car in a long line and there is no one in front of you, move over because you are most likely not driving fast enough.  If after moving over you find that the person behind you is not passing you, then by all means, move back over, but at least be courteous to those who really like to speed.  Also, if you are driving in the left lane and NOT passing anyone, then you are driving too slow and should move over to let other people pass you.  If people followed these two rules alone, traffic on the road could be kept to a minimum and people would get where they are going more expeditiously.  While those two rules are the most important, there is one other minor one that really causes issues when not followed.  If you are traveling in one of the right lanes and want to pass a slower person in front of you, make sure that you are not going to be cutting off someone doing 15 mph faster than you are.  This is just asking for an accident to happen. 

If someone driving in the left lane of either a two lane or three lane highway is not following these unwritten rules, then they should be passed as quickly as possible on the right.  Even though it is not technically allowed on two lane roads, it is sometimes necessary to pass on the right.  I find that when everyone is driving where they are supposed to, traffic literally flies along.  Yesterday, for most of the ride home I had the speedometer pegged at 80 mph and I was keeping up with traffic.  Trust me, I wasn't the fastest one on the road, I was merely part of the pack driving in the left lane.  It almost seems as if those who know how to drive in a pack successfully drive better than other people meandering in the slower lanes.  Granted, there are those reckless maniacs who put everyone at risk, but for the most part, they are on their own.  I believe that driving 80 in a pack in the left lane forces one to focus a little bit more on the road and cars around them because of the speed they are going.  I know that yesterday, time seemed to fly because I was entirely focused on driving, the road and cars in front of me, and of course, the cars behind me.  I always made sure that I was keeping up with the pack and even on occasion moved over the let a few faster cars pass me.  See for me, if someone wants to pass me, I am not going to be an ass and sit in the left lane just to piss them off, I will move over because that is what I would like someone to do for me when I need to pass.  But alas, there are a few stragglers whose licenses should be revoke because of their inability to drive properly or safely.  In any case, despite the heavy traffic yesterday and few backups here and there, I still made the trip in 3 hours 15 minutes.  Not a bad ride at all, just tiring.  For more on the weekend, check back later this week.