Speed And Lane Etiquette

First on speed limits. That is the maximum you can legally drive on that road. Some have minimus posted.

As far as what lane, I agree with PJ. The right lane is for driving. The left lane is for passing. You can get ticketed for driving in the wrong lane. With that said, it's your butt in the drivier's seat. Make the safest choice.

Big Scott..,

You will not be ticketed for running in the center lane of a three lane highway, especially in heavy rush hour traffic. Unless specified otherwise by signage.

I drive on the PA turnpike and other Interstates in and around Phila and NJ with exits very closely spaced. In rush hour far safer to run center lane of three available lanes, than constantly dealing with the parade of cars exiting and entering the Interstate. Lighter traffic I'll run the right lane.

In Heavy traffic (Stop and Go) I run the right lane and keep a distance. Yes people tend to fill the gap every once in a while. I try to help the people behind from having to speed up and stop speed up and stop as well as create a safe entrance for the folks entering without the controversy of its my turn...

I just want to say Thank You so much! You have no idea how happy I am that you let up on the throttle so passing doesn’t take 45 minutes.

This is a great topic.

I'm governed at 62 max, and I certainly enjoy the stress free pace. In most situations you'll just find me chillin over in the right lane. But for the in-city three-lane situations like you described, I prefer the middle lane most often. Like Errol said, it's a feel kinda thing. Being in the right lane can often create more dangerous situations due to vehicles merging, plus the idiots that have to cut in front of you and hit the brakes 50ft before the exit because God forbid they get behind the big truck.

When I'm in the middle and I see a big truck rolling up on me, I'll key up the mic and tell him to pass me on the right if he likes, and I'll lift the throttle to make it easy for him. It's far easier for him to do that, then pull back in front of me, than it is for me to move over and then try to pick my way back to the middle.

The four wheelers are on their own. I have no guilt or shame.

I just want to say Thank You so much! You have no idea how happy I am that you let up on the throttle so passing doesn’t take 45 minutes.

Haha well I don't really do it out of any noble act of kindness, so I can't take credit for that. It's just a matter of safety for me, as are nearly all of my driving decisions. Lifting the throttle for just a couple seconds allows the other truck to get the heck away from me it without costing either of us any time. Safer for both of us.

Likewise, "camping" in the middle lane is more about my own safety than anything else. I'm not advocating doing it all the time, but when it's safer to do so, that's where you'll find me. It also means I can get to where I'm going in a timely fashion as well. In heavy traffic I spend more time braking for merging and exiting traffic in the right lane, resulting in everyone going slow. And my governed truck won't spool up fast enough to get back up to speed. That's why I ride the middle when the right lane gets to be unsafe for me.

Faster trucks may not like it, but I'm not concerned with their sense of entitlement. Just because their trucks can go a few mph faster than mine doesn't make them any more important than me. They have the ability to speed upwhen traffic clears, i dont. Like it or not, us slow trucks have somewhere to be too.

I'll always get out of the way when I can. But if it puts me in an unsafe situation, well then you're just gonna have to wait or go around me. That's when I'll lift to make it easier.

Just because I have a faster truck there is absoutely no sense of entitlement here. I have driven both and for newer folks there is a difference in the way you drive them, because of the point the slower ones can’t spool up as quickly. I am always courtious to those drivers. I know alot aren’t and are total jerks. We all face the same challenges and no one’s time is more important than anyone else’s. It’s all about getting where we are going safely. Most people when they look at my truck assume I’m an O/O and I get treated differently at times because I am blessed to drive a beautiful fast truck. I follow the laws and operate it as safely as I can, that way I can keep it beautiful.

When going through a city with three plus lanes on the interstate , I tend to stay out of the right lane most of the time unless there is a law that trucks can't use the left lane. I find I tend to function as a rolling road block to merging traffic when I hold the right lane through cities. But in cities with only three lanes on the interstate there's always that issue of faster trucks running up on me in the middle lane, even though my truck is fast enough to run the speed limit. Alot of times I'll just temporarily move to the right if a faster truck comes up behind me. But if there's someone right in front of me or the right lane is too busy, I'll just hold my ground and the trucker behind me can just exercise some patience or pass me on the left. I try as much as possible not to be a nuisance but sometimes there is no perfect solution.

I find most of the time there is no perfect solution.....

I try as much as possible not to be a nuisance but sometimes there is no perfect solution

The safest solution is the only solution. We all pay a price for safety. For most of us the price we pay for safety is a truck that is governed at a certain speed. For those with an ungoverned truck the price they pay is the inability to use all of the speed they have available.

Oh well. That's just how it goes.

I think it makes sense to stay out of the right lane. I do it when I'm driving my RV Motorcoach which is the largest thing I drive right now.... 32K, 40 feet, 12'6" tall. Squarely in Class A category. Like the governed guys, I'm not in a Ferrari. I can max out at a little over 75, but I do not like to. Handling and speed are much safer at 65 to 70 and the sweet spot is around 60 to 65. I think fuel efficiency drops radically above 55 anyway.

That said, I find this conversation fascinating. We have some huge freeways in Houston where I live. We also have some huge traffic to go with those freeways. I live here and I plan my travel around when the freeways are parking lots. Our construction planners coordinate to shut down everything at once which can be ultra irritating. I think 1/4 of our residents got their license in one of those crane vending machines and another 1/4 didn't get one at all.

What I do not understand, is why someone pulling a 53 foot dry van on a 6 lane freeway would want to camp out in lanes 4 and 5 doing 65 when the flow of traffic is 75+ and there is space to their right. This forces traffic to pass on the right which is not nearly as safe. When you factor in Bluetooth Zombies you wind up with idiots on the left, idiots on the right, and speed demons in the middle. That is not how it is supposed to work. I try very hard not to cause others to have to hit their brakes.

A Bluetooth Zombie is someone screwing off on their phone, talking, texting, facebooking or whatever it is that just simply can't wait. Normally they are in the left lane, doing about 5 to 10 mph less than the rest of the flow. When their exit comes they wait until 700 yards before the exit and go from lane 5 to the exit without signaling. grrrrr. I was pretty surprised to see that the Texas CDL handbook makes it a serious offense to operate a CMV and operate a phone with more than one keypress. Explicitly holding a phone or texting are forbidden. I see a fair number of Bluetooth Zombies in dump trucks and straight trucks.

Most of our inner city freeway lanes in Houston are "no trucks left lane." It is politically very popular with the minions. I think that policy makes sense in a couple of places but is otherwise stupid. The places where it makes sense have tight overhead obstacles and left merge entrances. Yes, in Houston we have it all for the driver.... left exit, left entrance, vanishing lanes. With one exception. We do not have double decker freeways that all lead South like San Antonio. :) I consider lane 1 to be the right most lane.

I try very hard not to cause others to have to hit their brakes.

That's something you'll have to get over if you're going to drive a rig. You're going to make people hit their brakes or wait for you on a daily basis. Often times the safest thing for you to do causes others to be delayed. Other times there is no choice if you want to get the job done, like when you're getting backed into a tight spot or backing in off the roadways.

You can't worry about holding people up. That's not a real problem in their lives. War, disease, and natural disasters are real problems. A truck going 62 in a 65 is not a real problem, and don't let people convince you it is.

One of the most important things you have to do is be captain of that ship. You have to do whatever it takes to navigate the highways safely. If people think they're upset because you're going a few miles per hour slower than they'd like to be going, imagine how upset they would be if they were involved in a gigantic deadly wreck instead.

Drive safely. If it makes people mad then so be it. If going a few miles per hour slower than they'd like is the worst thing that happens to a person that day then they have a wonderful life.