Driving in the middle lane of a 3 lane hwy.

Isn't California pretty anal about speed limits for trucks and what lane you're in?

 

yeah.. but that's - again - a situation over which you have no control. The premise of this question is that you have freedom of choice

 

I probably shouldn't have ranted so much on my last post. I quoted Les2 then went off on a tangent...didn't mean for you to take it as an attack on you Les2. The fact is, I agree with everything in the post I quoted except for the speeding part.

It's just that it is the one thing that gets under my skin more than anything else. Up until a few weeks ago my truck was governed at 70, which is the speed limit in most of the places I drive.

Driving the speed limit with no ability to speed up to meet the flow in the left lane when you need to switch lanes in a hurry puts you at a huge disadvantage. It really only leaves you with one option when something happens in front of you...slam on the brakes. I've always blamed the speeders for this because, other than being governed at the speed limit, they are the only other reason for this problem.

So yeah, that's why I run the middle when there is allot of merging traffic. Looking at the poll I think most people do the same thing.

 

Love it. Don't have to deal with people who think you have to yield to them at entrance ramps.

 

I will drive in the center lane if the right lane is busy with the entry and exits. And I will drive the speed limit or even slower if the law dictates. Sorry if I am a roadblock, but there is no right to speed. When you break the law you are on your own and should not be accomodated. If there is someone making unsafe for speeding drivers, the speeding drivers need to slow down.

I wouldn't be going slower than the traffic flow if people were obeying the law. So no, I am not wrong. I disagree with that statement. I am not against your desire to speed. But it is wrong to expect drivers to be all crunched up in the right lane so you can do so. Speed when conditions allow. Major activity in the right lane means that conditions do NOT allow speeding in the middle lane.

Saying that trucks aren't allowed in the left lane should be no complaint. If you are willing to break the speed law, break the lane law also.

I wish someone would write me up for impeding traffic if I'm at the maximum posted speed. I love those kind of fights.

As a matter of fact, when I drove a taxi, I was in the middle of a group of cars that were speeding in LA. When I was singled out for a ticket, I argued that I was running with the traffic. I was told that others breaking the law doesn't give me the right to break the law. Also, cops can ticket one out of a group.

 

O.K. here's the problem . Idiots that want trucks governed at 62 m.p.h. don't have the sense to realize those trucks loaded will only do 62 m.p.h. on a level road or downhill . If a light 62 m.p.h. truck is in the right lane behind a heavy 62 m.p.h. truck he will pass him on an upgrade . If there is another heavy 62 m.p.h. truck ahead traffic may be backed up preventing him from getting back in the right lane . Besides that , before there is a safe distance between him and the truck he passed some idiot 4 wheelers will cut between them as soon as there is a 2 car length space as start passing on the right .
Governed trucks result in the passing truck pulling back in front of the passed truck before they have less than half the required safe interval .
All the braking and accelerating working around these trucks causes increased fuel consumption for other trucks and 4 wheelers .

 

Hardcard -

I've seen singled out - in Kalifornia and other places. In every case of which I am aware, it was tossed in court. Courts have long held that 'flow of traffic' is the prevailing rule - even for professional drivers.

Yes, this does fall apart a little when it comes to CMV, since some states have explicitly mandated that CMVs must be a greater hazard than simple size predicates. In such an instance, though, you should still attempt to approximate the speed of the other CMV around you.

You certainly would not be the first to take on that 'impeding traffic at the speed limit' fight. If you won, though, you'd probably be the first.

 

Unless I`m blocking traffic I always stay as far left as possible.If traffic stacks behind me,I move to the right and slow down to allow for everything that happens in the right lane.If you are holding me up I will pass however I can as safely as I can.The safest speed is "the flow of traffic",whether 45 or 75mph.
If you are having close calls when trying to change lanes then most likely you aren`t reading traffic right.Try looking beyond the end of your hood.

 

I've seen this happen so often on 99 in california, where EVERYONE seems to be treating the 70 limit like a minimum, with Trucks passing my little 4-wheeler when I was going 75. How does flow of traffic work when you are travelling along a stretch of highway like that?

Does safety dept ever hit you for going over mph limits?
or do they buy that "hey I was going with flow of traffic" argument?

 

Oh yeah , my carrier monitors every driver's logs and every month every driver gets a review sheet from the previous month that has to signed and returned with reasons for violations . Our corporate speed limit is 65 m.p.h. or state speed limit if less . We'd better not average over 60 m.p.h. . They have give me a violation notice for averaging 60.2 .
These reviews are a wise thing to do. Ask Pat "Speed Limiter" Quinn what happens if you don't . It must have been humiliating for an ATA chairman and CEO of a carrier cosigning the speed limiter petition to be given a poor Safety Management SEA and fined for log book falsification during an audit in December '06 .