This post was first written for another site - WickerLeaks - but I decided that I would publish it here as well. I'll do that with some, but not all posts. I've also re-published my post on RAW files on WickerLeaks.
So, when is it right to stay left? Put another way, when should you move from the inside land to the outside lane?
A Bit of Background
On Christmas Day, we were driving back from visiting my wife's family in Amory and as we approached the exit onto McCullough Boulevard from Highway 45 North I noticed that I was being followed very closely by another vehicle, while yet others were overtaking me on the right. Now the reason I noticed this is that I was going faster than the posted speed limit of 55 mph. I won't say by how much, but it was enough that I wondered why these other people were going even faster - and not being pulled over.
We talked about how traffic generally is supposed to keep right, but if you don't get over to the left in advance of the McCullough Blvd exit at this interchange you can end up being cut off.
So what is the rule about driving in the left or the right lane anyway?
Take this sign at face value
I continued to think about this over the course of the next few days (after all, this was a much more compelling issue than world news or the impending change of personnel at the White House). I brought the matter up with my law partners and I was surprised when they told me that I was an habitual "insider laner" and a scofflaw at that for failing to move over to the outside lane if I wasn't overtaking or passing someone.
Deconstructing the Issue
My first thought was to wonder when my partners had had an opportunity to observe this alleged failing of mine. My second thought was that they were wrong. The law doesn't require that I drive in the outside (or right) lane if I'm not overtaking someone - the signs up and down the Interstate and elsewhere clearly state that "slower traffic" should keep right. For the moment we'll set aside the insensitive and politically incorrect use of the pejorative term "slower" for another post, my point is that if you:
- are traveling at or in excess of the posted speed limit; and/or
- are traveling at a greater speed than those in your immediate vicinity;
. . . then you are not "slower". Ergo, you are not required by law or common courtesy to travel in the outside lane.
A corollary to this rule is that even if other traffic may be exceeding the speed limit even more than you are, you're entitled to remain in the left or "inside" lane when you are preparing to take an exit to the left (this is also known as the McCullough Blvd exception) OR when you are approaching an interchange where the established custom by those who are merging from the right is to misconstrue the meaning of the "yield" sign.
It's not just when you're overtaking traffic
Some People Won't Yield
There are some interchanges where I can't blame people for having trouble understanding what it means to "yield the right of way". In our city of Tupelo, one of these is where traffic is merging from North Gloster Street onto eastbound McCullough Boulevard. The problem is that there just isn't very much room to match speed and merge at this particular location.
On the other hand, there's plenty of room to adjust speed and merge when coming onto Highway 45 North from Interstate 22 west-bound (a/k/a U. S. Highway 78). These people simply understand the "yield" sign to be a signal for aggressive driving behavior and an invitation to play "chicken" with the north-bound traffic. Believe me, it's better to anticipate this sort of behavior and be heading north in the left-hand lane.
How Fast is Fast?
For illustration purposes only - not that I'd go this fast.
One question that you're probably asking yourself is "how fast is fast enough" to justify staying in the left lane? There's no simple answer to this question. Obviously, you should be traveling at the posted speed limit at a minimum. Some people claim that you're not really "speeding" until you're traveling at least ten miles per hour over the speed limit. Most insurance companies disagree. Let's just say that five to ten miles over the limit should justify traveling in the inside lane so long as other traffic is not going faster than you are. If that's the case, then move over to the "conservative" lane. Any other suggestions for an alternate to the politically incorrect term "slow"?
From my personal experience it's also advisable to move over to the outside lane when you see blue lights flash in your rearview mirror. Highway Patrol Troopers don't like to dawdle behind scofflaws.
So there you have it. My take on when you can travel with a clear conscience in the left lane despite what your law partners might say. This is not to say that I make this a habit personally - just that if I did I could defend the practice.
Unforeseen Political Implications
At the outset I said that this post was going to be without political ramifications. However, when I mentioned that I was writing this post to a friend at lunch today, she pointed out that Marshall Ramsey had recently published a cartoon that politicized the whole left lane/right lane thing. I should have known that it was impossible to escape politics this close to the presidential inauguration.
You can't "split the difference" between the right and left lanes.
You can't "split the difference" between the right and the left lanes
It also seems you can't escape the left versus right controversy by trying to take the middle way approach. You've got to choose your lane, ladies and gentlemen, whether on the highway or in politics.