25 July 2010

Summer Road Trips


I think I have finally recovered from our roadtrip to Maryland this past week. After a 10 hour day on Thursday (including stops) I have to rant a bit about improper driving techniques...of others.

Say you are on an US Interstate highway that has three lanes. The outside lane is for slow vehicles and for those who want to exit or enter the road. The middle lane is called the travel lane, where theoretically, drivers are doing the speed limit. Finally the inside lane is for passing. I repeat that passing. Not travel, not slow, but actually a slight faster pace to pass those in the travel lane.

Typically what happens is some driver will get in this lane and just do the speed limit. For those who travel a bit faster, the only way to get ahead of this person is to pass on the right. (I'm talking American or non-British style of driving)

So please folks, if you can drive safely at the speed limit, travel in the travel lane. If you must pass, do so, and get back over to the right!

For some interesting facts about highways, check out the wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway