The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090401_16_A9_OKLAHO170794 (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090401_16_A9_OKLAHO170794)

This bill proposes to require all vehicles use the right hand lane except to pass.  One commenter on the TW thread says there's already a 'keep right' provision, but when I checked Title 47 section 301, I was surprised to find that Oklahoma does not have such a provision.  Maybe it's somewhere else?

The right lane is where the potholes are.
Where does the bills author live?

One should not need a law to enforce common sense, but sadly it is indeed apparently necessary. Sort of like the "move over for emergency vehicles" law. What idiot isn't bright enough to do it on their own? (A lot of them, apparently) As if one should only move over for police, fire, and EMTs.

It's about time. 

A few years ago, a teen wrote a piece in the Satellite section of the TW about how she was stopped after going slow in the left lane of 169.  The police tried to get her to change lanes by flashing headlights etc but she was too dense. Traffic in the other lanes prevented the police officer from passing her on the right.  She was pulled over but the only thing the officer could cite her for was obstructing traffic. At least at that time there was no law preventing someone from going slow in the left lane(s) as long as they were above any posted minimum speed.

It's difficult to stop people for obstructing traffic if the police are at the tail end of a string of traffic.  An ex-TPD friend told me they don't generally enforce that anyway.

I remember that article. It showed a complete lack of understanding of traffic rules by the author.

We live in a world that is becoming less and less courteous, and this extends to rude drivers who won't yield the left lane to faster moving traffic.

I also see a lot less of drivers switching to an open left lane when cars are trying to merge into the right lane from an on-ramp. This is a common, polite practice that is practiced on highways throughout the nation.

Oklahoma drivers can be such docile creatures, however, that they seem afraid to switch lanes at any time. So they end up either driving slow in the left lane, or making merging from the right lane more dangerous.

I would like to see more drivers try to merge with traffic by going nearly the same speed as traffic rather than 10 to 20 mph slower.  That would cause less need for lane changing that disrupts whatever flow of traffic there is.  Remember, the Yield sign is for the entering traffic, not the thru traffic.

I'm perfectly fine with this bill. I used to do an 8-5 commute on the BA and found that through Tulsa, the left lane was usually the slowest and the right lane the fastest. This was caused by people entering the highway and moving to the far left to "avoid all those lane changers."

It's not as bad during non-peak hours.

This is definitely true. I do that drive every morning/afternoon from Denver to Yale and back.

Holy crap people, it isn't hard.

ON a 4 lane divided highway the right lane is for driving, the left lane is for passing.  It is acceptable to briefly occupy the left lane to allow traffic to merge if you need to.  Otherwise, DRIVE in the right lane.

On a 6 lane (3 each way) highway, the right most lane is for merging and exiting.  The center lane is for driving.  The left most lane is for passing. 

The busier things get the more the system breaks down.  At those times it is advisable to generally occupy the lane that suits your desired purpose.  If you are exiting soon, right lane.  If you are going faster than most people, left lane.  If you are somewhere in the middle . . . drive in the middle.

It is a self feeding loop.  If there is some dumbass going 45 in the left lane more people have to drive in the merge lane, which cases more congestion, which means there is denser traffic, which means even more people are stuck in the merge lane.  AhhhhH!

And while we are at it, MERGE lanes are for MERGING.  Don't stop at the top of a marge lane.  If you exit and have a yield sign, YIELD - don't stop.   Sometimes you are given your own lane to occupy upon merging onto or exiting a highway, use them.  If you are currently on a highway and someone is merging, get over.  If no one is in the left lane(s) and you refuse to move over for me to merge I reserve the right to shoot you in the damn face.

XoXo,

c_f

Today you would be charged with Failure to Yield to an Emergency Vehicle.

A friend at work came in with such a ticket from OHP when the trooper decided he didnt get out of the officer's way fast enough.  The trooper apparently didnt have any lights or sirens going prior to the traffic stop, and he musnt have been in that big a hurry because he took the time to write the ticket.
Failure to Yield was a good idea, but it has a lot of holes open to arbitrary interpretation and abuse.

Not to mention that some people just automatically start driving ridiculously slow the moment they see a police car nearby.  I would hate to be a cop for that reason alone.

Tulsa already has the ordinance:

Title 37 Section 640 (A)  -  Driving on lanes streets

Does that also apply to roads patrolled by the OHP rather than TPD?

If you even attempt to adjust your speed to fit in a space between cars, pretty much anyone will be willing to help. If you keep pace with someone (expecially in a much larger vehicle) you may end up driving on the shoulder until you change your mind and speed up or slow down to find a space where there is no vehicle.  It's not that hard.

Much ado about nothing. The very tiny minority who've been ticketed recently will disagree (very loudly) but our worsening traffic problems don't beg for yet another law. The answer (like it or not) is enforcement. We have none. How many people do you see every day pulling stunts that would have landed even a judge's kid in jail 20 years ago?

I readily admit that I don't drive much, but over the winter I had to drive as a result of knee pain.  Bicycling with a bad knee in cold weather only produced more pain.

But I was surprised at the level of mayhem on restricted access roads in the area.  People were driving more like they were playing Gran Turismo with it's video game invulnerability, rather than as if they were piloting a machine capable of doing tremendous damage in an instant.  The two lane rural roads and city surface streets were comparatively calm, but the interstates were chaotic.

Does this mean I'm getting old?  I'm not sure I'm looking forward to being one of those old guys who drives by looking through the steering wheel, complaining all the while about the world going by too fast.

A few years ago I saw a sports car at a gas station that was memorable.  Across the top of the windshield was a custom glare band with large text on top of the tint.  It was tough to read looking at it but through a mirror is clearly read "idiots drive slow in the fast lane."

Hard to do when the moron in front of you either drives up the ramp at 35 miles an hour or stops at the end of the ramp.

That said, people often don't move over in traffic when someone is trying to merge onto the BA. If you're not comfortable enough to change into the middle lane when there's nobody next to you, you shouldn't be driving on that road.

Someone at work has a Beemer with MOVE spelled backwards on his front tag.  It strikes me as more than a little bit arrogant, but then again, BMW stands for "Break My Windows" so maybe he's just being defensive.

I guess I haven't totally bought into the Oklahoma way of life, even after more than 30 years here.  I don't think it's your God given right to screw up traffic flow by your arrogance to drive any speed in any lane and ignore the rights of others to use the road.  ("Your" is used in the generic sense, not you personally Ed W.)

edit: I almost forgot: BMW = Bring More Wampum.  (Although my BMW hasn't been much more than my Buick after the initial price.)

I would just as soon have the pokie okies stay as far right as possible.  Someone  pulling into the middle or left lane going 10 to 20 slower than other traffic creates more hazard than good.  With the exception noted above, if you cannot blend into traffic, you shouldn't be driving on that road.

If I see a string of cars entering the TPK,  I'll move over to leave an open lane to merge.  If it's only one or two cars, the entering cars are obliged to blend in.  The tall narrow pedal makes the car go faster.  The short wide one makes it go slower. 

I'm tired of moving over a lane to let someone in and then not being able to move back to the right lane because whoever I let in paces me faster or slower. Either that or traffic fills in behind the car on my right and my options become go really fast (at least 10 over the limit) or create a hazard by slowing so much that the (now string of) traffic can pass on the right.  In the mean time I have someone on my tailpipe.  Then I am the jerk for staying in the faster lane.  I am usually at the speed limit, conditions permitting, but it is not my job to slow down speeders.  That's for the police to do.  

It sure does help if there's not a moron in front of me and the right lane is jam packed with cars. Otherwise I end up being the idiot who had to stop at the end of the on ramp.

One of the other advantages of driving a beater is that people somehow get the idea that you are either uninsured or have no problem hitting them, so they get out of your way. Between that and being able to summon an inner Bostonian when driving, I usually have few problems on the road, aside from the left lane blockers. People don't often close the gap when I'm changing lanes, for example. They do when I drive nicer cars.

Actually, that behavior is the second most annoying to me. It's dangerous and it discourages people from signaling their lane changes. And promotes aggressive lane changing behavior.

I occasionally find the right lane packed enough to make it difficult to get in but only rarely if I am close to traffic speed.  A lot of the time the courteous drivers let you on the road only to block the left lane.  I drive the Turnpike (4 lanes, 2 each direction) more than 169 (6 lanes) or the BA (lots of lane variations). The 35 mph moron is a problem, period.  I usually deal with them by actually hanging back just a bit and look for a spot to enter the highway and cross quickly into the next lane and get around the moron. I don't want to get hit from behind going 35 in a 65 zone.  It takes a willingness to watch the gas mileage gage go to single digits for a few seconds.  Don't try it in a mileage master that takes 1/2 mile to get to 40 mph.  Usually a mile or two later the moron passes me by at least 10 mph.

Large (big trucks), beater, old vehicles pretty much have the right of way in that order.  If you are from Boston, Tulsa traffic should be a cakewalk for you. Just don't expect a gap the length of the Arkansas River to merge into.   One of my cousins lived in Boston a while ago.  Traffic was interesting. If you are not too easily intimidated, you can survive. Left lane blockers are the slower courteous drivers leaving the right lane open for merging.  See other discussions regarding 4 vs 6 lane highways.  I must just have bad luck with merging traffic entering slow then rapidly accelerating to match my position and speed when I do pull over to let traffic merge.  There is nothing especially noteworthy about my 98 Buick to make them want to do that. 

Courteous depends on the situation and the eye of the beholder.  If I am going 65 in the left lane of the turnpike and someone in the right lane going 55 changes lanes in front of me to let someone on the TPK with lots of gaps in right lane traffic, I do not consider that to be courteous.  If there is a string of cars entering westbound at Yale and the left lane is clear or nearly so, sure - move over and let them in.  Just hope you don't need to get off at Riverside.  If you do, you will frequently need to pick a lot smaller gap than you would like to get into the right lane to exit.  Been there, done that.   There is almost always a gap between me and the car in front of me big enough to pull into if you observe the laws of physics. (You seem to be technically adept from other postings.)  I will not try to block you.  Please, just don't pull in front of me and then slow down to pokie okie speed.

I don't expect we will agree on this. Each of considers the other to be discourteous.  Hearing your side has been interesting.

Easier said than done on the short, low visibility on ramps on the BA between 15th Street and Sheridan.

A couple of car lengths is fine. One is sufficient if I'm surrounded by rude people. :D


People there are insane. I try to be sure I have a big car when I'm driving up there. Preferably a Crown Vic, so people presume I'm an officer of the law. ;)


Slow drivers shouldn't drive slow in any but the right lane, however moving over long enough to let someone in shouldn't cause anybody in the left lane much if any inconvenience. I suppose the problem is expecting the timid slow-as-molasses drivers to properly execute a lane change just before the merge and change back within a few seconds.

I think the difference in opinion really comes down to where we drive. When I lived in south Tulsa and drove the Creek regularly, I never had any issues merging. It just doesn't get that congested and the on ramps and associated merging lanes are long. It's a completely different experience on the BA where the ramps are short and the merging lanes are very short to nonexistent and the traffic sometimes gets very congested.

I drive the BA about a half dozen times per year. Usually from 169 to Yale to go to the fairgrounds.  I will concede there are some poorly designed ramps on the BA and on I-44.  A lot of the BA is also 6 lanes rather than just 4, allowing drivers to move over a lane without blocking the "fast" lane. I drive the Creek from Memorial to Peoria-Elm weekdays and frequently on the weekends to get to the airport by (not in) Jenks.