The Left Lane Is For Passing!!!

Ever since I moved to the Northeast Ohio area about two-and-a-half years ago, I noticed a strange and somewhat disturbing trend. Now, I don’t know if it’s like this all over Ohio and I somehow just managed not to notice it, but I definitely notice it now, and it sticks in my craw.*

This morning, I was driving to work, and I took the Shoreway (aka OH-2), as I normally do. I tend to accelerate faster than other folk, although many times, I’ll make myself top out at a slower speed than those who were behind me. In this case, there was a white van in back of me, the driver of which very obviously wanted to go faster than I. For some reason, however, despite the fact that the left lane was perfectly clear—with no sign of any approaching traffic, no less—the driver decided to keep following me semi-close. (By this, I mean far enough away so as not to be tailgating, but still fairly close.) After continuing on this way for about two miles, I pulled into the left lane, at which point the white van proceeded to pass me.

But that’s not the end of the story. I stay in the left lane, and about a mile later, there’s another car that is traveling at an even slower rate than mine. The white van pulls into the righthand lane to pass this slower car, despite the fact that, once again, the left lane was perfectly clear. (He would have had a good several seconds to slip into the lane before I would have caught up with him.) Had I not lived in Cleveland for as long as I have, this would have astounded me, but I’ve noticed this over the last two-and-a-half years that I’ve been here.

Why is it that Northeast Ohioans have an aversion to passing people by using the lefthand lane? This lane is often called the “passing lane” by many, so I would imagine that it is mostly used for that purpose. Instead, drivers will follow behind, as if to see whether the person in front of them will speed up. At first, I thought that perhaps it was some sort of gesture of courtesy, but that was immediately nixed when I noticed the whole passing-on-the-right thing. Are people here just taught different rules when they attend driver’s ed?

So, to anyone who reads this, the next time you’re in the right or middle lane, and you get behind someone who is going slower than you, put on your turn signal and get into the lane immediately to the left (providing, of course, there aren’t any other cars in your way). This way, you get to maintain your speed, the driver in front of you isn’t wondering why you don’t just pass him/her and have done with it, and both of you go on about your way merrily.

*I believe the craw is located in a bodily region near your druthers, but don’t quote me on that. Back