Another point about left-side ramps off and on a freeway - I agree that they are best avoided in designing freeway-to-arterial-road interchanges, but when it's a freeway-to-freeway interchange it's not as big of a deal IMO.
Another point about left-side ramps off and on a freeway - I agree that they are best avoided in designing freeway-to-arterial-road interchanges, but when it's a freeway-to-freeway interchange it's not as big of a deal IMO.
I think it's confusion and expectations of truckers and travelers who are looking for right-side exits. I you are getting on I40 EB from MacArthur or Meridian must cross the entire hiway to catch NBI44 Plus, EB I40 to NB I44 is really a sharp turn at night or for those unfamiliar with it.
They are deprecated in federal design standards as a safety hazard. Not only do you have to worry about drivers "death diving" across the freeway to make an exit at the last moment, but putting slow-moving ramp traffic in with fast-moving left-lane traffic is a major risk factor.
Worst is southbound I-44 onto eastbound I-40 (at the fairgrounds) merging onto the lest lane and needing to exit at the OKC Blvd. on the right hand exit.
I'd like to nominate 44 west to 40 east needing to go to the stockyards. I make that drive to work every day.
but you are not impeding traffic if there is a left exit approaching.
yes i'm also one who thinks left exits are dangerous and shouldn't be used... but they are. and being in the left lane as one is approaching and driving the speed limit (while dangerous) is perfectly legal. atleast according to OHP almost a year ago
https://kfor.com/2017/11/01/what-dri...now-in-effect/
from the bottom of the article
look at the second and third exceptions. so if traffic is a factor, and you are in the left lane, and you are going the speed limit... you are in the right... even if others want to go fasterBut, there are exceptions:
You can move into the left lane if you need to allow someone to enter the highway. However, you must move back to the right lane as soon as you get the chance.
You’re also allowed to move to the left lane if the lane is an exit or an entrance to another highway.
OHP said congestion is also a factor: if the flow of traffic doesn’t allow you to move to the right and you are going the speed limit, then you aren’t breaking the rules.
OHP also said you can’t move to the left lane and exceed the speed limit just to pass other cars that are going the speed limit in the right lane.
Oh good, this argument again. It's been a minute, we're overdue.
you all can believe whatever you want... i'm just stating what OHP has said... and they are kind of the ones that determine how to enforce it...
Did they say "you can be in the left lane to take an exit" or did they say "you can be in the left lane starting at Meridian/McArthur/Rockwell/Council/Yukon as long as you plan on taking the exit"?
depends... is there "Congestion" preventing you from getting over at McArthur, and thus by the time you got over, you would just be getting right back in the left again? Yukon... that's a ridiculous argument. especially since the last thing they said is that it is not legal to get in the left lane to pass people who are going the speed limit in the right lane... so the basis for how all of this started is flawed.
So the actual correct interpretation of what OHP said would be "of course it's okay to be in the left lane to take a left-lane exit with current traffic conditions determining if you are impeding traffic rather than merging into an exit lane" rather than accepting it as an approval to camp out in the left lane as long as you are planning to take an exit in that lane at some point in the future.
the original statement that brought this up was this quote
which implies that you should allow for faster traffic to pass you on the left... OHP also says that is not legal, which is all i was trying to say.Yes, I just love the people who get in the left lane 3 miles before the left-hand exit and defiantly drive 60mph as traffic passes them on the right. (Northbound I-35 to I-40W and southbound I-35 to Highway 77 in Norman are two of the worst spots for this.)
my response was simply
even if one vehicle is not driving legally... the person who wants to pass them also is not driving legally.... i don't even know how this became an argument over the left lane... because i wasn't the first that brought it up as impeding... and then i just mentioned that as you approach (which yes, is subjective as to distance), it is not impeding.. and then the whole tread freaks out.how dare people drive the speed limit. you do know that even if you are in the far left lane, you are not allowed to exceed the speed limit, correct? now if you had said they were driving 50, or 45... i would agree with you, this is annoying...
the reality of all of this is.... you are not supposed to be going faster than the speed limit in the first place... deal with it
Breaking the law to spite people breaking the law is stupid.
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