Am I making people mad by cruising in the middle lane on the interstate?

Question

I drive a delivery truck around the Dallas Ft. Worth area. On a highway with 3 or more lanes, I like to drive in the 2nd lane from the right because the traffic is faster, and the far right has onramps with lots of traffic entering causing me to slow down or move over. Am I making people mad when I do this? I stay out of the left lane exept to pass and most of the time I'm going faster than the right lane.

The reason I ask is because I did a search for questions by typing in "middle lane" and got back a lot of questions from people asking why drivers drive in the middle lane and how it made them mad.

Answer 1

It's not the trucks that make me mad. It's the automobile drivers who then get in the third (fast) lane and then *won't pass* the truck, thus jamming up all three lanes.

Then to top it off, someone else decides the solution is to pass the truck on the right side lane at 90 mph cutting off the traffic trying to merge from the on-ramp.

I guess they no longer teach "slow traffic keep right", "pass on the left", or (apparently) even "how to merge into traffic".

It never ceases to amaze me as I watch the car ahead of me try to merge into traffic on a major interstate while they're still only going 30 mph.

I disagree with Devan about zoom-bys. Having been in an accident where a trucker failed to check his mirror and changed lanes right into me, swatting my car off the highway like a bug, I now spend as little time as possible alongside trucks. It's either pass or be passed, or follow at a safe (gravel-free) distance.

Answer 2

You're probably fine unless your truck hangs over the dashed lines into the next lane. If your truck is hanging over the line drivers have probably been infuriated many times or at the least scared you'd come over and hit them.

You can really tell if people are getting angry if they floor it and zoom by you and then slow down to a more reasonable speed in front of you.

Answer 3

According to a driver's ed refresher course I just took, what you are doing is the correct way to drive on a highway with 3 or more lanes.

I think the questions you found are coming from drivers in Europe. Their laws are different from the US.

Answer 4

If you are driving in the middle lane and you are going the speed limit you don't need to worry. Your presence is not appreciated in the left or right lanes, because there are a lot of idiots in the left lane who believe that the speed limit is for everyone else, and the right lane is where everyone is trying to get on or off the highway, so the traffic will be slower, and your presence there makes it harder for other people to merge or exit. There are even highways where your presence in the left-most lane is illegal. You will find that you make people mad no matter what you do, right or wrong, because there are so many impatient people out there, so it doesn't pay to get your heart rate up over it. Just follow the rules and remember that your primary concern is to get where you are going without damaging your truck or hurting anyone.