And here I was ready to call the storm a bust

The whole week, people were going mad over this impending snowdoom coming this weekend. Today comes and for the most part it's wet fluffy crap that turned to gross slush on the road. By the time I get out of work at 7:30, finer powder is coming down and blowing around. I figured if it kept going at this pace, it might end up being a dangerous storm after all.

Against my better sense of judgment, I decided to go to a friend's apartment to watch Kim Yuna kick some Olympic butt. By the time I left, it was well past midnight.

Yes, I drove anyway.

I believe my immediate reaction once clearing my snow from ice was, "Oh, was there supposed to be a road here?"

Oh well.

It was actually sort of exhilarating. I felt like I was transported back 100 years and was in a (much warmer) horse and buggy faring the snow-covered dirt paths. For all I knew, I was actually driving on the grass next to the actual road.

Today I did a pretty good job staying home and getting stuff done for most of the day except for actually having to go to work (geometry waits for no one!). I think I can do a better job of staying home tomorrow. Less ice skating to watch too. :)

Oh, and as a last note: 4WD makes a much larger difference in driving than non-4WDers will admit.

Trucks are my friend until they are unfriendly

A lot of people are afraid of trucks. They're big, tall, and have huge blind spots, and that makes them scary!

But me? I like trucks. I especially like the ones that drive a constant 75 mph so that I can draft behind it regardless of how low I am on gas. If they aren't going 75, then it usually isn't too much of a hassle to pass them. Even if I'm sandwiched with a truck behind and a truck in front of me, I'm okay. Sandwiched between trucks from the left and right? A little uneasy, but nothing to cry about.

Unfortunately, I had a thought the other day. What if you were between two trucks (left/right) and you suddenly heard rumble strips from both sides? Terrifying.

Why?

Because the trucks have to compensate so that they are not so rumbly. Where do trucks go if they are rumbly? Oh right, they squeeze into the inside of the lane. (That's where you are remember?) It's like having walls close in on you. I have the Star Wars garbage compactor scene playing out in my head.

"One thing's for sure--after this we're all going to be a lot thinner."

My imagination gets the best of me sometimes.

Catagorizing the driving lanes

So today, I'm going to try to simplify my assumptions on drivers in the various highway lanes. I really wanted terribly to use this picture, but unfortunately today, I won't be designating lanes by douchebaggery. I'll save that for another day.



No. Today, I will be designating generalizations of how people drive on the highway. It's actually fairly straightforward in theory.

In general, the rule is "Stay Right, Pass Left." This means faster traffic is supposedly in the left lane and slower in the right lanes, but this is difficult in high-traffic/high-speed situations, and traffic adjusts to compensate.

In 2-4 lane highways, this rule actually holds true (for the most part).

For a five lane-highway that is in full traffic use, things start to change. Let us say that fastest traffic travels in the left lane designated as "lane 1." This lane usually travels at 15 mph over the speed limit. The next lane over (lane 2) travels at 10 mph over the speed limit, which works with our "rule." The lane furthest right (lane 5) contains merging and exiting traffic, and as expected, they are going the speed limit or slower (boo-hiss). Lane 4 contains people trying to escape/enter lane 5 and so they are traveling somewhere around the speed limit if not 5 mph above.

The middle lane however contains a mix of traffic. Usually people stuck in the 2nd lane but cannot switch over the left lane become frustrated and start using the middle lane if there is open road. In a similar manner, people in lane 4 that think going 5 mph over the speed limit is not fast enough for the road warrior ways move over to the 3rd lane to speed ahead. The result is that the 3rd lane becomes another passing lane, containing high speed traffic. Unfortunately, this speedy little getaway is also normally broken up by a driver who is under the impression that they are perfectly fine driving in that middle lane slower than the traffic to the left but without any regard to how traffic flows to the right of them.

Note, this alternating fast-slow-fast-slow may also cause drivers to be extremely fast in the 5th lane (as a stupid-fast driver might).


And now that I've cleared all that up, I will confess: that's all BS.

I hope this isn't just me that does this, but I tend to not care about what the lanes are "supposed to do" based on the speed limit. I have what I call a "default speed" when I drive on highways. Currently, it's 72 mph ±3 for the GSP/I-287, 75 mph ±3 on the turnpike, and a measly 58 mph ±3 on US-1 (there are stop lights). When I drove it, I-76 was 72 mph ±3 (although it was 76 before my unfortunate ticket). You might think this is a little bit strange for me to distinguish speeds so meticulously, but it makes a big difference in how you travel relative to traffic around you.

So anyway, those are my default speeds. That means I am comfortable traveling at those speeds on those roads, and not too much faster or slower than that. For me, it doesn't really matter what lane I'm in to be going that comfortable speed. A lot of the time it is that left-most lane, but I'll switch over to the right if there's no traffic/I see a stupid-fast driver on his way to intercept my position. Sometimes, it means I use the right lane to pass your slow ass.

Well, there you have it! Highway theory 101 on how lane speeds are designated!

An addendum

So after posting the other night, I realized I was missing a key component of suburban drivers and why I decided to post in the first place. Allow me to introduce:

Terrible Tiffany, the texting turner twit
OK. I have to be fair. This doesn't exclusively belong to the suburban edition because terrible texters are found everywhere, but that's where the incident happened. Besides, I really like alliteration/consonance for some reason. Topsy turvy triangles tickle toes to twinkling trucks! ..Sorry.

Confession Thursday Tangent: I text when I'm bored and stuck in traffic. If you ever see "I LOVE TRAFFIC" or "I LOVE RAIN" as my twitter update at ~8:30 am, it means I've hit the Newark area on my morning commute. I exclude myself from the terrible texting tetrahedron (tetrahedrons are more exciting than circles) because I am not actually moving forward. It's more like a very busy parking lot.

ANYWAY. Terrible Tiffany texts in one hand and turns with the other. Terrible Tiffany does not have the necessary arm strength to turn her car from a stop very well while she is preoccupied with typing in her next "haha." Terrible Tiffany is about to get honked at for longer than necessary.

That is all

D-bags of the road: Part 2 - Two-lane highways

Today we will be continuing the D-bags of the road by paying particular attention to drivers found on two-lane highways. AND we have a Confession Thursday. Two birds with one stone! Joy!

Jerk on the left:
This is the guy who likes the left lane a lot. Usually, this is acceptable if they are driving fast enough. Not acceptable when he is going just above the speed limit and not actually passing anyone. Driver who likes the left lane, you suck. You are causing a long line of, essentially, frustrated stupid-fast people. Really, no one comes out of this happy as those cars start cutting other people off in the other right lane and speed on ahead of you.
"How do know if I'm an jerk-on-the-left?" If you look in your rearview mirror and there are more cars turning out of your lane than entering, this could be a clue. If you are no longer passing cars on your right, this is probably a stronger clue.
"How do I avoid being the jerk-on-the-left?" Simply go back to the right-er lane after you are finished passing the car in front of you. Please. The only pseudo-exception is if there is a left-lane exit. Oooh. I hate those.

Jerk on the right:
This should not be confused with a Stupid Slow driver. The jerk-on-the-right actually drives relatively fast for a driver in the right lane. And be careful not to associate them as a Stupid Fast driver that's just using the right lane for a quick moment. This driver is actually considerate enough to just stay in the right lane if they know they're not going to be the absolute fastest on the road. So then why are they an jerk? Because they are on the right side and usually, they are paired up with an jerk on the left. They are going just fast enough so that a wall has essentially been created for all traffic behind them. Both cars are still approaching slower traffic in front of them, but both are going a frustratingly slower speed than the cars behind them would like.

Confession: Sometimes I really really like being the jerk on the right. There's nothing like seeing that stupid-fast driver be put to a halt by a frustrating wall of traffic on a two-lane highway. The day your child is born may be sightly more fulfilling. Be careful with this move though. You might have one of those drivers that like to defy physics.

Say hello to confession thursdays!

Because after all, this blog IS "confessions of a commuter." I don't know if Thursday has any sort of significance in the Catholic tradition, but for me, it was just the random day that I chose to have "Confession Thursdays." So, here goes:

I speed. No, that wasn't my confession. That would be pretty lame of me. It's pretty much a given that I have a tendency to drive faster than the posted speed limit, and this is true more on highways than local roads. My speeding is not limited to one specific lane, but in all lanes of travel.

That said, I don't mind it if someone is passing me in a designated passing lane. If I'm already speeding and you want to zip on ahead of me, that's fine. You're just using up more gas, and it's just as likely that I'll be right behind you anyway by the time we get to the next toll booth.

My confession is this: I get inexplicably nervous if people are passing to the right of me, but only if I'm in the leftmost lane. Even if I'm sandwiched in the lane with traffic due to someone driving slowly 5 cars up ahead of me, if I see someone on the far right side making a pass, I start to feel insecure.

Why this happens, I'm unsure. Perhaps it's that I'm no longer going my optimal travel speed, and someone is shoving it in my face. Perhaps I somehow feel responsible for this person having to move into a non-passing lane by being in the left lane. Perhaps it's due to my regard for the safety of others as this speed demon weaves in and out of traffic (no, this is not meant to be ironic). Whatever reason, I get agida, and the sooner I get into a middle lane, the better I feel.


Usually which is followed by an immediate switch back into a faster lane so I can pass that slow car 5 cars up ahead.