![]() ![]() Some warning signs feature an image of a truck tipping over. When it comes to curves, if you can’t see the road ahead, don’t drive faster than the posted speed limit. Not only can you easily surpass the speed limit on a steep downgrade, but law enforcement likes to set up speed traps at the bottom of hills for this very reason. On downhill grades, watch that speedometer. If you’d rather not push harder to maintain your momentum, keep to the right where you can safely travel slowly and, eventually, you’ll reach the crest. Traveling uphill doesn’t mean you have to go full throttle to maintain your speed, but you do need to push harder on the accelerator, or your vehicle will start slowing down, turning you into the cause of a traffic bottleneck. For example, inclines, declines, and curves sometimes require slower speeds. In addition to standard signs for speed limits, interchanges, and entrance/exit ramps, other signage warns of hazards and dangerous conditions. And if they change lanes too hastily, a crash may occur with another vehicle. Eventually, frustrated drivers will merely go around you. Squatting prevents others from passing slower vehicles, creating a backup and unnecessary traffic. There will always be someone faster coming up behind you.Īlternatively, squatting in the fast lane with the intent of slowing down speeders will do more harm than good. And if you are passing other cars while in the left lane, do not stay there indefinitely. Although colloquially referred to as the “fast lane,” the farthest left lane is for passing. The left lanes of a freeway are for faster-moving vehicles. For example, if traffic flow to your right is traveling faster than you are, you’re in the wrong lane. ![]() But the same can be said for any motorist traveling at a slower rate of speed. In many states, semi-trucks are restricted to the far-right lanes because they are large, slow-moving vehicles. The right lanes of a freeway are for slower traffic. Do not drive in another vehicle’s blind spot.Use the farthest left lane only to pass.That said, the standard guidelines of freeway driving are: ![]() Even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states in its Summary of Speed Laws that the basic speed rule “requires vehicle operators to drive at a speed that is reasonable and prudent.”In other words, you may need to drive slower or faster than the posted limit, depending on the situation. While there are indeed speed limits on the freeway, “limit” can be a gray area. If you are entering a city or town, watch for slower-moving traffic, pedestrians, etc. Off-ramps are for deceleration purposes and typically terminate at a yield sign, stop sign, or stoplight. Lowering your speed while you’re still technically on the freeway can cause issues in the same way that merging too slowly can. Do not, however, decrease your speed until you’ve reached the off-ramp. When exiting the freeway, follow the same rules (but instead of speeding up, slow down). Consider the on-ramp as the one place that “flooring it” won’t automatically be frowned upon. If you do not match freeway speeds, drivers who are already on the freeway may need to brake suddenly, accelerate unexpectedly, or change lanes entirely to avoid a collision with your merging vehicle. Most on-ramps are engineered to allow drivers enough time to accelerate and gain momentum so that when merging occurs, vehicles are entering the freeway at freeway speeds. Merging at a slower (or faster) rate than freeway traffic flow is a recipe for potential disaster. It is vital that you merge from the ramp onto the freeway at the same speed as the vehicles traveling in the right lane of the freeway. The purpose of a freeway on-ramp is to accommodate vehicles that accelerate slowly as well as fast, giving every driver the same opportunity to merge safely into the flow of traffic.
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