Left Lane Camping

[Flint1979]

I saw a perfect example of left lane camping tonight on SB I-75. I was in the next lane over from the left lane (8 lanes in this stretch 4 in each direction just outside of Bay City between MM 161-160) I was approaching a Lincoln Navigator that was cruising in the left lane doing about 70 mph most likely, I was doing 80 and passed him pretty easily, so I kept looking back in my rear view mirror and he's still in the left lane and I'm getting farther and farther away from him. I really don't get these people that think the left lane is for cruising in it's like you just got passed on the right because you were going slow passing nobody with no other traffic in the left lane, what in the hell are you doing in the left lane?

Ignorance is bliss and that person you passed on the right is one of the happiest people on the planet

Thing is though, he was in the wrong lane and I had to use the wrong lane in order to pass him.

[webny99]

I can't believe I'm actually saying this: I had my first experience, this past weekend, of being on the lenient side when it comes to left-lane camping. I was in Manitoba spending time with friends and family there, and drivers there are pretty lax when it comes to lane discipline. Basically, lane discipline as a concept doesn't even exist there.

Afterwards, my family was commenting and generally agreeing on how annoying it was that they would hang out in the left lane for no reason. But I actually found myself disagreeing with them, at least that it was very annoying, for two major reasons:

1) There's very little traffic. I mean, seriously, traffic on a given rural four lane highway (which is basically just the Trans Canada highway and the Winnipeg Perimeter Highway in the entire province) is very light. And that leads to the more important point...
2) There's no real freeways. Legitimately, I don't think there's more than two consecutive miles of roadway in the entire province that would be to Interstate standards. Even the so-called freeways often have some super narrow bridges. And there's at-grades and stoplights pretty much everywhere, even on the Trans Canada highway and the Perimeter. And with that comes left turns... which obviously require being in the left lane.

With that in mind, is it so crazy for me to have a different mindset about left lane camping on non-interstates in rural western Canada than I do on I-81 and the Thruway here in New York? Tell me if I'm way off-base here.

[vdeane]

I can't believe I'm actually saying this: I had my first experience, this past weekend, of being on the lenient side when it comes to left-lane camping. I was in Manitoba spending time with friends and family there, and drivers there are pretty lax when it comes to lane discipline. Basically, lane discipline as a concept doesn't even exist there.

Afterwards, my family was commenting and generally agreeing on how annoying it was that they would hang out in the left lane for no reason. But I actually found myself disagreeing with them, at least that it was very annoying, for two major reasons:

1) There's very little traffic. I mean, seriously, traffic on a given rural four lane highway (which is basically just the Trans Canada highway and the Winnipeg Perimeter Highway in the entire province) is very light. And that leads to the more important point...
2) There's no real freeways. Legitimately, I don't think there's more than two consecutive miles of roadway in the entire province that would be to Interstate standards. Even the so-called freeways often have some super narrow bridges. And there's at-grades and stoplights pretty much everywhere, even on the Trans Canada highway and the Perimeter. And with that comes left turns... which obviously require being in the left lane.

With that in mind, is it so crazy for me to have a different mindset about left lane camping on non-interstates in rural western Canada than I do on I-81 and the Thruway here in New York? Tell me if I'm way off-base here.

I've never been to Manitoba, but for me, I think it would depend on the circumstances.  Having to maneuver around them would be annoying, but if it's for people getting on/off the divided highways, it's understandable (that said, I was always encouraged to keep right unless I was close to where I would turn).  If it's the same as like for the Thruway or I-81, not so much.

Speaking of Manitoba, they seem to almost be trying to keep the roads non-freeway in some cases, particularly with all the RIROs.  Does this really need to exist, for instance?  Take out the RIROs and the Perimeter would be much closer to a freeway.

[Rothman]

With that in mind, is it so crazy for me to have a different mindset about left lane camping on non-interstates in rural western Canada than I do on I-81 and the Thruway here in New York? Tell me if I'm way off-base here.

1) Yes.
2) You're way off base.

Having come back recently from a trip to California, where left-lane camping was about as bad as I've ever experienced (particularly in East Bay), I don't care where you're at or how little traffic there is.  On a multilane highway, get outta the way.

[webny99]

I've never been to Manitoba, but for me, I think it would depend on the circumstances.  Having to maneuver around them would be annoying, but if it's for people getting on/off the divided highways, it's understandable (that said, I was always encouraged to keep right unless I was close to where I would turn).  If it's the same as like for the Thruway or I-81, not so much.

To be clear, I didn't encounter much left lane camping of the annoying slowpoke variety myself, nor do I recall such on past trips. With me driving, the particular instance that stands out most was a car going about the speed limit approaching a slow moving truck that had plenty of space to move over, but they seemed unfazed by my presence and uninterested in moving over, so I just passed them on the right.

With the locals driving, they tended to just stay on the left whenever they were going to be turning left regardless of distance to the turn, but they were generally driving fast enough that no one ever passed them on the right, at least not that I noticed. That was still mildly annoying to me, but it was actually the left turn itself that annoyed me more than them driving on the left.

Speaking of Manitoba, they seem to almost be trying to keep the roads non-freeway in some cases, particularly with all the RIROs.  Does this really need to exist, for instance?  Take out the RIROs and the Perimeter would be much closer to a freeway.

This kind of hits on my point: there seems to be no consistent freeway standards in the entire province. The longest true "freeway" stretch of the Perimeter Highway is on the west side between Oakland Rd just north of Oak Bluff (RIRO) and MB 6 in the northwest corner (signalized). And even on that 23 km stretch, there's this bridge, this bridge, this quasi-RIRO, this rail crossing, and substandard shoulders of varying widths throughout, all of which make it a decidedly non-interstate driving experience (like way less so than the 400-series highways in Ontario), and that's even despite a bunch of RIRO's having already been removed on this stretch in the past few decades. So my question is, how can one expect to enforce a high standard of behavior for drivers given the low/non-existent/unclear standards for the roadway to begin with?

Having come back recently from a trip to California, where left-lane camping was about as bad as I've ever experienced (particularly in East Bay), I don't care where you're at or how little traffic there is.  On a multilane highway, get outta the way.

Despite my earlier comments, I still agree with this sentiment. However, driving in a place with fewer freeways and a lack of standards for the freeways that do exist has definitely made me realize that I should be more thankful for the high standards of the interstate system, both in terms of the roadway quality and the driver expectations that come with it. Because having those standards as a foundation makes it much easier to translate those behaviors to non-interstate roadways.

[vdeane]

The longest true "freeway" stretch of the Perimeter Highway is on the west side between Oakland Rd just north of Oak Bluff (RIRO) and MB 6 in the northwest corner (signalized). And even on that 23 km stretch, there's this bridge, this bridge, this quasi-RIRO, this rail crossing, and substandard shoulders of varying widths throughout

And this.

[thenetwork]

The longest true "freeway" stretch of the Perimeter Highway is on the west side between Oakland Rd just north of Oak Bluff (RIRO) and MB 6 in the northwest corner (signalized). And even on that 23 km stretch, there's this bridge, this bridge, this quasi-RIRO, this rail crossing, and substandard shoulders of varying widths throughout

And this.

I'm old enough to remember turn-offs like that along the QEW between St. Catherines and Fort Erie (mid 70s).

[webny99]

The longest true "freeway" stretch of the Perimeter Highway is on the west side between Oakland Rd just north of Oak Bluff (RIRO) and MB 6 in the northwest corner (signalized). And even on that 23 km stretch, there's this bridge, this bridge, this quasi-RIRO, this rail crossing, and substandard shoulders of varying widths throughout

And this.

I'm pretty sure that one has actually been closed since the most recent Street View. I recall thinking that all those businesses would have to go back to Roblin to access the Perimeter, but I won't rule out that I may have just missed seeing the RIRO.

[roadman65]

Well yesterday on I-4 near Plant City, FL a slowdown occured where traffic was at a crawl.  The reason: a left lane camper.  Once ahead of that one vehicle traffic was running smoothly.