Today I am going to share some coveted information of mine – my secrets to navigating traffic as quickly as possible. None of these methods are proven, but my anecdotal evidence is convincing enough to me to share my strategies. I recall a time this summer when I was driving on an LA highway, never exceeding the speed limit, and one car passed me four different times because the driver would speed by me at about 15 mph faster than me and then I would pass him each time the traffic slowed, as it’s known to do often in LA.
First of all, I make sure to drive in a way that doesn’t cause more traffic, e.g. cutting into exit lanes at the last minute, weaving between lanes. An occasional lane switch is necessary, but for the most part I choose a lane and stay in it. This is more of a courtesy and safety thing than anything else, but not making risky moves also affords you more time to scan in front of you to predict traffic pattern changes.
Beyond my first rule, the strategy changes depending on the road type. All of these rules are for highways, but highways can come in different sizes; namely: 2-lane, 3-lane and >3-lane. First, I’ll discuss 2-lane highways. These are the hardest to navigate, because typically trouble will arise from one lane slowing down, which causes cars to move into the other lane and congest that. I don’t have many tips here, besides staying in one lane, because typically the people who constantly switch lanes end up worse off.
Three lane highways are where things get interesting; the third lane adds choice: when you decide your lane just isn’t cutting it, you have to choose between the other two. When a 3-lane road slows down, there are two common cases: one lane is closed (it is now a 2-lane road and I have no new advice for you, sorry), or all lanes are moving, but slowly. In the second case, the rule to follow is this: Choose the left or right lane, never the middle. Allow me to explain why.
Besides the fact that I have always noticed the middle lane to move slowest, there is actually a reason why the middle lane would be most congested. The reason is that, if you are in the left or right lane and decide to switch, you have to go to the center lane, whereas the center lane can switch to either of the other two. The consequence of this is more cars in the center. Take the example displayed below. We start with two cars in each lane, and one in each lane decides they want to switch lanes. There are only two outcomes of this, which are shown on the right.
The blue and green cars both had to move to the center when they decided to switch, whereas the grey car could go left or right. Once all three have moved, one of the two scenarios on the right would result, depending on which way the grey car went. In both cases, the middle ended up with the most cars, one side lane remained the same in population and one lost a car. Remember that this was the result of all three lanes having the same starting condition and having the same number of cars leave. I believe his effect causes the middle lane to move slowest when there is traffic on a three-lane highway.
Finally, when a highway has more than three lanes, it becomes more complex, and the effect seen on three lane highways is no longer as clear-cut. However, I have noticed a different tendency arises when you’re on a road that has, say, 5 lanes. In two lane highways, the left lane is supposed to be used just to pass, but when you have 5 lanes, that whole idea doesn’t make much sense. However, the lanes do still tend to increase in speed the farther left you go – at least when there isn’t congestion. When there is congestion, the rule is a bit different: The second lane from the left is usually the fastest. Obviously this cannot be guaranteed, but it has been true more than half of the times I have used it. For those interested in the numbers, this has produced a 65% (13 out of 20) success rate since I decided to keep track. And if traffic were completely random, you would expect a 20% success rate of any given lane on a 5-lane highway. I’ll take 65%.
This tendency doesn’t have as clear an explanation, but I have come up with a possible reason. As I said, the left-most lane tends to move fastest in free-flowing traffic. When the traffic slows, there are two main philosophies:
- Moving left will mean going faster because that’s what it generally means; I’ll move left
- In traffic, the lanes are unpredictable; I’ll just stick with my lane.
So people either stick in their lanes, or they more left. Those who stay put tend to be the ones closer to the right; partially because more people drive in those during free-flow, and partially because people in those lanes would be less inclined to move left than those already towards the left. However, those who move left almost always shoot for the moon and make it to the left-most lane, which is usually one of the slower lanes because it becomes overcrowded. This leaves the lane second from the left as the sweet spot, because the people who make it that far usually go all the way to the left-most. It’s pretty bizarre, but it treated me well in LA – every time I saw traffic slowing up ahead I started planning my move to the second-from-the-left lane.
Again, these tips are not guaranteed, they are simply what I tend to follow, and it usually gets me through the traffic faster than most cars. And above all else, be safe; if getting to the second-from-the-left lane requires some risky lane switches, just stay in your lane.
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