The New Fast Lane
In case you haven’t noticed, a brand new lane just opened up on our roads. This is not the result of any road widening exercise, but due to a group of motorists who have vacated the lane in question.
What new lane, you wonder? Is it some elusive, secret lane that will magically materialise when you flash your high beam three times in quick succession? Not really. If you found yourself travelling on the innermost lane, yet moving ahead more speedily and smoothly than the traffic in the supposedly faster outer lanes, bingo. It’s almost as if you were driving in a left-hand drive country, where the left lane is for overtaking.
What used to be the slow lane is now the new fast lane. With the authorities progressively increasing the speed limits for commercial vehicles, from 50km/h to 60km/h in 2001 and subsequently to 70km/h in 2005, commercial vehicles that used to be confined to the extreme left lane have now invaded the middle lane. What used to be their overtaking lane is now their default lane.
Consequently, in order to avoid having to perpetually change lanes and overtake commercial vehicles in the middle of the carriageway, many motorists have decided that they might as well just travel on the right-most lane all the time to save them the trouble. This is how the fast lane ended up being slow and congested. And during peak hours, rainy days, or when there is a right turn junction further up the road (never mind that it is still several kilometres away), do not be surprised to find commercial vehicles occupying all two or three lanes.
It would appear that the current road situation runs counter to the original rationale for increasing the speed limits for commercial vehicles in the first place, which was to bridge the speed differential between commercial and passenger vehicles, especially on expressways, in order to improve the overall traffic flow. We now have commercial vehicles hogging all the lanes, which impedes rather than improves traffic flow. At the other extreme, some reckless drivers have taken full advantage of the “missing” speed warning light that used to adorn the top of every commercial vehicle. These clowns are speeding and also tailgating other vehicles with wild abandon.
As drivers of private cars, we are always at the losing end because traffic rules are made to protect the more vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.
In this case, we are the more vulnerable group compared to commercial vehicles which are bigger and nastier. Shouldn’t we benefit from laws in our favour for a change?
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