(WXYZ) — No one likes a left-lane hog; we've all seen it, drivers on the freeway hanging out in the left lane of traffic, instead of using it to pass. It's not only annoying to others, but it's also unsafe.
Watch Ali's report below
Brian Geize sent us a message on Facebook. He wrote, "the left lane is meant for passing only, yet many drivers sit there with open lanes to the right." He went on to say that "meanwhile, the far-right lane is often wide open, while the left lane is bumper-to-bumper. This isn't just annoying — it slows traffic flow and increases the risk of aggressive driving."
His message goes on to suggest we reach out to a local driving school to see if they are teaching students how to use the left lane. So that's exactly what we did.
17-year-old Asia Jackson has had her license for about a year and a half.
“If it’s a two-lane freeway then I would just again move to the right," Jackson said. “I wouldn’t really take the left lane too much, only because I know other cars will go super fast in that lane.”
She attended driving school at Wheel to Drive in Detroit. I spoke one-on-one with her instructor, Aisha Hedwood.
Hedwood told me she teaches all of her students to stay out of the left lane of traffic on the freeway.
“I think people are impatient, a lot of drivers, a lot of drivers have become aggressive over time, leaving too late to go to your destination encourages people to want to get into that left lane and just hang out there," Hedwood said.
I turned to First Lieutenant Mike Shaw with Michigan State Police for help explaining left-lane laws.
“The speed limit in the left lane is exact same as the speed limit in the right lane," Shaw said. “So the law in Michigan says if there are two lanes on the freeway, the left lane is to be used only as a passing lane and the right lane is a travel lane.”
But there are other reasons you should want to avoid the so-called "fast lane". Emergency responders need that lane to get by. And more crashes happen in the left lane, including wrong-way crashes.
“If somebody is driving the wrong way, they believe that the left lane is actually their right lane, and you’re more likely to be hit by a wrong-way driver in that left lane," Lt. Shaw said.
And yes, it can be frustrating to get stuck in that left lane.
“It can be maybe congested sometimes, I think always in the way, that’s what I look at it as," said Char Foster.
But drivers also tell me they're sick of seeing people flying down the freeway.
"They’re either doing a hundred miles an hour, and you can’t go the speed limit anymore you got to go with the traffic, or you’re going to get ran over seriously," said Detroiter Greg C. Brown.
“There’s some pretty wild drivers, speed demons definitely," said Detroiter Kris Krisel.
“Everybody be so much in a rush like, wherever you got to go, or whatever appointment you have set up, its gonna, you still going to be able to make it, but you just have to be patient," said Detroiter Brandon Vasser.
