> I’m confused. I usually like to cruise control in the middle lane (at around 3-5 over the speed limit); how does this cause problems for you?

If it were one car, it would be a minor annoyance, at worst. But this style of driving is really popular, so it's a steady line of cars cruising the middle lane in a line. It divides the freeway into two one lane roads, bottlenecking traffic and making it difficult for people who are in the left lane to get to the right in order to take their exit.

It may be that the dynamics are different in your area. Between Portland and Salem, Oregon, the exits are several miles apart so there's not much merging traffic.

> What would you propose I do differently?

In my experience the best freeway experience is when people pass only on the left, and there is enough of a speed differential between lanes that when you need to change lanes you can always find a spot you fit in. It gets aggravating when traffic is pacing, especially at high speeds, because it makes it a lot tougher to make comfortable lane movements. It's worse when the left lane is filled with cruisers, because they always bunch up and follow each other with a 1-second separation, making lane switching hard (and when you turn your signal on, at least half of them will just speed up to make sure the gap is even tighter).

I'm not going to tell you how I think you should drive. There are a lot of factors that are not necessarily the same between where I drive and where you drive. But I can tell you that the dynamics on this section of I-5 up here are just awful. It's a well known local phenomenon, everyone I've ever ridden with through that section of I-5 comments on how terrible the traffic gets with passing on the right, left, and locked up down the center.

Thanks for clarifying! I frequently drive that same stretch between Portland and Salem. It can definitely a really annoying drive, especially when there's congestion.

The problem with staying in the right lane for any period of time is all the semi traffic. It is in my experience very rare for the right lane to be going at or above the speed limit; realistically, if I stay in the middle lane I am always passing people in the right lane. I will of course get over if the right lane is clear and traffic behind me wants to pass, but this doesn't happen often. I do get passed on the right occasionally, but only by aggressive drivers who use the 5-second gaps between semis to weave across the road -- not by the normal flow of right lane traffic.

I share your frustration with the difficulty of changing lanes, especially in congestion. However, I would argue this is more of an issue with people following too close than using the wrong lanes -- if the right lane was a solid wall of cars, you wouldn't be able to get in there either. In any case, I usually don't have too much trouble if I give myself a few miles before my exit to get over -- though sometimes that can require forcing my way into an annoyingly small gap.

That all being said, I do agree that there are a few spots where the lane arrangements can become really dangerous, especially during congestion. For instance: the first few miles of I-205 northbound near Tualatin/West Linn, the weird bridge in Oregon City and just about anywhere on or near OR-217.

This is exactly my point, rootusrootus. You string words together, but you do not have a coherent point on how roads should work.

So how the fuck am I supposed to drive to please you? Does everyone need to drive at a reasonable pace, in their proper lane? Or do they need to drive 10 miles over the speed limit trying to go as fast as possible and pass the person in front of you?Oh, should we also have a fucking neural uplink into your brain to make sure you don't have to waste prescious time signaling to get into the lane everyone is SUPPOSED to drive in for long distances?

There is going to be unpleasantness driving. Sometimes car go slow. Try not to shit your pants when you can't swerve into whatever lane you need to be in.