The Emergency Lane is NOT the Passing Lane!
You've got some big plans and consequently, you’re a little driving faster than you normally would. You have important places to go and some even more important people to see, but now you are stuck in traffic inching along the highway at a sloth’s pace. Your exit is in sight and you start salivating as you look at it from afar. All of a sudden and unexpectedly, the empty shoulder (aka the emergency lane) is calling your name. You'd be minimizing congestion if you started driving on the shoulder, right? What harm could it conceivably do? Well, a whole lot and potentially more as it turns out.
At Service King West Ft Worth in Fort Worth, TX, we fix cars for families of all sizes and that’s why we’re always looking like information like this for our blog.
If you ask any office of highway safety, emergency lanes are to be used only and not for conventional travel. It doesn’t matter if you're just trying to pass someone according to Katie Fallon, a nationally respected public information officer with the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
Last summer, a dump truck crash on Interstate 85 in Fairburn, Georgia, inspired a large number of motorists to drive on the shoulder instead of waiting in traffic like everyone else on the road. Their actions caused a series major disruptions t say the least.
There was a serious crash that day, but when an ambulance was trying to get to a local hospital with several injured people, it could not get through the traffic because the emergency lane was closed.
That is not to say that you'll never wind up driving on the shoulder. Things happen. You're just not likely to even think about it, unless you or someone near you encounter a roadway dilemma. Aside from their physical benefits for pavement and much-needed drainage, shoulders provide a safe refuge for cars in emergency situations, access for first responders and an additional recovery area for drivers trying to avoid conflicts in the adjacent travel lanes, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Even with all of the information out there, many drivers use the emergency lane randomly. You should never travel in the emergency lane or pass vehicles by using the emergency lane unless you’re explicitly directed to do so by a law enforcement official or first responder, according to Corporal Sonny Collins of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The point is, stay out of the emergency lane unless it’s truly a genuine emergency. Common sense is unfortunately common and I’m amazed every time I hear about someone using the emergency lane.
Service King West Ft Worth in Fort Worth, TX 76116
Sources: South Carolina Highway Patrol and Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety
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