This is in response to Mr. Tim Groce’s letter concerning center lane usage, which gives a perfect description of the illegal usage of the lanes.

I encourage you to check with Oregon Department of Transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicle on these laws.

As a high school driving instructor in Portland for 10 years, we taught per the Oregon statutes book.

These are declaration lanes to allow cars leaving the busier streets, usually with speeds of 35 mph or more, to brake and slow in the center lane rather than the left-hand traffic lane. Then, if they need to stop and wait to turn, they have shelter.

It is illegal to run into the lane and stop and wait to be clear to merge. Reasons for this include:

1. You are not usually in jeopardy waiting to pull out. You may be impatient, but you are not in danger as the left turners may be. You create a dangerous situation when you pull out and stop.

2. Stopping is not part of merging, it is that much harder to match the speed of traffic from the center of the street (basic physics).

3. You scare the other drivers who don’t know if you will continue into them or not. Perhaps into causing a conflict by overreacting or braking.

4. You block people exiting the road. Was this Mr. Groce’s complaint in the first place?

5. You have greatly reduced your field of vision pulling out again from the center lane.

While on the subject, some other reminders are:

When your lane is ending, you are obligated to try and merge out into the through lane before it ends, not ride it to the last then force your way over on the other cars. Of course, courtesy and respect demand you adjust if possible to let stragglers in.

In Oregon you must turn into your corresponding lane, then make a safe lane change to the lane you need.  Sometimes there are factors we can’t control like construction.

Revisiting these rules would put us all back on the same page and be much safer.

Teresa Rigg

Coos Bay