PSA: Don't Illegally Use the Breakdown Lane

Kinja'd!!! "cazzyodo" (cazzyodo)
11/17/2016 at 09:07 • Filed to: PSA

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I mean, specifically in this case don’t bomb down the breakdown lane passing signs saying “No Breakdown Lane Usage”.

Traffic this morning was fine and I was making great time until the last three exits of my commute. One exit away and it is stop and go the last mile, took 20 minutes almost. Poor lady in the breakdown lane with her flashers on due to a flat. Cue the state trooper coming to check on her! Older gentleman just making sure she’s good.

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He reenters traffic right in front of me (as opposed to the younger trooper who earlier bombed down the breakdown lane). Next thing you know, his lights go on and I see a Rogue (irony) coming down the breakdown lane in my passenger side mirror. Pulls over as soon as she passes the trooper, he pulls over, gets out while shaking his head, has a chat with her. Not even 5 minutes and maybe a quarter mile later some guy is speeding down the breakdown lane and trooper pulls out of traffic and bags him. Now, he’s heated cuz the guy 1) was speeding and 2) literally just pulled someone over. Trooper is gesturing down the road as if saying “did you not just see me doing this?!?!?” and the guy is probably not helping his case.

I got to my exit and didn’t get blindsided by someone in the breakdown lane.

So, yeah, don’t completely ignore the signs on the road. You can only plead ignorance to a point.


DISCUSSION (22)


Kinja'd!!! OPPOsaurus WRX > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:12

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I saw someone almost lose it this morning traveling in the break down lane (legal in the wild wild south shore). They were in a Highlander and got nervous passing a slow moving cement truck, went a bit too far to the right and the right side wheels dropped off the pavement. I was expecting them to over correct into the cement truck but they were able to recover with just a giant cloud of dirt left behind.


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:12

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I’ve genuinely never heard the term “breakdown lane” in my life. Is that the same as a shoulder? Is this a regional thing?


Kinja'd!!! MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/17/2016 at 09:22

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These are what we call breakdown lanes

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It’s a shoulder, but paved and only for breakdowns, so they don’t impede the flow of traffice, and emergency vehicles when traffic is stuck so they can get around

Not sure if it’s a regional thing. I’ve also heard emergency lane and shoulder, though I generally associate the term shoulder with a gravel area on the side of the road, not a paved lane.


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
11/17/2016 at 09:25

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That’s so funny to me. In the Mid-Atlantic, that’s just a normal shoulder. If it isn’t paved, we call it a soft shoulder.


Kinja'd!!! Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:27

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Sometimes you have places like this, where it’s variable...

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Or LA, where they turned them into some nasty ass carpool lanes, but you totally use them anyways.

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Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/17/2016 at 09:37

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You drive a jag and you’ve never heard the term “breakdown lane”? Do you just call it the “Jaguar parking only lane”?


Kinja'd!!! Tekamul > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/17/2016 at 09:37

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The nomenclature, as I understand it, is as soon as it’s wide enough to fit a car, it’s a breakdown lane. And only on the right hand side. 


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:40

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I hate when people think they’re more important than everyone else so they get to use that lane.

I know on GA400 a couple years ago, either 2011 or 2012, they opened the shoulder lane (breakdown lane) for traffic during rush hour. However there are still additional take outs even further removed from traffic so that the shoulder lane isn’t blocked if someone has a break down, assuming you can make it to that spot.


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > E90M3
11/17/2016 at 09:41

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Don’t be ridiculous. Making as far as the shoulder when my car breaks down? It’s a Jag, not a Lexus.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
11/17/2016 at 09:45

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Well, yeah, that’s this section as well but signs all clearly state it.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > Tekamul
11/17/2016 at 09:46

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That’s also my understanding.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/17/2016 at 09:47

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My understanding has been that as soon as there are lane markings and it is wide enough to be a paved lane, breakdown lane. Not wide enough for a car? Shoulder. Gravel? Soft shoulder.


Kinja'd!!! FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:47

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Last accident that I witnessed was some asshat flying down the shoulder T-boning a car making a left through stopped traffic.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > OPPOsaurus WRX
11/17/2016 at 09:47

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South shore is way more insane than north of the city. Can confirm.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > E90M3
11/17/2016 at 09:49

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It’s when people just blast along without thinking, “hey, I’m coming up to an exit and should probably not be doing this.”

I’ve almost been destroyed trying to get to my exit because of a frickin caravan of vehicles bombing along the breakdown lane when they weren’t supposed to. Even in the variable timed regions, some people are more special than others...didn’t you know that?


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
11/17/2016 at 09:51

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Sounds about right.


Kinja'd!!! Stapleface > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 09:58

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Yeah, I find it’s best not to use the shoulder ever. The gestapo revenue-generating cops in a town near me (I think I’m justified in saying this) pulled me over last summer when I got onto the shoulder about 8 feet too early to get into the right turn lane. This highway is always backed up, so in my opinion moving over early eases traffic congestion.

Anyway, I get a ticket for illegal passing which is 4 points . And it was an $800 ticket (safe corridor=bullshit way to raise even more ticket revenue). You know what’s not an 4 point ticket in NJ? Driving on a sidewalk, passing a stopped car at a crosswalk, and leaving the scene of an accident. Nope, those are only 2 points. Moving over too early to get in a turning lane? Boom. 4 points. Granted, I did get an attorney to get me out of the ticket, but then the cost of the ticket went up. I paid $1000. Fuck this state with a rusty pitchfork.  


Kinja'd!!! TheRealBicycleBuck > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 10:13

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The corollary is people using the right-hand turn lane as a passing lane. I see this just about every morning.


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > Stapleface
11/17/2016 at 10:16

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Holy fuck. That’s absurd.

Person ahead of me waited until her entire car was following the gradual entry into the exit. To a T. It was understandable and after sitting in traffic I wasn’t rushing. Just funny.

But my God, if it was in NJ it would have been slower because the fear would be real, I guess.


Kinja'd!!! OPPOsaurus WRX > cazzyodo
11/17/2016 at 10:29

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that is surprising. I would think that the people of Revere and Saugus would provide some elevated crazy levels


Kinja'd!!! cazzyodo > OPPOsaurus WRX
11/17/2016 at 10:30

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Well, my drive is primarily 93 North almost to NH. I don’t hit the north shore crazies, just the Andover privileged.


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
11/17/2016 at 12:23

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In Columbus, Ohio, the breakdown lanes become bus lanes.