I just don’t get interstate traffic, especially during rush hour. Because for the most part, it isn’t a rush. Some days it’s a maddening crawl. Other days, it’s stop and go. I understand the fits and starts when there are accidents or disabled cars. You have to slow down for emergency vehicles or to let traffic in when another lane is blocked. I don’t like it, but I understand.

But it’s days like today that I don’t get. The traffic was pretty decent for a weekday — not too heavy, but a fair amount of others cars and semis on the road. No accidents, no one pulled over for speeding or texting while driving. But for some reason, traffic kept slowing down every couple miles. Even, no especially, in the far left lane (the fast lane) where trucks aren’t allowed. And it seems like this happens way more often than it should. I mean, isn’t this supposed to be the so-called “passing lane?” Shouldn’t the fact that semis and other big trucks aren’t allowed in this lane lead one to believe that it will be faster than the other lanes?

I suppose one logical answer is that more regular cars and trucks are trying to use this lane so more traffic means slower traffic. But this doesn’t always seem to jive either. There have been many times, including tonight, when because the left lane was slow, more vehicles were moving to other lanes. And those lanes were moving faster.

Can somebody please explain it to me?