Is the left lane best?

Last week, we told you how the B.C. government wants to crack down on left lane hogs. But is lingering on the left really so bad? We hear from a former driving instructor who says sometimes left is best. 

Rachel Hesson-Bolton says she picks her lane based on what's safest. In heavy traffic, that's often the left. She says the right is too busy, because there are cars entering and exiting, and in the centre you're trapped, so she chooses the left lane where there is often a shoulder in case you need to get off the road. 

You'll find me in the left lane if it's the best choice for me, and at the end of the day my getting home safely is my most important factor when I'm on the road.- Rachel Hesson-Bolton

She does say that she tries to get out of the left lane if someone faster comes up behind her, but if she can't she has a strategy to ward off tailgaters: she slows down a little bit, to get them to slow down, then picks up the pace again: "It only takes me maybe two or three times to do that, before they realize that the more space they give me, the faster I'll go." 

When it comes to regulating the left lane, Hesson-Bolton says a crackdown on left lane hogs is a bad idea. She says the lane choice is just not that black and white, and it would be too hard to change the culture anyway.