So I can ruin my gas mileage slowing and stopping every time someone in front of me turns onto a side street or pulls out in front of me?
No thanks!
Generally its the middle lane I use, but sometimes it's even the left if some landscaping truck or cement mixed is in front of me dropping who knows what into the road.
In the city, you are correct. The far right in a 3 lane is often just for turning and merging, making the middle the travel lane. The point is not to travel in the passing lane.
I don't think that passing makes any sense on this kind of road. It's just bad for your wallet in both gas and maintenance on your vehicle and also it's bad for the environment.
The chief component in getting to one's destination is the traffic and the second one is number of lights you get stopped out. Since all the lights are timed to 40mph it doesn't make sense to go faster unless they re-engineer the road.
Generally any car that passes me will be stuck at the light ahead and if there is light traffic I will pass them because I have a rolling start and if there is heavy traffic it's all the same.
Staying to the right in this situation only makes sense if you're unable to accelerate at a reasonable speed or unable to go the speed limit at all.
There is no passing lane. Passing left laws were meant for passing on the opposite side of the street. Traveling the speed limit in the left lane is the original intention. See the Uniform Vehicle Code, the standard that state traffic laws are derived from.
No thanks!
Generally its the middle lane I use, but sometimes it's even the left if some landscaping truck or cement mixed is in front of me dropping who knows what into the road.