In my part of the country, truckers are avoiding the right-hand lane of the freeway as if it were a hatchery for the Ebolla virus.  They all drive in the next lane to the left now, rumbling along at 55 miles an hour on 65-MPH roads, which effectively turns half the freeway into slow lanes.

The only exception to this behavior comes when a speed demon of a truck going, say, 55.01 miles an hour wants to pass another one going 55.00.  In this event, the so-called “faster” truck moves over one more lane to the left, thereby turning three-quarters of the freeway into slow lanes.

This blockage lasts for the full 20 minutes or so that it takes the self-styled Jesse Owens trucker to finally outrace his rival and get back in 10 feet ahead of him—unless, of course, he sees another truck ahead that he thinks he may want to roar by in a similar blaze of glory.

The odd thing is, I don’t entirely blame the truckers for shunning the right lane.  Things are happening there these days that can make a strong man gasp.