a solid white line

[jasonlulu_2000]

Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about 80 miles. It was late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left and I became increasingly impatient.

What does the underlined part mean? Does it refer to a long queue of cars?

thanks!

 

[charliedeut]

Hi,

IMO, it means that the line was a continuous one (i.e. you can not overtake the vehicle preceding you) instead of having "gaps" (I don't know if this is the correct word); in the latter case you could overtake the slow truck.

Greetings,

charliedeut

 

[emsr2d2]

No. It is a white line which is painted on the road. If the line is solid (ie just one long straight white line), then you are not allowed to cross it in order to overtake the vehicle in front of you. If the line is broken (ie short white lines with spaces between them) then you are allowed to cross.

The writer was caught on a narrow road, behind a very slow truck, and he could not move over to the other side of the road to overtake it because the solid white line was painted on the road, telling him that he must stay on the correct side of the road.

 

[emsr2d2]

Here is a road with a solid white line up the middle. You can see why the authorities consider that it would be dangerous to cross that line and drive on the wrong side of the line. It is a narrow, winding road and it would be very difficult to see what is coming the other way.

 

[SoothingDave]

If this is talking about Harrisburg and Lewisburg in PA, then I wonder why the author said a white line. White lines are used to divide traffic lanes going in the same direction. Yellow lines divide traffic going in opposite directions.

You might have solid white lines in a construction zone on a freeway, or in some other area where the conditions of the road make it unsafe to change lanes.

If it's a regular two-lane road with traffic going in both directions, then the markings in the center should be yellow, whether a solid line or dotted.

 

[charliedeut]

If this is talking about Harrisburg and Lewisburg in PA, then I wonder why the author said a white line. White lines are used to divide traffic lanes going in the same direction. Yellow lines divide traffic going in opposite directions.

Hi,

Apparently, yes, he was talking of PA. Funny, though, that Wikipedia registers only one Harrisburg (in PA, of course) while there are at least 8 Lewisburgs Lewisburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (plus the disambiguations), all of them also in the USA (trivia, I know ;-))

Greetings,

charliedeut