So your rolling down the highway at a nice clip and cresting a hill you notice traffic backed up ahead of you. Flash your brake lights and alert the people behind you that you will be slowing down (a sort of wake up call if you will). If you find the lane you are in is proceeding faster than the other lane go ahead and slow down a bit anyway. You never want to be going too much faster than the slower traffic. The longer you are in another vehicles line of sight the better their chances of seeing you. Adjust your lane position to a point where you can be seen in their driver side mirror but not so close as to crowd them. Be prepared for the lane hopper to pull out into your lane, which is moving faster than theirs.
In many cases you will never get to know what slowed the traffic down as it could have been something that happened 20 miles ahead an hour and a half ago, but in some cases you will see what is causing the hold up.
In some cases traffic will come to a complete stop. You have a duty to yourself as you stop to make a exit strategy in your stop so if the vehicle behind you does not stop you can get the heck out of there. (Or even the vehicle behind them). Watch your mirrors fervently and leave the bike in first gear Right foot on the brake peddle (keeping the brake light on) , be ready to pull out between the rows of traffic or onto the shoulder if the person behind you even appears not to be stopping. I like to flash my brake lights occasionaly as the car closes behind me. Keeping your foot on the brake instead of your hand lessens your get away time if you need to make an escape.
In other cases it will be a slower vehicle holding up one lane and another slower vehicle will be passing it. Whatever the case patience is the key and you are in a dangerous situation. Keep a constant lookout for the lane hoppers and try to resist the temptation of becoming one yourself.
If your lane is moving and the other is not, do not crowd the car in front of you in fact I tend to become extra courteous in these situations especially to the big rigs. It is not going to kill you to let a couple folks into the moving lane, especially if you are in control of the situation. Try if you can to set a pace for yourself where you are not stop and go but moving ahead at a slow speed to the point where by the time you are near to the car you are following it is moving again.
These situations happen and for the most part they are unavoidable but there are times when they are designed and here is where my rant starts.
The Tollbooth. I am forever amazed at how many people are killed every year for a quarter. A motorcycle does not tear up the highway surface like a truck or a van or a car does. A motorcycle does not clog a lane when it brakes down and it does not add the same share to congestion as a passenger car. There is no reason for a motorcycle to have to be stopping and paying a toll for road use (we do not wear the road of cause wear). Some states have toll roads; some do it correctly while others are simply a hazard. Chicago and Oklahoma City are the absolute worse, with Chicago having a slight lead due to the amount of traffic. A toll road should be designed like the ones in California, New York and Pennsylvania where the Highway surface is exited to pay the toll and traffic is not simply stopped on the highway. This practice creates the most dangerous situation you can find on a highway that being stopped traffic. A toll road should have a lane off to the left wide enough for a full dresser to pass through comfortably yes small enough to block a sub compact car, this would allow us to pass through safely.
