Know the Road with the CHP: When going across multiple freeway lanes, do I have to stop in each lane?

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- An ABC30 viewer sent in the following question: if you want to travel from lane three to lane one on the freeway, do you need to stay in lane two for any length of time?

"If you're established in the number one lane, which is the fast lane, and you need to get over to the number three lane, there's no vehicle code that requires you to establish yourself in the number two lane before moving to the number three lane," said Sgt. Brian Pennings with the California Highway Patrol.

"However, it does require you to make a safe turning movement and a safe lane change."

Essentially, that means activating your turn signal, clearing in your mirror, and clearing your blind spot - but if you're going straight across all three lanes quickly, that may be hard to do.

"Usually when we see that happen is when people have poor planning. They're distracted, they're not paying attention, and they realize they need to take the next exit, and they dart over to take the exit," Pennings said.

"That's an unsafe lane change, and you will be cited for that."

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