suicide lane n. a center lane used for passing or turning on a three-lane road or highway. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
The archaic English word ruelle means “the space between a bed and the wall.” It’s adapted from French ruelle meaning “a small alley or lane.” This is part of a complete episode.
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A suicide lane is not a passing lane. It’s a turning lane. Passing is specifically forbidden.
Marilyn, it depends where you live. Some places it’s for passing, some it’s for turning, some for both. I will add “turning” to the definition, though.
In a country where sensible and rational people live (such as Canada) the centre [Canadian spelling] lane is strictly for left turns only regardless which direction you are driving. It is not for right turn as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates.
In Sacramento the “suicide lane” is the center lane created for turning either left or right, but is frequently used by aggressive drivers to pass other cars, especially to get through a stop light before it turns.
In Florida a suicide lane is a highway’s “always green” outer third lane used to bypass left turn only red lights. Drivers with poor lane control entering a “suicide” intersection risk smashup with high-speed traffic. Center turn lanes, in wide use for many years here, are not referred to as suicide lanes.
A Suicide lane, proper name Two Way Turn Lane (TWTL- pronounced twit’le) is a turning lane ONLY in Kentucky. Passing is strictly forbidden as Marilyn states above. If the TWTL is striped as shown in link, solid yellow line, passing is forbidden.
http://www.moncton.ca/Assets/Residents+English/RPTC/Active+Living/Active+Transportation+ENG/Two-way+left+turn+lane.JPG
I call this a “Chicken Lane” because of the game Chicken where people used to drive straight at each other and whomever veers off first is the “Chicken”.