I vote for “not rude.” It’s not a God-given right for some schmuck to be able to make a right on red at will.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being in the right lane, but if you can help out some people behind you by moving left for a couple of miles, what’s the harm? I never really thought about it myself until recently I pulled up at a red light in the right lane and happened to look in the rear view mirror. The guy behind me, with his turn signal on, was pounding on the steering wheel and flipping me the bird. While I feel that he needs to get a handle on his temper and mind his manners, I have since tried not to block the right turning lane if I can help it.
A block doesn’t always leave you with enough space to safely change lanes. Especially in city driving where people are so close on your ass that they can’t see your turn signal.
I agree. I vote for avoiding changing lanes in heavy traffic when possible.
IMHO it’s a worse lapse of driving etiquette to drive in the non-rightmost lane, but to be stopped so far forward that the guy to your right can’t see past you to see whether it’s safe to make a right turn on red or not.
Ditto. The only problem I could see would be if you routinely blocked people who were going to turn right on red, and they had to cool their heels waiting behind you until the light turned green and you kept going.
God, threads like this make me want to weep. The whole “that lane is there for everyone” mindset makes me want to pull my hair out. Of course it’s there for everyone – but if all other things are equal, why would you actively try and block someone else’s progress?
Maybe it comes from living my whole life in the most traffic-congested state in the country, but it seems like such a simple concept to me: If you stay in the right, you may or may not block someone. If you go to the middle, you will not be blocking anyone. Therefore, you go to the middle. It’s simple courtesy, nothing more.
(All of this assumes we’re not talking bumper-to-bumper traffic where changing lanes creates more of a problem than it solves)
I have the exact same situation - what I do is stay in the right lane, but get as far left as possible and as far up as possible so that I’ve left room for someone behind me to scoot in to do a right on red if possible.
What you are doing is fine, as long as you don’t live in Austin.
It is rude. Get out of their way.
Not driving slowly on the left makes you a good person in my book.
I’m not sure why you don’t want to drive in the middle lane. If you are second at a light, I don’t see a problem at all. If you’re first, and pull up to let someone get by, I also don’t see a problem. How busy are the cross streets? If they are very busy, it might not be possible to turn right on red anyway. If they are not, I trust the red light is short. But, if the traffic is heavy, it is far more polite to make people wait than to get into a situation where you are going to have to cut someone off to make a turn.
I often like to go in the middle lane, but that is because the cars turning right are slow, and I can get past them and back to the right after the intersection - but I get the impression that this won’t work for you.
Another vote for getting in the middle lane if you can. The only time I get peeved at someone who’s blocking me from making a right on red is when I see that the person is a) going straight and b) could easily have moved over one lane.
I drive a cab part time. This is definitely one of my pet peeves, and that of a lot of other cab drivers. (Failure to signal and cell phone talkers are the biggies, though.)
Is it a big deal? No, not really…but it’s not that difficult to merge…why inconvenience others when you don’t have to?
Is it really that hard to find a way into the middle lane before the first stoplight, and back into the right lane after the final one? My guess is no, or you wouldn’t be asking the question in the first place.
And not to be rude, but if you think avoiding cars that are four feet away from you on both sides is hard, maybe you shouldn’t be driving?
The OP is not rude. It is perfectly acceptable to go straight in a lane that is not designated as a turn lane only.
Your maneuver, however, is dangerous, illegal, and stupid.
Not rude. It’s five blocks. Get over it, people.
I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. If you want to turn right at a light and the person in front of you isn’t turning…then just WAIT. Are you in such a hurry where that fraction of time actually matters? If it does, that’s your fault for not managing your time very well and not the person’s in front of you.
If I’m turning right at a light, I worry about getting honked at for not turning as fast as the person behind me feels I should be. Its not like I sit and wait for a green light, I’ll turn on red if its safe - but I get people honking at me for not turning directly into fast moving traffic. These people are probably the ones that honk at me for coming to a full stop at stop signs.
I’d say stay in the middle lane if you’re worried about it, but otherwise it doesn’t really matter. If the lane isn’t designated for right turns only, then you are well within your right to be there. Changing lanes is one of the most dangerous things you have to do on the road. If traffic is heavy on your way home, then just stick with the lane you need to get home…self-important impatient assholes be damned.
It’s also perfectly acceptable to walk into a store and let the door swing behind you without looking to see if anyone was there. But hey, why worry about other people, right? No reason to inconvenience ourselves with a huge task like a lane change when all it would do is save someone else time…
I didn’t say it was hard, I’m at fault wreck free in 20 years of driving, its just I’d rather not do it if I don’t have to, as I have a sort of phobia about driving in a middle lane. Similarly I hate driving on the expressway in a lane with mile of those concrete block things six inches on the other side of the lane. As for me driving, if I had someone willing to drive me everywhere, or lived somewhere with decent public transport, I wouldn’t. 
Why should anybody else care about where you have to be? Depending on how heavy traffic is, you’re asking people to risk their lives to save you a few seconds.
And if you want to live your life in your own little box, where the only meaningful result of your actions is how they directly relate to you and your life, that’s your call. People who are considerate of others are going to think you’re rude. It’s fully up to you if you care or not.