A method of operating an autonomous vehicle includes detecting, based on an input received from a sensor of an autonomous vehicle that is being navigated by an on-board computer system, an occurrence of a driving event, making a determination by the on-board computer system, upon the detecting the occurrence of the driving event, whether or how to alter the path planned by the on-board computer system according to a set of rules, and performing further navigation of the autonomous vehicle based on the determination until the driving event is resolved. The driving event may include a presence of an object in a shoulder area of the road. The driving event may include accumulation of more than a certain number of vehicles behind the autonomous vehicle. The driving event may include a slow vehicle ahead of the autonomous vehicle. The driving event may include a do-not-change-lane zone is within a threshold.