This is probably the thing people understand the least about the left lane, and I bet this guy is one of em.
It doesn’t matter what speed you are passing, as long as you are passing (and of course if you are barely passing youre a dick).
But not because im passing 10km/h faster and you want to pass 30km/h faster, that I need to move out of the way. Flashing your lights and putting your blinker only makes me want to pass slower. The left lane is not reserved for the fastest driver on the road.
Yes, passing lane – not fast lane.
Faster lane?
My dude that’s just a picture of the means of production being seized.
I agree as long as the slower driver was already in the process of passing. Cutting off the approaching faster driver is unsafe.
Yeah this makes sense. My comment only refers to already in the lane and passing, and some donkey wants to pass faster and won’t wait 4 seconds until you’re done passing (at a good speed)
One way to earn yourself a premium insurance rate, if you survive. 🤞🏽
If someone starts aggressively flashing their lights behind me I like to assume they are trying to alert me that I’m driving too fast and should slow down immediately lol
I assume they’re having an emergency. Or they’re a raging asshole. In either case it’s not a great idea to play games with them. If you ever fuck around and find out I hope you’ll come tell us about it so I can gloat.
I sometimes wonder who died and made them all highway patrol. I just want to get home safe, can people just not fucking ego trip behind the wheel of the 2 ton deathmobile?
Frankly it’s harder than you think for many, the only thing that calms me down and makes me drive absolutely great is weed but I hesitate to drive mildly high too often to not get caught randomly by some pig.
Also it seems like the more time I am driving the more bmw drivers and bmw drivers without bmw piss me off.
makes me drive absolutely great is weed
Hi, I’m an enthusiast.
Fuck you for smoking and driving.
You cannot justify it to me no matter how many times you rephrase “it helps me chill Bro”
It helps me chill bro
What do you mean you are an enthusiast though. Are you my fan? Please tell me you are my fan it would be so cool
Holy shit please do not smoke and drive.
Can’t give any promises 😈
Well you just promised us you’re a piece of shit, so … seems you can
Yes, you can. Please do the responsible thing.
Funny thing about irrational people? Even if you act as safe as you can, they’ll find some way to blame you for being their problem.
Tolerance of intolerance is not tolerance. It’s enablement. Sure, don’t be a petty dick and make the situation worse… but don’t necessarily act the doormat either.
Remember that reddit story about blocking a shoulder passer? (SafeReddit)
I’ve got a similar story, but with a much more positive ending.
Was at a LARP event, camping in the woods, when a girl started having an asthma attack. She’d forgotten her inhaler, no one else had one on hand, and she was visibly turning blue as she suffocated. We called 911, but the nearest hospital was in a city several miles away and the 911 operator couldn’t locate our site to send the ambulance.
We agreed to meet the ambulance on the highway halfway, loaded up in my truck, and I booked it. Pushed my little 4-cylinder Frontier up to 115mph. Fastest I’ve ever driven. I had my hazards going and was flashing my brights like an asshole at every car I overtook. Thank fuck they all yielded to me.
We met the ambulance on the side of the road, transferred her over, and they were able to get her breathing again. She survived.
OMG!
You saved a life ❤️ great collab
Yeah, and never proven to be true.
Sounded a little suspicious on a second read!
So you feel that it would be better for me to either increase to an unsafe speed or force my way back into the slower traffic that I was trying to pass in the first place?
You’re driving at the bleeding edge of what you consider safe, couldn’t possibly pick it up a bit to get by and move over? You’re doing that and have the audacity to judge other drivers? Get the fuck off the road entirely, sell your car, stay indoors.
Ah, so your answer is “why don’t you just do what I tell you?” and beyond that you immediately resort to hurling insults? This is all starting to make a lot of sense now…
You’re claiming to be driving so fast that any increase in speed would make an unsafe situation. Your reading comprehension is so poor that you take offense at non-existent insults. Yeah, you shouldn’t be driving at all.
I was just about to type out another argument, but I realized it’s pointless. You clearly will not be happy with any answer other than “everyone should just let you drive however you want to” with a healthy dose of “the rules only apply to everyone else”…
You have fun with that buddy
✩⋆｡ ˚ᎶᎾᎾⅅ ℕᏐᎶℍᎢ⋆｡˚✩
Well there is this thing called a speed limit, that is a very clear hard limit. If you go over, it is at the very least financially unsafe.
There’s also a law that says to yield to overtaking traffic. Where’s the law that says creating a rolling road block is OK? How did I miss the legislation that deputized every self righteous prick as some kind of speed limit enforcer?
I usually just get out of the way no matter how fast I’m going. No need to create road rage based on my ego and the asshole flashing me
I take it to mean that they want me to match the speed of the car beside me.
Don’t most highways have signs that say “Slower Traffic Keep Right” though? So that pretty much negates your argument. If you are slower than the traffic behind you, you should get into the right lane, until you’re no longer slower, then get back into the left if you need to continue passing.
I woukd take that to mean if you are faster than the car in the other lane then you are good up until that’s no longer the case (e.g. until you have passed them).
From the comment you replied to:
as long as you are passing
If you’re not passing, get over. If you are passing, getting over means merging into another vehicle: don’t do that.
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Passing a car is an active endeavor, not something you languidly perform over a period of 5 minutes. If you’re going 1 mph faster than the car in the right lane, you don’t belong in the passing lane and are impeding the flow of traffic.
Cool story bro.
I literally said that in my original comment. Passing slow is just being a dick. (barely passing are the words I used).
Then i used the examples of 10km/h vs 30. Where did you get that 1mph is acceptable?
Found one who doesn’t get it! Please turn in your license and save lives!
Decided you weren’t worth it.
I suppose I would personally also be on my horn in an emergency but this attitude is why America can’t have nice things. stop policing your fellow slaves and get out of the fucking way.
of course I live in a civilized country so America might just look bad because that’s all that gets posted and most people aren’t attempting to murder motorcycle riders for winning the rat race or shooting up schools.
Kinda lost me there, NGL. 😅 Still, I learned to drive in Detroit & Chicago, and then again in Germany & Italy. The vast majority of US drivers are fucking selfish morons, and the majority of them should not have any license to drive at all. 🙇🏽♂️
I try to drive so I am as far away from other vehicles as possible. I also try to avoid ever inconveniencing other people. It doesn’t matter if I’m going 140, if you come up behind me, I’m moving over to let you by - as quickly as I can while still being safe. I expect the same from others. Changing lanes isn’t hard, I often move over to let someone by and then go back to continue passing.
Also, please stop passing on the right. You’re just making everything worse.
140
You mean km/hr, right?
…
Km/hr, right?
Meters per second
I did 140mph once. I redlined my poor Civic trying to keep up with a Supra. We were both weaving through traffic (Vegas to L.A.) and I did manage to keep up for a while. Looking back now that I’m older, I’m just really thankful we didn’t cause an accident.
I have no choice but to pass on the right because jackasses ride the left lane and drive under the speed limit. The police around here don’t enforce it. Drives me nuts.
In Arizona the norm seemed to be to pass fast on the right and go slow on the left. Even on a three lane road, with me going slightly above the speed limit in the middle, idiots would choose to pass on the right rather than use the open left lane. Definitely the worst part about the state in terms of daily experience
Also, please stop passing on the right. You’re just making everything worse.
Yeah, it’s unsafe, but how is it making things worse? It seems to be making the best of a bad situation, not escalating anything.
The real solution here is to pass and enforce “stay right except to pass” laws. You should only pass on the left, full stop.
Because a good chunk of time your just making it harder for the person who is holding everyone up to move over. I’ve seen lots of people pull out from behind me in the fast lane and go past me and the car in front of me, and then the car in front will move over. Sometimes people do want to get out of the way but people are to impatient to let them.
I’ll give them about 30 seconds. Which is 25 seconds longer than it takes to get in the slow lane.
What the fuck? How is doing something unsafe not making things worse?
I drive like a German: I only go on the left lane of a highway if I am passing someone.
Must be nice. I think semis are the worst when it comes to causing traffic. Swear to god, every single one gets on the highway and immediately moves to the middle lane, at least, even when they are going like 20 under and passing no one.
EDIT: It’s my fault for not being more clear. This is on a 6 lane highway. I also think people missed my point about them not going fast enough yet so cars are passing them on the left and right. Why get over 3-4 lanes and force everyone in those lanes to slow down and/or go around while they are still trying to pick up speed?
90% of the time that’s because everyone sits ten feet behind them so if they’re next to an onramp no one can merge. And seeing as they’re sixty feet long they can’t exactly merge left to let someone on (because that person sitting halfway up their colon sure as fuck won’t) because there’s not going to be any room.
I don’t particularly like it when people sit in the middle lane either… but until people realize they’re not competing with everyone else on the road and actually leave enough space for people to merge (from an onramp, from another lane, wherever) then it’s only responsible to ensure that people have at least a somewhat fighting chance to actually get on the highway in the first place.
Eh, I think sitting in the middle is totally reasonable. The right lane is for exiting and merging, and everything to the left should be used only when passing. So as you go left, speeds should increase. The speed limit here isn’t that important, the important thing is that you’re never passing from the right.
Obviously reverse for backwards countries like the UK.
The right lane is for exiting and merging,
And for driving! If you see someone merging you can temporarily switch to the middle lane to overtake them, given that your speed will usually be higher.
Sure, but if there are enough lanes, I think people should travel in the next lane over. For example, in my area we have 6 lanes, so unless you’re exiting, you should probably be one or two lanes over.
If it’s a two-lane highway, the right lane is for travel and the left is for passing. For three lanes, up to you. For >3 lanes, the right lane should be left open since there’s probably a lot of merging going on.
If you see someone merging you can temporarily switch to the middle lane to overtake them
That’s illegal in USA. People do it anyway, but if there’s a crash and blame needs to be assigned, then the law says you’re supposed to keep driving at the same speed, not change lanes, and leave it entirely up to the driver attempting to merge to regulate their speed so they can merge safely.
Where else are people supposed to sit? The left lane is for passing, the right lane is for entering and exiting. The middle lanes are only for driving.
he left lane is for passing, the right lane is for entering and exiting. The middle lanes are only for driving.
No, the right lane is for driving! It’s where you are supposed to be and the only place that won’t get you fined if you aren’t using it for overtaking! The middle lane is only for overtaking those on the right lane and the left lane is only for overtaking those overtaking on the middle lane.
Remember not to indicate if you’re over the age of 65, on a tractor, or driving a beamer
BMWs have turn signals? I assumed they were disabled at the factory since I’ve never seen one used in real life.
Have to pay a subscription to use them probably
Luckily I’m none of those! Yet. That S1000R® is looking like a sweet goal to achieve.
I usually go mostly left lane if there is a lot of traffic because otherwise I’m going from lane to lane because I’m passing someone all the time (I tend to drive 10kmh over the speed limit) but if I see that someone is coming really fast behind I make a room for them to go past me
That’s basically my MO too.
Left lane is for overtaking. End of story
If you finished overtaking you go back to middle or right depending on the circumstances.
Don’t be a middle lane driver, always go to the most right lane possible.
The middle lane is also just for overtaking. The left lane is to overtake someone that is overtaking someone.
No. Just no. The middle lane is the lane to use for your trip. The right lane is for allowing people on and off. If everyone is in the right lane, entering and exiting is painful or dangerous.
The law literally says you should always use the rightmost lane. At least that’s the case in Europe.
If everyone is in the right lane, entering and exiting is painful or dangerous.
Do you even have a drivers license? Entering and exiting is what entrance and exit lanes are for. There is nothing painful or dangerous about it.
You, sir, have clearly never driven a car in your life if you think there is nothing painful or dangerous about entrance and exits. The idea is simple, the execution by about 80% of existing drivers is just dreadful. Both the ones using them and the people who refuse to acknowledge that someone is using them.
He’s right, and you’re probably American, meaning you’re not entirely wrong either. You two are just talking about different systems.
Here in Europe it is taught you drive on the right most lane, as entrance and exit lanes are built separately. So if there are two lanes, there will be a third one at exits and entrances, or if there’s three lanes there will be a fourth lane for when there’s an entrance or an exit.
So it’d be rare to drive to a highway ans and be able to keep the lane you entered on, as it will merge with the normal amount of lanes, and then begin again when there’s an exit coming up.
I’m a taxi driver in the third gen, btw. Or “was”? Hard to say.
I’m in the US, and that sounds like most highways here. Sometimes, the road gets larger and a lane is added for now than just an exit or entrance lane, and sometimes the road gets smaller and a lane becomes the exit lane or otherwise has to merge left. When that happens, you’re obviously not expected to remain in the lane that is leaving the highway. That’s not “the rightmost lane” any more
Whatever the specifics, I think this is rather about miscommunication online, not actually that either of you are bad drivers in any way.
Driving rules, road infrastructure and “cultural norms” vary somewhat betweeen NA and Europe, afaik.
Holy shit I think you’re right on that 80% figure for onramps. The onramp is for accelerating to highway speed. Not 20 under. Not 10 under. People don’t realize how dangerous going slow really is.
Well. You keep to the middle lane then. You know it comes with a €270 fine, right?
Highways in my region (western USA) are not always designed with separate exit lanes. Often the right lane we’ve been happily traveling down suddenly becomes “Exit Only” and anyone not exiting must move to the middle lane. The lane will be replenished after the exit, sometimes miles down the road, but will often go Exit Only again. And again.
Staying in the right-hand lane is literally impossible in certain freeways in North America. Other areas of North America are similar to what you’re used to with exit lanes being created for the purpose of exiting and entering so commuters can stay in the right-hand lane but it isn’t everywhere.
Staying in the right-hand lane is literally impossible in certain freeways in North America.
The law says you should keep as far right as possible. This doesn’t mean at all cost, if the right lane is completely occupied you’re allowed to drive in the middle or even left lane (if the middle is also occupied). This often happens during rush hour.
Unnecessarily driving in the left lane is the #3 most irritating thing in traffic, according to surveys, with tailgating at #1 and phone use while driving at #2. You’re not only blocking those behind you, but everyone on the lanes to your right as well. (Overtaking on the right carries an even heftier fine than not driving in the rightmost possible lane).
I didn’t say the alternative was left lane driving or condoned left lane camping. Your response to the other person sounded like you were only used to one type of freeway/highway configuration.
I am pointing out your experience may be a bit local to your area and middle lane driving for through traffic (also called commuter traffic sometimes) is the safest option that minimizes risky lane changes on some roads. But this does contradict the edict of staying in the right-most lane which is different from keeping-right-except-to-pass I think.
Its the same in the States as well. People here are just so far removed from the law because our road design often necessitates breaking the law.
I’m the u.s. they put the highway through the middle of cities. The right most lane is an exit and entrance lane as on and off ramps are usually a mile or less apart. There are usually 4+ lanes in these situations, so the first 2 left lanes are there for people to merge on and off. If you’re just passing through, then it makes Sense to stay in the third or fourth lane and leave the farthest left lane for the crazies. Go look at Atlanta Georgia, Chicago, or the East side of the Mississippi River going into St.Louis.
Except for when they put left-lane exits. Then it’s Mad Max rules.
For example, there’s a major highway junction that I drive every day where there are four lanes. The left two lanes become one two-lane highway, and the right two lanes connect with another two-lane to become a four-lane highway.
In this instance you have two slow lanes sandwiched between two fast lanes.
The right most lane is an exit and entrance lane
For fun, look up US Route 60 where it meets Chelyan Bridge just outside Quincy. The through lane is on the right, and the exit lane is the left lane because fuck all reason.
entering and exiting is painful or dangerous.
not if everyone is leaving appropriate gaps in front of them and merging properly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX0I8OdK7Tk
It’s wild that this is so heavily upvoted.
Yeah if there’s solid traffic, there’s no need to go weaving around, but just planting in the middle lane for your whole trip sounds like selfish behaviour.
Trucks, my dude. A single truck enters the highway and slows down the entire right lane until it can get up to speed. Do this for hundreds of trucks per day across a handful of exits, plus all the other traffic, and right lane congestion is nearly constant. I don’t know where you are, but in the US middle/left lanes are sometimes signed for “Thru Traffic Only” to avoid additional congestion and slowdowns in the right lane.
If you’re in the left lane, and there’s someone behind you but no one in front of you, move over and let them pass. Simple.
Or better yet, if there’s room to your right and the lane to your right isn’t the right-most lane, move right. It doesn’t matter if someone is behind you or if you’re one lane from the left, move right if you’re not passing someone.
Far too many people camp in the left most lane when there’s plenty of room to the right. This forces traffic that you’re probably not actually noticing to pass on the right, which is unsafe and, in some areas, illegal.
In some countries it’s illegal to drive on the left lane, when there is place on the right one
As it should be. I wish it was in my state, because so often we have a line of people in the left lane, nobody in the next two lanes, then trucks and grannies in the right two lanes.
I drive all over the country. In states where it is illegal to slow camp the left lane it is NEVER enforced by police. Same problem everywhere no matter the law.
I really wish they’d enforce that instead of speeding, surely that’s a bigger cause if road rage than pretty much anything else…
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It doesn’t force them to drive unsafely. That’s a decision they make on their own.
Personally I always keep an eye out for this type of driver and make sure to get out the way. The longer they are around me the more likely I am to be collateral in their firey death.
Oh certainly. Always drive defensively. But that’s different than blaming someone else for their offensive driving.
Unsafe driving is anything that’s surprising. Having a car go faster than your to your right is surprising, thus unsafe. The #1 rule in any kind of dangerous activity where a lot of independent actors are involved is to be predictable.
Here’s a clear scenario:
- Driver A is cruising in the left lane
- Driver B comes up behind driver A
- Driver A notices B, checks to the right (looks over shoulder), and decides to merge right
- Driver B gets impatient and starts to overtake A on the right
- Driver A, assuming moving to the right is safe (mirrors look good), moves right and collides with B, who is in their blind spot
It’s reasonable to assume someone isn’t going to jump into your blind spot on the right. That’s less reasonable to your left, so you should be extra careful when merging left.
Merging right should always be safer because you may need to move over if an emergency vehicle approaches from behind.
So Driver B made a conscious decision to make an illegal and dangerous pass. That’s not Driver A’s fault. You guys want to drive like it’s NASCAR and blame everyone around you but it’s just not true. If you’re coming up behind someone you have more situational awareness not less. It’s on you to make a safe move, like applying your brakes. That’s a safe predictable response to a slower car in front of you. Nobody is forcing you to drive in an unsafe manner.
That’s… exactly what I’m saying.
My point is it’s unsafe to pass on the right. If you can’t pass on the left and there’s available room to the right, the driver in front should be ticketed, because doing that encourages unsafe passing from those behind them. If the driver behind gets impatient, they should be ticketed for reckless driving by passing on the right.
So don’t pass on the right. If there’s a driver in front of you that’s holding up traffic with room on the right to move over, call traffic enforcement if it’s illegal in your area (and if it’s not, campaign for it to become illegal).
Yeah if there’s no one in front of you and someone can undertake you, you fucked up. I’m glad to see this thread full of so many sensible takes on how to drive safely and maintain efficient flows of traffic. Normally these threads online get flooded with brain dead takes like “I’m going fast enough, why should I move?”.
“Move over so I can drive recklessly”
Your argument sucks.
It’s not your job to prevent others from speeding, it’s your job to stay to the right except to pass. It’s on the police to enforce speed limits.
It’s my job to drive and not worry about some dickhead behind me. If you can’t be patient, then don’t drive.
No, it’s your job to follow the rules and etiquette of the road. In some states, it’s illegal to camp in the left lane, though it’s unfortunately rarely enforced. I’ve heard it actually enforced in Germany though, so perhaps outside the US it’s more of a thing.
My state has “keep right except to pass” posted on most roads, and I’ve seen it in many other states as well. So do that.
You tailgate, speed, and cut people off and that’s fine, ok.
When did I say that? I’m quite considerate if I do say so myself. And I practice what I preach, I’m rarely in the leftmost lane, I’m as far right as I can while traveling the speed I want (usually within 5mph of the speed limit), and I help a healthy amount of space in front and behind me.
I suggest you do the same, if you’re not already. That’s proper etiquette, and in many areas it’s the law.
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Then what makes it a “dangerous situation?” Oh yeah, the reckless dickhead in the back.
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You’re the dickhead in the back in this situation. So why is it dangerous? You didn’t answer my question. Dickhead.
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So you move over and crash into the car to the right of you that you wanted to pass.
I always do unless you have those crazy fucking headlights…then not a chance
You won’t see their headlights anymore if you let them pass
We don’t negotiate with terrorists!
Yes I will
Left is for passing, if you’re just driving then you’re in the right lane until you come up on someone to pass
This is a good philosophy, not just for traffic flow but for safety. If a drunk or disoriented driver is going the wrong way they’re usually going to be in what is to you the left lane, which to them is the right lane. So they’ll just go past you instead of into you.
If they’re blocking you then why don’t you just pass them on the right?
illegal
Speeding is “illegal” too, so that’s not really much of an argument.
Its legitimately unsafe. Having traffic on one side consistently faster than you and the other side slower greatly reduces the chance of accidents because you can have have some relative assurance that speeding up while merging left is safe and slowing down while merging right is safe. It also keeps faster traffic out of and further away from onramps/offramps.
Drive safe, don’t be an asshole, its not that complicated.
No mf I want to drive 100+ that means I’m gonna pass on the right
/sarcasm
I mean, if you’re about that life, then yeah, gonna have to start weavin’ but that’s half the fun.
I need to buy a shitbox to throw boost at…
There’s a saying that I really like that seems relevant here - only break one law at a time.
It’s a great argument actually. Speeding on the highway is generally expected. Going 20 over in front of a cop is unlikely to get you pulled over in most of the U.S. The cops are more than likely doing the same thing. Passing on the right on the other hand is very likely to get you pulled over if a cop sees it. It’s a very dangerous move to pull because it’s not something other drivers can predict that you’ll do. The last thing you want to do is turn a middle or right lane into a passing lane. Then the slower drivers that just want to cruise will be pressured to move, possibly into the left lane which is now no longer a passing lane which compounds the issue, and you just get chaos where different lanes are all going different speeds at random.
They should pull over the person who got passed on the right instead. If someone is able to pass you on the right you’re in the wrong lane.
Try Florida… It’s the norm
No, they pass on the shoulder lmao. (Grew up in FL)
In California passing on the right is expected
Not in my state it isn’t.
Because that makes it harder for them to move back to the right
I’m just going to go ahead and assume that both of you are taking into account that not everywhere has the same roads - IMO (and I think it’s just proven logically) the middle of the road should be where the fastest cars are.
On a 4 lane road (with a divider like 2/2) those middle two lanes should have the fast drivers. This way the people who want to go fast do so, and they don’t have to deal with people merging onto the road. Neither do the people merging have to deal with the fast drivers.
Having the middle lane/lanes be the “passing”/speeding lanes is less safe though, because both outside lanes then have to worry about faster traffic merging into them to pass people in the middle lanes, rather than just a single lane. Also the people merging absolutely would still have to deal with fast drivers, when drivers in the faster middle lanes try to pass each other on the right. Doing so would put them in the same lane people are using to merge onto the highway.
Edit: also people in the slower left lane would have to merge into and out of the faster middle passing lanes in order to exit the highway, which just sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Edit edit: are you talking about 4 bidirectional lanes, with, for example, two going north and two going south? If so my bad for the misunderstanding, we actually agree
Two going north, two going south.
I once went to a conference as a vendor and they hired a temp to go with us to do a lot of the grunt work and had him drive the van there and back. He would drive under the speed limit in the left lane. When I couldn’t take it anymore and finally said something, he said, “I like driving in the left lane!”
They had to practically hold me back from strangling him.
I’m much calmer these days.
I’ve heard that a society governed purely by logic would be one that never takes emotion into account, one that only sees the cold logic.
That sounds bad. That being said:
We live in a society where people actively enjoy becoming road hazards, subsequently becoming dangerous to others whilst staying relatively safe themselves.
Idk, maybe we meet somewhere in the middle? Cuz I feel like those feelings should not be respected.
Because your wish was granted, right?
He left my presence still breathing, but I assume someone else has strangled him by now.
“Failure to yield” is a law in some places. You don’t get to lane camp.
Also, most states have “Keep right except to pass” laws. So if you’re not actively passing, you need to move over.
So yeah, they are breaking laws.
I have met some people online that are very allergic to the idea of breaking the law. Which is kinda exotic for me because where I live (middle-Eastern Europe) the uncommon is for someone to actually stick to the law lol. It’s very interesting that we are so different in this.
For us when there was communism here, everyone had to break the laws to get by and so we are probably used to it even when most of the laws actually make sense nowadays.
Oh you mean like Slovakia, not like Lebanese-Spain
This works the other way too, though. If they are passing slower traffic, it doesn’t matter if you want to pass even faster, you gotta be patient and wait until they are no longer passing and pull back into the outside lane before you pass.
pull back into the outside lane
Not sure if you mistyped, but if you’re in the left most lane and the person in front is passing someone, then you stay in the lane until they move over.
I live in Australia. The right lane is the overtaking lane and the left lane is for normal travel.
But to adapt it to use language which is region-neutral, I used “outside lane” to refer to what would be my left lane. Because it sits on the outside of the road corridor. No mistyping.
Honestly, the term “inside” and “outside” don’t really help. On a two-way road, the “inside” would probably be the one closest to the divider, whereas on a separated highway, I’d probably consider it the closest to the exits (the opposite). That’s inconsistent at best.
It’s honestly just easier to say, “I drive on the left/right” and then use left/right like you normally would.
Regardless, my point is that if you’re behind someone who is in the rightmost lane, you have to just wait until they’ve finished passing before you can pass them. If there’s a lane to their right, you don’t need to wait, just overtake in the available lane, even if they’re passing someone else. I’ve actually done that on highways with two lanes going each way, where the pass in the “normal” passing lane, and I pass in the oncoming traffic lane when clear.
Maybe we’re saying the same thing, but it sounded like you’d wait behind them even if there’s another passing lane available, which seems silly.
if you’re behind someone who is in the rightmost lane, you have to just wait until they’ve finished passing before you can pass them
Yes, that’s exactly what I said (assuming we’re talking about in an Aus/UK scenario). To repeat myself, but with the left/right/inside/outside thing fixed
If they are passing slower traffic…you gotta be patient and wait until they are no longer passing and pull back into the [left] lane
What you’re saying is logical but is the opposite way to how it actually works, at least in the UK but I believe elsewhere as well
In Australia and the UK you drive on the left normally (the outside lane), and overtake on the right (the inside lane). In America that would be drive on the right (outside lane) and overtake on the left (inside lane).
I live in the UK and can tell you conclusively that is not correct.
I agree that’s how it should work, but that isn’t how it works, at least in this country.
I’m talking specifically about your use of inside vs outside lane
Oh I see. So you would say the inside lane is the one furthest from the centre of the road?
I don’t want to be in the left with you animals. Tell the guy in the right to at least to do the fucking limit.
See, this is the problem. You either risk getting a ticket by keeping up with the 15mph+ people in the left, or you deal with grandma and grandpa doing 10mph under on the right. So a lot of us end up having to leapfrog back and forth. I just want to maintain my socially and legally acceptable 4mph over.
Look, you’re gonna have to leap frog, sorry!
If someone comes up behind you, you should move to the right, even if there is a car to your right. You should just push them over to make way for the more important people who are speeding because they have important things to do and most get where they’re going 15 seconds faster by speeding.
Yes. If these two things are true: 1. A car is stuck behind you. 2. There is no car to your immediate right. Then you should move over. You should obviously not merge into a car, you would use your turn signal and then change lanes like a normal person.
This is because you are not so important that you get to break a common state law in order to inconvenience hundreds of other drivers on the road, because you don’t like that they want to break a different law that doesn’t inconvenience other drivers.
Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right. Also if I’m still actively passing people, I’m not going to move over to a small open space on the right.
If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.
There’s a reason they say “keep right except to pass” and “left lane for passing only” and “trucks trailers rvs and busses prohibited from left lane”. There’s a reason they don’t say “don’t pass on the right” anymore. Passing on the right isn’t the problem, being passed on the right is the problem.
If you are going slower than the lane to your right, you are causing a rippling effect in the traffic behind you. People camping in the left or center lanes when they are going slower than the cars to the right of them are one of the biggest causes of congestion, and it’s quite evident if you watch who is at the lead of pockets of congestion.
I don’t know how to be clearer, I only pass on the left and otherwise stay right, just not always at the speed people want me to. I like to allow the car I’ve passed some distance before getting back in front of it, which not everyone seems to like.
Gladly, just make sure they get the message to not ride my ass or try to zip around me on the right.
If people are passing you on the right, you are in the wrong lane in the first place.
I stand by what I said. You apparently do not.
Because I think it’s important to make sure the car behind me has enough room to stop should it be necessary? Because they can’t wait 2 seconds for me to make a little space?
I don’t understand how cars that are supposedly going slower than you are passing you. Both cannot be true.
Unless you are slowing down to yield to non-emergency vehicles on your right, in which case you are a worse and more dangerous driver than I could have imagined.
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Even if you’re passing people, you’re probably still obligated to move to the right, by law. You’ll have to check your state laws for your specific obligations.
If somebody is riding your ass or going around you to the right, they absolutely should not be doing that. However it also means you’ve likely been camping in the left lane, impeding the flow of traffic for far too long by the time you reach that point, and you’re considered part of the problem if you’re causing other drivers to pass you on the right to get around you. When you’re driving on public roadways, it’s not about you. You need to do your part to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, so that everybody can arrive at their destination safely.
If you want to drive slowly, just do so in the rightmost lane. They literally have a lane just for you to do that, where you can be free of tail riders, and it’s impossible to be passed on the right.
I don’t camp the left lane, pinky promise. I pull into the left lane to pass and someone coming up behind me going 90 rides right up on my ass until I’m done passing, or they squeeze into the bit of stopping distance I’ve created before merging back right. If I’m passing and already going over the limit, they can damn well wait a few seconds.
I’ll pass a semi and have someone fly up behind me going 15+ over and ride my ass. If I don’t get back over to the right immediately, they will cut off the truck to pass me on the right. Those are the people removed about “left lane driving.” Very rarely have I ever seen someone just cruising in the left lane with nobody around. It’s often impatient assholes who think they are the main character.
…keep right except to pass: if you don’t want to drive, take the bus…
I’d say allowing other drivers to drive dangerously does cause inconvenience to others.
What this “slow driver” discussion leaves out is the fact that it’s the fast drivers that end up behaving dangerously and causing accidents. Fast drivers are the problem here.
That’s a very common misconception. Driving fast isn’t actually very dangerous absent outside factors like poor weather conditions, balding tires, bad brakes, aggressive driving, etc. Cars are designed to drive straight very well, and their ability to do so is unaffected by a metal sign with some paint on it beside the road they’re driving on. This is why countries like Germany with its Autobahn aren’t decimated by crashes every day.
Beyond this common sense, the data backs this up as well. Speeding is a factor in less than a third of all car crashes resulting in injury or death, and the it’s the cause of such accidents even less than that. Much bigger causes of accidents are unpredictable driving, driving too slowly for the flow of traffic, and aggressive driving (Which impeding traffic in the left lane falls under).
On top of the common sense and the crash data that backs this up, I also worked in EMS for over a decade and in my personal experience, the vast majority of incidents I’ve been involved in were due to somebody turning into traffic and failing to get up to speed, driving too slowly for the lane they’re in, or slamming on their brakes at a yellow light. In 10 years I’d seen 2 fatalities due to speeding, and that was on a residential road, the car involved was a rear wheel drive muscle car they accelerated too fast in without the experience to handle it. The overwhelming majority were caused by “defensive drivers” who made poor “defensive” decisions that other drivers couldn’t predict, or people becoming road hazards in order to self police the roadways.
According to Der Spiegel, German motorways that don’t have speed limits feature 17% more crashes leading to severe injury and 76% more crashes leading to death.
That’s despite the fact those sections have a lot of measures undertaken to additionally improve road safety.
According to the European Traffic safety Council, German roadways have a fatality rate of only 4.2 people per billion kilometers.
This is roughly half the rate of the US, which is 8.3
German motorways are much safer than the US, despite their high speeds. The reason a higher rate of accidents are caused by speeding in Germany compared to the U.S. is because their standards for driver training and licensure are much stricter than in the U.S. You actually have to attend a driving school and pass exams to become a licensed driver in Germany, unlike the almost total absence of driver education required in the US. They simply don’t have the issue of unpredictable ignorant drivers, or slow lane campers in Germany the way we do here. They successfully mitigated the risk of dangerous traffic flow impeding drivers like yourself, leaving high speeds as one of the only factors left when it comes to accidents. The high speed driver looks like “the problem” in Germany because the much bigger problem driver, including the lane campers, simply don’t qualify for drivers licenses there and are kept off the road entirely. A good problem to have, and one we should implement here in order to save lives.
It is true that Germany has lower fatality rate on the roads, and it is true that it is due to the various policies they implement, including stricter licensing. Speeding is also severely punished, by the way, which is why the definition of a “slow driver” will change a lot compared to the “I don’t give a damn about rules” America. A driver following speed limits is not “slow” by any German standards.
But in no way stricter licensing and control negates the fact that fatality rates on German motorways that don’t have a speed limit are 76% higher compared to the ones that do, in the absolute very same Germany, not compared to any other country.
The safest motorways of Germany, with a great margin, are speed limited.
Speeding is not the only factor for road safety, and it’s important to address this multifaceted issue in many ways. But speed is a very, very big part of it.
the fact that fatality rates on German motorways that don’t have a speed limit are 76% higher compared to the ones that do
A very clever misrepresentation of the data, I’ll give you that. While it’s true that if you get into an accident on a non-limited section of the autobahn , your odds of the accident being more severe or even fatal are relatively higher than it being a minor accident. However what you’re very strategically leaving out is that your odds of getting into an accident in the first place are lower on non-limited sections of the Autobahn.l, with some outliers based on rarity of the various speed limits. The most common speed limit on the autobahn being 120 (substantially higher than the average speeder in the U.S.). Here’s some data from a 2022 study on the effects of speed limits and their effect on accident frequency on Autobahn. It lists several different speed limits and crash results, with the primary comparison being between 120 and none. With the other speed limits being rarer outliers.
TL;DR It’s not that severe accidents happen more often on non-limited sections of the autobahn, it’s just that the smaller amount of accidents that do happen are more likely to be severe. It’s hard to compare these results to accidents caused by traffic impedes, because as previously mentioned that’s a particular problem that Germany seems to have eliminated. An argument could be made that it’s be a prudent decision to add a 120 speed limit to the rest of the autobahn, and trade a higher accident rate for fewer fatalities, but that’s a luxury that Germany has because they’re not dealing with more dangerous behavior like in the U.S, such as uneducated, unpredictable, and slow drivers impeding the flow of traffic.
I know you want what you’re saying to be true, but you’re wasting a lot of energy that you could spend on becoming a safer driver instead. Take all this effort you’re making to find numbers that almost look like they’re supporting what you’re saying, and put it into learning about your states driving laws instead. I’ve at this point put a lot of good faith effort in educating you, but I’m not going to continue poking holes in the logic of your responses.
How much gap is safe? Should I cut someone off? Is there isn’t a safe gap should I still get over?
If you aren’t passing someone you shouldn’t be in the leftmost lane.
Just try not to be dumb 👍
If you’re asking me these questions, you should just tear your drivers license in half right now. Are you telling me that you’re a current licensed driver and yet you don’t know how to change lanes? Jesus dude.
I think you need to calm down.
An inch is sufficient. No touch? We good.
If you ain’t rubbin you ain’t racin!
Tell us you camp the left lane without telling us you camp the left lane.
You are wearing a sign that says you drive all the way up everyone’s ass all the time, and then pass on the right without waiting.
You had it until the comma.
I’ll only pass you on the right if you’re being an asshole by camping the left lane. You get passed on the right often don’t you?
I don’t. I pass people on the right in some cases, if someone clearly doesn’t understand the rules.
But, I don’t tailgate ever, and I give people a chance to get over before I do so. If you’re doing that, I’ve got no problem with you.
Only time I’m going to ride someones ass is if they pull out in front of me and I have to slam on the brakes.
If you get passed on the right you’ve already fucked up.
Look, I know the rules. People camping the passing lane piss me off, too, and I pass them when it is safe to do so.
But aggressive tailgating and squeezing between lanes with very narrow margin is extremely entitled behavior and puts everyone nearby at risk.
I don’t get passed on the right, for the record.
What people like you miss is that you should actually move to the right before someone comes up behind you. There is literally no value to staying in the left lane when not passing.
You’re missing the point of the op. People who speed and tailgate while other people are trying to drive normally and pass safely are assholes. They’re not talking about the odd person who is just in the left lane for no reason. In my experience, this is pretty rare anyway. If I’m passing multiple vehicles, I’m not dipping over to the right, because that car that was just on my ass will sit there with their dick in their hand instead of accelerating and passing me. I’ll finish passing the 2-3 trucks and get over when there is adequate space to do so.
Nothing wrong with using the passing lane for passing and I never indicated as such. Everyone should drive at a speed comfortable to them…in the right lane, unless passing.
The people who complain about left lane camping really mean anybody going slower than they want to go. Sure, is the right lane is clear, then move over. But moving over just to let one person pass and then getting back in the left lane to pass is what causes traffic problems. It’s better if nobody changes lanes, than it is to speed.
From right to left, the lanes are for drivers who follow the laws as written, the laws as enforced, and the laws of physics.
This sounds like where I live. Everyone is either going 20 over the limit or 10 under it the whole way and both are constantly trying to change lanes for no legitimate reason lol
And most of the time they don’t use their turn signals
IT’S CALLED THE FUCKING PASSING LANE FOR CHRISTS SAKE! FUCK!
Just remember fool, ONLY ONE LAW AT A TIME.
While I understand you deserve to pass in the passing lane, I do to. The cars to my right are going 55, I’m going 60. I would love to get over but I’m passing the people going 55. If I were to get over, I would be doing 50.
As soon as it is safe, I will allow you to pass. Sorry about the delay.
