Passing on the highway (US)

[CLeazy928]

When I learned to drive I was always taught to pass on the left and was always under the impression that passing on the right was illegal (not sure if it is or not). With that it's always urked me when I see people passing others using the right lane instead of the left lane on 3 and 4 lane highways. Today I was cruising in the middle lane going 5 over the speed limit which is pretty much standard practice on this section of highway. The left lane was completely clear and a truck behind me decided to pass using the right lane. I'm sure my mindset is a bit dramatic but whenever I see it happen it makes me sour. After all these years driving I've never seen an accident related to someone passing on the right so I understand how I might be blowing it out of proportion but it's never been something I've been able to let go. It's probably not illegal to pass on the right. It's just an incredibly frustrating driving practice I see from others quite often.

 

[Subtlerustle]

When I learned to drive I was always taught to pass on the left and was always under the impression that passing on the right was illegal (not sure if it is or not). With that it's always urked me when I see people passing others using the right lane instead of the left lane on 3 and 4 lane highways. Today I was cruising in the middle lane going 5 over the speed limit which is pretty much standard practice on this section of highway. The left lane was completely clear and a truck behind me decided to pass using the right lane. I'm sure my mindset is a bit dramatic but whenever I see it happen it makes me sour. After all these years driving I've never seen an accident related to someone passing on the right so I understand how I might be blowing it out of proportion but it's never been something I've been able to let go. It's probably not illegal to pass on the right. It's just an incredibly frustrating driving practice I see from others quite often.

Oh man this is a hot button issue for me. In Canada we are plagued by the same problem. I feel like cops are obsessed with speed as an issue but this is just as big for me. However the mentality is this: people drive the speed limit in the left lane and feel annoyed when I pull up behind them and flash my hi beams. They think that they own that real estate and are justified because they’re “at” limit. The lane is for passing and faster traffic. Period. In Europe you never see trucks out of the right lane and they maintain several truck lengths to allow exiting traffic to join said lane. It’s safe and orderly. The police really need to enforce and educate.

 

[chamberpot]

same as it is wrong to "park" in the left lane at under traffic speed.

 

[chamberpot]

Oh man this is a hot button issue for me. In Canada we are plagued by the same problem. I feel like cops are obsessed with speed as an issue but this is just as big for me. However the mentality is this: people drive the speed limit in the left lane and feel annoyed when I pull up behind them and flash my hi beams. They think that they own that real estate and are justified because they’re “at” limit. The lane is for passing and faster traffic. Period. In Europe you never see trucks out of the right lane and they maintain several truck lengths to allow exiting traffic to join said lane. It’s safe and orderly. The police really need to enforce and educate.

you beat me to it

 

[CLeazy928]

That makes me feel better that I'm not the only one who gets miffed when they see it happen.

 

[Tigercub59]

In some states trucks can only use the right two lanes therefore if you are in the second lane on a 3 or 4 lane freeway either move over into the first lane to let the truck pass, or the truck can pass you on the right side as they are not allowed in the third lane.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

In the US, big diesels are forbidden to use the far left lane...unless the highway is 2 lanes in a direction and the big 'un is passing a slower vehicle then returning to the right.

Long ago, on a rural, 3-lane stretch of I-5 one grey afternoon, I was in the left lane in the Nissan, keeping pace with traffic ahead. I'd earlier passed a Canadian big-rig with a 53-foot box on back. A few minutes later, said big-rig was directly behind me, closing in, headlights on; it then charged to within 10 feet of my rear and hit the high beams. I hit my flashers...it flashed its high beams repeatedly.

My reaction was this: with my foot still on the gas, my left foot very lightly held the brake, scrubbing 1/2 mph. This was not a typical brake-check but the big-rig's reaction stunned me: the driver 'dynamited' the brakes! The big-rig shuddered, the high beams went to low, the truck fell back in very-rapid fashion. Then...it moved over to the center lane...and stayed.

Given my very subtle action, that was not the reaction I expected. But it happened. I won't repeat that deed, of course. And that was a one-in-10,000 jerk driver...the vast majority of CDL drivers are intelligent and courteous. Even if by slim margins.

 

[CLeazy928]

In some states trucks can only use the right two lanes therefore if you are in the second lane on a 3 or 4 lane freeway either move over into the first lane to let the truck pass, or the truck can pass you on the right side as they are not allowed in the third lane.

Sorry when I say truck I mean a personal pickup truck not a semi hauling a trailer. I know large transport trucks have different regulations on them but those trucks aren't so much my issue. It's with other citizens.

 

[Edgewater]

The reality of the super-wide highways with 6 lanes in each direction has null-in-voided the Law of drive in the left lane and pass in the right lane. In reality, semi's and especially the max length trucks have difficulty in seeing what is happening at the far back and as a result they tend to avoid passing slower traffic in front of them as although passing on the left they have reasonable vision, but pulling back into their lane is problematic and they commonly choose to take longer to pull-back into their lane.

Regarding the 'other' drivers, it is a free-for-all out-there as drivers training time has been reduced to a few hours of class room and a few hours of road driving. Add cell phones, reading, eating, drinking and adjusting make-up and you are surrounded by vehicles that are fundamentally driverless!! It is a wonder that car crashes are not more common!!

 

[CLeazy928]

Yeah I was just using the truck that passed me today as my example. It was mid 2000s Toyota pickup. But it's all the time I see SUVs Vans cars and pickups not utilizing the left to pass and instead pass on the right. Often times weaving in and out constantly changing lanes. Just really obnoxious behavior.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Oh, I forgot: any vehicle towing a trailer is under the same law about left-lanes as big-rigs.

 

[ORBaby]

Seeing someone constantly changing lanes worries me, aggressive driving can lead to accidents. I'll drop back as far as possible to be able to stop if there is an accident.
Most of the time I stay in the right hand lane, unless there are 4 or more lanes, then I use the 2nd lane so that people exiting or entering can use the right hand lane.
One of my gripes is someone who passes me then pulls in front of me then slows down.

 

[CLeazy928]

Seeing someone constantly changing lanes worries me, aggressive driving can lead to accidents. I'll drop back as far as possible to be able to stop if there is an accident.
Most of the time I stay in the right hand lane, unless there are 4 or more lanes, then I use the 2nd lane so that people exiting or entering can use the right hand lane.
One of my gripes is someone who passes me then pulls in front of me then slows down.

For real though when someone passes and then slows me down that happens far too frequently. I try to stick to my lane though. Mostly I prefer to be being in the same lanes as you when traffic is busier. if things are relatively tame on the highway then I'll get into the center lane and use the left when I need to pass. But even when I'm driving in the middle lane it's not very common that I'm catching up to other cars in the middle lane to pass them. People who weave in and out in obnoxious fashion seems fairly common is pretty common up in Indianapolis which is why I hate driving larger cities and their surrounding suburbs. I refuse to drive into Chicago at this point. that has the most stressful entry point from the south I've ever driven.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Seeing someone constantly changing lanes worries me, aggressive driving can lead to accidents. I'll drop back as far as possible to be able to stop if there is an accident.
Most of the time I stay in the right hand lane, unless there are 4 or more lanes, then I use the 2nd lane so that people exiting or entering can use the right hand lane.
One of my gripes is someone who passes me then pulls in front of me then slows down.

Aggressive driving should be criminally lumped with reckless driving...and punished as such.

I managed to muscle through an episode of Judge Judy once, where one defendant got upbraided severely for his reckless driving, which he tried to downplay. Judy didn't buy it one bit and reamed him with the concept that a car is more dangerous than a gun: if one fires a gun recklessly, it may or may not hit someone, but the effect is potentially dangerous; a vehicle is a 2,000-to-6,000-pound bullet which can wound and/or kill several people at one time...and which has been demonstrated many, many times. Therefore, a car in the wrong hands is more dangerous than one gun in the wrong hands. And I agree.

People in America are, on-average, far more dangerous in their driving habits, whether out of indifference or deliberately. What we have on the road at any given time are millions of 4-wheeled Barcaloungers being driven by egotistical people with short fuses. And it doesn't take much anymore to set something off on a freeway, highway, road or street...or, on rare occasion, even a driveway.

 

[Edgewater]

Aggressive driving should be criminally lumped with reckless driving...and punished as such.

I managed to muscle through an episode of Judge Judy once, where one defendant got upbraided severely for his reckless driving, which he tried to downplay. Judy didn't buy it one bit and reamed him with the concept that a car is more dangerous than a gun: if one fires a gun recklessly, it may or may not hit someone, but the effect is potentially dangerous; a vehicle is a 2,000-to-6,000-pound bullet which can wound and/or kill several people at one time...and which has been demonstrated many, many times. Therefore, a car in the wrong hands is more dangerous than one gun in the wrong hands. And I agree.

People in America are, on-average, far more dangerous in their driving habits, whether out of indifference or deliberately. What we have on the road at any given time are millions of 4-wheeled Barcaloungers being driven by egotistical people with short fuses. And it doesn't take much anymore to set something off on a freeway, highway, road or street...or, on rare occasion, even a driveway.

Try driving in China or India where there is no cultural experience with driving!

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Try driving in China or India where there is no cultural experience with driving!

Oh, I've seen India: incredibly polite people...until they get in a car. Yeeg. Kinda like on Gremlins. Maybe they oughtta make & sell AMC Gremlins there.

 

[BigAl2]

Some folks cruse in the left lane. Your not supposed to. Any way i have passed by them in the right lane.

 

[jamiejamie]

My carpooler likes to drive in the left lane on the days she’s driving. Everyone passes us on the right. I asked her why she drives in left lane and she said she feels safer cuz she doesn’t have to worry about cars merging from the ramp on the right.

 

[Richard101]

Obviously it is the opposite way round in the UK but the same principle applies. There was a campaign some years ago to get the law changed so that you could pass on the inside. Thankfully it didn't succeed as it is such a dangerous practice

 

[BigAl2]

I

My carpooler likes to drive in the left lane on the days she’s driving. Everyone passes us on the right. I asked her why she drives in left lane and she said she feels safer cuz she doesn’t have to worry about cars merging from the ramp on the right.

I'll move in the passing lane as a courtesy. Too folks coming off the ramp.