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This is far from universal in Europe. In France, in places where highways have at least three lanes people tend to drive in the middle lane even when traffic is

This is far from universal in Europe. In France, in places where highways have at least three lanes people tend to drive in the middle lane even when traffic is light. Most of the time, outside cities, merge lanes tend to be long enough even for trucks to be able to speed up enough and onramps are relatively far between so I doubt the reason people drive in the middle lane is to avoid incoming traffic. I could see how around Paris this might be learned behaviour for a reason similar to that described in SoCal by a sibling poster. The Périphérique (the ring road around Paris proper) has mostly 3 or more lanes and looks like a highway but is not actually one. The most important difference is that traffic on the Périphérique has to yield to incoming traffic. Of course, onramps being relatively short and with bad visibility coupled with the fact that Parisians don't reliably yield when they're supposed to, has the effect of slowing traffic a lot at merge points which makes it a pain to drive in the right lane even if the traffic is relatively light.

aarroyoc 8y ago
But it's still forbidden. In Spain it's the same but the rule you learn is "always on the right, except when you're going faster than the cars on the right". And you can't overtake a car when you're on the right, it is only allowed when you're on the left. But there's a lack of enforcement as it is also sometimes difficult to know when someone is breaking that rule.
user5994461 8y ago
There are few 3 lanes roads in France. It's mostly the highways that cross France east-west or north-south and a couple around the biggest cities. On highways, the right most lane is occupied by trucks. You have to stay in the middle lane if you drive at the speed limit (130 km/h), otherwise you're swapping middle and right twice a minute to pass trucks. The peripherique around Paris is saturated. All the lanes are used at all times. It's not possible to favor the right most lane. Interesting fact. There are special rules in the french driving code for continuous stream of vehicles, for example it's prohibited to change lane unless taking a turn.

aarroyoc 8y ago

But it's still forbidden. In Spain it's the same but the rule you learn is "always on the right, except when you're going faster than the cars on the right". And you can't overtake a car when you're on the right, it is only allowed when you're on the left. But there's a lack of enforcement as it is also sometimes difficult to know when someone is breaking that rule.

user5994461 8y ago

There are few 3 lanes roads in France. It's mostly the highways that cross France east-west or north-south and a couple around the biggest cities. On highways, the right most lane is occupied by trucks. You have to stay in the middle lane if you drive at the speed limit (130 km/h), otherwise you're swapping middle and right twice a minute to pass trucks. The peripherique around Paris is saturated. All the lanes are used at all times. It's not possible to favor the right most lane. Interesting fact. There are special rules in the french driving code for continuous stream of vehicles, for example it's prohibited to change lane unless taking a turn.