5 ms·

Unrelated rant: I once saw a US traffic sign online that said "If drivers are passing you on your right, you're doing it wrong". I wish those signs were everywh

Unrelated rant: I once saw a US traffic sign online that said "If drivers are passing you on your right, you're doing it wrong". I wish those signs were everywhere.

shreddit 2y ago
I thought you can pass drivers on each side in the us?
- readthenotes1 2y ago
  Just because you can does not mean you should. Typically the leftmost lane is meant to be the passing Lane. If you're in the left lane and getting passed on the right that means you should have moved to the right...
  - mitthrowaway2 2y ago
    What if you're trying to find an opening to move right, but the safest available space to change lanes is behind the people passing you?
    - haswell 2y ago
      The correct thing to do is to turn on your turn signal and wait for a safe opportunity to move to the right. But in most circumstances, if you’re trying to find an opening to move right, that’s still an indication that you’ve been hanging out in the left lane for an inappropriate amount of time and/or misusing the lane.
  - busyant 2y ago
    > If you're in the left lane and getting passed on the right that means you should have moved to the right... Not always. I'm often in the passing lane (passing a semi, for example) and someone else zooms up behind me and expects me to accelerate to their speed. They get annoyed that I'm not passing fast enough, so they either ride on my bumper or they fall back and scoot 2-lanes to the right and then speed up to pass everyone (the semi and me). To be clear: after I pass the semi (or whatever) in the center lane, I will move to the right, but I'm not going to speed up to the point where I consider it dangerous just to please the speed demon behind me.
    - zamadatix 2y ago
      Or the worst of highway inventions: "exit left in 1 mile". There's almost an entirely separate ruleset for urban highways vs rural highways. Rural highways it's dead simple... stay right except while actively passing. Only 2 lanes to be in and not really many corner cases. Urban highways still have the same general "stay to the right" but suddenly there are a lot of exceptions "except when passing, except when exiting left or taking the left fork soon, except when trying to get to a spot where you can even start to pass the block of semis in the right 2/3 lanes, except when you are trying to get out of the lane that force-exits in 1 mile". Inevitably someone will be going fast enough to be mad you spent 5 seconds in a lane that wasn't the rightmost open one but, unlike rural highways, it doesn't always mean you were actually in the wrong lane.
- bri3d 2y ago
  In the US traffic laws are state-by-state. In most states, unlike most European countries, "undertaking" _is_ legal, but, additionally most states still have a "slower traffic must keep right" rule. That's what the sign the parent post is referring to is trying to point out - if someone is passing you in the "slower" lane, you are not in the correct one.
A_Duck 2y ago
This is the law in Europe, passing on the inside is called 'undertaking' — in the UK if you get caught undertaking 4x in 3 years you lose your license! It's a shock initially in the US but actually leads to a more relaxed kind of driving. US driving is more like going for a relaxed walk, in Europe it's more like running on a track.
- genter 2y ago
  OP is complaining about the person being passed. In other words, the jackass cruising in the passing lane.
  - masklinn 2y ago
    And this is very much also an issue in Europe. Though mostly cruising in the middle lane of a 3 lane while the right lane is open.
- garaetjjte 2y ago
  Europe is not a single country, the laws are very different between countries.
  - A_Duck 2y ago
    True but in the vast majority of European countries undertaking is not permitted There are exceptions on both sides. In New Jersey, undertaking is not allowed.
- daedalus_f 2y ago
  The UK has also now passed laws that criminalise hogging the middle or fast lanes on motorways (UK highways). Unfortunately it's not strongly enforced. It feels like a significant cause of congestion during peak hours.
  - gokhan 2y ago
    Yeah. The Highway Code Rule 264: Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. There are a lot of circumstances where this looks ridiculous though. Tons of cars driving on, say, M25 will cram into the leftmost lane while the other two will be empty. Then you'll deal with cars constantly joining from the left every couple miles. Then sometimes leftmost lane will leave left and the road continue as two lanes for some time. Then overtaking cars will fill the gap in front of you and you'll need to slow down to keep the following distance of two secs. As a foreigner living in the UK for the last 3 years, I generally like how the driving rules are laid out and how people drive. But this totally misses the point.
hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
I love that verbiage, because IMO it really gets to the crux of the issue: many drivers think that if they're going the speed limit, it's OK to park out in the left lane. The problem with that is nearly everywhere in the US the average rate of speed on highways is about 5 miles over the speed limit, so if you're doing the limit you are going to be one of the slower cars driving. It really is about cars passing you. If you're not passing you need to move over.
- parpfish 2y ago
  People think of (and are sometimes taught) that the left lane is “the fast lane”. If they are going a couple over the limit, they think they’ve earned the right to be there. Moreover, if they are prone to road rage, telling them to move over is seen as an insult/disrespect that they need to get out of the “big tough guy lane” and can really set them off.
- Marsymars 2y ago
  > The problem with that is nearly everywhere in the US the average rate of speed on highways is about 5 miles over the speed limit By "everywhere", if you measure by speed per mile of road, I bet you're right. By if you measure average speed by driver, I'd bet congestion dominates and average highway speeds are significantly below the speed limit.
  - chakalakasp 2y ago
    laughs in Nebraska
  - hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
    I hope it should be obvious that if congestion were an issue, there are essentially no passing lanes, so the whole discussion is moot.
beala 2y ago
I get that leaving the left lane clear for passing is the convention, but is it actually optimal? If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Where I live, there are signs saying "keep right except to pass" but they're neither obeyed nor enforced afaict. And it's never really bothered me tbh (I'm usually chilling in the right lane).
- karlgkk 2y ago
  > If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Sure, but consider this: if there are cars behind you in the right, then you should pull over.
- Marsymars 2y ago
  > I get that leaving the left lane clear for passing is the convention, but is it actually optimal? If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Right, it depends on traffic volume. There are situations where "keep right except to pass" obviously doesn't help - e.g. streets with regular left-hand turns and congested highways, most notably.
- zten 2y ago
  On the two lane sections of I-5, among other busy trucking routes, you can encounter miles long convoys of trucks in the right lane. If you religiously stick to staying to the right, you and a whole lot of other traffic will be weaving between the trucks and changing lanes every minute or so. So nobody who's going 10mph faster than the trucks does that. If you actually did that, you'll likely get boxed out trying to get back into the left lane as soon as you come up on another truck -- you'll have a brief period where you're going 75 in the right lane, then you have to slow down to 60 to deal with a truck, then you go back to overtaking at 75, then get back in the right lane... rinse and repeat. What happens instead is that the people enraged by this will use the gap on the right to go 100mph past everyone who just wants to cruise at a steady speed past all of the trucks.
  - 2y ago
james_david 2y ago
Most of the time, the US drivers passing on the right in my region are speeding and driving erratically. I agree that slow drivers in the fast lane are dangerous. Driving in the slow lane like it's the fast lane isn't the solution.
neither_color 2y ago
I understand the desire to make things more logical like the German driving system. I wish we had an autobahn and autobah rules and highly trained drivers too, but this law always struck me as half-baked and frustratingly ambiguous. Near where I live, we have multiple 3-digit interstates. That is, they are sections of interstate that defy the usual convention of odd-numbered north-south routes and east-west even-numbered routes. 3-digit interstate combine highways or circle around cities or take you to tunnels, etc. The result is lots of sections where traffic merges from the left, you have to exit from the left, or the interstate divides into two other interstates and the former left lane is now the right lane. In those very same sections, you have signs reminding you that the left lane is for passing, not cruising. The problem with this is that everyone takes the left lane as a license to go 80+ mph. What if I my left exit is coming up in a mile? Do I "go with the flow of traffic" and risk being the rare car that gets a speed infraction that day, do I wait until the the very last few yards to get in the left and take my exit, do I get on the left and go at a speed I'm more comfortable doing within a mile of my exit(speed limit + only 15). It's all nonsense and feels arbitrarily enforced based on the whims of the state troopers that week.
throw0101d 2y ago
> Unrelated rant: I once saw a US traffic sign online that said "If drivers are passing you on your right, you're doing it wrong". One observation from a cop: > “I stopped a guy one day for doing 100 [kph] [in the left lane] and there were cars passing on the right honking at him and giving him the finger,” Stratton said. “He said ‘I’m keeping people from speeding and doing your job for you.’ But he was keeping me from doing my job, which was to catch speeders and give them the ticket they deserve.” * https://archive.is/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/culture/article-i-keep-getting-passed-on-the-right-is-that-legal/ https://archive.is/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/cul... Ontario, Canada specifies to keep right: > 147 (1) Any vehicle travelling upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at that time and place shall, where practicable, be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic or as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. […] * https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK253 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK253 Quebec has similar stipulations.

Unrelated rant: I once saw a US traffic sign online that said "If drivers are passing you on your right, you're doing it wrong". I wish those signs were everywhere.

shreddit 2y ago

I thought you can pass drivers on each side in the us?

readthenotes1 2y ago
Just because you can does not mean you should. Typically the leftmost lane is meant to be the passing Lane. If you're in the left lane and getting passed on the right that means you should have moved to the right...
- mitthrowaway2 2y ago
  What if you're trying to find an opening to move right, but the safest available space to change lanes is behind the people passing you?
  - haswell 2y ago
    The correct thing to do is to turn on your turn signal and wait for a safe opportunity to move to the right. But in most circumstances, if you’re trying to find an opening to move right, that’s still an indication that you’ve been hanging out in the left lane for an inappropriate amount of time and/or misusing the lane.
- busyant 2y ago
  > If you're in the left lane and getting passed on the right that means you should have moved to the right... Not always. I'm often in the passing lane (passing a semi, for example) and someone else zooms up behind me and expects me to accelerate to their speed. They get annoyed that I'm not passing fast enough, so they either ride on my bumper or they fall back and scoot 2-lanes to the right and then speed up to pass everyone (the semi and me). To be clear: after I pass the semi (or whatever) in the center lane, I will move to the right, but I'm not going to speed up to the point where I consider it dangerous just to please the speed demon behind me.
  - zamadatix 2y ago
    Or the worst of highway inventions: "exit left in 1 mile". There's almost an entirely separate ruleset for urban highways vs rural highways. Rural highways it's dead simple... stay right except while actively passing. Only 2 lanes to be in and not really many corner cases. Urban highways still have the same general "stay to the right" but suddenly there are a lot of exceptions "except when passing, except when exiting left or taking the left fork soon, except when trying to get to a spot where you can even start to pass the block of semis in the right 2/3 lanes, except when you are trying to get out of the lane that force-exits in 1 mile". Inevitably someone will be going fast enough to be mad you spent 5 seconds in a lane that wasn't the rightmost open one but, unlike rural highways, it doesn't always mean you were actually in the wrong lane.
bri3d 2y ago
In the US traffic laws are state-by-state. In most states, unlike most European countries, "undertaking" _is_ legal, but, additionally most states still have a "slower traffic must keep right" rule. That's what the sign the parent post is referring to is trying to point out - if someone is passing you in the "slower" lane, you are not in the correct one.

A_Duck 2y ago

This is the law in Europe, passing on the inside is called 'undertaking' — in the UK if you get caught undertaking 4x in 3 years you lose your license! It's a shock initially in the US but actually leads to a more relaxed kind of driving. US driving is more like going for a relaxed walk, in Europe it's more like running on a track.

genter 2y ago
OP is complaining about the person being passed. In other words, the jackass cruising in the passing lane.
- masklinn 2y ago
  And this is very much also an issue in Europe. Though mostly cruising in the middle lane of a 3 lane while the right lane is open.
garaetjjte 2y ago
Europe is not a single country, the laws are very different between countries.
- A_Duck 2y ago
  True but in the vast majority of European countries undertaking is not permitted There are exceptions on both sides. In New Jersey, undertaking is not allowed.
daedalus_f 2y ago
The UK has also now passed laws that criminalise hogging the middle or fast lanes on motorways (UK highways). Unfortunately it's not strongly enforced. It feels like a significant cause of congestion during peak hours.
- gokhan 2y ago
  Yeah. The Highway Code Rule 264: Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. There are a lot of circumstances where this looks ridiculous though. Tons of cars driving on, say, M25 will cram into the leftmost lane while the other two will be empty. Then you'll deal with cars constantly joining from the left every couple miles. Then sometimes leftmost lane will leave left and the road continue as two lanes for some time. Then overtaking cars will fill the gap in front of you and you'll need to slow down to keep the following distance of two secs. As a foreigner living in the UK for the last 3 years, I generally like how the driving rules are laid out and how people drive. But this totally misses the point.

hn_throwaway_99 2y ago

I love that verbiage, because IMO it really gets to the crux of the issue: many drivers think that if they're going the speed limit, it's OK to park out in the left lane. The problem with that is nearly everywhere in the US the average rate of speed on highways is about 5 miles over the speed limit, so if you're doing the limit you are going to be one of the slower cars driving. It really is about cars passing you. If you're not passing you need to move over.

parpfish 2y ago
People think of (and are sometimes taught) that the left lane is “the fast lane”. If they are going a couple over the limit, they think they’ve earned the right to be there. Moreover, if they are prone to road rage, telling them to move over is seen as an insult/disrespect that they need to get out of the “big tough guy lane” and can really set them off.
Marsymars 2y ago
> The problem with that is nearly everywhere in the US the average rate of speed on highways is about 5 miles over the speed limit By "everywhere", if you measure by speed per mile of road, I bet you're right. By if you measure average speed by driver, I'd bet congestion dominates and average highway speeds are significantly below the speed limit.
- chakalakasp 2y ago
  laughs in Nebraska
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
  I hope it should be obvious that if congestion were an issue, there are essentially no passing lanes, so the whole discussion is moot.

beala 2y ago

I get that leaving the left lane clear for passing is the convention, but is it actually optimal? If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Where I live, there are signs saying "keep right except to pass" but they're neither obeyed nor enforced afaict. And it's never really bothered me tbh (I'm usually chilling in the right lane).

karlgkk 2y ago
> If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Sure, but consider this: if there are cars behind you in the right, then you should pull over.
Marsymars 2y ago
> I get that leaving the left lane clear for passing is the convention, but is it actually optimal? If everyone stuck to this, then the left lane would be rarely used and we'd be underutilizing the available space, right? Right, it depends on traffic volume. There are situations where "keep right except to pass" obviously doesn't help - e.g. streets with regular left-hand turns and congested highways, most notably.
zten 2y ago
On the two lane sections of I-5, among other busy trucking routes, you can encounter miles long convoys of trucks in the right lane. If you religiously stick to staying to the right, you and a whole lot of other traffic will be weaving between the trucks and changing lanes every minute or so. So nobody who's going 10mph faster than the trucks does that. If you actually did that, you'll likely get boxed out trying to get back into the left lane as soon as you come up on another truck -- you'll have a brief period where you're going 75 in the right lane, then you have to slow down to 60 to deal with a truck, then you go back to overtaking at 75, then get back in the right lane... rinse and repeat. What happens instead is that the people enraged by this will use the gap on the right to go 100mph past everyone who just wants to cruise at a steady speed past all of the trucks.
- 2y ago

james_david 2y ago

Most of the time, the US drivers passing on the right in my region are speeding and driving erratically. I agree that slow drivers in the fast lane are dangerous. Driving in the slow lane like it's the fast lane isn't the solution.

neither_color 2y ago

I understand the desire to make things more logical like the German driving system. I wish we had an autobahn and autobah rules and highly trained drivers too, but this law always struck me as half-baked and frustratingly ambiguous. Near where I live, we have multiple 3-digit interstates. That is, they are sections of interstate that defy the usual convention of odd-numbered north-south routes and east-west even-numbered routes. 3-digit interstate combine highways or circle around cities or take you to tunnels, etc. The result is lots of sections where traffic merges from the left, you have to exit from the left, or the interstate divides into two other interstates and the former left lane is now the right lane. In those very same sections, you have signs reminding you that the left lane is for passing, not cruising. The problem with this is that everyone takes the left lane as a license to go 80+ mph. What if I my left exit is coming up in a mile? Do I "go with the flow of traffic" and risk being the rare car that gets a speed infraction that day, do I wait until the the very last few yards to get in the left and take my exit, do I get on the left and go at a speed I'm more comfortable doing within a mile of my exit(speed limit + only 15). It's all nonsense and feels arbitrarily enforced based on the whims of the state troopers that week.

throw0101d 2y ago

> Unrelated rant: I once saw a US traffic sign online that said "If drivers are passing you on your right, you're doing it wrong". One observation from a cop: > “I stopped a guy one day for doing 100 [kph] [in the left lane] and there were cars passing on the right honking at him and giving him the finger,” Stratton said. “He said ‘I’m keeping people from speeding and doing your job for you.’ But he was keeping me from doing my job, which was to catch speeders and give them the ticket they deserve.” * https://archive.is/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/culture/article-i-keep-getting-passed-on-the-right-is-that-legal/ https://archive.is/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/cul... Ontario, Canada specifies to keep right: > 147 (1) Any vehicle travelling upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at that time and place shall, where practicable, be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic or as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. […] * https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK253 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK253 Quebec has similar stipulations.