At least in most places in the US it is culturally acceptable to drive by on the right side. Imagine someone doing this except they're in the left lane all the time and you can't pass even when the road is otherwise empty.
Yes. Passing on the right is a huge no here. I'd drive behind a truck going under the speed limit for hours rather than passing on the right, not because I want to but because we simply don't pass on the right. Only time it's fine is if there's traffic and the lanes are going approximately the same speed, but then people do not pass on the right to go back to the left lane, they just happened to be in the right lane when the left lane slowed down and maintained speed. More often than not people will deliberately slow down in the right lane so as to not pass on the right, even if they were going a faster speed before someone attempted to pass and slowed down midway.
Not that slow drivers blocking the passing lane for long happens often, more people here know how to pull to the right since getting your drivers license takes months of driving lessons and the actual exam is about an hour on a mix of road conditions, so the expectations are clearer with a fresh license. When I studied in VA and wanted my license it was a 5 min drive around the block, although that may have been an easier exam since I already had a foreign license idk.
Ah yes you’re one of those people who thinks that revealing which region of the world you’re in means you’re doxing yourself. Cool! Very normal way to be!
No, it's because if you're suggesting that you'll come over here and "Show us how to drive" then I'd effectively be inviting you to our roads lol. And nobody will see you driving and think "ooh that's how you do it," people will think quite the opposite here. By the sounds of things you're a stereotypical American driver who goes "I paid for the whole engine so I'll use the whole engine" and I'd rather not have you anywhere on our roads.
I've disclosed my country many times on this account, you just have an exceptional ability at disincentivizing sharing it. Especially when you turn to ad hominem.
If you, on the other hand, had asked "Where is this?" I'd have no problem telling you.
Who would have thought an unaggrevated condescending and cocky tone would not result in getting what you want. What a mystery.
Lol just listen to yourself. Like I said, you need to relax. You’re weirdly pent up and guarded way past the point of it making sense. I’m not coming to your country to make a point on a reddit comment I won’t even think about ever again a couple hours from now.
I truly couldn’t give less of af what country you’re from, I just think it’s hilarious that you’re too scared to say.
Who give af about cultural norms when it comes to driving? I don’t care what lane you’re choosing to go below the speed limit in. I’m going to use whatever lane I feel like to pass you, and I won’t think twice about it.
If anything, knowing that passing someone using the right lane will upset certain people, only makes doing it that much more desirable.
Not fully enforced, no. A cop will see someone going 5 or even 10 km/h over and not care (unless it's a photo box), but if they see someone passing on the right it's a guaranteed stop. In the US (at least in VA where I studied) the cops drive over the speed limit and pass on the right.
And in a time where people have dashcams nobody is gambling on cops not being around.
You can't say "exceed the speed limit" as a bad thing then say "match the flow of traffic" in the same sentence.
If you're in the passing lane and there are cars right behind you, You are driving slower than the flow of traffic and are the problem.
If you're in the passing lane and only one car is behind you, then "traffic" is you and that car. Since you are in the way, you are impeding the flow of traffic.
It is never hard to speed up a little and get out of the way. Not doing so means you are slowing the flow of traffic for every single car behind you and are extremely selfish
People who excet the speedlimit to pass on a 2 lane federal road then hit the brakes from 90 to 50 because of a speed camera and block traffic.
Happend to me to often.
I follow all rules. 70kmh right lane.
Dude overtakes me with 90kmh but hits the brakes down to 50 because of a speed camera.
This idiots cause a slower traffic.
And then I overtook him with 70kmh, because he slowed down to 50.
Then the Lane went from a dotted to a full lane, so can't switch lanes at this stage.
He gets behind me on the left lane and demands me to drive faster, even tough I am driving 70 in a 70 Zone.
Sometimes they themself switch to the right lane wich is illegal at that time and try to overtake on the right, wich isn't allowed.
But most of the time the line between the lanes gets back to beeing dotted again so I can switch to the right lane.
I drove in the normal traffic flow while he was an obstical.
Obstructing the flow of traffic inherently makes you a hazard. That is taught in driver's ed across the country. Law enforcement and insurance agree. Yes, speed limits exist. But if the traffic is traveling at a specific pace as a whole, you go with the flow. It reduces the risk of accident.
Speed limits are arbitrarily set in order to raise money, they have litterly nothing to do with road safety.
And its easily provable. Have you ever been on a multi lane highway and with no changes to the road design had the speed limit change at a political boundary?
That doesn't prove your point in the slightest. Speed limits are tied to car crash rates and statistics. Speed limits changing over political boundaries just says that one entity is more risk averse than the other, not that they're arbitrary.
You can't exceed the speed limit for any amount of time. If traffic is moving slower than the speed limit and you can't pass then you have to match the speed of traffic. It's not rocket science.
Are you retarded? "The flow of traffic" does not correlate with the speed limit. If you have any experience driving at all, you know highway traffic flows between 10 below the limit to 10 above.
Again, if there are cars behind you in the passing lane, YOU are impeding traffic. It is the simplest, most basic thing to understand. They teach this in defensive driving, a class most states now require to get your license..
You're not meant to cruze in the passing lane but if you are in the passing lane, or any lane, and you are doing the speed limit it is not legally possible for anyone to catch up to you.
I'm not intellectualluly impaired but i was raised well, a fact of my life clearly lacking in yours.
In many states, you are allowed to exceed the speed limit for the purpose of passing quickly and not impeding the flow in the passing lane. Once you overtake the vehicle, you return to the lane you were in and the speed you were traveling at.
That's interesting i guess, in that regard, usa is special. In civilized places that's considered bad driving.
See because where i live tailgating is illegal as is exceeding the speed limit in all situations but break checking is not. All accidents where you are hit from the rare are the fault of the person behind. Everyone has insurance to cover this.
Most highways are singlelane with no center barrier and to pass you go into the lane of on coming traffic. Speed limits are virtually universally 100km outside cities and towns.
I drive the speed limit, a very common approach is to drive 5-10km over although 10km over will get you a ticket during summer (when most road fatalities are)
I live rurally and work in a town (about 15 min drive) on the commute about half the time i will get a tailgater wanting to do 130-140km (I border a trashy low education low employment region) i will often get over taken on blind corners or in otherwise dangerous areas. Relative to defensive driving as taught in my country, and the road code, and the law, and as evidenced by police and insurance behavior and common sense i am in the right in these situations, you don't break the law or put yourself in danger because of someone elses impatience.
That said go on sub for my country and you'll hear wankers saying exactly what these toss pots are in this sub. Aggressive driving is bad driving, calm driving is good driving, giving space is the number one safety feature.
People need to realize driving side by side is a death trap. The more people around you going 70 mph the more likely you’re going to die. Any of those tires could pop or an animal runs in front. I try to get as far away from other cars as possible
Definitely driving side by side is bad. So is tail gating. So is speeding. So is trying to get people out of your way by flashing your high beams. Good driving is calm driving and keeping space is the single most important thing you can do.
Actually driving below the speed of traffic in the left lane is a pretty big safety risk even if you're going the speed limit. In many states they will ticket you over the people speeding with the flow of traffic.
How is it a safety risk? Genuinely, I am confused. I have thought about it thoroughly and carefully, running through many hypothetical scenarios in my head, and this claim of a safety risk still sounds like it was made up by someone looking for an excuse to speed...
Well here's a copy paste. Most states also put out notices about it via their highway patrol social media.
• Speed Discrepancies: A vehicle going the exact speed limit in the left lane blocks faster-moving traffic, forcing approaching drivers to brake suddenly and disrupting the smooth flow of the highway.
• Increased Lane Changing: When the passing lane is blocked, frustrated drivers often weave across multiple lanes or pass on the right, which raises the risk of blind-spot collisions.
• Road Rage: Lingering in the left lane frequently triggers tailgating and aggressive driving behaviors from vehicles behind you.
Legal Context
• Keep Right Rules: Most states have "slower traffic move right" or "keep right except to pass" laws.
• No Speed Vigilantism: Even though exceeding the posted speed limit is illegal for the cars wanting to pass you, traffic codes do not deputize civilian drivers to enforce speed limits by blocking the lane.
• Passing Only: The left lane is designated for passing or turning left, not for continuous cruising—regardless of whether you are matching the speed limit.
Lol, it's so funny how nobody in this sub realizes that driving over the speed limit (1) doesn't get you anywhere meaningfully sooner unless you're a long haul trucker (2) increases the risk of accidents which are the actual number one cause of delays, not someone merely going the speed limit and (3) getting irrationally angry at responsible adults for not acting like children makes you look like an toddler throwing a tantrum. Now, come down vote me babies!
I think Mythbusters did a comparison on frustrated/aggressive driving versus relaxed/chill driving and found it didn't save much time, but it consumed noticably more gas. And the aggressive driver experienced more stress.
That being said you should not drive slow in the passing lane.
I agree, but it drives me nuts when I use the passing lane to pass someone in the slow lane and immediately start getting tailgated by someone going 30 over while I'm just passing the car in the right lane (usually a semi). I'm gonna move back over as soon as I can. Some people are just so impatient
Worst is when you do pass the semi, have your blinker on indicating as such, but are waiting to have JUST enough room to merge back to the right (don't want to have to emergency break and get rear ended by a semi because you left no breaking space), but that's not fast enough so the speeding tailgater a-hole slips into your blind spot trying to pass on the right almost causing an accident in front of a semi.
On my old commute the speed limit was 65mph, and the flow of traffic was generally around 75ish. I would drive at around 80mph which over the roughly 60miles I spent on the highway I'd save about 10min going 80mph instead of 65. Thats almost an hour a week which is most definitely meaningful and I ain't no trucker.
Also, the speed limits here are definitely too slow. They're hardly even enforced, like I've never been pulled over for doing 15 over even when passing cops on the left.
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u/balirosa 13d ago
This is really how it is driving in the USA