I'm curious. Have they abandoned this concept entirely now and noone told me? Slow traffic keep right. Keep right except to pass. I remember seeing this signs posted when I was younger. I don't see them anymore, and apparently now it's a good thing for slow cars to move left. If the rule or suggestion has been abandoned I need to know so I can adjust my driving habits accordingly.
It is easier to drive in the left lane while talking on your cell phone because you do not have to worry about anyone merging into your lane from an on ramp.
Around here they must teach that at driver's ed class or in the DMV handbook or something. Sometimes I actually count the number of cars I pass on my commute on the right and on the left (I drive about 25 miles on the interstate each way). When I do this is, it usually ends up that I pass more people on the right.
The right lane is the new fast lane, especially if there are 3 or more lanes.
Around there the concept wouldn't hardly work anymore simply because there is too much traffic. We need both lanes just to hold all the cars. Thank you, zoning officials, for allowing rampant growth in a place where there is no more room for additional roads.
I can't wait to move from this place. C'mon, wife's parents, relocate to Arizona or someplace (the only thing keeping me here).
They ALL drive in the left lane in Florida. I still pass on the left, though.
I commute between Massachusetts and Connecticut almost daily and the left lane is the new right lane up here, too.
In Connecticut, the other driver's will (usually) let you pass on the right. In Mass, they will deliberately speed up just so you can't get by, then slow back down. I got so irritated once that I picked up a new copy of the Massachusetts Driver's Handbook (the one you have to learn to get your license) and there was NO MENTION of keep right except to pass. At all.
Another annoying new trend - when someone wants to pass you in the left lane, they now try to tell you this by turning on their right blinker. As long as I've been alive, it's always been the LEFT blinker one would use to signal the inconsiderate boob hogging the left lane to kindly move over.
TJ wrote: . The right lane is the new fast lane, especially if there are 3 or more lanes.
Quoted for truth.
I remember when you could just flash your lights and they would wake up and move to the left. Now when you do that you get the finger and they slow down, if they even know they have a rearview mirror and look at it every half hour.
This would be the only time in life when having a push-bumper equipped Crown Vic is useful...
95% of them tend to move over, quickly.
The only problem is you get feeder fish hanging in your blind spots. I thought the load chrome exhaust and stickers would have stopped that problem, but apparently it's normal for real cops to have "Eat, Sleep, Race" on their car with Flowmasters...
I grew up in SW PA and started driving in 1959. "Keep Right" was the law, there were signs and it was enforced.
Shortly after I moved to MD in 1966, I was out riding with a State Trooper neighbor in his cruiser one evening. We came up on a group of "Left Laners" on I-70. He just went past on the right. I said something about it and was informed that MD had no such law and passing on the right was legal.
So now I take whatever hole in traffic I can find!!
I used to have a grey 85 Impala that was an ex fleet car. No push bars but two antenas from it previous life and being grey I rarely had to even flash the lights. Like the parting of the red sea 
Might depend a bit on where you live and the circumstances.
In GA, there is a "move over" law which requires you to move out of the right lane if there is a vehicle on the shoulder with flashing lights. This would include police, fire, or ambulance, but also include a tow truck or construction vehicle.
Failure to do so can cost you a $500 fine.
In california you just pass when/where/how you can, legally or illegally doesn't come into consideration. Actually a speeding mercedes gets people to move out of the way pretty good. Tried that with my dad's focus and you don't get any respect.
Keep right would only work if they enforced the failure to yield which will happen as soon as they enforce the cell phon ban, never!
I live in california, and IMO, in the real world, its safer to pass on the right (or let other people do so) in most situations. Paying attention and moving right when appropriate is also a good idea though. Driving under 70 or so in the right lane is not very safe. Some places you have to avoid the right lane completly unless you want to be bouncing off the bump stops every 2 seconds.
I followed a guy on to the Atlantic City Expressway yesterday. He went annoyingly slow on the onramp and as we got onto the road, I hit my left signal and opened up the throttle on the saab to get around him.. and instead had to go evasive as instead of staying right, he moved direcetly into the middle lane as I glanced over my shoulder for traffic... wound up passing him on the right at full boost
This is an everyday occurrence when driving in Portland, especially behind a Prius. The Volvo does a pretty good job of clearing a path but the Miata does nothing.
Hal wrote: I grew up in SW PA and started driving in 1959. "Keep Right" was the law, there were signs and it was enforced. Shortly after I moved to MD in 1966, I was out riding with a State Trooper neighbor in his cruiser one evening. We came up on a group of "Left Laners" on I-70. He just went past on the right. I said something about it and was informed that MD had no such law and passing on the right was legal. So now I take whatever hole in traffic I can find!!
PA must be a leader in this area. I remember in the early '90s they actually passed a law to enforce keeping right except to pass - I even saw it enforced once! 
It's still tough for me to bring myself to pass on the right. But as mentioned above, in CT you've got to pass anywhere you've got opportunity.
it was the early 2000's.. they made a law saying it was illegal to travel more than 2 miles in the left lane without overtaking another car
Travis_K wrote: I live in california, and IMO, in the real world, its safer to pass on the right (or let other people do so) in most situations. Paying attention and moving right when appropriate is also a good idea though. Driving under 70 or so in the right lane is not very safe. Some places you have to avoid the right lane completly unless you want to be bouncing off the bump stops every 2 seconds.
You offered no reason why you would say this, but I REALLY disagree.
The blind spot is 3-4 times as large on the right than on the left.
Assuming the mirrors are adjusted properly, most vehicles have nearly zero blind spot on the left, but can loose a full sized vehicle on the right.
The blind spots are significantly bigger on bigger vehicles.
Anyone that thinks passing on the right is safer, has never driven a large truck, and generally has no respect for them, and no understanding how difficult it is to deal with blind spots.
Passing the right of a truck is SERIOUSLY dangerous.
It good to develop the habit of passing ALL vehicles on the left, whenever possible.
I used to drive a truck for a living. I demolished the front of a caddy who could not wait for the three blinks of my turnsignal before deciding to try and pass me on the right.
Cop all but handed him his ass in tickets.
they still have the signs in texas, but its not really enforced, except maybe if they're running drug interdiction.
i dated a girl for a short time that refused to drive anywhere but in the left lane, because "it was annoying to have to change lanes all the time to pass people" this became even more annoying after she got a speeding ticket and wouldn't go over 70, but still wouldn't get out of the left lane. then, if someone tried to pass her on the right, she would speed up to cut them off, because she "didn't want to let anyone beat her"
like i said, that relationship didn't last long
At least you guys have some sort of order forming up there, even if it's the wrong one.
Down here, the shiny happy person slowpokes "buddy up for safety" and form rolling roadblocks. Happens every time.
There are three ways to break them up:
Tailgate the leading roadblocker. The trailing roadblocker will think he's in a competition and move ahead.
Use lots of engine braking to fall into a tailgate position behind the trailing roadblocker. Lots of successive rev-matched downshifts are best. The key is to frighten them with sound.
If you have exposed steel bars on the front of your vehicle, tailgate either roadblocker.
I know in street racing down here, they use a "traffic scissors" move where two slowpokes are about to align into a rolling roadblock and the leading racer cuts between them just before they close the gap, blocking any trailing racers until the roadblock can be broken up, effectively cutting them out of the race. Apparently that counts as a victory 
not to sound sexist, but I notice it's 99% women who drive in the left lane. I rarely pass men on the right.
I moved to SoCal about 9 years ago and really started to notice this trend. I've since moved to Florida and I think it is happening everywhere now (althought I still think it was worse in Cali). Especially in times of higher traffic the left lane has twice as much traffic as any other and nobody wants to get over or they will be hung out to dry as the left lane bunches up and won't let you back in. My commute has started to feel like a stinkin Nascar race and I'm trying to stay in the draft! When I first moved to San Diego I went on a trip to Six Flags (north of LA) with some friends and youth group kids. My buddy's wife drove a 15 passenger van in the left lane for 100 miles. We were in the next lane over in her husband's Grand Prix staying dead even with her... for a 100 miles. Yeah, rolling roadblock. I asked him about it and he had no idea there was anything wrong with this!
Grtechguy wrote: not to sound sexist, but I notice it's 99% women who drive in the left lane. I rarely pass men on the right.
I wouldn't even begin to say that. If you think women can't drive, look for any man over 50 in a large American sedan. It's like they are the only person on the road.
I live in the Midatlantic region, and I've never seen a car from North Carolina that wasn't in the left lane, and usually holding up traffic for half a mile behind it. By the time I make my way to pass him on the right, I can almost guarantee I'll see those Kittyhawk plates.
I can't stand the ignorance that is folks driving in the left lane, oblivious. As I explain to my kids (so they will not contribute to the proliferation of such a problem), "The left lane is not a place to drive comfortably. If you're in the left lane, you need to be aware of what's going on behind you, constantly. If someone is coming on faster, they have the right of way." I make it a point to NOT make someone in the left lane have to slow down. Out of courtesy. If I need to merge left, but see someone coming on strong in the left lane, I'll slow down and wait to make my pass until I can do it without disrupting the flow of left-lane traffic.
I'm sure I'm not alone on this.
I know it's not right, but if someone is driving in the left lane with no reason not to move over...First I ride their bumper. If that doesn't work, I overtake them on their right side, though typically not completely in the right lane, if you know what I mean.
I've noticed that the general public has a very large "Comfort Zone" surrounding their car. My comfort zone is measured in inches...I'd say most folks measure theirs in feet.
Clem
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