The law basically makes it your responsibility to get out of the left lane if traffic comes up behind you, regardless of the speed you're traveling. Excluding of course heavy traffic situations like traffic jams. If you're traveling at or above the speed limit, and can't get over, then you're expected to merge responsibly even if that means slowing down somewhat to get into the next lane over.
trucke wrote: Apparently we have that law in North Carolina too! Several locals have told me their driver ed teachers told them to immediately move to the left lane so others can merge onto the highway.
No one in North Carolina is ever not in the far left lane, at least not judging by how they drive when they're out of state.
In Maryland, you are legally required to yield and move over if you are holding up 5 or more vehicles behind you, even on 2-lane roads.
I'm not sure about other places but I know in California there is a law impeding traffic. No matter how fast you are driving, if you are the slowest one then you are the hazard and can be ticketed as such.
I believe the law it partially designed to cut down on road rage incidents. A driver impeding traffic in the #1 lane can really create a lot of chaos around them. That said, I'd believe that one would really have to earn it to get pulled over, maybe stacking cars behind them or pacing the car next to them to block traffic.
ultraclyde wrote:sesto elemento wrote: The intent of that law as I'm familiar with it is that it should not be used as a travel lane. If you're not passing and you're over there, you're in violation.wow. That's got to be the most out-of-touch law I've run into in a long time. Does anyone really believe that people drive that way?
Believing that people drive that way and having a legal requirement that they do so are two completely different things. Legally, the leftmost lane on highways with multiple lanes per direction is the "passing" lane, not the "let me drive in this lane forever" lane. Technically, if you are the only car in sight and you are camped out in the left lane you are in violation because you are not actively passing anybody.
Edit: Not PoPo, just my interpretation of the rules of the road...
Klayfish wrote:1kris06 wrote:So if the speed limit is 70, I'm going 90 and cars behind me want to go 110, I'm in the wrong? Uh, no. Sorry. Well, I am in the wrong for speeding, as are the dopes behind me. But not for "holding up traffic".ultraclyde wrote: But my question is - if the speed limit is 70, how is it legally possible to ticket someone for driving in the left lane at 70mph and holding up traffic?Speed is irrelevant. If you're holding up traffic in the left lane, you're in the wrong.
The goal every time you drive should be to affect other cars on the road the absolute minimum possible. This thought process is a violation of that. The scale is completely irrelevant.
I've spent a fair amount of time in Poland and Germany for work. The laws there (as I understand it) are such that it is actually against the law to pass on the right. Nobody ever cruises in the left lane. People stay as far right as possible, and only move left to pass - then immediately move back over.
When I went to the Nurburgring, the guy at the car rental place was giving myself and a few other patrons the rules. The 'ring functions as a one way toll road during the tourist days. Though there isn't a line painted, it is a two lane road. The guy got a kick out of telling everyone there "you can't pass on the right, only on the left. Don't stay on the left side, because someone faster than you will get mad. Just like on the highway... except over in America, where nobody drives properly."
By me there are no laws about which lane you should drive in on a multilane highway. Such a thing seemed like a madman's fever dream the last time our road laws got a major overhaul in the late '60s, back when half of the road traffic was donkey-powered, and the only changes since have been to make driving without a seatbelt illegal (in the late '90s) and to make driving while talking on a cell phone specifically illegal (just in the last 5 years). To pass the driving test here, you're still required to use hand signals at all times. The law still considers indicator lights to be optional high-tech gadgets.
The nasty habit around here is "buddying up." When traffic is light, any two drivers will often decide to cruise next to each other and block the passage of all traffic, usually below the already low speed limit, and since there is just one stretch of multilane highway, this means they've made themselves pace cars for the entire country.
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