Sorry. I don't agree with you. There are plenty of reasons to be in the left lane driving the speed limit. The left lane isn't just for aggressive drivers. People who lay on their horns and flash their lights are generally glassbowls.

JMO

there is always someone in that lane going exactly or less than the speed limit
I've often wondered if it was then to be kept open for those who wanted to exceed the speed limit.

I would agree that you shouldn't sit in the left lane going slower than the speed of traffic if there is an opportunity to move to the right - regardless of whether you're driving the speed limit or not. If faster traffic wants to pass slower traffic should move right. I used to speed more than I do now so was more aggravated by slow drivers sitting in the left lane. I've slowed down in recent years though and now I just get over to the right and enjoy the drive.

"there is always someone in that lane going exactly or less than the speed limit "

So, according to you, anyone going the speed limit is NOT allowed in the left lane to pass slower traffic.
Ridiculous.

The left lane is not reserved for speeders like you....

In Pennsylvania, as well as in most states the left lane on the interstate is technically defined as a passing lane, and any vehicle in that lane is required to be moving at a speed so as to overcome and pass the traffic in the right lane. Believe me,,I was cited for "obstructing traffic" and paid a $200 fine to learn that lesson....

One of my pet peeves is those that stay in the left lane. A friend of mine always did that on her way to work. We traveled on the same road for 5 miles, and I'd see her putting along in the left lane. So one day I mentioned something about that to her, and she said she stayed in the left because she had to turn left onto "Oak Street". Well, that's 5 miles down the road...merge over just before Oak Street, then!

I'm another one who, respectfully disagrees with you. At my age I do very little highway driving and never on an interstate. But when I have to go the nearest big town/city, when I get into the town, on a two lane going in the same direction,( 4 lane total) Because I've experienced, several times, people would not let me into the left lane to get to the L-turn lane. So as soon as I can. I get into the left lane and stay there, going the speed limit, until I turn. I get so ticked at people who think just because they have a lead foot everyone should. When we took a 55 alive class, I told about a two lane highway(1 ea way) I had to take occasionally and even though i was going the 55 speed limit there was always someone riding my bumper. The instructor said I should have sped up. BS! I have never had a ticket, always go the speed limit because I figured the laws were made for everyone including me. I wrote to triple A and said I was disappointed that at the 55 alive class, we were encouraged to speed.

I try not to drive below the speed limit in the left lane, but that sometimes is unavoidable due to congested traffic. I tend to stay to the right (or middle if 3 or more lanes). I don't think you can expect that people will, or should, stay to the right if the traffic is quite congested. The left lanes just fill up.

Sorry you had a long night @ work & a bad drive home. Try not to let other drivers get to you. Really... you have no control over them ... really. And, to get all upset over something like that is expending energy unnecessarily & bad for your physical & emotional well being. Hope you get a good days rest.

For me, it's not even a matter of how fast you are going in the left lane. There is always someone going faster. The speed limit could be 70. You pull into the left lane doing 75 to get around the person in front of you and someone flies up to ride your bumper doing 85. The person doing 85 acts like you are the one holding up traffic. The speed of the rest of the traffic isn't 85.

Say there are two cars in the right hand lane with a gap between them where you could get in the gap to let the 85 mph car go by. But you would have to decrease your speed in the mean time. It is not your job to get over to let faster guy get by. You wait until you pass the second car and then pull over.

Those signs along limited access highways are not there just for your entertainment. "Keep Right Except to Pass" or "Left Lane for Passing Only" are laws. Failure on your part to yield the #1 lane to traffic moving faster behind you or flashing his lights can get you in severe legal trouble. You have no idea WHY the driver behind you is in such a hurry, he could have a lead foot or have a very real emergency i.e. heart attack victim, severe bleeding, poisoned child etc. If it can be proved that your delaying the vehicle caused the death or caused injuries to be more severe --guess where you are going! Don't ask me or anyone here, ask a patrol person about all the ramifications that can be involved in your insistence on hogging the #1 lane.

If the guy behind me is transporting a victim to a hospital, then it's on HIS head if the person dies. That's what EMTs, paramedics and ambulances are for. And he has NO RIGHT to be speeding any more than anyone else, unless he has flashing emergency lights and a siren. He isn't a trained professional and he is risking everyone else on the road.

When I drive, I try to leave a reasonable and safe space between me and the car in front of me. People insist on using that space as their way to weave thru traffic and I feel like I'm taking 2 steps back by trying to have a safety zone. Sometimes the left lane is the safer place to be, especially if you are going faster than the right lane.

I cringe every time some moron zooms in and out of traffic like he's the most important, busiest person in the world and then I laugh when I find myself right behind him at the light at the bottom of the ramp. Gosh, he beat me there by a whole 10 seconds! Impressive.

Anybody that travels the interstates on a regular basis will tell you more accidents occur because of people driving the speed limit instead of keeping up with the flow of traffic.

In Minnesota fortunately there aren't the "passing lanes" on many roads, although there are a few I can think of mostly in special areas where they're a benefit. How silly to have a lane and not use it! I think they're a waste on the highways. It's about the same as having furniture plugging up your house that you can't sit on or towels in the kitchen or bathroom you can't use! As a friend would say, "That's CRAAAAZY!!!" You could increase the capacity and traffic flow nearly by double to use it as an additional lane as it should be used and look at how that would smooth out the traffic flow. And considering people pulling around the slower drivers and moving in, it compounds the shortage so it's probably more than doubling capacity! Then of course there's the additional risk of accident changing lanes when the "Gumps" who just look in their mirror and move over - won't look over their shoulder... (And yes, occasionally someone can't turn their head but that's their problem. In that case, they need handicapped mirrors so they can *see*!) But that's a local decision. I'm just glad there's very little of it here. I can just imagine the problems in the metro areas if you try to say "left lane is passing only!!!!" on the freeways! LOL

To me it's a simple courtesy. If I'm going the limit, or below, or for that matter if I'm over the limit (which these days isn't often, but...) I always move over if someone comes up behind me, let them go by. I can always pull back if I need to. Lowers the stress for everyone. Traffic has to be terrible for me to not be able to change lanes when I properly merge and use signals.

Although I'm told by many Canadians it's not like that anymore, I was impressed when I was last in Canada. Get on the highways, major ones had fully paved shoulders and wide enough to be a lane. You pull up behind someone going slower, they'd pull onto the shoulder, you'd go by and not have to pass by going into the opposing traffic lane. Very slick and very courteous.

My peeves of late are the number of people with burned out lights. Headlights, brake lights, tail lights, one guy was driving with no taillights at all. I thought at first he didn't have his lights on, and it was dark, though a few minutes of dusk left. I was behind him and flashed my high beams at him to remind him to turn them on. He looked at me like I was nuts when I went past him but then I saw he had his headlights on, but no tail lighs. I was trying to get him to pay attention and I'd open a window and tell him but he turned off. Oh well, hopefully a hotdog cop finds him soon. Since I started driving I frequently check that my lights are working. But I guess it's the "me, me, me" attitude once again. Not going to be bothered to look at the reflection to see if your lights are working. I wish they'd ramp up enforcement on it. Then they wouldn't have needed the silliness of making seatbelts a primary offense to pull someone over when they're trolling for DWIs, they could use the light and have a legitimate concern and something that's a little more provable on probable cause.

Another peeve is people who don't know how or probably more likely, won't merge. It's not difficult. You get to the speed of the traffic, put on your signal and merge. And no, your signal doesn't entitle you to pick a spot you want. And you don't have to sit and wait until all the cars magically disappear to pull out into the merging lane and merge with traffic when you're waiting at a light, either.

Last rant is the ones who try to gain a couple car lengths then cut in in front of you at the last second. Or try to. Doesn't always work.

When I'm on a 2 lane highway and someone pulls up behind me, assuming it's not a no-passing zone, I usually pull over to the right side of the lane so they can easily see around me, then they can pass and move on. Just a courtesy and saves stress for all. I don't try to block their view. I know how it is when I come up behind someone and want to get by them and they sit there cuddling the divider line so it's hard to see around them. I often will also wave them around when I see it's clear for them to pass. and if there's cars, I'll sometimes slow down a bit as they're passing, flash lights when it's clear to merge back in, especially if they have a trailer or are a semi truck/trailer.

So often I hear people say something like "I'm going the limit..." but when's the last time anyone here has checked their speedometer for accuracy? I check mine regularly and it's very simple to do it while you're traveling. It even gives you something to do to keep your mind active. My one vehicle was off by 10% and would show less, so if I drove with it saying "55", the actual speed was just under 50 mph.

Not all circumstances are conducive to waiting for emergency response people. Again I ask that you talk to a patrol person. They will all tell you that
speed on the highways is their responsibility and not yours and failure to yield to a faster moving vehicle is a violation.

Oh I wish I hadn't read this post. My blood is boiling. yes, I drive in the left hand lane but if I see a car approaching in my rear view mirror, I immediately put on my directionals to let the driver behind me know that I will get over as soon as humanly possible. It doesn't matter if the speed limit is 60 and I'm doing 70. If someone wants to do 75, the left hand lane should be available to do so. Jimrbrto said it and said it best. No one knows why that driver behind you is in such a hurry. He might even be rushing to the hospital to see a loved one before they die. It doesn't matter why he or she is in such a hurry, and it doesn't matter how fast you are going. If someone wants to go faster, you become the slower traffic and the rules of the road say SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP TO THE RIGHT.

Personally, I tend to stay in the right lane--for a couple of reasons. My FJ Cruiser has serious blind spots that make merging right a challenge. Secondly, I do very little driving on super highways, and am generally going just a couple of miles, so popping from lane to lane really isn't necessary.

Technically, yes, you're right that the left lane is supposed to be the passing lane. But have you ever driven in the North East? We have so much traffic on all our roads that EVERY lane is used for moving traffic and needs to be. Our roads aren't adequate to handle the amounts of traffic on them. When I drive a 3 lane superhighway, every lane is virtually bumper-to-bumper during most times of the day (which is another reason I avoid them when paossible). There's no other choice--the cars have to go somewhere. The working rule is that the faster you're driving, the more to the left you should be (slowest traffic in the right lane, medium speeds in the middle lane, hot foots in the left lane).

I like the left lane because it has less pot holes caused by those thousands of trucks that ply our highways. And sometimes it is downright scary to be between them at 75 mph in the right lane.It is interesting....didn't see ANY while touring Alaska as their products come by sea or air) and many fewer here in the southern west, and we hear and see miles long trains every day and night. I do agree that one should not hold up traffic, and to be sure, if I see someone flying low and in a hurry, I would move out of the way.

I think most people do try to move right and not hold up traffic. Faster drivers are often rude, aggresive, and put everyone else in danger. I've seen and ridden with too many people who will honk and flash their lights for nothing more than a sense of entitlement to drive fast. I suspect if the cops saw them, they would be the ones pulled over for reckless driving or endangerment.

I don't think all states consider the left hand lane for passing only. The states I've lived in tend to have more rural areas. I've seen relatively few keep right signs.

It amazes me to read these responses. Seems that most of you are the drivers I tend curse at silently every day. My favorite is the person who, after coming to a full stop instead of merging, will wait till she/he can enter and will immediately pull over ??? number of lanes to the left.

However I do think that some have failed to see the difference between urban driving and driving on a limited access-type highway.

jimrbto does have it right.

LuAnn in PA: "there is always someone in that lane going exactly or less than the speed limit.

So, according to you, anyone going the speed limit is NOT allowed in the left lane to pass slower traffic.
Ridiculous.

WHERE did you ever get that idea? Reread my post, your answer is ridiculous and misinformed.

I don't care if you are going 20 in a 75, just follow the laws and move over to the right when someone wants to pass.

The left lane is not reserved for speeders like you....

Where did I ever say I was speeding? I said the left lane is reserved for traffic going faster than someone in the right lane. No one should be there permanently, they should pass and move back to the right lane. Some of the signs read "keep right except to pass". As a matter of fact, I was doing 60 in a 65 as was the person in front of me. Don't put words in my mouth, please, again your answer was totally incorrect and uneducated.

One of the most detrimental things you can do while driving is pass on the right. It creates a blind spot and most accidents are caused by the driver not seeing the car next to them trying to pass.

What makes me angry is those drivers who insist on staying in the right-hand lane, even when they could easily pull over into the left lane, so those of us on residential side-streets can get onto the highway.

There is a law I read somewhere that drivers are supposed to move over to allow side street traffic onto the highway, when possible, but most drivers are too self-involved to care whether we can get onto the highway or not.

Kansas recently passed a law stating left lane is for passing only there are signs up now. That is not effective in the city limits of any town. If the left lanes in the city were for passing only traffic would really be backed up. Before this law came into effect people said we had to drive in the right lane, but in fact we didn't have to until it became a law. At one time KDOT was advising drivers to drive on both sides because driving in the right lane was wearing the right side out and they had to replace both lanes whether the left needed it or not.

Good grief, why do we even have laws? It's illegal to speed and it's illegal to drive in the left lane except to pass. Period!

I think it could be the area you live in. In Los Angeles I will try to stay in the right lane, unless it is too slow with people going off and entering. Also most of the time if you signal and watch traffic, you can just slide over. But here in Minot and many other towns, it is a completely different ball game. We have so many drivers from other states, trucks--both delivery & 18 wheelers, oil trucks construction and farm equipments, you just keep alert and do the best you can. Our biggest problem is people running red lights or speeding in town--too big of a hurry.

Aside from town, I'm most often on the Edens Expressway (north from Chicago, six lanes). Most traffic enters from the right.

I drive at least 5 MPH over the lilmit in the middle lane, and go faster if traffic is moving faster. I use the left lane to pass, and will stay in that lane as long as I am actually *passing* cars in the middle lane. I pull back to the middle for anyone coming up fast behind me in the left lane. I always use my turn signal when changing lanes. If I'm in the right lane, I look ahead and get into the middle if I see cars merging from the right.

Too many drivers are unaware of the traffic beside or behind them, or they fail to prepare for what they can see ahead.

Then there is the puzzle of why traffic slows just because the highway curves or inclines slightly. You get past such a slowdown and...the road is wide open ahead! There have been no turn-offs; the number of cars is the same; why the slowdown?

In Chicagoland we also pass on the right. I recall visitors from the East being startled by this. Is it just a Midwestern practice?

Oh, and our passenger trains run UK fashion. (The track on the left carries trains OUT-bound from the city.)

only if passing or getting ready to pass. on country roads if no traffice and roads are bad might choose the left once in a while

"In Chicagoland we also pass on the right. I recall visitors from the East being startled by this. "

Because that is illegal here, at least in my area.

In Wa. state it's the law to not drive in the left lane.
For passing only. But I do drive in the left lane up I-5 from Centralia (where it is only 2 lanes most of the time) up to Marysville. The traffic here is horrific. Why have stopped traffic in two lanes when you can have stopped traffic in three? lol

now, I-90, I will drive righ lane unless passing, and over the passes too.

Passing on the right is illegal. Just because it is done in Chicago does not make it legal. I drive to Chicago from Wisconsin often because I have family there. After the Elgin toll the speed on I94 goes to 55 from 65. You would never know it, people are going 80 or 90 miles an hour and I'm not joking. Rarely do I see anyone pulled over. You left lane drivers would not last a day driving in a big city like Chicago. You will have people barreling up your rear faster than you can say "oops".

People who drive in the left lane irritate the carp out of me. And I am married to one. He will obliviously be driving in the left lane, holding up traffic. It's all I can do to not scream. It is one of my biggest pet peeves.

KayJones, you are exactly right. On that same highway, going the other direction, we have to enter an on-ramp to merge onto another highway, Arizona actually thought a lot of this through and, when they can, the on-ramps are as long as they can be which helps traffic merge. The people in the right lane on the highway for the most part do move to the left to let us in, I think we have pretty decent drivers here sans some of the snowbirds who come for the winter and can't see over their steering wheels!

Chisue, I am also from the midwest, I know we had strict laws about this, I remember it even being on my driving test, but I know Illinois has very strict laws about drivig in the left lane, I like that your friends knew the laws. It really is one of the most dangerous maneuvers you can do, passing on the right.

When we were in France and Italy, I was in driving heaven. We were driving the countryside for hours and never once was someone in the left lane except to pass. And speeding is almost legal there, we got passed by several people going over 100. They put their left blinker on, leave it on while they pass, then put the right blinker on to get back over.

I am glad most of you are safe drivers!

If you are on a 4 lane highway is it called passing when get ahead of the car on the left. I thought since there are 4 lanes it wouldn't be considered passing like it would be on a 2 lane.

Sleeperblues, I'm with you. My husband does the same thing even though (or maybe because) it makes me crazy. That's the one thing that triggers feelings of road rage in me. Drivers cutting me off, people weaving in and out of traffic, bad mergers....I just shake my head and forget about it. Slower drivers in the left lane, though, make me want to SCREAM!!! A trooper once told me it's not the speeders who cause most wrecks. The critical factor, he said, is the differential. A slower driver in fast traffic is an accident waiting to happen, according to this highway patrolman, and he emphasized that the left lane is for passing.

In Northern Virginia, I don't think I've seen signs that say "Slower traffic keep right" on any highways, but there is a law that says if you're going slower than the flow or the speed limit, you should not be in that left lane.

It is also state law that if you are in the left lane and a vehicle comes up behind you -- whether or not he/she is speeding -- you must merge into the lane next to you and allow the driver to proceed in that left lane.

So when there isn't a lot of traffic on the highway I take to work or elsewhere (and that's not often!), and when the left lane is clearer than the others, I do take advantage of it. There's really no reason not to, at least here.

If I see a driver behind me approaching quickly, I move over, signaling so he/she knows that if there's traffic in the lane next to me, it won't be immediate but I will get out of his/her way. I have no reason to be rude to that driver or create any reason to create an aggressive driver.

My pet peeve? When I'm in back of the slower drivers (and I mean 55 and below) in that lane and they don't respond to when I flash my headlights to move over. I don't use the headlights lickety-split, I give them a chance to follow the law safely if there's traffic next to us. But some folks don't know the law. And today there are more than ever, so maybe that's to be expected.

(Another rule in Va. is that on a 3- or 4-lane road and an emergency vehicle on the shoulder or in a lane, you have to keep an open lane between that vehicle and yours, if it's safe to do and traffic flow allows. If it's not, you just have to slow way down.)

Vala, each lane, from left to right, should have speeds fastest to slowest in that order. If you are in lane 3 (3rd from left) and you want to pass, you should get into lane 2 (to the left) and pass.

The reason is for that blind spot that is created when someone is on your right at the back of your car; it is impossible to see them without turning your head, adjusting your mirror or leaning forward to look back, all of which take your eyes off the road. On the left side you use your peripheral vision and your mirror and it is a much safer way to check.

I found this list of "Keep Right" laws. Don't know how official it is. The laws do not appear to be consistant across all of the states.

This at the bottom.

The Uniform Vehicle Code states:

Upon all roadways any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic ...
Note that this law refers to the "normal" speed of traffic, not the "legal" speed of traffic. The 60 MPH driver in a 55 MPH zone where everybody else is going 65 MPH must move right. Contrast Alaska's rule, 13 AAC 002.50, allowing vehicles driving at the speed limit to use the left lane, and Colorado rev. stat. 42-4-1103, prohibiting blocking the "normal and reasonable" movement of traffic.

(Enforcement for failing to keep right while at or above the speed limit is variable. Toledo police have ticketed truck drivers for driving at the 60 MPH speed limit in the left lane. Police looking for criminal activity are aware of the "keep right" law and will use it as an excuse to stop a suspicious car. On the other hand, a New York judge announced that he would not convict drivers for blocking speeding traffic, People v. Ilieveski, 175 Misc. 2d 943; 670 N.Y.S.2d 1004 (Monroe County N.Y. 1998), and most police find speeding easier and more profitable to enforce.)"

My state has a lot of drug trafficking. I suspect the right hand rule is probably enforced more for speeders and suspicious activity. It would hard to enforce otherwise because the limited access type roads tend to have more construction and traffic. Someone who routinely practices honking and flashing lights would probably be reported by other drivers for road rage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Keep Right Laws

We have "slower traffic keep right" signs too. I will drive in the left lane sometimes, but only if I'm going faster than traffic in the right lane. And I ALWAYS keep an eye on cars behind me and if someone is coming up behind me going faster than me, I move over to let them by. There is nothing more irritating than being stuck behind someone in the left lane, therefore making you have to try and pass on the right. If I'm driving about the same speed as the right lane, I'll just stay in that lane.

lot of our city roads have a left turn ceter lane, so i don't feel obgliated to use the right lane. altough i do watch the speed limits...hate driving with dh! he drives me nuts...(to fast)

To answer your question, me. Because we drive on the left. Every year I go on vacation to the States to tan my other arm.

Ok, bad joke.

Ordinarily, I drive in the right lane ... and there are plenty who drive a lot faster who prefer the left lane. In our area, usually one is supposed to travel in the right lane except to pass, but on congested roads there are many in the left lane, too.

I find that I sometimes travel mainly in the left lane if I'm driving in a city where the road near the curb is rough - but I move right if someone comes up behind me (before he flashes his[her]) lights. Which few seem to do, around here.

In our area, if an emergency vehicle with flashing lights is sitting on either shoulder, you are to move over and leave an empty lane next to that one (some police were killed because people didn't) ... and if you can do so and don't ... the fine is about $400.00.

In your original post, Michelle, I think that you did refer to folks in the left lane travelling over or right at the speed limit.

So ... who, routinely, may be part of the privileged few who are at liberty to set their own speed limits?

ole joyful

I drive with the flow of traffic, usually the center lane or the left lane because I am a fast driver.

If we reserved our left lanes for passing only no one would get anywhere with the traffic we have. The more lanes in use the better.

Some of our left lanes are commute lanes at certain times of the day meaning you are supposed to have two or more people to use them. Invairably at those times someone will sit in the commute lane going 55 miles per hour. The number 2 lane has everyone trying to go around them. In the mean time the number 3 lane is at a stand still dealing with the mergers who are afraid to merge even though they have dumbed down merging by having light controlled merge lanes for the dumb and dumber during commute times. Everyone is trying to move out of the number 3 lane to get away from the mergers or cross over into the commute lane if they are eligible. Welcome to California.

Now on 4 lane highways (two lanes in each direction) slower traffic moves right signs are up. Especially in the hills or mountains.

I very seldom use the left lane. And when I do..I don't stay in it very long.

Personally..I try to avoid highway driving if I can.