Left Lane Legalities

"BoulderZ" (BoulderZ)
06/25/2014 at 11:34 • Filed to: None

An interesting article, with references, boiling down to "In the US, if you're not passing, get out of the left lane." While I doubt anyone on Oppo needs to be told this, the summary of the laws is likely interesting to most. Skip to the colorful map summary about 1/3 down if you're in a TL;DR kind of mood.

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DISCUSSION (32)

willkinton247 > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:36

I'm most amazed that this article reached Plantizen, which is a site for urban planners full of dreams and Alissa Walker.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/69952

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:38

Hmm, I'm in Michigan, so only get out when necessary, I think i like this approach, because sometimes I like to drive in the left lane because the right line can be a worse ride due to heavy semi's riding in them all the time.

zeontestpilot > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
06/25/2014 at 11:43

I starred you simply because you're in MI. I also happened to agree with you. Traffic is pretty bad, and I tend to stick to the lane that isn't congested.

zeontestpilot > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:43

When I got my driver's license in MI, the instructor said, and I quote, "the left lane is the fast lane". About a year later I learned that wasn't true.

Milky > zeontestpilot
06/25/2014 at 11:47

Seriously this state sucks at not blocking that shit up.

ttyymmnn > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:49

In TX, the signs reading "Slower traffic keep right" were replaced with signs reading "Left lane for passing only." Not that it makes a difference. I would like to see trucks relegated to the left lane on mountainous roads. Now, a truck that is going only slightly faster than another will gum up the left lane while he creeps past the other truck. I saw this time again on a recent drive in VA/TN.

zeontestpilot > Milky
06/25/2014 at 11:51

Blocking? Explain please.

wabbalosthiskey > zeontestpilot
06/25/2014 at 11:51

As long as you are moving faster than the lane that is. I know more than one person that has been ticketed for driving in the left lane to avoid semi ruts and gravel when there was no one else around.

wabbalosthiskey > ttyymmnn
06/25/2014 at 11:53

That's a better way to post it and teach new drivers. If you aren't passing, stay in the right lane. Doesn't matter how fast you are going, stay right unless passing.

BoulderZ > ttyymmnn
06/25/2014 at 11:54

I got my bachelors degree at VA Tech. The semi traffic on I-81 was notorious for this, especially with those big, long, rolling hills north of Roanoke. The truckers did the best they could to minimize it, but it still happened and was a real PITA.

BoulderZ > zeontestpilot
06/25/2014 at 11:56

Last year, CO did a ticketing blitz on left lane blockers (and non-signalling lane changers). It did seem to help a bit, though the effect does fade. Probably time for another campaign. Sound like MI could do the same (on the highways where the right lane isn't all chewed up, as mentioned in Yowen's comment).

ttyymmnn > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:57

JMU represent here ('89). We just recently drove from Norfolk up to Staunton and down 81 into TN (on the way back to Austin). God, what beautiful country. I miss the Valley.

RazoE > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 11:58

Kinja'd!!!

Milky > zeontestpilot
06/25/2014 at 12:00

Holding up the left lane is a better way to say it, its only the fast lane until someone slow doesn't move over.

BoulderZ > willkinton247
06/25/2014 at 12:00

I was not aware of that site. I'm not an urban planner, but am enough of an infrastructure geek that I might need to check that out in more detail. Thanks!

CAR_IS_MI > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:01

I really need to record my drive to and from work for you all. these people out here hastily cross over the double white lines of the on ramp to cut directly across 4 lanes (often without signalling) in the least safe manner possible, just so they can be in the left lane, all while driving 20 under the speed limit / flow of traffic. It is literally in-freaking-credible.

BoulderZ > RazoE
06/25/2014 at 12:02

That's how I was taught. My parents said something to the effect of, "The laws are different in different states, but if you just keep right unless you're passing or turning left, you'll be legal and you won't be That Guy."

zeontestpilot > Milky
06/25/2014 at 12:02

Ah, very true. It only works when no one else is in it. I tend stay in the middle or the right lane purely because EVERYONE else is in the left lane, traveling at fast speeds, with barely a car's length between them. How they don't crash is beyond me.

BoulderZ > CAR_IS_MI
06/25/2014 at 12:03

I didn't know you were a Coloradan, too. ;)

wabbalosthiskey > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:03

I witnessed what was likely the worst offender I have ever seen yesterday, and it happened to be my parents in another vehicle.

I was hauling a heavy load with my 40' race trailer about 10 miles up the highway, and they were behind me in their car. We're going roughly the speed limit, drifting between 0-10mph under as the road went up and down, so obviously sticking to the RH lane to not hold anyone up. At one point I had to move left to pass a [very] slow dump truck; they followed suit. However, when I moved back right after passing him they remained in the LH lane and turned on their flashers, staying about a car length off my trailer no matter how slow I was going and completely blocking the highway. I became irate by this and tried slowing down to get them to merge, speeding up to make room, and turning on my blinker so they would think I was exiting. When we reached the destination and I asked WTF they were doing holding up traffic for 10 miles with their flashers on in the left lane (somehow NOT getting pulled over unfortunately), they "wanted to make room in case I wanted to be in the left lane" - Thanks. I can only imagine the rage which was happening in the 500 cars behind us which they would not permit to pass.

CAR_IS_MI > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:07

LOL. It must be a western states thing becasue I have witnessed it in CA (The biggest offender), NV, and WA...

BoulderZ > wabbalosthiskey
06/25/2014 at 12:08

Wow, that is nuts. I just can't imagine what bizarre series of cognitive events chained together such that they got to thinking, "Yeah, actually, this is exactly the right thing to do." The important question, though: what was in the race trailer and where were you going? :)

zeontestpilot > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:10

Actually, I forgot to add the rest of what he said! He said it was ok for you to go 10 above the speed limit in the left lane, because fast lane.

Personally, if I'm going faster than the traffic around me (not ridiculous though), I have a clean road ahead of me, and I'm traveling a distance that's longer than 10 minutes, I drive in the left lane purely because I'm out of everyone's way and I can keep a rough constant speed. Of course, I keep an eye out in my rear-view mirror of cars quickly coming up on me, and I do move out of the way.

BoulderZ > CAR_IS_MI
06/25/2014 at 12:11

Oh, yes. LAX to JPL a few times last year was an... interesting drive. And I love Seattle, but the lane etiquette there is just completely missing. I had a couple of trips to DC this year, and I was surprised how much of it I saw there, compared to even a few years ago, let alone in the 90s. Might also be because it's so much more crowded than it used to be, too, I suppose.

zeontestpilot > wabbalosthiskey
06/25/2014 at 12:14

Ha, I should of specified. Sometimes the congested lane IS the left lane. Especially on my morning commutes. Everyone is traveling 70+ in a line in the left lane, I've nicknamed it the 'conga line', and I only travel in the conga line if I need to pass or absolutely have to. I normally stay in the right lane, just because I don't feel like joining them in a accident about to happen.

CAR_IS_MI > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:14

The places I've seen it the best are NH, OK, and TX.

wabbalosthiskey > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:16

I could tell you, but that would defeat the purpose of an anonymous burner account :)

wabbalosthiskey > zeontestpilot
06/25/2014 at 12:17

lol - Sad how often that is exactly the case

cazzyodo > BoulderZ
06/25/2014 at 12:18

In the map, Massachusetts is green.

No left lane travel unless passing.

APPARENTLY ALL OF MASSACHUSETTS IS IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF PASSING.

zeontestpilot > wabbalosthiskey
06/25/2014 at 12:26

It is sad. Though how they break in such a short distance is beyond me. I can only assume that the car in front of them is braking at the same speed, the same pressure on the brake, and so on up the line.

BoulderZ > wabbalosthiskey
06/25/2014 at 12:32

LOL. In any case, hope it was fun and fast! :)

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > wabbalosthiskey
06/25/2014 at 12:50

Two-way radios, man. Two-way radios.

I have a track buddy (drives an RX-8) who does what your parents were doing, but we are always in the right hand lane, and I radio if I want to pass someone.

The RX-8 moves into the left hand lane, my truck and trailer move into the left hand lane, I watch the gas gauge drop as I give it everything the 351 cubic inch engine has to give, and when he moves back over to the right, I move back over (as I know there's plenty of room)