I don't know if there's a law against passing on the right in California. I do know that if there is, it's not enforced, and I pass on the right once in awhile, and think nothing of it. In other states, I do think there are laws against this and in some cases they are enforced, but I don't know for certain.
There are several issues here, and a Southern CAlifornia Highway is certainly not the Autobahn. One issue is that staying in one's lane is important. If, for a time, a lane to the right seems to go faster in traffic, everyone moving over to the left, just to pass properly, would be wrong. Second, the lack of enforcement of drivers going too slowly is related to the lack of consistency in passing on the left. Slower drivers should keep right. Those going outrageously slowly should be ticketed regardless of lane, but in any case those going somewhat slowly need to do so to the right. This is stated somewhat in the rules or regs I think, and I think it's a logical-enough rule-of-thumb such that I put a copy of the slower-drivers-keep-right sign on the start-page of my website four years ago and haven't taken it down. I drove with a friend who was generally safety-minded and experienced and had stayed out of accidents for many years. But she tended to get in the left hand lanes and not pay much attention to those trying to pass her. She figured I guess if she wasn't changing lanes too often, she was good. I told her this was wrong, that it didn't matter if she was doing the legal limit or a little above, that the left lane as a generalization was for passing and that while there are times when it's ok to sort of hang out there, generally one needs to keep right. One does not have the right to "enforce" the speed limit by hanging out there and blocking traffic. I don't think she'd given much thought to any of this, and it was I who had to point out to her why she'd occassionally see folks flashing their brights at her from behind. Anyway, there's only so far I'm willing to go, to avoid passing on the right, when the cops do not enforce that slower drivers should keep right. At some point you give up, stay in your lane, and pass a few cars until you get left. I do think I could probably try a bit harder, and it does bother me when folks pass me on the right when it's not really necessary, so I'll keep an eye out for whether I can improve this. Lastly, in addition to the cops not enforcing the limit, at the stated limit (but at a higher rate) and not enforcing that slower drivers are a hazard sometimes, I've also seen a fair amount of tail-gating and failure-to-signal. I think failure-to-signal can be a factor in getting a ticket, so I won't say it's entirely unenforced, but I sure see it plenty. Both tailgaters and those who fail to signal are slime, in my book. MM > >Of course, I mean the right lane. Being one-eyed at the moment, >seems to affect my orientation. Almost everywhere that I have >been driving in US, it is a habit to do it. 20 years ago, in all 35 to >40 states that I was traveling in. It might have changed, but not >in any of the 5-6 that I visited the last 5 years. > >Hakan > >At 08:21 AM 6/6/2003 -0700, you wrote: >> >A major part of accidents in US is exactly the habit to pass in left >> >lane, forbidden in Europe and I have been told in US also. >> >>Do you mean the right lane? In the US, on the highway, the left lane >>is for passing, not the right lane. In some areas this is the law, >>and you can be ticketed for passing on the right, and in some areas it >>is not really ticketed, but is still the convention. >> >>Some folks think it applies to middle-speed type streets, and they get >>all up-in-arms if you are driving in the left lane of a 40 or 50 mph >>street without going at passing speed, but the same conventions or >>laws I think do not necessarily apply to those situations. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
