According to American laws, it is usual that the left lane is for passing and that you need to get over once you pass. Why is it so common in America for campers in the left lane who go slow and cause so much traffic? I don’t understand why they don’t get over. Nothing is more frustrating when no one can pass because there are cars driving in the left lane. It either causes a lot of traffic or raises the risk for accidents because people have to weave in and out in order to get around a slow poke in the left lane.
31 comments
Because people are self absorbed
Because they either don’t know or don’t care, and it doesn’t really affect them. If they actually started getting pulled over for it maybe they’d think twice about it
Poor driver education and a general lack of self-awareness.
I ask this every day. It’s because most people don’t care about driving so they do it poorly and then they get upset when people are rightfully pissed at them.
A lot of people are bad drivers and I’ve never seen or heard of left lane for passing only laws ever being enforced.
Left lane drivers should be shipped to the UK where they can drive poorly in their natural habitat.
Just hug their bumper and put on your beams, they’ll move.
Are there no bad drivers wherever you’re from?
Because I’m going faster than the people in the right lane.
It happens occasionally because people don’t pay attention or never learned the rules. Keep in mind that a person using the left lane to pass slower than you wish they would is not camping in the left lane.
Have you tried driving around on the right?
Everyone is correct, but I just want to point out that this isn’t a law in every state.
My state has no such law. When I am near a larger city where many transplants live, I always notice the aggro drivers who seem to think riding someone’s bumper is a third turn signal for “get out of my way.”
If I’m in the left lane I’m going 5-10 over the speed limit and I’m probably passing other traffic, although I might be passing them *gradually*. If someone comes up behind me I’ll move over *when there is lots of room for me to do so and I can cut into that lane without out having to reduce my own speed.* Some people seem to think because they want to go faster than me, I should have to slow down to merge into the right lane.
In this area, people who stay in the left lane generally are passing the people in the middle lane, just not quite as fast as person behind them would prefer. But there are exceptions for when they’re expecting a left exit. There’s also the situation where the center lane can pick up speed but is too densely packed for the person in the left lane to feel comfortable returning to the center lane.
Not all states have a “keep right” law and it is rarely enforced in the states that have one. Also, undertaking is not illegal.
People don’t pay attention.
Trucks going 5 under the speed limit in clear weather in the middle lane with no other traffic
Enough said.
Just pass them on the right if you’re so agitated.
On the other hand, a lot of people confuse a “passing lane” with a “speeding lane” and most of the time I find the people who complain about this are mostly just upset with people who aren’t passing other people “fast enough” and are getting in the way of them using the left lane like a personal expressway.
Some states don’t have those laws. NM being one of those states, even truckers take advantage of it and hog the left lane, which is infuriating because they’re supposed to stay in the right lane whenever possible, since they have a bigger blind spot on their right side.
Because people are evil and like to piss me off.
I am going faster than the middle or I have a left turn coming up are the two most common for me. I have no idea why some people get into the left lane and pace the car in the middle.
People who do that have been clinically proven to have their heads lodged firmly and irretrievably in their asses. They are absolutely the worst kind of driver.
Different states have different laws about it.
Left lane campers are terrible and cause accidents, but you need to relax about stuff you can’t control.
Drive smoothly and be patient about when you decide to pass. Start listening to audio books or something.
Allow me to confess my driving sins: I make every effort to use the left lane for passing only, but I sometime succumb to the lure of the left for the following (bullshit) reason:
Imagine I am on a two-lane highway where the speed limit is 60 mph, and the right lane is moving somewhat slower (for example, 50 or 55 mph) because it is crowded with large freight vehicles, RVs, vehicles hauling boats and trailers, and merging traffic.
In this situation, I end up constantly passing in and out of the right lane in a futile effort to find someone in the right lane going what I perceive as “fast enough” so I can finally take my place behind them there. Instead, I spend too long driving 65 in the left lane, glancing right and going, “that person is too slow, that person too, yikes don’t want to get behind that tractor trailer…”
I say this is a bullshit reason because I understand that the solution to this is “just slow down and get behind the stupid RV.”
Frequently there is so much traffic that both lanes need to be used.
If I sit in the right lane on many roads, I will be slowing down constantly while people make right turns. Driving on the left in one of these situations is much more efficient.
Everything is situational. Maybe the right lane is slower and you can pass many cars at a time.
I don’t believe you for one moment that every German driver follows traffic laws 100% of the time, do you have any idea how absurd that sounds? The absolutism is silly.
Let me point out that this is not unique to America. Germany has a reputation for being a driver’s paradise, but put some moderate traffic on the road and they’ll do the same thing.
Because they are idiots and assholes who don’t understand basic road knowledge. That’s why.
My exit off the highway is on the left side so yeah I’m going to be in the left lane for the last bit or so, not my fault exits were put in the left lane.
1. It isn’t the law everywhere in the country.
2. Not everyone is actually taught the concept when they learn how to drive.
3. Some places have so many cars on the road that if you get to the left to pass, it might be a while before you find a gap to get back over.
4. A lot of places will have a significant number of left exits and so people will get over to the left so they can make their exit.
For the last two, different people seem to have different ideas of *how* to deal with these. Some people like to leave more space when they change lanes, so some people are more comfortable shooting into a gap to let a faster person through while others wait for a larger gap in traffic. Similarly, some people are comfortable jumping to the left right before their exit while others like to get over earlier when they have a large gap just to make sure that they don’t have to cut someone off.
Eh I drive a shitload for work and this isn’t super common. Most people move over once they see me coming up on their ass. If they don’t I go around them on the right, fuck it