Why do you REFUSE to pass left/drive right?

[Anonymous]

I see this behavior driving through New Jersey all the time, but the culprit always has a Virginia license plate. And is usually a minivan.

Move right, people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because youre holding up traffic being a rules lawyer. If you'd just move aside to the right and let the speed demons pass, you can hop right back over and continue to put-put down the road in peace.

amen. end of discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because youre holding up traffic being a rules lawyer. If you'd just move aside to the right and let the speed demons pass, you can hop right back over and continue to put-put down the road in peace.

amen. end of discussion.

ita

[Anonymous]

I don't do this. If I'm in the left lane it's because I'm going faster than the right lane is going, and faster than the cars behind me in that lane. If someone faster comes up behind me, I get over as soon as I can, then return to the left lane after the faster car passes.

BUT... on a road as high-volume as 66, with only two lanes, I don't think it makes sense to use the left lane only as a passing lane. I feel like a "slower/local traffic to the right, faster/express traffic to the left" approach is more appropriate, otherwise the right lane would be too crowded for anyone to be able to merge in or out of it. If I'm going many exits and not getting off soon, I will often use the left lane so that I'm not in the way of people getting on or off the road. 270 gets this concept right with their express and local lanes.

On 495 where it's 4 lanes, I see the left lane as a passing "fast" lane and the right lane as an on/off merge lane. The two middle lanes are for through traffic, with the left middle lane being the faster lane. seems to be the prevailing opinion.

[Anonymous]

Good lord does this bug me! I'm from PA and we have a law on the books that you can't obstruct passing in the left lane that's actually enforced in a lot of places(!). Hence, on PA-driver laden roads, you get a lot of people sticking right like they are supposed to, and highway driving is a pleasure. (I-99, I-80).

Sadly, on roads like the turnpike and I-70, there are a lot of Maryland drivers who don't follow this rule AT ALL. Drives me nuts now that I'm a MD-er, because I don't want the PA drivers to assume I'm clueless like the rest of them because of my license plate!

I wish the cops would enforce this law a little more. And heck, I'm sure that MD and VA have similar laws on the books. Wouldn't it be great if people were actually considerate on the roads? Oh, to dream!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see this behavior driving through New Jersey all the time, but the culprit always has a Virginia license plate. And is usually a minivan.

Move right, people!

My observation, too. We drive up to NY a lot and while I can't overall praise the "skills" of NY drivers, parking in the left lane is not one of their sins. Usually someone from down here doing it.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with everyone else that anyone doing this in NJ or NY is NOT from there. And that the worst culprits always have either VA or MD plates. The entire stretch of 95 from the Beltway to the Delaware line sucks for exactly that reason.

To 11:07 - I grew up in NJ and my parents always blamed PA drivers for doing that, too. Especially on 95 between Trenton and Philadelphia, though I don't seem witness it much these days!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad does this. His reasoning is that if he's doing the speed limit, he doesn't have to let anyone pass him. I think it's really jerky behavior, myself.

I believe this is illegal in VA, because VA requires that traffic in the left lane yield to faster-moving traffic:

§ 46.2-842.1. Drivers to give way to certain overtaking vehicles on divided highways.

It shall be unlawful to fail to give way to overtaking traffic when driving a motor vehicle to the left and abreast of another motor vehicle on a divided highway. On audible or light signal, the driver of the overtaken vehicle shall move to the right to allow the overtaking vehicle to pass as soon as the overtaken vehicle can safely do so. A violation of this section shall not be construed as negligence per se in any civil action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the law to pass on the left, pass on the right and I will give you a ticket

Not in Maryland. Don't know about VA.

In both Maryland and Virginia it is illegal to pass a driver on the right side of the road. It's called "agressive driving" you can receive a ticket if you pass a motor vehicle on the right. In Maryland if you receive three tickets for it, you can receive 5 points on your DL.

Check the law, ignorance does not excuse you from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the law to pass on the left, pass on the right and I will give you a ticket

Not in Maryland. Don't know about VA.

In both Maryland and Virginia it is illegal to pass a driver on the right side of the road. It's called "agressive driving" you can receive a ticket if you pass a motor vehicle on the right. In Maryland if you receive three tickets for it, you can receive 5 points on your DL.

Check the law, ignorance does not excuse you from it.

As noted above, it is also illegal not to move over to allow faster traffic to pass you on the left. Why people can't adhere to simple rules like this in the I-95 corridor is beyond me. Where I grew up, out west, it was very common for people to promptly move over when they sighted faster-moving traffic in their rear-view mirror.

[Anonymous]

My mom refuses to move to the right lane on the highway. I don't understand why. She just drives along, in the left lane, for no reason. Even if there isn't anyone around (which there isn't usually because I'm from rural IL), it drives me insane. Still, she raised me to drive on the right, pass on the left, which I always do. I think she secretly drives on the left only when I'm go home to visit to drive me mad. So, there you go, people do it to drive their adult children insane.

[Anonymous]

I chalk it up to the whole lack of common courtesy that I see lacking in the population in general these days.

[SAM2]

Someone posting a section of Maryland regulations that supposedly allow for passing on the right in some situations: http://goo.gl/b0CQX

Summary of MD traffic laws, which seems to suggest that passing on the right, if done in combination with certain other actions, may be considered aggressive driving by the police: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/bystate/md.html and http://www.sha.maryland.gov/MHSO/aggressive_sheet_2008.pdf . But failing to yield the right of way (i.e., driving in the left lane) is also one of these contributing actions, so it's kind of a wash.

Someone at MIT compiled all the state "pass on right" laws, which makes me love MIT: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html

Here are some police officers (and others) trading comments about passing on the right: http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?94861-Passing-on-the-right

[Anonymous]

This drives me nuts as well. I seriously do not understand why it is so hard to move over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going SL+5 to SL+10, and **passing cars in the right lane**, then why should you have to move over to accommodate some maniac going SL+20?

This is how I feel exactly. If I am actively passing cars in the right lane, and I'm not going to stick myself behind one of them because you want to go 80 and I'm only going 70. I am aware that you want to drive faster (you make it perfectly clear) and as soon as I have an opportunity to move over without getting stuck behind someone going slower than me, I will! Until then, wait your turn!