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Comment by cassac | Hacker News Reader

The US version (varies by state) of the fast lane is garbage which is why nobody follows it. If you want a passing lane then you need a non passing lane and I don’t think US drivers are willing to make that concession.

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Typically, you stay out of the left lane unless passing in the US. It's that easy. In many states, the person failing to yeild to faster traffic is ticketed, but not all.

But funny, hardly anyone ever gets ticketed for tailgating, which is far more dangerous.

But you can still pass in the right lane. So a slow driver in the left lane has someone riding their tail and are also getting passed in the right so they can’t even change to the slow lanes anymore. Add in left exits, moving over for vehicles on the shoulder, and speed limits that adjust based on road conditions and you have the perfect storm of it only being enforced in the worst cases.

> So a slow driver in the left lane has someone riding their tail and are also getting passed in the right so they can’t even change to the slow lanes anymore.

Then why the f*ck are they in the left lane?!

It's easy in theory. In practice on many busy freeways such as I-5 through California the right lane is often clogged with heavy trucks for miles at a stretch, and the road surface is in terrible condition due to wear from those trucks. All the car drivers, even the slow ones, then hang out in the left lane so as not to get caught behind the trucks. I'm not defending this poor driving etiquette but the road conditions make it inevitable. The only real solution would be to add a third lane.

>All the car drivers, even the slow ones, then hang out in the left lane so as not to get caught behind the trucks.

Most of them go back to the right/slow lane when they're done passing any trucks and other slow traffic. Even on the I-5 it's not like the right/slow lane is an unbroken line of trucks from Mexico to Canada, you know.

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