Hacker News Reader

Comment by burnerburnson | Hacker News Reader

I regularly pass people on the right and then cut them off getting back into the left lane just so that I don't have to be stuck behind someone I can't see around.

The tinted front/rear windows really piss me off because they make my drive more dangerous for very little reason. I'd make them illegal if it were up to me.

View on HN

Know what's already illegal? Passing on the right:

> Laws that cover passing when crossing the centerline of the roadway is not required (where there are multiple lanes in the same direction), often say something like this:

> The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left thereof at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.

source: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/beat-tick...

Depends on the state.

https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/2011/chapter66/artic...

Which is probably a good thing since drivers from out of state (ahem, Texas) tend to prefer to left lane, will go 10-15 under the posted speed limit, and promptly go 10-15 OVER the posted speed limit when you attempt to overtake them.

Passing on the right is legal in Most states, including mine. Goung slow in the left lane however, is a crime.

It's not illegal everywhere, and it's silly that it's illegal anywhere.

Not silly. Here's why:

1. Passing on the right, i.e. passenger side, means being in the driver's blind spot longer.

2. On- and off-ramps are almost always on the right, as are police making traffic stops, ambulances, cars pulled over on the shoulder, sidewalks, pedestrians, cross streets, etc.

3. Slower traffic is supposed to be in the right lane (because of #2), so a car accelerating to pass the car in front of it, suddenly in a lane of slow traffic, is a safety hazard to the slower drivers, regardless of #2.

I'm writing from the US, so for me left lane = driver's side.

The right lanes are generally explicitly intended to be slower lanes. Making them optionally faster lanes can be dangerously disruptive. As well as, when the rightmost lane is used to pass, difficult for new vehicles to merge from side roads.

These laws are made so people know what to expect for safe driving. When we're all being chauffeured in autonomous vehicles it'll be safe to rethink them.

Those jurisdictions typically have more strongly enforced "slower traffic keep right" laws also. Why the double standard?

Tinted front windshields are illegal in California, among other states, fwiw. The law just isn’t enforced, just like modded exhaust, and residential speed limits … and passing on the right.

It's perfectly legal in California to safely pass on the right on a multilane highway and in some other situations. What is illegal is using anything other than a normal traffic lane to do this, such as the shoulder.

Of course this does not excuse GP's practice where "I regularly pass people on the right and then cut them off getting back into the left lane..."

Unless I misunderstood GP's comment, that sounds like reckless driving.

Source:

CVC 21754. The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass to the right of another vehicle only under the following conditions: (c) Upon any highway outside of a business or residence district with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width and clearly marked for two or more lines of moving traffic in the direction of travel.

CVC 21755. (a) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass another vehicle upon the right only under conditions permitting that movement in safety. In no event shall that movement be made by driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway.

[other subsections omitted here, see below for full text]

https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2022/code-veh/divisi...

You were being pedantic up until here, so let's continue with the presumption of pedantry: what GP described is very far from reckless driving because they knew exactly what they were doing. You can cut people off safely, if dickishly, because of how the laws of physics work: cars can't suddenly teleport into where you will be, acceleration (especially at those speeds) is relatively slow for the vast majority of passenger vehicles.

I hate this so much around me in Massachusetts. Makes it impossible to know what the driver is going to do at an intersection when I can’t seem them. Often they resort to rolling down their window to be able to politely gesture at me, which would not be necessary if I could see them in the first place as should be legally required </rant>

>I'd make them illegal if it were up to me.

They mostly are (at least the front windshield is), it's just not really enforced.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com