Seriously. Why can't people in NA follow this basic, simple protocol? It makes driving so much easier in every way. Need to slow down because your turn is coming? No problem, move over to the right. Want to actually get somewhere sometime today? Pass and then return to the lane you were in. It's so easy! Imagine actually having protocols around traffic flow, and following them! Just wait until you hear about roundabouts, which allow traffic to continue moving (rather than waiting at a red light for minutes on end when there's no one else there!)
I knew someone would respond to the "move over to the right". Yes, it doesn't apply to every single situation. In general, though, particularly for highway driving, it's a system that works well.
> In general, though, particularly for highway driving, it's a system that works well.
That depends on the highway. If it's a limited access motorway, like the interstates, Autobahn, or M-class then sure. Perhaps not coincidentally, that is where the right lane rule you propose is mandated.
Otherwise, it fails often. Reality is messy.
If you truly want to make the roads safer, follow the posted speed limits. (Energy follows the square of the speed.) Also, always ensure you leave enough room to stop (the "2 second rule").
I've driven many tens of thousands of kilometers throughout close to 20 countries in Europe, and multiple hundred thousand kilometers here in Canada, and have yet to find a multi-lane highway where "keep right except to pass" doesn't make total sense and work well. As traffic gets congested everyone naturally relaxes adherence to that policy since it's not realistic to uphold in all conditions. I mean, if you have citations that support the argument that it "fails often" I'm all ears, but my lived experience with this highway protocol has been universally positive.
I observed that it especially works best in concert with a rule that people entering/merging from the right have the right-of-way, since this reduces uncertainty around "who will go?" that I often witness here in NA (where "keep right to except to pass" is merely a suggestion, or not enforced even if enshrined in law).
Regarding speed limit, I'm not arguing against speed limits or adhering to them, and indeed the more consistent the speed of traffic, the safer it is. On that note, my observation is that simply adhering to the speed limit (and attempting to stay at that speed) means regularly passing vehicles -- that is, in most cases, people are indeed following speed limits and a "keep right except to pass" policy correlates well with maintaining consistent speed and flow of traffic. People who want to drive slower can stick to the right lane without any hassle or problem (it's accepted and normal for them to drive slow there), and those who are driving faster can safely pass and then return to that right lane. If there are deep flaws in this process, I'm absolutely not seeing them and have not observed them.
(yes, of course, the "two-second" rule makes sense and is a minimum IMO - I imagine if more people followed this, crashes would be massively reduced)
Because there's a large segment of America that sees themselves as the arbiter of laws and purposefully sit in the left lane to slow down people they (incorrectly) see as law breakers.
I almost want to become a cop just so I can write tickets for this.
In the northeast US at least, highways have 2 lanes, are narrow, congested, have short on-ramps and little/no merging area. So it is common practice to travel mostly in the left lane and leave the right lane free for people entering the highway, common etiquette to travel at 20-30mph over the speed limit and move over for faster vehicles.
