# Freeways and "passing lane" question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598 "2003-05-21T17:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/21 "2003-05-22T15:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pugluvr \* > \*\*Thank you, \*\* DiLLiGaF \*\* and **BearFlag70** , for finding and posting the relevant laws. I was not as successful as you at tracking them down. That link to the comparative laws between states was especially interesting. > > **DrDeth** , I’m a Californian, so the sections from the California Vehicle Code are relevant for me. My reading of them indicates that California does not support a “passing lane” law, only that traffic traveling slower than the _normal flow of traffic_ should keep to the right. This is right and proper, and I have no problem with it. According the site linked by \*\* DiLLiGaF\*\*, only Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington have laws stating positively that the left lane is to be reserved for passers only. **LilShieste** , maybe Missouri’s law has changed in the last five years. > > I don’t know about other areas, but here in the bay area of California, at least, the extreme left lane is usually a commuter’s diamond lane. If one assumed that the next to the extreme left lane were to be set aside for passers only, that would leave just 1 or 2 lanes for normal non-passing driving. We’re congested enough here as it is! \*\* your welcome ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/22 "2003-05-22T15:52:17Z")
> [@](#): > > None of this fazed him in the least. John Nestor stayed in his lane, going at precisely 55 mph. In his words, “Why should I inconvenience myself for someone who wants to speed?” “Who appointed _you_ pace-car?” > [@](#): > > I’m fascinated (but not surprised or upset) to discover from **Bearflag70** ’s post that passing on the right appears to be perfectly legal on many California roads. Lane-splitting on motorcycles is legal too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/23 "2003-05-22T16:18:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Lane-splitting on motorcycles is legal too. I was just in L.A. last week and once again experienced this insane behavior. I’ve ridden a motorcycle for nearly 30 years and have never done this. I can’t believe that motorcyclists aren’t daily crushed or knocked off their bikes by oblivious drivers who didn’t notice a crotch rocket coming through the two or three feet between cars at 10 or 20 mph faster than traffic. I also can’t believe it’s legal. Then again, I don’t have to deal with L.A. traffic every day. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/24 "2003-05-22T16:21:37Z")
From the [Michigan Secretary of State](http://www.michigan.gov/documents/wedmk_16312_7.pdf) page 81 “On a two-lane freeway, drive in the right lane except when passing, exiting to the lleft, allowing another vehicle to merge onto the freeway, or when lanes are fully occupied with heavily congested traffic.” However, for 3 lane freeways, “you may drive in any lane”, also on p. 81. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/25 "2003-05-22T17:05:54Z")
In Virginia you may drive in any lane regardless of whether you are passing, but the law says that if another driver approaching you from the rear uses an audible signal (i.e., horn) or flashes lights, that you must move to the right to allow him to pass. I don’t have the cite but this has been quoted many times in the Dr. Gridlock traffic column in the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/26 "2003-05-22T17:10:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I was just in L.A. last week and once again experienced this insane behavior. I read an issue of _CA Biker_ (a free zine at bike shops) in 1993 that said that the California Highway Patrol conducted a study and found that lane-splitting is “not especially dangerous”. > [@](#): > > I can’t believe that motorcyclists aren’t daily crushed or knocked off their bikes by oblivious drivers Sometimes we are. You may want to [see this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=184582). > [@](#): > > I also can’t believe it’s legal. [It is (third FAQ down)](http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/answers.html). ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/27 "2003-05-22T20:21:20Z")
The Roadshow column in the S.J. Mercury News printed this transcript (from memory): Driver calls 911, says, “Get the Highway Patrol! I’m being tailgated! I’m being high-beamed!” 911 Dispatcher: “Is there a lane to your right? Is is clear of vehicles?” Driver: “Yes!” 911: “Turn on your right turn signal; verify it still safe to change lanes; then do so.” ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/28 "2003-05-22T21:07:58Z")
This reminds me of a mighty fine piece of driving I once saw a highway cop do. At the time, I thought it was insanity, but afterwards I realised it was actually the safest thing to do. Seeing as I’m in a good mood, I’ll mirror left and right, and translate KPH to MPH for the 'merkins 😃 : A busy four-lane suburban road (two lanes each way). I’m driving in the left lane at about 35. In my mirror, I see a cop doing about 70, sirens and lights blaring. Not chasing anyone I could see, but obviously going somewhere in a real hurry. Like most of my fellow motorists, I pull over to the right lane. I am now the leading car in the right lane, but ahead a little is a car still sticking steadfastly to the left (probably on the bloody phone or changing a CD or something). Plenty of distance in front of me for the cop to “thread the needle”, overtake this car on the right, and be on his way. Now, on the other side of the road, there is an oncoming car approaching in the fast lane, and nobody in the kerbside lane. What does the cop do? Instead of taking the clear path on the correct side of the road, he crosses over and aims on a head-on collision course with an oncoming car. If you think about it, it’s quite a good piece of driving, and also very counterintuitive. It’d be very hard to force yourself to do what he did, I think. As I said, he was doing about twice the speed of the other cars on the road. If he pulled right, and the driver of the car blocking him finally looked up from the CD player and pulled right too at the last minute, it’d be a mother of a rear-end accident (a relative 35 miles per hour). Instead, the cop chose a collision course, which might leave the oncoming driver with a few frayed nerves, but he made sure the kerbside oncoming lane was free, and knew that driver would have to change lanes. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598/29 "2003-05-22T23:02:59Z")
I’m declaring this one asked and answered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways-and-passing-lane-question/176598.md?page=1)