And to clarify some things that some seem confused about:
A ‘passing’ lane is one youd find on a highway, which typically have only two lanes, one in each direction. Occasionally a second lane will open up on highways so that old people in RVs and truckers can get in the riht lane, and all those behind them can pass before their blood pressure gets too high. The lane on the left in these scenarios is a ‘passing lane’.
Another ‘passing lane’ is the lanes on the left of broad city streets/avenues, though even that is arguable in the presence of parked cars along the right.
On freeways, there are no ‘passing lanes’. There are ‘fast lanes’, also known as ‘through lanes’. If I drive south to LA for example, I drive through San Jose, which means I keep my ass in the left lanes, clearing the right lanes for people visiting San Jose or people who live in San Jose who are getting on and off the freeway in a relatively short time. Not only is there nothing wrong with staying in the left lanes on freeways, its goddamn required for safe driving in urban areas if youre just passing through. One does not get into the right lanes unless one either insists on driving the speed limit for some weird reason or one is about to leave the freeway. In all other instances, you should be in the left lanes.
Is any of this in the Cal DMV book? Probably not, but then the DMV book is notoriously out of touch with the way people actually drive and what actually works and how traffic flows the smoothest. Bear in mind its the Cal DMV that, in their infinite wisdom, makes semi’s drive at 55, thus creating large obstacles for all those entering/exiting the freeway. Might as well plop a goddamn house trailer in the middle of a 20mph road. That will make things ‘safer’. Also bear in mind its the Cal DMV who created car pool lanes, and brilliantly decided to ticket single drivers who use it, but dont ticket cars with 2 or more who do not. So at peak hours, an eight lane freeway, four lanes to a side, is effectively reduced to a four lane freeway, two to a side, when on the right you have semi’s doing 55 and on the left is a goddamn car pool lane. This is their answer to solving ‘gridlock’, i.e causing more of it. But hey, never let reality intrude on a good theory or pet ideology.
And the whole driving fast=driving dangerously bullshit is just that, bullshit. Sure, on a road full of people doing 30, driving 60 is dangerous, but on an empty road or a road full of people doing 90, doing 90 is less dangerous than if you were to be driving slower. Its not ones speed itself that is dangerous, its ones speed in relation to the speed of others.
Now, if one is an automaton, I could see how this constant evaluation of ones environment and adjusting accordingly might seem a little challenging; far easier to just read a sign and let the thinking be done for you so you can concentrate on more interesting things than driving. But laziness and lack of paying attention is far more dangerous to yourself and those around you than any particular speed you happen to be going.
I drive 80-85 pretty much all the time on freeways; not only is that the speed at which my car is the most fuel efficient, its also the common average speed of those around me, since I stay primarily in the left lanes in order to free up the right ones for people getting on and off the freeway and semi’s. Ive never had a ticket in my life and never been in a wreck; indeed, my speed has allowed me on at least three occasions to quickly get out of/away from situations that would have resulted in a wreck had I been driving slower. Part of the safety rating of cars is how quickly they can accelerate out of the way of danger, and while the perception is that low horse power cars are somehow more ‘socially responsible’ than higher ones, its not the reality; they are more dangerous: to their owners as far as getting out of the way of danger and to those around them as far as creating an unnecessary obstacle.
