# News from USA and 100mph "high speed" pursuits? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585 "2009-02-27T00:12:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/41 "2009-02-27T19:11:36Z")
> [@Chase\_Ransom](#): > > I am personally unimpressed by a lack of speed limit in Europe or whatever. People need limits, guidelines, etc. If everyone knew what is best and what is right (hence no one needing limits laws or guidelines), our world wouldn’t be the way it is. It is clear good judgement and common sense aren’t a standard. Well, very few parts of Europe have no posted speed limit. I can only think, off the top of my head, of certain sections of autobahn in Germany. In general, speed limits in Europe are comparable to those in the USA, with somewhere between 70 and 80 mph being the norm on open highways. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/42 "2009-02-27T19:56:43Z")
My experience with lane discipline is more in line with **Mr. Floppy’s**. It is really spotty here in the Greater Boston Area, in fact now that I think about it this has to be one of the reasons drivers in this area have such a bad reputation. There seems to be a sizable minority of drivers on the road who just don’t know or don’t care about keeping right and leaving the left lane open for traffic which may want to pass you. My wife is a big offender in this regard, and she is technically a certified driving instructor(!). She’ll be tooling along at 60 in the left lane on the Mass. Turnpike then get all huffy and offended when someone comes up behind her and blinks their lights. I’ve mostly given up trying to explain it to her. She just. Doesn’t. Get it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/43 "2009-02-27T20:02:31Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > Lane dicipline is non existent here in the US. Since I never took any lessons here (British) and my kids are too young, I have no idea whether or not it is taught in driver’s ed. Nobody even attempts to stay right pass left. Having taking all my driving lessons in California, and having a California driver’s license since my teens, I can tell you – it’s not taught in driver’s ed here. In fact, we had no lessons on highway driving at all, nor did the license exam require us to know anything about highway driving. It was conducted entirely on city streets. Ed ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/44 "2009-02-27T20:56:20Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Not to mention that even when Top Gear is reviewing a hot BMW, they’re likely to mention that it will top out at about 155mph. That kind of number seems to come up a lot. Then there are all the little Fords, Opels, Citroens… Mercedes, BMW and VW/Audi all electronically limit their vehicles to 155 mph to placate the German Green Party. Porsche doesn’t, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/45 "2009-02-27T20:59:59Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Having taking all my driving lessons in California, and having a California driver’s license since my teens, I can tell you – it’s not taught in driver’s ed here. In fact, we had no lessons on highway driving at all, nor did the license exam require us to know anything about highway driving. It was conducted entirely on city streets. > > Ed I cant imagine what driving school would pass you with out ever getting on the highway, how long ago was this? (laws changed in the past 5-10 years in Cali and Wash) I teach left is for passing right is for driving but its one of those things that you cant easily get people to do when 95% of the other drivers on the road get it wrong so what I really drill into students is to move with traffic in their lane and if its going to fast then keep your speed up until you can move over to a slower one. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/46 "2009-02-27T21:08:47Z")
I got my license in San Diego, CA around 1981. The instructor definitely had me tooling around the freeways. I was taught not to pass on the right, and I think to generally keep right when not passing, but in Socal there are often so many lanes it’s often better to keep in the middle lane if you aren’t passing and aren’t headed for an exit. It gets just like that going through Frankfurt, too. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/47 "2009-02-27T21:35:49Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > I cant imagine what driving school would pass you with out ever getting on the highway, how long ago was this? (laws changed in the past 5-10 years in Cali and Wash) That’s nothing. I got my Florida drivers’ license without ever getting onto _a road_- my high school used an old converted sports field as a driving “track”. Driving in Florida is _terrifying_. I already knew how to drive- I learned when I was 12- but you better believe that 90% of the people on the roads around here learn by trial and error. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/48 "2009-02-27T21:43:56Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > I cant imagine what driving school would pass you with out ever getting on the highway, how long ago was this? (laws changed in the past 5-10 years in Cali and Wash) This was around 1979, in Los Angeles. Ed ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/49 "2009-02-27T23:14:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Mercedes, BMW and VW/Audi all electronically limit their vehicles to 155 mph to placate the German Green Party. Porsche doesn’t, for obvious reasons. Yes - Top Gear are necessarily a little creative with their scripting, because it’s boring for the viewer to hear over and over that they don’t know first-hand the real top speed of cars because of limiters, so it’s ‘up to a limit of’ or similar. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/50 "2009-02-27T23:32:44Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > This was around 1979, in Los Angeles. > > Ed I forgot to mention, this wasn’t a driving school. It was my high school. Back then, public high schools offerered driver’s ed for credit. The classroom portion counted as half a semester of a “domestic elective” (e.g. Home Ec or Woodshop or something like that) and the in-car portion counted as half a semester of PE. They certainly don’t do that nowadays. Ed ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/51 "2009-02-27T23:42:20Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > Lane dicipline is non existent here in the US. Since I never took any lessons here (British) and my kids are too young, I have no idea whether or not it is taught in driver’s ed. Nobody even attempts to stay right pass left. > > This is exacerbated however by exit ramps from the fast lane on interstates which makes no sense if you’re not from the USA. All this does is move everyone exiting into the fast lane. Aside from exit ramps, traffic is usually too dense to follow “stay right, pass left”. All lanes get utilized. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/52 "2009-02-28T00:11:09Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > Lane dicipline is non existent here in the US. Well… I got pulled over in Texas because I was traveling in the left lane. Of course, REALLY the cop was furriner-fishing: we had California plates on the car. So our “5mph too fast” and the left lane were his excuse. I had almost never heard of that in America, but one of my Texas friends acted like it was common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![in\_hiding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/53 "2009-02-28T01:21:00Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > This is exacerbated however by exit ramps from the fast lane on interstates which makes no sense if you’re not from the USA. All this does is move everyone exiting into the fast lane. There are exit lanes on the fast lane of an interstate? Like… … on the left side? If I’d encounter one without warning, I think that would **really** break my brain. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/54 "2009-02-28T04:09:15Z")
> [@in\_hiding](#): > > There are exit lanes on the fast lane of an interstate? Like… … on the left side? If I’d encounter one without warning, I think that would **really** break my brain. :eek: They’re rare, and becoming rarer. I think the standards were rewritten at some point so they don’t build any more, and remove the existing ones when highways are rebuilt or widened. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/55 "2009-02-28T04:47:26Z")
“Drive right; pass left,” is just _not_ the _de facto_ rule in the U.S, no matter how many message board posters wish it were (not that you’re somehow wrong for wishing that or anything). It’s pretty much just “left lane, go faster; right lane, go slower”. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/56 "2009-02-28T05:50:37Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > “Drive right; pass left,” is just _not_ the _de facto_ rule in the U.S, no matter how many message board posters wish it were (not that you’re somehow wrong for wishing that or anything). It’s pretty much just “left lane, go faster; right lane, go slower”. The fact that people don’t know how to drive does not make it “not a rule”; it makes them idiots. It’s the law. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/57 "2009-02-28T05:59:33Z")
> [@in\_hiding](#): > > There are exit lanes on the fast lane of an interstate? Like… … on the left side? If I’d encounter one without warning, I think that would **really** break my brain. :eek: There are quite a few of these left on I-5 in Seattle, I’m sad to say. The mess thus created is pretty horrific. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/58 "2009-02-28T06:02:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The fact that people don’t know how to drive does not make it “not a rule”; it makes them idiots. > > It’s the law. It’s not the law in California, at least. (Specifically, it is not illegal to pass on the right.) Ed ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/59 "2009-02-28T06:15:07Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > It’s not the law in California, at least. (Specifically, it is not illegal to pass on the right.) > > Ed [QUOTE=California Vehicle Code] 21754. The driver of a motor vehicle may overtake and pass to the right of another vehicle only under the following conditions: (a) When the vehicle overtaken is making or about to make a left turn. (b) Upon a highway within a business or residence district with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two or more lines of moving vehicles in the direction of travel. (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. (d) Upon a one-way street. (e) Upon a highway divided into two roadways where traffic is restricted to one direction upon each of such roadways. \*\*The provisions of this section shall not relieve the driver of a slow moving vehicle from the duty to drive as closely as practicable to the right hand edge of the roadway. \*\* [/QUOTE] [my bolding] It may not be illegal to do it, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be cited if you cause an accident doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585/60 "2009-02-28T12:21:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [my bolding] > It may not be illegal to do it, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be cited if you cause an accident doing it. Based on that I’d think it’d be the slow moving vehicle that failed to move right that would get the ticket, not the one passing on the right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-from-usa-and-100mph-high-speed-pursuits/487585.md?page=4)