Overtake on the left. Really?

Factual Questions
1

This is something that has always been bugging me ever since I started driving.

It first caught my attention with a bumper sticker I remember very distinctly:
“<-- Passing side/Suicide -->”

I thought it was just a retarded bumper sticker. Then I noticed people constantly mentioning “Passing on the right is dangerous”, and I thought about it for a minute and concluded somebody else simply didn’t. Then I heard that some jurisdictions make passing on the right illegal. Say what? Now I am firmly confused because usually I can figure some sort of reasoning behind laws and ideas, but I can’t even come up with a passable theory right now as to why would somebody decide passing on the right is more dangerous than passing on the left. To me they’re both about equally safe, but passing on the left requires a little more care and I am less comfortable with it. If I had to pick the more dangerous one it would be passing on the left, not passing on the right. Note that when I say passing I mean using another lane in the same direction on a highway, not passing on the hard shoulder(right) or oncoming lane(left), and I am referring to driver-sits-left-and-drives-on-the-right countries.

Passing is the act of 1) Wait until there is a big enough clearing ahead and next to you in your passing lane of choice 2) Do a shoulder check, change lanes 3) Overtake the car that was in front of you, get a safe distance past them 4) Do a shoulder check, make sure the space ahead of the car you passed is still clear, change lanes back.

Steps 1 and 2 for passing on the left involves merging into a lane that typically has traffic that is traveling faster than you are. As in when there is sufficient clearing somebody behind you is quickly closing on it. For passing on the right Steps 1 and 2 involve merging into a lane that typically has traffic traveling slower than you are. When there is sufficient clearing, the car ahead of you and in plain view is the one closing the gap. Since you are the one performing the maneuver, it’s your responsibility to estimate a sufficient clearance to finish it without causing anybody else to do anything (like slow down, etc.) and that’s a lot easier and safer with things ahead of you, not behind.

Steps 3 and 4 also seem safer on the right. For passing on the right, the issue is that while you are executing step 3 somebody might merge in front of you into your clearing causing you to slow down and get stuck in that lane. For passing on the left you’re running a much bigger risk of somebody merging into your clearing and possibly right into your right blind spot causing a collision during step 4.

So what gives? As far as car maneuvers go that involve changing lanes I consider there are four, with the safest being accelerating and merging into a clearing on the right. Second safest accelerating and merging into a clearing on the left. Third safest (not particularly safe actually) is decelerating and merging into a clearing on your right. And fourth completely unsafe one is decelerating and merging into a clearing on your left. I’m sure this is just a :smack: on my part and I am not considering some factor, but it’s legal in my state and I am much more comfortable passing on the right.

Groman
P.S. I have this weird deja-vu feeling I’ve posted on this same topic some time ago but I can’t find it, nor do I actually know (or remember?) the answer. So I apologize if this is the case.

2

In California, feel free to use any lane, absent signs advising otherwise. In general, we don’t have any “Keep right except to pass” areas. There’s just too many cars here to be wasting an entire lane like that.

Just stay off the shoulder, OK? That’s a definite “keep off” area, unless you’re changing a tire.

3

This is only true so long as people don’t use the right lane to pass others.

4

In the US, the left lane is the passing lane.

Yes, okay, there seems little reason behind it, but if everyone observed the rule, highway driving would be a lot safer. The main reason being that you should be able to switch from the left to the right lane without worrying that anyone is trying to pass you on the right. Of course, 90% of drivers ignore the rule, so you’ve got to be doubly careful switching back into the crusing (right) lane from the passing (left) lane.

The more important aspect of the rule, in my opinion, involves passing big-rigs. IANA truck driver, but if you do a lot of inter-city highway driving, you’ll notice that semis always cruise in the right lane. Since the driver sits on the left side of the cab, their field of vision is much clearer on their left, and it’s easier to see cars passing them in the passing lane. If I am approaching a semi crusing (for whatever reason) in the left lane, I *NEVER * attempt to pass it on the right. They’ll eventually switch lanes when they see you behind them. You learn in drivers-ed that this practice is suicidal, and most tractor-trailer vs. automoble accidents on the highway result from someone trying to pass a semi on the right.

5

The following is IMHO: Having all had all all my driving experience in a jurisdiction where passing on the right is disallowed except in some defined low-speed circumstances (Germany) this rule feels safer for me, because when merging to the right I can be sure of nobody approaching from my five o’clock. Useful when I see a car approach in the rear mirror with 200 km/h to my 120. It also makes for less lane changes because an overtaking car can overtake a long line of slower cars on one lane, rather than having to weave between them.

Of course in a road system where there may be exits or turnoffs to rest areas from the left lane (as I have seen in the US) there are drawbacks to only-pass-on-the left.

6

I’ve always confused by this. When we say “passing,” do we mean the act of following a vehicle, changing lanes to get past said vehicle, then finally returning to the same lane, except ahead of the original vehicle? Or is it anytime your car passes another on the freeway?

Furthermore, assuming we should always pass on the left, does that mean the cars in the lanes to the right should never exceed the speed of the ones in left lanes? What if the left lane gets backed up; then aren’t all the cars in the right lane illegally passing them?

7

I’ve read this over and over, and I really have no idea what you’re trying to say, or why you feel that passing on one side would be inherently safer or more dangerous than the other. AFAICT, it’s the same maneuver either way. I’m particularly puzzled about what you mean with this “things in front of you” business. Passing on either side, you’ll be coming up from behind a car that’s in front of you and putting it behind you.

Until you can clarify, here is my response on why passing on the left is the standard procedure in most places in the U.S.

I’m guessing that you’re less than 30 or 40 years old. If so, you may not know that as late as the 1960s or '70s, not all cars had right sideview mirrors. This is one reason passing on the right is considered more dangerous, because some people won’t be able to see you approaching.

Even on cars with right side mirrors, many people tend not to look at them as much as they do their left side and rear view mirrors.

And even where it’s not required by law, it is a general principle that the average speed of lanes increases as you move left. Passing on the right violates this principle, and to the extent that people aren’t expecting a car to pass on the right, it is dangerous.

Finally you referred to 'shoulder checks" and “blind spots.” In a car with mirrors on both sides (and a center rearview mirror, of course), and all mirrors adjusted correctly, there will be NO blind spots, and in most circumstances there should be no need to turn your head to look at the “blind spot.” In fact, a “shoulder check” can be dangerous because it can cause you to make small, involuntary twitches of the steering wheel.

8

Cite?

I explicitly remember leaning in driver’s ed, as recently as 5 years ago, that there are definitely blind spots on either side of the vehicle, regardless of how well adjusted your mirrors are or not.

Failure to turn your head prior to a lane change was reason enough for failing a test.

9

It’s really simple. On most highways the traffic enters and exits on the right. So the right lanes tend to move more slowly. Passing requires that you speed up and go faster than the traffic ahead of you. If you pass on the left you’re doing it in a lane that people already expect will have faster traffic. If you pass on the right you’re going faster in a lane that people expect to be moving more slowly-- which can lead to surprise and momentary confusion. Traffic flows more smoothly and safely when drivers aren’t surprised or confused by what other drivers are doing.

10

Okay, I’ll give you the Australian experience on this. We drive on the left of the road, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll convert and pretend we drive on the right, so only one person has to do the mental gymnastics (aren’t I sweet? :cool: ):

Passing on the right is illegal, EXCEPT where each vehicle is using a marked lane in the same direction of travel, and then only when there are no signs prohibiting it. That said, it’s discouraged by any driving instructor worth his or her salt, but that said, most knuckle-draggers seem to do it these days anyway - and it pisses me off no end.

You are in the middle lane of three, and some bozo comes charging up behind you like a bat out of hell. You might just let him overtake, or you might come to the conclusion that you are travelling too slowly for that lane, and decide to pull right into the slow lane. If Mr Bozo overtakes on the right at the same moment, then it’s rear-ender city. That’s one reason.

Another reason is that, as mentioned above, overtaking on the right goes against the intuitive concept of speeds increasing the further left you go. After all, when you are merging onto a freeway, it can be daunting enough in a smaller car trying to get to freeway speeds in the limited space of the joining ramp. And that’s bad enough merging onto the slow lane. If idiots decide to turn the right lane into the fast one, it’s considerably harder again.

A third reason has been mentioned above, and somebody asked for a cite. I don’t have a cite either, but my experience is that the blind spot on the right is a little worse than that on the left.

A fourth reason: a car runs out of gas or suffers a blown tyre, it’s going to want to pull over - not roll to a stop in one of the middle lanes because arseholes are flying by on the right.

What’s really annoying these days is that I’ll be travelling in the middle lane, and there is no traffic on either side. People invariably overtake in the slow lane. Why do it?

There’s a lot to lane management that isn’t obvious to the average driver. One time I was watching a cop car flying down the road at speed, sirens blaring - this bloke was in a hurry. The road was two lanes each way. The cop was in the left (fast lane). Cars were pulling over to the right for him, except for one car which was seemingly oblivious of his presence, and stayed put in the left lane. At this point there was no traffic in the right lane. I was expecting the cop to give up and overtake on the right. But he didn’t. He crossed the double centre lines to the wrong side of the road. Oncoming traffic consisted of one car only. This car was travelling in the fast lane. The cop just continued on a head on course. I thought this was madness, until I realised I was watching some advanced driver training in action. Cop couldn’t overtake the first car (travelling in the same directiion) by moving right, because that person might have moved right at the last minute (remember there was a huge speed differential here). So he crossed to the wrong side of the road. He couldn’t move to the oncoming slow lane because the car coming on a head-on course would have seen the cop approaching, freaked out, and moved there itself. So he knew that the oncoming car had seen him, and a head-on collision course was therefore safer than using either of the two available free lanes. The oncoming car did of course move to its right. I was quite impressed.

11

For many vehicles, there’s a blind spot on the right even if you turn your head.

But ultimately, the fundamental reasoning for this rule is the same as for the ‘drive on the right’ rule. It doesn’t matter that much which side is the official passing side, but it really improves overall safety if everyone agrees to the same rule and sticks to it. And our highways (with the entrance and exit ramps mostly on the right) are mostly designed under a ‘right lane(s) cruising, left lane(s) passing’ expectation.

12

To clarify, I meant the move isn’t perfectly symmetrical for highways with fastest traffic in the left lane. It’s also not perfectly symmetrical because you are on the left side of your car.

Now, something I forgot to mention about passing is that most people pass by accelerating and changing lanes at the same time. As in they don’t change lanes first and then accelerate. If you are passing on the left and you suffer a malfunction that causes you to lose control you have a greater chance of flying into oncoming traffic, if you are passing on the right like this and suffer a malfunction that causes you to lose control you have a greater chance of going to the right. Oncoming traffic seems inherently more dangerous.

13

This site describes the process of correctly adjusting your mirrors. This site has a nice animated illustration of the principle (but not as good a description of how to go about it).

Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry on blind spots has an illustration that incorrectly claims that a car to the right and slightly behind will be in a blind spot. But the picture clearly shows that the driver of the blue car can see the rear left quarter panel of the red car on his right. And if the red car moves any further forward, his nose will be visible in the driver’s peripheral vision. Hence, no blind spot.

It is possible that a very small car or a motorcycle could briefly disappear in a small blind spot, but this would be a rare occurrence.

14

I seem to recall that stripped “work truck” models of pickup truck didn’t get passenger side mirrors for even longer; at one point in the '80s I recall them having been an option you’d have to pay for.

15

So if I’m cruising along in the right lane and see a slowpoke in the left lane ahead of me, what do I do?

16

If the slow poke and I are the only cars in the situation, I flash my headlights to get their attention. Alot of the time they move over so I can pass. Sometimes they are just oblivious. In those cases I will pass on the right.

17

I think acceptability of passing on the right is something that distinguishes urban traffic patterns. City freeways tend to be so messed up with left exits, bizarre merges and splits, and people with destinations that necessitate their moving quickly across 3 or four lanes of traffic that any kind of sane lane discipline is a physical impossibility. Under those circumstances, drivers should just be aware that people will pass on the right, slow drivers who want to take the left exit or left hand split up ahead will be moving into the left lane, etc, and cope. Outside the city, you shouldn’t pass on the right.

18

My mother-in-law had a Toyota Tercel without a passenger side mirror back when we were in college, so this was still optional equipment in the late 90s.

19

Just drive past it. “Passing,” in this context, means changing lanes (twice) to go around a vehicle that is driving in the same lane you intend to continue on in, once you’ve gotten by it.


1.   [You]    ----->       [Them]   --> 

     
2.        [You]  ----->             (You have now changed into the left lane)
       [Them] -->
3.                     [You] ----->
     [Them]  -->    
4.   [Them]  -->             [You] ----->    (You're now back in the right lane)
20

Unless we are restricting this discussion to freeways, which the OP didn’t seem to be doing, there are also pedestrians to think of. They will be on the right, and cars accelerating to pass left-laners will be more of a danger to them.