"Dee D. Flint" wrote:
"Kim W5TIT" writes:

The far left--the "fast" lane as it is called. Funny
thing is, if you mention to people at the office or
wherever, that it doesn't mean the "break the
speed limit lane," you ought to hear the validations
for people doing just that. The argument is along
the lines that this is the lane where, if someone
needs to pass, speeding is legal to get around
them; or, this is the lane where if the majority of
drivers wants to go a little faster than the flow of
traffic, they do it there! (snip)


It just goes to show the exams for a driver's license
are not tough enough.

The "going over the speed limit to complete passing"
applies ONLY to TWO lane highways not multi-lane
highways. Some states don't even allow that. In
those states, if you can't safely pass and stay within
the speed limit, you aren't supposed to pass at all.

According to state laws, the speed limit is the
maximum that one is supposed to drive even in the
"fast lane" with the exception of passing on a TWO
lane highway in some states.


However, in most states, the laws also say slower traffic on multi-lane
highways must move to the right lane to allow others to pass. There are
usually no exceptions to those laws, such as not moving over for speeders.
It is law enforcement's job to enforce the speed limits, not other drivers.
Vehicles impeding other traffic, causing traffic jams and others to take
risks to pass the slower vehicle, is a very common cause of accidents on
multi-lane highways.

In Europe, it's routine to see maximum and minimum speed limits for each
lane of a multi-lane highway. In some countries, you can often get a ticket
faster for going too slow rather than too fast. They also have the
requirement to move to the right to allow faster vehicles to pass. The
general idea of all this is to prevent accidents by keeping traffic in each
lane flowing smoothly, without excessive congestions (crowding) behind
slower moving vehicles.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/