Lane hogging and tailgating on-the-spot fines in force

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. The British rule makes a lot of sense

First, it builds from a basic concept of how you use the road - slow traffic keeps to the left (I'll use the British convention). So a bicycle keeps to the left, and a car overtakes it on the right. If you have 1 lane, and you want to overtake slower traffic, then you overtake on the right, if there's no traffic coming the other way. If you have 2 lanes, then you should drive in the left lane, unless there's a slower vehicle, in which case you overtake it on the right. If there are 3 lanes, then again you drive in the left lane, unless there's slower traffic in it, in which you use the middle lane to pass it. If you're faster than that, then use the right hand lane to overtake that. And so on, if there's a 4th lane.

The problem with allowing overtaking on both sides is that it means 2 cars can, after they've been overtaking, both try to move back into the same point in the middle lane, from places where it's not so easy for either of them to see the other - your mirrors are set up to see the car you've just overtaken, but not one level with you, 2 lanes across (who will have been hidden behind the car you've been overtaking for much of the time). It also makes it difficult to leave the road, if there are people overtaking you on the left and you're in the middle lane.

Having driven in both the USA and the UK, I far prefer the UK system.