John Carr, who hosts pages at MIT, compiles state-by-state "keep right" traffic laws along with other short pages on laws and driving.
HN links his table of each state's keep-right laws when people argue about whether driving at the speed limit in the left lane is allowed.
My interpretation is that in a state has an "absolute" speed limit law then you have a successful defense against a ticket for going at the speed limit in the left-most lane when there is faster traffic.
If you are in a state which does not have an absolute speed limit law, then you do not have that defense, and can be fined for going at the speed limit in that situation.
Here is a breakdown of the state laws (undated, and no promises that it's correct or still true) - http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html . The bottom has the following:
> The Uniform Vehicle Code states:
> Upon all roadways any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic ...
> This law refers to the "normal" speed of traffic, not the "legal" speed of traffic. The 60 MPH driver in a 55 MPH zone where everybody else is going 65 MPH must move right. Contrast Alaska's rule, 13 AAC 002.50, allowing vehicles driving at the speed limit to use the left lane, and Colorado rev. stat. 42-4-1103, prohibiting blocking the "normal and reasonable" movement of traffic.
> Enforcement is inconsistent. Toledo police used to ticket truck drivers for driving at the 60 MPH speed limit in the left lane. Police looking for criminal activity frequently use the "keep right" law as a pretext to stop a suspicious car. On the other hand, a New York judge announced that he would not convict…
The role of size of modern gigantic SUVs is vastly overstated. Speed is much more of an issue. But it doubtful that citizens (or planners) would be willing to accept the residential & city speed limits required to meaningfully affect change.
"Across 2000-2019 I estimate that 8,131 pedestrian lives would have been saved if all light trucks had been cars. The reduction would be equal to avoiding 9.5% of all pedestrian deaths"
https://www.justintyndall.com/uploads/2/8/5/5/28559839/tyndall_pedestrian.pdf#page=25
Other countries who have seen large increases in SUV ownership (i.e. other parts of the anglosphere) have still reduced pedestrian fatalities.
https://www.ft.com/content/9c936d97-5088-4edd-a8bd-628f7c7bba31
And the NYTimes found that pedestrian fatalities only increased at night, not during the day, suggesting vehicle size isn't the primary factor.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/11/upshot/nighttime-deaths.html
Even a microcar still weighs 350kg
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/microcar/microcar-mc1-2007-review/
Even a circa 1995 era car moving at 32mph has a 25% fatality rate on pedestrians.
https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2011PedestrianRiskVsSpeedReport.pdf
Even at 23mph there is still a 10% fatality rate. At 16mph there's a 10% risk of severe injury. So you'd need to have residential speed limits something under 20mph and probably under 15mph. Right now residential speed limits in the US are 30-35mph in most…
No. Stop it. This attitude is consistently responsible for the most dangerous road conditions I see driving in America.
Keep right except to pass. Period.
Everybody traveling the same "maximum speed limit" is a fantasy and rarely exists in reality. There are lots of good reasons for traveling over the speed limit (quickly passing to avoid prolonged travel in close proximity to another car, for example).
Left lane cruisers inevitably lead to long queues in the left lane with empty lanes to the right, which leads to people passing on the right, tailgating, and a host of unpredictable situations that increase the danger on the road much, much more than simple speed (duh, many speed limits are arbitrary and political, not based on some absolute "maximum safe speed", which is a ridiculous notion anyway for roads that carry both sports cars and heavy tractor trailers).
Your prescription creates situations in which it is literally impossible to drive safely (and frankly, I'm sick of finding myself in these dangerous and completely unnecessary situations because of Americans' insane (and sometimes illegal[1]) driving practices...I don't want to race anybody, I just want to get to my destination safely and efficiently). Even choosing to waste your time being the slowest car on the road in the right lane, you end up being put in danger by cars trying to right-lane-pass with dangerous closing speeds up to dangerously close distances.
Keep right except to pass.
1. What you…
I disagree with your premise that you are obligated to stay right to enable others to break the law.
My premise is actually a little different, which is that a keep-right law without an exclusion for vehicles travelling the speed limit implicitly condones speeding. I'm questioning the intent of the lawmakers, not suggesting that the state laws should not be followed as they currently exist.
The law says to stay right regardless of speed so there is no corner case based on traffic moving at the legal speed limit.
Well, except (as best as I can tell) for Alaska, Arkansas, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Dakota, plus a couple more that make an exception if you are travelling faster than traffic flow: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html.
Interestingly, though, it looks like the current trend is for states to move away from this approach that I feel is more logical, and switch to a blanket "keep right except to pass" that you seem to prefer. This would suggest that my concerns are becoming less widely shared by others.
I would turn your request for parallel examples around and ask you for examples of a situation where it is ok to break the law to prevent someone else from doing the same.
This is a question that does trouble me, but I'll start by reiterating that I'm not encouraging people to ignore this law. Rather, I'm more interested in whether laws of this sort have an overall positive effect for society.
But answering the question, I think…
> It's strange to see this behaviour as someone living in Germany, where you are supposed to, by default, drive in the right lane if you are not overtaking another car or there is a traffic jam...
That used the be the norm in the US as well, but it has broken down over the past few decades. Some studies and motorist groups blame the nationwide 55 mph speed limit imposed in the 70s due to oil shortages. Slow drivers suddenly felt safe driving in left lanes and a whole generation has learned to drive like this. [1]
There are laws in many states against impeding traffic in the left lane [2], but they aren't that enforced. You also see signs occasionally on the highway, but my issue with these signs is that they say "Slower traffic keep right" (instead of eg, "Stay right except when passing"). I strongly suspect that very view people view themselves as "slow drivers" -- rather everyone tends to believe they drive the appropriate speed and everyone else is driving too slow or too fast.
[1] http://nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/more-states-are-cracking-down-on-left-lane-slowpokes.html?_r=0&referer=
[2] http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
Incorrect, the left lane is only for passing only in certain states, and mainly on roads with only 2 lanes of traffic in each direction.
>The Uniform Vehicle Code states: Upon all roadways any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic ...
>All states allow drivers to use the left lane (when there is more than one in the same direction) to pass. Most states restrict use of the left lane by slow-moving traffic that is not passing. The table below describes the law in effect in each state.
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html