Why Slower Drivers Shouldn’t Hang Around in the Left Lane
The left lane is for overtaking, while driving slowly, keep to the right. This is one of the first things you know when you get your driver’s license, but many drivers forget about it or don’t understand it. Here’s a detailed explanation of why this simple rule is so important.
This video from the Vox YouTube channel explains why left-hand traffic is not only more dangerous for you, but also for those around you, and also significantly impairs traffic. When slow drivers are in both the right and left lane of the highway, faster drivers have to move back and forth to maintain their speed. And, as it turns out, the biggest predictor of an accident is actually the driver’s deviation from the average speed around him, not overspeeding. This means that all this slowing down, moving between lanes and accelerating fast drivers to get around slow drivers is what causes most car accidents.
In fact, a car in the left lane traveling 5 mph slower than traffic is much more likely to cause an accident than a car traveling 5 mph faster, even if the slower car is already past the speed limit. This is why many states have laws that treat the left lane as a pass only. And many government road patrols, including Washington, Texas, and Ohio, start chasing drivers who don’t move. So, if you got a left-hand traffic ticket, now you know why.