Coming to Florida I was pretty surprised that passing on the right, on a 2-lane highway, was common and acceptable. Up north, a 2-lane highway's right lane is the travel/exit lane, and the left lane is the passing lane. If you're not planning on passing someone, you get back to the right lane. If you want to pass someone in the right lane, you move to the left lane and pass them.
On a three lane highway, the right lane is the "local" lane - for entering and exiting the highway and for people who want to drive slower than the rest of traffic. The middle lane is the through-lane, and the left lane is the passing lane.
It was this way in Boston, and Connecticut, and New York, New Jersey - pretty much everywhere. It applied only to highways that had exits, not to 2-lane state roads with cross streets.
And obviously if the left lane was backed up due to an accident, everyone shifted over to the right. But when traffic's moving, you pass on the left, cruise in the center or right if there's no center lane.
On highways where there are 4 lanes going in the same direction, the left-most lane is still passing only. Right lane is local (enter and exit), and the center two lanes are for cruising.
No idea why Florida never caught up with this concept, considering how many accidents there are on the highways down here.
|