[Freeda]

Impeding the flow of traffic by staying in the left lane, even if driving at the speed limit, is also a hazard because it can delay emergency response vehicles; and there are situations, such as some medical emergencies, where even an ordinary citizen has no reasonable alternative but to speed, and is legally excused, by the doctrine of necessity, from observing the speed limit as long as they are not recklessly endangering other vehicles; and they need to be able to pass in the left lane traffic that is in the right lane, even if it is moving at the speed limit. That is another reason why the left lane is a passing lane; not a lane for continued driving.

I'll confess though that there was a time in my earlier days when I didn't realize, or at least if I did I didn't always observe, these rules (i.e., that I shouldn't keep driving in the left lane; and that being in that final stretch to get home at the end of a road trip, or not wanting to be discourteous by keeping my girls'-night-out friends waiting, did not, unfortunately for me, rise to the level of urgency that, to an officer's mind, warranted speeding, despite their politely professed empathy for my misjudgment). So, those couple of times in my life I did later wish that someone driving at the speed limit had impeded me in the left lane, and from those regrets I reformed and began reserving that lane only for passing.