why is it bad to pass on the right?

Question

i know this is a rule, but why? i cannot think of how or why this would be bad. also, if you’re in the middle lane, pass to the right for an exit, and happen to be going faster than the middle lane, is that illegal?

so sorry if this is mega dumb but i genuinely cannot understand why this is illegal.

In: 0

Answer 1

The general idea is that it’s unsafe on smaller roads. Obviously, it’s unsafe (and wildly illegal) if you’re on a two-lane road, because passing on “the right” means you’re passing on the shoulder, and hopefully the reason why that is illegal and unsafe doesn’t need to be explained.

If you’re on a four-lane highway (meaning, two lanes in each direction), it’s unsafe to do because it’s an unpredictable move. The thing that makes many of the reckless things drivers do “unsafe” is that other drivers aren’t anticipating those unsafe maneuvers, and so they change lanes, or turn, or slow down with no idea that doing so is about to cause an accident, because they didn’t see the psycho weaving in and out of traffic behind them.

So, if someone moves into the left lane to pass someone ahead, or move over for someone on the shoulder, or who-knows-what, they’re not expecting someone else to swoop in next to them on the right to pass, and then they move back over. Or if there was something (or someone) on the shoulder, that you don’t see and they move over and you try to pass on the right thinking they’re just left lane riding, you could hit it (or them).

On larger, multi-lane highways, it’s not as big a deal. Like you said, that rule becomes increasingly impossible to obey the more lanes come into play, and the more unpredictable the traffic situation around you becomes.

Basically, it’s just unsafe to do in many circumstances. However, as you pointed out, there are times it’s either unavoidable, or just sort of “happens” because they were in the left lane and you *needed* to be on the right. You can’t control every circumstance, and you’re not going to get a ticket for being in the right lane when someone slower than you decided to camp on the left like they pay rent there. The idea is just that you don’t go out of your way to try to aggressively get around someone on their right side without a reason.