carwreck.com: around Boston harbor...

Ethan's Driving Tip of the Day:

Drive Right, Pass Left!

In Germany there is a generally accepted rule known as "drive right, pass left" which highlights the fact that it is against the law to pass another vehicle on the right. This driving method works when everyone stays as far to the right as possible and only moves to the left to pass a car moving slower than they are moving.

I wish this protocol was observed in the US. There are far too many people who park themselves in the left lane of a two or three lane road and force anyone who wants to go around them to pass them on the right. Staying to the right for your traveling makes for fewer speed changes (the primary cause of "rubber-banding" when traffic speeds up and slows down for no apparent reason) and few changes in speed make for less traffic congestion. I make it a practice to move as far to the right as I can as soon as I've passed whatever vehicle I want get around. That leaves room for anyone traveling faster than me to pass me if they wish and keeps me moving at as consistent a speed as possible.

Drive Right, Pass Left, please!

In most of my cross country driving, I've found that people do drive on right, pass on left.

Sure there are the occasional road hogs, but most people stay on the right...

The best part is its the law! But it seams no one follows it, and its one of those cascading things. Everyone learns that when they learn to drive, but since no one else does it, people fall out of the habit. We might even be able to have our own Autobahn if our driving culture was a little more courteous.

In some cases it is best to "bump" a car out of your way.

In order to do so without getting in too much trouble. You must hit the car very quickly. Do not ride their tail or signal.

Another effective but more risky method is to do the "squeeze". This is where you drive on the edge of the lane and possibly banging up the sides of both cars. Please do not attempt to "squeeze" a lane with oncoming traffic... This may prove to have fatal results and is not really fair to the oncoming traffic.

people who just "ride" in the left lane should be decapitated.

drive right, pass left.