"space on both sides"
Please keep to the right when you are able.
this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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At least where I am in the US, it's generally good etiquette to be in the middle lane so cars can merge onto the highway easily.
Where I am the on ramps aren't so frequent that it's implausible to move over once in a while when there's an onramp.
this is completely incorrect—stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be on the highway for a while. if there are 3 or more lanes, the right is generally for exiting, far left for passing and middle for general travel.
Depends. If in the US the majority of states have “keep right except to pass” laws along with “failure to yield” laws. Some states do have exceptions for busy merging areas that say taking the center lane is acceptable for the duration.
So if someone is camping the center lane slower than prevailing traffic in that lane they are potentially violating two laws.
I don’t know where you are, so I write this for US people seeing as there seems to be a growing issue of people using the center of three lanes as a slow lane and it really fucks up the flow.
Wrong.
Several states have “stay in the right lane unless passing” laws.
It depends on the country. In France for example, middle and left are for passing.
It depends on the flow of traffic. The rightmost lane makes sense when there isn't slow and frequent traffic in it and there isn't someone going faster behind you, otherwise you are creating more traffic by constantly switching lanes and making everyone else deal with it. It also depends on whether the lanes are going to be bifurcated or have to deal with exits or entries.
I disagree that changing lanes "creates more traffic." Even moving right for 30 seconds allows faster traffic behind you to move over. In fact, lots of country roads have passing lanes open up for 2 km stretches where cars are expected to move over only for that distance.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8535848/
https://www.teguyinc.com/post/key-common-sense-behaviours-that-can-improve-traffic-flow
https://scisimple.com/en/articles/2025-09-29-the-impact-of-lane-changes-on-traffic-flow--a9pvypw
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09014-x
You do you, which apparently means skipping over the conditionals of my comment.
Middle, and the right if no middle available.
They forgot the passes you and then slows down.
I'm a school bus driver and I get tailgaters like this all the time. They don't seem to grasp that I absolutely cannot see them at all when they're that close, not in my mirrors nor even through the windows in the back door. It's extra fun when they do it in a 15mph school zone and lay on the horn for good measure. Like yeah dude, I'm going to speed through a school zone in a fucking school bus so you can get to the red light up ahead five seconds sooner, thanks for letting me know.
Dude yesterday I was driving the few hundred feet between 2 school zones at about 8am and this car comes up behind me and honks at me for going 22ish and at first I go "huh yeah I suppose I should have my lights on it is kinda overcast out" and turned my lights on. Then I realized as they tailgated they were mad that I was going a couple mph under the limit. So when I reached the next school zone (which is actually setup for a park so no children present at 8am) I slowed all the way down to 15mph which really got them to lay on their horn. They then sped off from behind me into the high school when I turned onto the road the highschool is on. Like bro, if you're that late to class the extra 30 seconds of commute time driving a bit slower isn't going to make any difference, but your anger level absolutely will
Anyways folks need to calm down on the "gotta go fast" mentality. I've biked that same route, as in all manual hauling 100lbs of kids behind me. If it makes no noticable difference going 2-10mph (depending on hills) while biking it's not going to make any difference at all whether you go 22mph or 27mph. And I find it wild that folks don't play with that at all. Even when I had a 70 mile commute I tested it and found no noticable change in commute time whether I went exactly the speed limit or 5-8mph over the limit (speed of traffic) but I did see a noticable reduction in gas consumption by going a bit slower, as in an entire gallon of fuel each direction saved
I clean my windshield if someone is too close behind.
The wind always carries some spray over the top and hits their car and they have to wipe their windshield.
It might seem petty, but seems to trigger something subconscious that makes them back off a bit.
It always seems to work
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I've had tailgaters while driving on the fucking right lane, but the worst are the ones that keep blinking the headlights despite me driving close to the speed limit on highways that have speed cameras every 200m.
Worst I've seen is in the Chicago loop you can be stopped at a red light and people will come up behind you and lay on their horn to get out of their way so that they can run the red. Like taking a walk around being a tourist for an hour I saw it happen basically every light cycle at at least one light within my line of site that entire time
If you’re in the right lane, and people are blinking their lights, those people need to fuck off and die.
I like the ones that ride your ass when you're leaving an appropriate distance while in the left lane behind a dozen cars passing a line of a dozen cars at 1km/h because the driver at the front is oblivious
like, what do you want me to do, buddy? we're here for the next five to ten minutes and nothinge I can do will change that
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What is it with people who stay in the middle lane whilst driving slow when there's nobody of the right lane which is were the driving code says they're suppose to be?
This depends on the country/state, the speed limit of the road, and possibly other local laws.
Broadly speaking, in the US on roads with speed limits at or above 55mph: the laws for many states require keeping right except to pass. [Generally] On roads under 55mph: there is no such rule but it's not uncommon for people to think there is, probably due to confusion with the 55+ law, or perhaps there's a different state or local law where they live.
99.9% of people don't look up differing traffic laws before driving through multiple states, which is why most differences are posted with road signage.
On highways in town no such rule.
they're selfish and ignorant
Depending on the road, this might be reasonable.
The right lane is often used for exiting or merging, so being in the middle lane is safer and allows others to use the right lane for this purpose more easily.
Frequently switching between right and middle lane because of the occasional slower/merging car only increases the chances of a collision, because switching lanes is more complicated than staying in one lane.
Staying in one lane all throughout the drive reduces cognitive load for the driver. This means they're less distracted and can respond better to surprises or emergencies. (I'm assuming they're not distracted by something else like using their phone, that's a whole other topic)
In urban areas, the right lane is closer to parked cars, cyclists and pedestrians, making it inherently more dangerous to drive in.
So yeah, if the right lane is completely empty of cars and it's not an urban area, they should use it. Otherwise, middle lane is probably the best choice.
You thouched the core of the thing at the very end: basically how appropriate or not it is to ride in center lane when there's plenty of room in the rightmost lane depends on how frequent exits and entrances are in the stretch of road you're in as well as how those entrances and exits are setup (basically, how long is the merge lane), the speed you're going at and the risk due to things on the side of the road.
I don't think anybody is contesting not being on the right lane all the time in an avenue in the middle of a city where there are constant junctions with side streets.
That said your "cognitive load" theory is all about doing what's best for yourself and fuck everybody else - if somebody is needlessly on the center lane when there's plenty of room on the right lane and plenty of distance between entrances, then they're just needlesslesy forcing others to endanger themselves by going into an even more dangerous lane, and doing because they lazy and selfish (because having to pay attention maybe once every couple of minutes to entrances or overtaking isn't all that much cognitive load unless one is an actual moron in the scientific sense.
That's the same logic used by people who don't use direction indicators unless it's helpful for them personally.
The optimal level of selfishness so that the road is as safe as possible for everybody is quite a bit below "whatever is less of a hassle for me".
The middle lane is an overtaking lane just like any other lanes toward the middle of the roadway (reverse that for the handful of countries that drive on the other side of the road). Every country I've sat for a drivers test in has had that as a very basic concept and the single country I've actually seen it followed had the best damn driving experience (German's follow the rules and their roads are better for it).
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Conclusion after reading the comments: the country information is very relevant!! In Germany tailgating is forbidden, and is also driving in the middle lane. It is forbidden to pass using the right lane in highways. In USA I remember the recommendation was different, try to stay in your lane, they considered the constant change of lanes more dangerous than passing using the right lane.
Moral of the story: Don't judge without the complete information.
Also depends a bit by state (in the USA), Georgia enacted a law that essentially made it illegal to be passed on the right, speeding or not, if you are slower than the car behind you they want you to be to the right (https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-40/chapter-6/article-9/section-40-6-184/).
Relevant point: Driving in the middle lane in Germany is allowed as long as there's at least infrequent slower traffic on the right lane. There's been a supreme court ruling on this.
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