I can't begin to describe how much I disagree with this. The speed limit is the limit to how fast you are legally allowed to drive. No lane legally enables you to go faster. The attitudes normalizing speeding are stupid. You're not entitled to go dangerous speeds.
It's very simple, the left lane is for passing and the right lane is for not passing. It's clearly defined as such.
40mph semi passing a heavier/slower 35mph semi, while annoying at times, is a completely correct use of the lane. As is someone going the speed limit passing someone else going 5 under. A 250mph Lambo passing a 220mph Porsche is also using the lane correctly.
Speeding is completely separate. If someone is speeding then they might get a speeding ticket, but it will not matter at all which lane they happen to be in. If they get a ticket related to the lane they are in, it would be in relation to incorrectly using the lane (such as passing on the right. The left lane is not for blocking speeders, its for passing. Call the cops if you would like them ticketed for driving dangerously, but blocking them just makes an already dangerous situation more dangerous.
My point is everyone is supposed to be in the right lane at all times unless actively passing, including the Lambo. Everyone.
If I'm on a totally empty highway I would drive for the entire journey without going in the left lane as there would be literally no reason to. Doesn't matter at all if I'm driving a slow semi or fast Lambo.
Unless you're in California. Then the left lane is also an exit and the right side exit lane is the passing lane. But only if you're driving more than 30mph over the limit.
I'm not usually a fan of traffic enforcement but god does this state need it.
Meh, it was fine on both motorcycle and by car, at least around LA. Come up to Seattle, everyone fills every lane and drives at exactly the speed limit. It'll drive you fucking nuts.
It's also escalating. I swear the last meme about this was like "if you're not going over the speed limit in the left lane fuck off. That's the crime lane" next year it'll be "if you're not going 50 over all the time fuck you." And the comments will roar in approval.
This is exactly why I think it should be called " the passing lane" because, reasonably, people can argue that if they are going the speed limit they have full right to "the fast lane."
The passing lane gives everyone reasonable access to it. You drive 10 under, but stuck behind someone who is 15 under? Yup you have access to it because you shouldnt have to go slow.
You want to go 5 over? Well, someone else might want to go 10 over. So you stay out of the lane so they can pass.
But in the end it's not up to you to decide whether they are going too fast or now. It's the passing lane and if you aren't currently passing, get out of it.
I don't think it's codified into law everywhere that you have to be passing in it. But even using fast lane as slang is bad because it gives the wrong impression.
Counterpoint. This isn't the law everywhere, and also lots of the laws codifying a left lane as a passing / fast lane happened after I started driving, so from my perspective they're part of a new perspective on it, so my values on this are grounded from a different viewpoint.
Y'all are really arguing that driving 10 over the speed limit, which is illegal in every single United State is less illegal than staying in the left lane and it's such a strange modern attitude.