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Comment by alexktz | Hacker News Reader

In the UK passing on the right (well left for us of course) is illegal and called undertaking. I know it's not illegal here but it still winds me up!

I think it's actually really quite dangerous to have cars passing you on both sides when you're already going 5 over to "fit in". It'd be much better if like in Europe people pulled out to overtake and back in when done and that lane surfers had a little a patience now and again. A few seconds really does not matter. Especially when you overtake them 5 mins later as they're texting anyway!!

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If you are being passed on the right in the US then you are doing it wrong. Slower traffic keep right except to pass. By your definition, you're in the wrong lane.

Lane surfing happens in the US because people here don't understand how to drive on freeways. It is non-existent in Germany because drivers there know how to drive.

I used to live in Seattle, a perfect example of a city that has enough freeway but still has traffic jams because people drive cluelessly. Not just my opinion, but the opinion of traffic enforcement in Washington.

And people on their phones while driving just make the situation worse.

I believe this is true in most of Europe - stay to the right except when passing, which you do on the left.

On the other hand, some cities (such as LA) have off-ramps on both the left and right sides, not to mention many multi-lane freeway interchanges located on both sides... combined with Google Maps telling you at the last minute that you need to be in the left 3 lanes, followed by immediately being in the right-most lane in order to get on the right freeway. Almost every visit to LA requires 1 or 2 retries on a few of these freeways. When I'm not constrained for time, I often opt for much slower side streets to avoid the utter insanity of some interchanges.

>undertaking. I know it's not illegal here

I believe it varies state to state.

Agree that the US test is laughably easy to pass compared to the UK, though.

It wouldn't be possible to undertake if folks had proper lane discipline in the first place, although the UK also has it's fair share of Middle Lane Morons

I've heard speak of 'the orbit game' - legally pass the MLM on the left, then pull across into the right lane, slow down so they pass you, then pull into the right lane and pass them again, see how many times you can 'orbit' them

I was in a car where the driver was stopped for prolonged driving in the passing lane in a US midwestern or plains state. This was maybe 25 years ago, but this has been a violation in at least one state at some point.

Same thing happened to my SO in MA a few months ago - I told her she deserved it

No ticket though. They probably use it as an excuse to pull people over to try and ding them for other stuff

Yep,if that's what is meant by lane surfing then that would be a bad idea too. I was referring to lane discipline.

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