Yes, tailgating is bad. Yes, cruising in the middle lane in bad.
In the picture, the person is in the middle lane and not passing anyone. They should move to the right. Because they are in the middle, two different range-of-speed drivers are being funneled into the far left lane, where traffic will start to get clogged. Eventually, assholes will start flicking through traffic with no regard for anyone’s safety. A wreck will happen. This all started because someone was coasting in the middle lane. Don’t stay in the middle lane if you are not passing someone.
In a three lane situation in America, generally the outside lane is for trucks and slower traffic, the middle lane is for cruising, and the inside lane is the passing lane you describe. It is unreasonable to expect a car driving the speed limit in the middle lane to move into the truck lane because someone doesn’t want to use the passing lane to pass slower traffic, which is its purpose. In the picture, moving to the right wouldn’t leave a lot of distance for the car that the car in the middle lane just drove past even if that were the right thing to do.
And none of that empowers anyone to create an unsafe situation for other drivers on the road.
Many states have “keep right except to pass” or similar signage even for three lanes. In a three lane situation I’ve only rarely seen the right hand lane dedicated to trucks and slower cars.
Its not specified but that might be an exit lane on the right. There is a vehicle shown there which may be parked or may be exiting (it isn’t clear) the driver also may have been providing extra space to a stopped vehicle on the side of the highway by moving over a lane (also good practice and not clearly specified in the image)
Yes, tailgating is bad. Yes, cruising in the middle lane in bad.
In the picture, the person is in the middle lane and not passing anyone. They should move to the right. Because they are in the middle, two different range-of-speed drivers are being funneled into the far left lane, where traffic will start to get clogged. Eventually, assholes will start flicking through traffic with no regard for anyone’s safety. A wreck will happen. This all started because someone was coasting in the middle lane. Don’t stay in the middle lane if you are not passing someone.
In a three lane situation in America, generally the outside lane is for trucks and slower traffic, the middle lane is for cruising, and the inside lane is the passing lane you describe. It is unreasonable to expect a car driving the speed limit in the middle lane to move into the truck lane because someone doesn’t want to use the passing lane to pass slower traffic, which is its purpose. In the picture, moving to the right wouldn’t leave a lot of distance for the car that the car in the middle lane just drove past even if that were the right thing to do.
And none of that empowers anyone to create an unsafe situation for other drivers on the road.
Many states have “keep right except to pass” or similar signage even for three lanes. In a three lane situation I’ve only rarely seen the right hand lane dedicated to trucks and slower cars.
You are passing the people that are slowing to exit on the right. Rule applied.
Its not specified but that might be an exit lane on the right. There is a vehicle shown there which may be parked or may be exiting (it isn’t clear) the driver also may have been providing extra space to a stopped vehicle on the side of the highway by moving over a lane (also good practice and not clearly specified in the image)