Left lane as passing lane - doesn't apply for all streets/all the time?
 

I've noticed we've had threads in the past about people complaining about slow drivers in the left lane (mostly on the freeway but also on city streets too).

My question is, people always say "stick to the right lane unless you're passing" and just leave it at that.


Well what about situations like:


1. Rush hour? Or hell not even rush hour, pick a time like say 12-1pm during the daytime. If you've been on hastings or Kingsway/Broadway/12th Ave, etc. you'll see that there's just a lot of cars. Clearly the left lane rule shouldn't apply then? A majority of the time when I'm driving on those streets (10am, 2pm doesn't matter), I can never practice the whole 'left lane = passing/fast lane, right lane = slow lane" rule because of the volume of traffic.
So I take it when people complain about slow drivers, it's always during times when there aren't a lot of traffic?
Also, it doesn't make sense to have only 1 lane filled with cars during times of heavy traffic (obviously).


2. Streets like Prior, 41st ave, or 12th ave, (some parts on the west side), where the curb lane usually has parked cars. Would one be considered violating the rule just because they drive on the left lane (almost all drivers drive in the left lane). I tried driving on 41st west bound (starting from Rupert) and even though there are stretches of road where there are no parked cars, you WILL encounter parked cars often. So naturally it doesn't really make sense to drive on the curb lane. Let's face it it's annoying as hell to drive and then oops there's a parked car, but now you can't switch lanes because the left lane has a lot of cars so you have to sit and wait.

3. Left turns. Since you would switch to the left lane (sometimes a few blocks early) to prepare for a left turn, it's inevitable that there will be cars in the left lane who aren't passing.
I would post this in the police forum but I figure there'd be more response here plus I'm not really trying to find out what the "law" says really.
On an offhand note, I did make a topic about midblock turns http://www.revscene.net/forums/turni...k-t563210.html which should reinforce the staying out of the left lane rule, that way you won't get frustrated at being stuck behind a left turner.


For the record, I follow the left lane/right lane rule and agree that it's the best way to keep traffic flowing smoothly and keep road rage down, but I find that it's rarely useful in the city, unless it's during periods where traffic isn't too heavy.

THEN AGAIN, it might just be that most of the time the people in the left lane are just going slow and holding up the line making it APPEAR as if both lanes have to be used because traffic volume is high :D

what do you guys think?

Theres just too much traffic in city during the day for the pass left rule.
Only time I follow it is on the highways.

this is Vancouver, what do you expect? Bad drivers that do not know the rules or etiquette

yea only time i follow this rule is on the highway.

lol. I've seen people get chased by the cops from behind when speeding on the left though. lol

obviously there are lanes where it does not apply. when its clear traffic in front of the dude turtle driving it on the left lane then yea that dude should move over.

on the flip side tho I've had impatient people tail gate me trying to get me to move over or go faster even tho if i did they would just move one car up in traffic which is really stupid.

Just drive in a way that allows faster traffic to get past you, if possible. Is that so fucking hard?

^Apparently it is for most people