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Could Germany's 20-second rule be the solution to the global traffic flow issues? (get out of the fast lane)
essannews ^ | Jan 24, 2024 | BTB

Posted on 01/25/2024 3:46:33 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

You're on a highway or an expressway, adhering to the maximum permitted speed (that's why you chose this route), then you encounter a noticeably slow vehicle that obstinately occupies the left lane. No indication suggests that the driver is attempting to overtake - they might be satisfying a selfish whim, lacking driving experience, or any other obscure reason. A driver like this forces others to brake, reducing traffic fluidity.

In these instances, impatient and discourteous drivers might flash their lights or even honk their horns, which is inappropriate. A desire to travel at the maximum permissible speed does not justify road aggression, not even possessing a car that can quickly attain such speeds. In some countries, overtaking on the right in such scenarios is permissible, but necessitates slowing down and ensuring the slower vehicle does not decide to change lanes.

Contrarily, in Germany, overtaking on the right is prohibited. But besides adhering to the fundamental rule of driving in the right-hand lane, a 20-second rule applies. Established over 30 years ago through a court verdict, this norm stipulates how long you can traverse the left or middle lane if you're not currently overtaking. Meaning, if it's feasible to stay in the right lane for over 20 seconds, you should utilise it.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: fastlane; leftlane; passing; slowdrivers
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Just A Car Guy: Good ol Gary Larson and the Far Side
1 posted on 01/25/2024 3:46:33 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

No, absolutely no, literally make sit impossible to not get a ticket from police.

Just enforce the laws around slowing traffic flow as they stand. has anyone ever seen or heard of anyone being ticketed for blocking traffic?

https://www.mwl-law.com/slower-traffic-keep-right-a-summary-of-state-keep-right-traffic-laws/


2 posted on 01/25/2024 3:51:18 AM PST by Skwor
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I learned to drive in Missouri in 1967. The instructors were adamant about passing in the left lane and getting back to the right lane.

My wife learned to drive in California the same year. I think the CA instructors taught her to get to the left lane as soon as you can and stay there, regardless of your speed and traffic flow.


3 posted on 01/25/2024 3:57:03 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

“... impatient and discourteous drivers might flash their lights or even honk their horns, which is inappropriate ...”

Inappropriate? Discourteous? WTAF ...

Flashing headlights to request a slower vehicle to move over is a courtesy that has been around since cars started to have headlights. Of course honking one’s horn at highway speeds is fruitless as the car in front of you probably has their windows up and radio blasting making your honking unheard.

Having a dash cam is a good idea if a left lane bandit (LLB) is encountered. Your recording of a driver’s refusal to move over may be the evidence that gets a ticket for the LLB or jail time should road rage ensue.


4 posted on 01/25/2024 4:01:09 AM PST by ByteMercenary (Cho Bi Dung and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

It is also illegal to pass on the right in France. An exception would be a traffic circle.


5 posted on 01/25/2024 4:20:59 AM PST by the_Watchman
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To: ByteMercenary

Germans have been flashing their headlights at cars traveling too slowly in the left lane for decades. It means move over to the right lane. No one seems to get road rage from it. At least, they didnt when I drove there. And as I recall there were no speed limits in the left lane. That must have changed.


6 posted on 01/25/2024 4:22:51 AM PST by silverleaf (“Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out” —David Horowitz)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

How long is it permissible to leave your turn signal on after changing lanes?


7 posted on 01/25/2024 4:26:47 AM PST by I-ambush (From the brightest star comes the blackest hole. You had so much to offer, why didya offer your sou?)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I learned to drive on 2 lane federal highways. At night there was a light blinking code to pass.


8 posted on 01/25/2024 4:32:01 AM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again," )
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To: silverleaf
You can be driving 150 mph on the autobahn and still get rear-ended!


9 posted on 01/25/2024 4:32:12 AM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

We don’t enforce current law, why create yet another one?


10 posted on 01/25/2024 4:37:48 AM PST by CodeToad (Rule #1: The elites want you dead.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

My car has a flash to pass on the light lever. I use it every time when passing on 2 lane roads as a courtesy, a heads up, a safety flash for both the driver I am over taking and myself, as notice that I am coming around. Too many distracted drivers and when passing on 2 lane roads, I do not pass a car slowly when I pull out. I never flash if I am not immediately pulling into the opposite lane.

Nothing wrong with flash to pass on multilane roads either to get a slow car out of the fast lane. It is not discourtesy, it is simply to announce, to get the attention of the inattentive driver in the left lane.


11 posted on 01/25/2024 4:49:57 AM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

A big difference is in Germany most big roads You exit left and enter right.

People cruising in the right lane block both people entering and leaving the road.


12 posted on 01/25/2024 4:50:04 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: Skwor

“...has anyone ever seen or heard of anyone being ticketed for blocking traffic?”

High school classmate turned trooper told me this one.

He was heading towards Winchester on Rt. 7 one day and the traffic was slowing up and doing the accordion, and when he got up to the cause it it was a bicyclist all dressed up in his lycra professional bicyclist outfit and he was drifting in and out of the traffic lane and people couldn’t easily pass.

Finally he gets in the left lane lights up on gets to where the bicyclist is and pulls him over. The bicyclist proceeds to demand his rights to the road as he is a bicyclist and the road belongs to him just as much as the other vehicles... etc etc, they argued a bit, the trooper ended with issueing a ticket for impeding traffic and told the jerk that this was his patrol area and he didn’t want to deal with him again. “See you in court I will be there.”


13 posted on 01/25/2024 5:03:38 AM PST by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: the_Watchman

Why is it illegal to pass on the right? What if the car in the left lane is going slower than the speed limit?


14 posted on 01/25/2024 5:04:14 AM PST by jeffc (Resident of the free State of Florida)
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To: silverleaf
Germans have been flashing their headlights at cars traveling too slowly in the left lane for decades.

The problem here in the US is when you are in the left lane, passing a line of cars in the middle lane, and then some jerk traveling 35 miles over the speed limit comes flying up in back and starts flashing his/her lights while riding your bumper. When I am done passing the cars that I am passing I will get over, but I have no obligation to rapidly squeeze into the traffic in the middle lane that I am passing.

15 posted on 01/25/2024 5:12:17 AM PST by neverevergiveup
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To: fella

In Mexico, when you come up behind a slower vehicle on a two-lane road, the other driver will often turn on his left blinker. That means either “Go ahead and pass” or “I am about to turn left”. Makes things interesting.


16 posted on 01/25/2024 5:13:14 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” - George Carlin.


17 posted on 01/25/2024 5:14:07 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

What annoys me is when people who are in the right lane slow down to below the speed limit when there’s an exit coming up and thereby clogging traffic. It’s as if they think they will miss the exit, but there’s little chance of that unless they are effectively asleep.

It does happen, though, I have seen people on the right shoulder driving in reverse trying to back up to a missed exit.


18 posted on 01/25/2024 5:19:09 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "democracy" like trying to throw your opponent in jail.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Unmentioned is flashing your lights to warn oncoming traffic of a dangerous condition ahead. Most often the “danger” is a hidden police speed trap.


19 posted on 01/25/2024 5:23:14 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "democracy" like trying to throw your opponent in jail.)
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To: Fresh Wind

Worse is drivers in the slow lane who jam on brakes to allow others entering the roadway to merge in.


20 posted on 01/25/2024 5:29:52 AM PST by sonova (No money? You're free to go.)
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