You should be leaving enough stopping distance between yourself and the next car that someone can merge easily and you have time to react by slowing down or moving to the next lane to make space for them. If you don’t have that much stopping distance, then you’re already in danger if the car in front brakes suddenly, e.g. if they need to do an emergency stop because of something you’ve not seen, they have a medical event making them lose consciousness and accidentally step on the brake pedal, or their car breaks down in a way that forces the breaks on.
It really doesn’t have anything to do if there is a car in front or not.
At least in the Pittsburgh area, because of the hilly terrain, there is often not enough reaction time between seeing if a car is waiting on an on ramp and switching lanes.
Also, it isn’t just me. AAA driving instructions say use the middle lane for through-traffic.
Generally, the right lane of a freeway is for entering and exiting the traffic flow. It is a staging lane, for use at the beginning and end of your freeway run. The middle lanes are for through traffic, and the left lane is for passing. If you are traveling on a roadway with more than two lanes, you should move out of the right lane unless you are driving at a slower speed or preparing to enter or exit.
this is completely incorrect—stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be on the highway for a while. if there are 3 or more lanes, the right is generally for exiting, far left for passing and middle for general travel.
When there are 3 lanes? I think most of the laws are to stay OUT of the left lane, not that you must stick to the right lane. I could be wrong but 2 passing only lanes seems a bit excessive.
Depends. If in the US the majority of states have “keep right except to pass” laws along with “failure to yield” laws. Some states do have exceptions for busy merging areas that say taking the center lane is acceptable for the duration.
So if someone is camping the center lane slower than prevailing traffic in that lane they are potentially violating two laws.
I don’t know where you are, so I write this for US people seeing as there seems to be a growing issue of people using the center of three lanes as a slow lane and it really fucks up the flow.
It really doesn’t fuck up the flow people are just driving 20 over and going “hurr this guy going the speed limit or 5 over in the cruising lane is breaking the law!” Then still pass on either side
Countries where you have to drive as much to the right as possible also have laws stating it’s illegal to overtake on the right. Overtaking on the right has the same fine as jogging the middle lane if there’s space on the right.
I guess this mostly indicates to always check the actual road laws of the regions you’re driving in. But generally in Europe hogging the middle lane indicates you’re a danger on the road who should not be allowed to drive a car.
Check the laws in your state. I doubt it says anything like “stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be in the highway for a while” or “middle is for general travel”, which means you’re probably the driver camping in the middle lane when you should be moving over.
It depends on the flow of traffic. The rightmost lane makes sense when there isn’t slow and frequent traffic in it and there isn’t someone going faster behind you, otherwise you are creating more traffic by constantly switching lanes and making everyone else deal with it. It also depends on whether the lanes are going to be bifurcated or have to deal with exits or entries.
I disagree that changing lanes “creates more traffic.” Even moving right for 30 seconds allows faster traffic behind you to move over. In fact, lots of country roads have passing lanes open up for 2 km stretches where cars are expected to move over only for that distance.
You do you, which apparently means skipping over the conditionals of my comment. If that’s your attention to detail, then you should definitely stick to the right lane. Here, have some articles which are actually nuanced about how changing lanes can contribute to traffic, hopefully they’ll instill a greater sense of awareness.
Not really though, all lanes except the rightmost lane should be passing lanes. It is different in urban areas where they often open up 2 or 3 lanes for exit only or I there is constant heavy merging. But in general, keep right unless passing
“space on both sides”
Please keep to the right when you are able.
At least where I am in the US, it’s generally good etiquette to be in the middle lane so cars can merge onto the highway easily.
Where I am in the US that is a violation of traffic laws and you can get a ticket for it.
Where I am the on ramps aren’t so frequent that it’s implausible to move over once in a while when there’s an onramp.
Well thank god we all live where you do. Shame traffic is awful now that we have 9 billion people and inconsistent on ramps though.
You should be leaving enough stopping distance between yourself and the next car that someone can merge easily and you have time to react by slowing down or moving to the next lane to make space for them. If you don’t have that much stopping distance, then you’re already in danger if the car in front brakes suddenly, e.g. if they need to do an emergency stop because of something you’ve not seen, they have a medical event making them lose consciousness and accidentally step on the brake pedal, or their car breaks down in a way that forces the breaks on.
It really doesn’t have anything to do if there is a car in front or not.
At least in the Pittsburgh area, because of the hilly terrain, there is often not enough reaction time between seeing if a car is waiting on an on ramp and switching lanes.
Also, it isn’t just me. AAA driving instructions say use the middle lane for through-traffic.
https://autoclubsouth.aaa.com/Assets/PDFs/freeway_driving.pdf
this is completely incorrect—stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be on the highway for a while. if there are 3 or more lanes, the right is generally for exiting, far left for passing and middle for general travel.
Oooh, you’d suck driving in Europe.
How is it supposed to be efficient to use an entire lane only for exiting?
Wrong.
Several states have “stay in the right lane unless passing” laws.
You might want to read those laws more carefully.
When there are 3 lanes? I think most of the laws are to stay OUT of the left lane, not that you must stick to the right lane. I could be wrong but 2 passing only lanes seems a bit excessive.
That doesn’t make any sense
Which part?
Depends. If in the US the majority of states have “keep right except to pass” laws along with “failure to yield” laws. Some states do have exceptions for busy merging areas that say taking the center lane is acceptable for the duration.
So if someone is camping the center lane slower than prevailing traffic in that lane they are potentially violating two laws.
I don’t know where you are, so I write this for US people seeing as there seems to be a growing issue of people using the center of three lanes as a slow lane and it really fucks up the flow.
It really doesn’t fuck up the flow people are just driving 20 over and going “hurr this guy going the speed limit or 5 over in the cruising lane is breaking the law!” Then still pass on either side
Countries where you have to drive as much to the right as possible also have laws stating it’s illegal to overtake on the right. Overtaking on the right has the same fine as jogging the middle lane if there’s space on the right.
I guess this mostly indicates to always check the actual road laws of the regions you’re driving in. But generally in Europe hogging the middle lane indicates you’re a danger on the road who should not be allowed to drive a car.
There are several US states that can cite for passing in the right, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it happening.
It depends on the country. In France for example, middle and left are for passing.
Check the laws in your state. I doubt it says anything like “stay in the middle lane if you’re going to be in the highway for a while” or “middle is for general travel”, which means you’re probably the driver camping in the middle lane when you should be moving over.
It depends on the flow of traffic. The rightmost lane makes sense when there isn’t slow and frequent traffic in it and there isn’t someone going faster behind you, otherwise you are creating more traffic by constantly switching lanes and making everyone else deal with it. It also depends on whether the lanes are going to be bifurcated or have to deal with exits or entries.
I disagree that changing lanes “creates more traffic.” Even moving right for 30 seconds allows faster traffic behind you to move over. In fact, lots of country roads have passing lanes open up for 2 km stretches where cars are expected to move over only for that distance.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8535848/
https://www.teguyinc.com/post/key-common-sense-behaviours-that-can-improve-traffic-flow
https://scisimple.com/en/articles/2025-09-29-the-impact-of-lane-changes-on-traffic-flow--a9pvypw
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09014-x
You do you, which apparently means skipping over the conditionals of my comment. If that’s your attention to detail, then you should definitely stick to the right lane. Here, have some articles which are actually nuanced about how changing lanes can contribute to traffic, hopefully they’ll instill a greater sense of awareness.
Middle is for cruising with 3 or more lanes. Right lane if there are only 2
Not really though, all lanes except the rightmost lane should be passing lanes. It is different in urban areas where they often open up 2 or 3 lanes for exit only or I there is constant heavy merging. But in general, keep right unless passing
in Ontario every lane is a passing lane.
Middle, and the right if no middle available.