Seems like it would be the opposite to me: If there are only 2 lanes, you need both for travel. But if you have 7 you can reserve some for speeders.

And in all my driving, I've yet to be overtaken legally on the left - they always speed in order to do it, which is illegal. So I'm not clear why "it's more important to keep the left lane for passing".

Just make the left lane "speed limit" lane, and the right lane slow lane. Meaning if you are going the speed limit you can stay in the left lane.

(This is a hot topic, I'm sure I'll get downvotes, I don't care about that, but I would appreciate replies more. Specifically about what's wrong with staying in the left lane if you are going the maximum legal speed.)

Your internal rules are optimized for optimally set speed limits (85th-90th percentile speed when no speed limit exists, then narrow minimums and maximums strictly enforced.) Most speed limits in the US are set artificially low for the quality of the road. This creates dangerous differences in speed among drivers. Enforcing left lane passing mitigates the risk by keeping passing orderly. Drivers enforcing the maximum speed limit in the left lane prevent orderly passing.

On top of the behavioral issue, there are legitimate reasons for non-emergency vehicles to overtake vehicles. I don’t expect you to agree with this, but it is a majority view so preventing it is anti-social (though not as much as blocking driving on the shoulder, which is extreme behavior committed for reasons similar to principled left-lane occupation.)

Roads with fewer lanes require more adherence to social customs than wide roads to keep them safe and effective. Most don’t require an elaborate explanation as they can intuitively sense the benefit of staying in the right lane when not passing, as they gain experience with a wider variety of traffic situations.

My friends who are left lane hoggers say this all the time. My response is "show me your badge." Because unless you have one, you're not authorized to enforce speed limits. If you want to call 911 and report the speeder in the left lane, fine. But if you want to drive in the left lane just because you like it over there, you're forcing people to pass you on the right (which is dangerous) and you're disrupting the normal flow of traffic (also dangerous). If you think it should be your job to hog the left lane to slow down speeders, join your local police department. Otherwise move to the right unless you're passing.

So then where is your badge? Are you not doing the exact same thing, by making it your job to tell people to move out of the left lane?

> pass you on the right (which is dangerous)

What's dangerous about it? And don't say "the left lane is for slow cars", because speeders are WAY more dangerous, yet you are not criticizing them.

> you're disrupting the normal flow of traffic (also dangerous)

I don't see any disruption to the normal flow. Set your cruise control to the speed limit, and just drive smoothly. There is zero reason to constantly weave in and out of traffic as speeding "pass on the left" drivers do.

Speeders disrupt the normal flow though, so why are you OK with them?

There seems to be large lack of symmetry in your arguments. (Although I do appreciate you at least answering, I've heard these answers before, and yet I never gotten a reply when I bring up the lack of symmetry in the answer.)

Orderly traffic flow (passing on the left, traveling on the right) at speed x is safer than disorderly traffic flow (weaving in and out to avoid the jerk going the limit in the left lane) at speed x-y.

> Speeders disrupt the normal flow though

When it's one guy going 100 and everyone else is 80, yes. No argument from me. But when everyone is going 80 and there's someone in the left going 65 because that's the limit, the people going 80 aren't the problem.

I make no attempt to physically enforce "slower traffic keep right." But I often see friends driving the speed limit in the far left lane, and they won't switch lanes when somebody comes up behind them because they are "trying to slow down the speeders." That's the part that needs a badge. Anybody can express an opinion. It's when you physically try to force people to behave differently that you need a badge.

By "normal flow" I'm referring to highway conventions that expect the average traffic speed of a leftward lane to be higher than the lane immediately to its right. That's a safer flow than having every lane with a random average speed. Germany enforces this on the Autobahn. Some US states enforce it; most have signs promoting the idea. With "slower traffic keep right" you get something close to laminar flow (with shear) if you treat cars as gas molecules. With "every lane can do whatever it wants" you have turbulent flow, more lane changes, and more collisions.

This is paternalistic nonsense. It's "I'm right, you're wrong, you need to change what you're doing even though I am so far in the minority they're literally making what I'm doing illegal." I distinctly remember a time when I was a passenger with a friend's mother, who was going the speed limit in the left lane. Wide open in front of her, a line of 15+ cars behind her. She actually said "I'm going fast enough, you all can wait." The level of self-importance in such a statement, when it would cost you nothing just to get over and let people be on their way, is absolutely staggering.

And for what it's worth, there are several states where there are explicit exceptions to briefly exceed the speed limit for the purposes of passing vehicles in the right lane - some specify they have to be going under the speed limit, but not all.