Over the last few years there has been a devel­op­ment on our roads that is unpleas­ant for many traf­fic par­tic­i­pants, but advan­ta­geous to only a very few: I am talk­ing of the fact that it seems to be en vogue to dri­ve cars on the left or mid­dle lanes instead of on the right-hand one.

It is very unnerv­ing if the right-hand lane is free, but you still can’t pass-by slow-mov­ing vehi­cles block­ing the left-hand lanes. In Switzer­land (and, as far as I remem­ber, in all of con­ti­nen­tal Europe), dri­ving on the right-hand side of the road is man­dat­ed by the law. Plus, there are harsh fines for pass­ing some­one by on their right. This means that you fun­da­men­tal­ly have to use the right-most lane, except if that lane is spe­cial­ly marked, such as a bus-lane or a direc­tion­al lane. The oth­er lanes are meant for bypass­ing slow­er cars only.

Now, there are those who say that this does­n’t mat­ter when the road is free. And if a car comes up from behind and wants to bypass them, they would yield and switch lanes. Nice idea, only it ain’t true. I observe many times that peo­ple cozi­ly dri­ve in the cen­ter lane, maybe believ­ing that the right-hand lane is reserved for trucks. When close up behind them, being in the right lane, of course, as needs be, then I have to switch two lanes to bypass the idiot block­ing the mid­dle lane who is obliv­i­ous to oth­er traf­fic members.

There­fore: If there is more than one lane avail­able (such as on high­ways), then please stay on the right­most lane. Use the oth­er lanes only for bypass­ing slow­er vehi­cles. If every­one would stick to this rule, then there would be ever so much more space on our roads.