Rules of the road

:This article concerns rules of the road regarding land vehicles; for sea-going vehicles, see International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

United States

Since colonial times, traffic in the US has always been on the right hand side. There is a common story that this may be due to the construction of Conestoga wagons, which had a high driver's seat on the left side. However, the Conestoga wagon does not date all the way back to the colonial period so this story is likely apochryphal. Many imported RHD cars are also found on the road in the US, especially classic cars or other collector's items.

Related Topics:
Conestoga wagon - Classic car

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Today, US motor vehicles are always LHD (except some postal service ones), and motorists always drive on the right and overtake on the left, except in the US Virgin Islands.

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As with many countries, American rules of the road also permit limited overtaking on the right side (multi-lane highways, one-way streets, or where overtaking other vehicles preparing to turn toward the left).

Related Topics:
Lane - Highway

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US state-specific practices

Furthermore, in some US states such as Massachusetts, although there are laws requiring all traffic on a public way to use the right-most lane unless overtaking, this rule is often ignored and seldom enforced on multi-lane roadways.

Related Topics:
US state - Massachusetts

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In other states like California, cars may use any lane on multi-lane roadways, although slower drivers are strongly encouraged to stay in the rightmost lanes to keep the way clear for faster vehicles, speeding up traffic. However, California Vehicle Code requires trucks to stay in the right lane, or in the right two lanes if the roadway has four or more lanes going in their direction. The oldest freeways in California that pre-dated this rule often have sliproads on the left, making signs like "TRUCKS OK ON LEFT LANE" or "TRUCKS MAY USE ALL LANES" necessary to override the default rule.

Related Topics:
California - California Vehicle Code - Freeway

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