American culture is sometimes contradictory. Despite ideals of "rugged
individualism" and everybody fighting for himself, America also has strong
communal elements, possibly passed on from the first settlers. The latter
shows up in the American tendency to nicely merge from one to two lanes of
traffic if there is an obstacle far ahead. Europeans tend to try to beat each
other to the obstacle, causing friction and probably slowing everybody down in
the process. For those familiar with "game theory", it seems the Americans
have gotten this point better than the Europeans.
Where in the USA do you live?? Failure to merge properly into one
lane is one of my biggest gripes with road users in this country--you
get all kinds of assholes waiting until the last minute to get ahead
in traffic, and the whole mess slows traffic down way more than it
should.Lastly, a study in the Journal Nature by a dutch group a few years back
compared the American freeway system where you can pass on both sides with the
European one where slower traffic keeps right (or left in the UK). Their
various simulations showed that a given number of lanes could transport more
traffic in the US fashion than in the European fashion. So if you think
European rules are the solution to the clogged freeways of Southern CA or the
DC Beltway, think again.
Now you tell me. No wonder no one gets it when I refuse to pass on
the right and sit there behind the asshole flashing my lights at
45mph in the passing...err...left lane. On a more serious note, I
still think it's dangerous to overtake on the right, and I'd love to
see that study. I'm not sure how having a car in every available
lane going 45mph and blocking all traffic could possibly be more
efficient than having all the slow traffic in the right-most lane.