Overtaking regulations when driving in Europe
I've got a question about how to drive the car in Europe on Highways. In the US, I can overtake another car on either side, and I am fine.
In Europe I was told that I have to drive on the right side (Germany), and to overtake on the left side of the other driver.
Now I had following situation, and I did not know how to handle this properly: I was driving along on the right lane, the Autobahn was 3 lanes wide on my side, and was going around 110 km/h. Someone overtook me, but he stayed on the middle lane, and suddenly got slower. He wasn't really in front of me, so I could not change to the left lane, but I was told I may not overtake on the right side.
Would I have to brake in such a situation, or should I just ignore it, and overtake him again on the right side?
(I overtook him, and he was on the phone, so I guess that was why he got distracted and slowed down that much).
Best Answer
If you were in Romania, you wouldn't have broken any laws. The Romanian law makes a clear difference between overtaking and passing.
In Romania, you can overtake on the left lane only, but you can pass on all lanes.
Overtaking (is the same as in US and all the countries of the EU): signal left, change lane, move in front.
Passing (as being described by the Romanian legislation): you cruise on the motorway and you encounter a vehicle on your left or right lane moving slower than you and you simply keep your lane and pass him.
The difference between passing and overtaking is that when you overtake you move from one lane to another and the distance to the vehicle in front of you is smaller than 100m. When you change lanes and the distance between cars is bigger than 100m you legally execute the change lane maneuver. After you execute a change lane maneuver, you encounter a vehicle moving slower than you on your left or right lane and you cruise along him, you would be executing the passing maneuver, NOT overtaking.
Long story short, if the situation you described would have happened in Romania, you would have legally passed him on the right lane.
I have discovered that most of EU countries do not make the difference between overtaking and passing.
I added this as an answer because it was too long for a comment.
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Answer 2
In Poland overtaking on the left is legal on motorways and any other roads with lanes in both directions separated. It is also legal on roads with three lanes in each direction outside cities and two lanes within city limit.
E.g. (page in polish, but has pictures) http://www.strefakulturalnejjazdy.pl/2013/06/czy-mozna-wyprzedzac-z-prawej-strony.html
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