Say you are on a highway with 2 lanes in each direction. The speed limit is 65, and you are going 75 nonstop. Chances are you are going faster than some of the other traffic. Since you are, the faster you go, the more vehicles you are going to come into “conflict” with in a short period of time, because you are passing a lot of slower cars and trucks. The more vehicles you pass as a result of going faster, the higher the chance of coming upon vehicles moving slower than you. Think about it, if you go faster you are covering more ground in a certain period of time. The more ground you cover, the more vehicles you will come across on the highway. The more vehicles you come across, the higher the chance that you will come across a slower vehicle in the left lane engaged in overtaking a slower vehicle. Simple probability suggests this would usually be the case. So my point here is that by speeding by a certain margin, you may be creating this problem of getting stuck behind slower vehicles yourself because your speed is causing you to come into conflict with a higher number of vehicles, since you are moving faster than some of the vehicles on the road.

If someone was going the speed limit, for example, they would still come across vehicles in the left lane going 5 under the speed limit eventually, but not nearly as often as they would if they were going 75 in a 65. The closer your speed is to the slower driver’s speed (I’m not suggesting you have to go 5 under like they are), the longer it will take you to catch up to the slower vehicle, and therefore you will get ‘stuck’ behind them much less often. If you are speeding by a good margin, you will constantly be catching up to slower traffic, thus increasing the chances of running into one of these “left lane hogs”. Think about it. I hope this makes some sense, since it is kind of hard to explain.

I’m not trying to change anyone’s behavior; how you drive is up to you, and you take with it whatever consequences may arise from it. I just think that these fast drivers may be creating this problem for themselves, rather than the slower drivers always being accused of being idiots. Just a thought. Do you guys agree/disagree, or have anything else to add? I’m not looking to tick anyone off here, so if you have an answer to this question, please try to give a civil response.
Patrick W, notice I said in the question “if someone is currently engaged in passing a slower vehicle”. This would mean they can’t simply move over at the moment and get out of the way, because there is another vehicle to their right, which they are passing. So as soon as they finish passing, yes I agree they should move back to the right as soon as possible.

And you say the left lane is for faster traffic, well if someone is going the speed limit and passing someone going 5 under, the speed limit driver is considered faster traffic at that time. They are faster than the person they are passing, therefore, they are faster traffic. But you are right, as soon as they finish passing, they should move back to the right when it is safe to do so.
bungee, you’re right it doesn’t need to be this hard. But you know what makes it this hard? Speeders. If everyone could just maintain the speed limit and quit driving like inconsiderate as*holes, then you’re right, it wouldn’t be that hard.

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