Is the Left Lane the fast Lane in Australia?

I thought the law stated: no driving in the right lane unless overtaking. Is that it? If not, please correct me.

It's a rule which very few Australians seem to have heard of. No matter where you drive here, the right hand lane will almost always be your slowest route and the left, the quickest.

It's incredibly frustrating when you are traveling on a superb piece six-lane dual carriageway, only to find both the right and centre lanes, populated by various slow drivers or worse still, trucks.

And don't bother flashing your high beam at these guys - as they will protect their right lane ownership with the the same vigour as they would if protecting their house from an intruder.

Right hand lane hogs are an epidemic in Australia. There is no doubt that the constant lane changing by frustrated motorists is dangerous and has been, and will continue to be responsible for many unnessary road deaths in this country.

In contrast, driving throughout much of Europe is an intoxicating experience. Yes, the high speeds you can legally drive at, seem far safer than our miserable 110km/h speed limit. Apart from some of the finest highways in the world, European drivers know the difference between right and left lanes.

In the UK, France and Germany at least, you only need to appear in a rear vision mirror and the driver will quickly move over a lane, to allow you to pass. Over there, it's just plain driver courtesy.

Perhaps the Highway Patrol bosses across Australia, should think about issuing tickets to right lane hogs, rather than going after folks who have momentarily forgotten that they have passed through five different speed zones, all in 10kms, and end up being hammered for doing 110km/h in a 100km/h zone.

Should they heed this advice, then driving in Australia might be a far more enjoyable experience and a hell of a lot safer without Playstation-like lane changing manoeuvres.

Anthony