Inside lane

[Bushwhacker]

Which lane is that named "inside lane" on a road in Europe or the States, not GB? That for slower cars, say on the right, or on the contrary the one on the left for faster vehicles?

Thanks

[Barb_D]

The "inside" lane is on the left and is where the faster cars go (in the US).

There is also an idiom - he has the inside track on this - he has the ability to move quickly on the issue.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Barb_D

The "inside" lane is on the left and is where the faster cars go (in the US).

There is also an idiom - he has the inside track on this - he has the ability to move quickly on the issue.

That's interesting. In Br English, although we do use 'inside track' like that, we use 'inside lane' in the reverse meaning; so that in both the UK and the US the inside lane is on the left. There is the related expression 'overtake on the inside', sometimes - informally, jocularly - replaced with 'undertake' (with a punning reference to its dangerousness*).

b
*Dangerousness, that is, in a country where most drivers expect traffic on their left to be travelling more slowly than them. In countries with a different attitude to lane-discipline drivers may expect to have to watch their backs!

PS There's also the word pair near-side/off-side, used to refer to the driver's side and the passenger side, as in 'near-side wing-mirror'.

[Bushwhacker]

Originally Posted by BobK

That's interesting. In Br English, although we do use 'inside track' like that, we use 'inside lane' in the reverse meaning; so that in both the UK and the US the inside lane is on the left. There is the related expression 'overtake on the inside', sometimes - informally, jocularly - replaced with 'undertake' (with a punning reference to its dangerousness*).

b
*Dangerousness, that is, in a country where most drivers expect traffic on their left to be travelling more slowly than them. In countries with a different attitude to lane-discipline drivers may expect to have to watch their backs!

PS There's also the word pair near-side/off-side, used to refer to the driver's side and the passenger side, as in 'near-side wing-mirror'.

So, In Great Britain, the "inside lane" is also on the left but in this case is not the faster track, but the slower one, isn't it? My problem is that I'm reading the account of someone from Hampshire about the robbery attempt he suffered at a Spanish motorway. Two people inside a Mercedes threw an object at the rear left panel of his caravan and then overtook his vehicle pulling in front of him and indicating he should stop because something was wrong with his car. He tells he was on the "inside lane," so, taking into account that the Mercedes overtakes him and that the impact is on the left, it seems to be that the caravan is running on the right track, that is the slower one. I assume, according to what you say, that he uses "inside lane" thinking of the slower track in Great Britain, which is on the left but he's referring to the right track in Spain.

Am I right?

Thanks a lot

[BobK]

You've got it. This difference in the use of 'inside lane' - which I didn't know about until today - must cause a lot of problems. There we go - 'separated by a common language' again.

b