That's like saying it is alright to run over a pedestrian just because he isn't crossing at the cross-walk. Or it's okay to run a red light because everyone else is doing it.
The keep right except to pass is posted on the assumption that that the person you are trying to pass is below the speed limit. It doesn't say it's okay to speed and pass??
Running a red light is illegal, period. There might be ultra-rare exceptions, but a red light cannot be run through without committing a serious and expensive infraction. This is not a question of anarchy, but speed laws and how they work in the U.S., and comparisons to other countries who enjoy higher speeds and fewer accidents per mile. That is to say, in Germany drivers are better-trained, better disciplined, driver *faster* than us on average and get in *fewer* accidents. There's something to be learned here.
The speed of traffic is not like a red light, because the 'safe' speed depends on conditions and flow of traffic. Traffic speed laws on surface streets and highways in fact are *determined* by traffic flow, not the other way around.
The penalty for a failed red-light stop is a catastrophic broadside with another vehicle. The penalty for going faster or slower on the freeway is you end up having to brake or accelerate...and there's some risk associated with lane-changes as mentioned in my prior post.
The real-world flow of traffic is not determined by law but by the majority who vote with their right foot, based on conditions, how safe people feel in their cars (IE: Modern technology vs. say, a 1974 Honda CVCC), the roads, etc.
If you read my post, speed limits are determined on surface streets not by judges or cops, but by traffic engineers who go to the streets and measure, under free-flowing conditions, the 85th percentile traffic speed, not on a curve or under the influence of a traffic control device (signal or stop sign).
This measurement is the basis of the speed limit and must be within 5mph, usually rounded up but sometimes rounded down. The MUTCD (Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices) is the federal guideline for the U.S. and all states must be in majority compliance. This prevents serious issues which would arise if states could set a super low speed-limit on a given street, ticket everyone they can stop and make a ton of money for the city. There's a reason the federal guideline is in place.
Now, the freeway is not subject to an engineering survey, though states can set their own maximum limits as we've seen with Montana's open 'reasonable and prudent' speeds, where they've not suffered any rise in accidents since people won't necessarily go 120mph just because they can. This 'reasonable and prudent' rule of thumb on freeways is precisely what I was talking about in my prior post, that is, we should apply the Basic Speed Law to freeways and stop pretending 65mph has any relevance. Other states have elected to have 80mph speed limits, or 70mph as I've seen in CA on certain stretches. With a simple Basic Speed Law applied to freeways, a person going 60 in the fast lane is charged with 'unsafe for conditions'. Same with the person crossing into the carpool lane over the double yellow, or the guy doing 90 in the slow lanes or anywhere, based on the cop's discretion.
That said, conditions have a lot to do with speed limits and what is safe. If it's raining, going the speed limit may still be unsafe under the basic speed law, and an officer may stop you to slow you down. Likewise, it shouldn't be deemed *unsafe* when it's 4a and you're doing 80 on an empty 4 lane freeway (assuming a sober driver, all things being equal). However, this is left up to the discretion of the officer, but any guilty finding over '65 mph' where posted is an infraction, and you will pay for it.
A red light is not negotiable except in extreme cases...and even then you'd put others in direct risk of an instant collision if you blow a red light at the wrong time. Meanwhile, traffic flowing in the *same direction* is not a threat to you, as long as you don't have great speed disparity. If everyone on the freeway was going 50, then yes, 80 would be unsafe but you could always brake and would have plenty of warning. If everyone is going 80, then 65 is unsafe in anywhere but the rightmost (slow) lanes with the trucks. See the difference?
See if you can answer this question correctly:
The safe speed to merge onto a freeway, according to the DMV is:
1. At or below the speed limit
2. The flow of traffic
If you answered 2., 'Flow of traffic', then you're correct. *This is in the pool of California licensing questions*.
Now, given this logic, if we are to MERGE at flow-of-traffic, why is it then illegal to DRIVE at flow when it's faster than the posted limit? Answer: It shouldn't be, and that's the point. The flow of traffic is the safest speed you can drive at, with speeds varying by lane choice (or at least that's how it should be).
It's always good to learn from other social experiments, as I think our traffic laws, namely speed laws, could use some upgrading. We should be taking cues from countries like Germany with regard to driver-training and lane-discipline.