Overtaking and lane use

It is the part of Chapter VI of Act 22-2000 governing how you overtake and how lanes are used: which side you pass on, when you may not, what a no-passing zone is, what the shoulder is for and what the driver being overtaken must do.

It applies to every motor vehicle travelling Puerto Rico’s public roads. Use of the shoulder is reserved for emergency situations and, for driving along it, to duly authorised emergency or disaster vehicles, only where they are prevented from advancing in the other lanes and are attending an emergency judged by the prudent and reasonable person standard.

• To overtake on the left: that the left side is clearly visible and there is clear way for a reasonable distance ahead allowing the manoeuvre to be completed without interfering with an oncoming vehicle or the overtaken one (Article 6.03).Verified against the official source
• To pass on the right: being in one of the three cases in Article 6.04-A and doing it safely, never travelling off the pavement or the roadway or using the shoulder.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The rule: you overtake on the left

   Article 6.03 opens by saying any motor vehicle catching up with another “may pass it on the left side of the vehicle to be overtaken”. That is the normal way; passing on the right is the exception and has its own article.

2. 2

   Step 2: When you may not overtake even on the left

   The same article sets three prohibitions. (a): not passing at an intersection “or a hundred (100) feet before it”, or where specific signs or another provision of the Act prohibit it. (b): not passing where it would require crossing to the left half of the roadway on slopes or curves “where visibility is lacking for a reasonable distance”, or where that left half is obstructed in any way, or where traffic circumstances suggest the overtaken vehicle will itself cross to the left. And (c): not passing where it is impossible to keep a reasonable distance, or to overtake in such a way that the vehicle can retake the right half without risk of collision.

3. 3

   Step 3: The two hundred feet of the oncoming lane

   The next paragraph of Article 6.03 sets the distance almost nobody calculates. No vehicle shall be driven to the left of the roadway’s centre while overtaking “unless that left side can be clearly seen and there is clear way for a reasonable distance ahead”. And: the vehicle that has overtaken must return to an authorised lane as soon as possible, and if the manoeuvre required using a lane authorised for oncoming vehicles, it must do so “before the distance separating it from the approaching vehicle is less than two hundred (200) feet”.

4. 4

   Step 4: Passing on the right: only three cases

   Article 6.04-A lists them. (a) Where the overtaken vehicle is making or about to make a left turn. (b) On a road whose roadway is neither obstructed nor occupied by parked vehicles “and is wide enough to allow two (2) or more lines of moving vehicles in each direction”. (c) On a one-way road or roadway, where it is free of obstructions and wide enough for two or more lines of moving vehicles. And the limit that closes the article: it may be done where done safely, “but such a movement shall never be effected by travelling off the pavement or the roadway or by using the ‘Paseo’ of the public road”.

5. 5

   Step 5: The shoulder costs five hundred dollars

   Article 6.04 is by far the dearest in this block. “Use of the ‘Paseo’, as that term is defined in Article 1.73 of this Act, shall be limited to emergency situations. Driving vehicles on the ‘Paseo’ area or the adjoining green area is prohibited”. It may be used prudently, and only in an emergency, by any duly authorised emergency or disaster vehicle, and only where it is prevented from advancing in the other lanes and is attending an emergency judged by the prudent and reasonable person standard. Parking is allowed for anyone with an emergency, a mechanical fault, or who is unable to drive. But “driving on the green area or the adjoining land area is not permitted at any time”. The fine is five hundred dollars.

6. 6

   Step 6: No-passing zones

   Article 6.05 authorises the Secretary and the municipalities to mark, on roads under their jurisdictions, the sections where overtaking or driving on the left would be very dangerous, and to show by signs or pavement markings where those zones begin and end. Where they are installed and clearly visible, the driver obeys them, and “no driver may at any time drive on the left side of the roadway within that no-passing zone, or to the left of any line marked on the pavement” signalling it. The article does not apply under the conditions in subsection (b) of Article 6.02 — which we did read: where the right half of the roadway is obstructed or closed to traffic, in which case whoever drives on the left yields the right of way to every vehicle travelling on their left over the unobstructed part and close enough to be an immediate danger — or to a driver turning left into or out of an alley, private road or driveway.

7. 7

   Step 7: Staying in your lane, and the middle lane

   Article 6.06 says every vehicle travelling roads with properly marked lanes “shall keep within one of them and shall not cross to another lane without taking the precautions necessary to avoid collision with another vehicle or harm to persons or property”. It adds two rules. (a): where the roadway is divided for opposite directions by an intermediate space or island, you drive only in the lanes to the right of that space, and you do not drive on, over or across it, except where there is a gap or at an intersection crossing. (b): on a road divided into three lanes for opposite directions, you do not drive in the centre lane except to overtake where there is visibility and reasonable space, to turn left, or where a sign authorises it. And official devices may assign lanes by direction and prohibit lane changes in certain sections.

8. 8

   Step 8: And the duty of the driver being overtaken

   Article 6.12 is short and almost nobody knows it exists. Except where passing on the right is permitted, any driver about to be overtaken “shall leave the way clear, on being given notice with the horn, by moving to the right, and shall not increase their vehicle’s speed until the other vehicle has completely passed”. Accelerating while being overtaken is, literally, an administrative offence.

9. 9

   Step 9: Fifty dollars, except the shoulder

   Five of the six articles in this guide close with the same sanction: an administrative offence with a fifty-dollar fine. They are 6.03, 6.04-A, 6.05, 6.06 and 6.12. The exception is Article 6.04, the shoulder one, which fines five hundred: ten times more. Worth knowing before using the shoulder to get around a jam.

There is no procedure: these are rules of conduct on the public road. The stop is made by the Police of Puerto Rico or the Municipal Police, and the ticket is handled through the ordinary traffic-ticket review route. No-passing zones are marked by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and the municipalities on roads under their respective jurisdictions.

• Overtaking at an intersection or just before one: Article 6.03(a) prohibits it at the intersection and a hundred feet before.
• Passing on a curve or slope without seeing: the Act prohibits it where visibility is lacking for a reasonable distance.
• Misjudging the return to your lane: if you used the oncoming lane, you must be back before you are within two hundred feet of the approaching vehicle.
• Believing passing on the right is always prohibited: it is allowed in the three cases in Article 6.04-A.
• Passing on the right by leaving the pavement: the article expressly prohibits it, as it does using the shoulder.
• Using the shoulder to get around a jam: it is five hundred dollars, ten times the other offences in this block.
• Driving on the green area adjoining the shoulder: it is prohibited at all times.
• Believing the shoulder cannot even be used to stop: parking is allowed in an emergency, a mechanical fault or where you are unable to drive.
• Ignoring no-passing zone lines: where installed and clearly visible, they must be obeyed.
• Using the middle lane on a three-lane road with opposite directions: it is allowed only to overtake with visibility, to turn left or where a sign authorises it.
• Accelerating when someone is overtaking you: Article 6.12 requires leaving the way clear and not increasing speed until the other has completely passed.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov