(man, there really isn't any good way to automatically quote text while preserving hyperlinks... oh well.)

Yes, but if you read the actual text of that section of the vehicle code instead of that dumbed-down summary, you will see that they also state:

"The provisions of this section shall not relieve the driver of a slow moving vehicle from the duty to drive as closely as practicable to the right hand edge of the roadway."

I completely agree that that's the intent of the law, and I myself respect it as much as practicable given the way everybody else drives; however, the definitions of "slow moving vehicle" and "duty" are sufficiently flaky as to render it pretty much meaningless. And of course, I'd imagine that some 99.44% of California drivers won't have read the vehicle code itself, and will be relying solely on the dumbed-down summary for their knowledge of the rules of the road.

The basic rule is that you have to stay to the right all the time unless you're passing. That's the rule stated here in the vehicle code.

This, I think, might be a misreading on your part... It seems to me to state the "right half of the roadway" - meaning the half where cars are travelling in the same direction as you - rather than any particular lane.

The part of the "keep right" code that explicitly states that the speed limit has nothing to do with it is here.

This section is quite clear. But it doesn't prevent people who are going faster than the "normal speed of traffic" from passing on the right, if they have an opening. Of course, those people are probably breaking speed limit laws anyway; but around here, the only time I ever see people driving the speed limit is during rainstorms (when they should really be driving somewhat slower; in Southern California, nobody except people who learned to drive out-of-state seems to have any idea how to drive in the rain :).

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Daniel M. Zimmerman
Mk.2 #060000058, 36GB, Red
Mk.1 #00101, 10GB, Blue