Staying In Your Lane
Va. Code 46.2-804 — slower traffic to the right, as nearly as practicable within a single lane, and the double lines
Slower traffic keeps right. A vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic is driven in the lane nearest the right edge or curb, when available, except when overtaking and passing, preparing for a left turn, or where right lanes are reserved for slow moving traffic.
Within a single lane. A vehicle is driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and is not moved from it until the driver has ascertained that the movement can be made safely.
The standard the section writes is as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane, with any move out of the lane waiting until it can be made safely. How courts apply those words to a brief touch of a line is not on this page.
The center lane of three. On a highway divided into three lanes, no vehicle is driven in the center lane except when overtaking and passing, preparing for a left turn, or where it is allocated to the vehicle's direction and signed or marked.
Trucks on hills. The Department of Transportation posts signs requiring trucks and combination vehicles to keep right on Interstate components with no more than two travel lanes each way, where terrain is likely to slow them below the posted limit.
Whether a particular drift over a line was a violation, or a reason for a stop, depends on the facts and on how the courts read the words as nearly as practicable, and is a question for a licensed Virginia attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Va. Code 46.2-804 — Special regulations applicable on highways laned for traffic; penalty
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Virginia attorney.