Optimal Highway Policy

I think I have found the optimal algorithm for driving on the highway. This applies specifically to the Ontario 401, which is a busy lane for both passenger and freight traffic.

It is simply:

Stay in the left lane on adaptive cruise control @ ~130 km/h.

There are two things you want to balance when driving on the highway. You want to drive as fast as possible to minimize time on the road, while keeping your probability of catastrophic accidents low.

By default the left lane is the passing lane and around ~130km is the maximum reasonable speed limit before you will be pulled over and which is generally safe. Adaptive cruise control means that you'll just tail cars which are slower than this before they yield and in any case, cars in the left lane are not going slowly even if they are not going at 130.

You will pass most freight traffic, which usually yields right. Likewise, if there is a maniac that really wants to pass you at this speed, they can choose to take that risk by passing you on the right but you don't have to do a thing. This is the biggest advantage of this strategy: it is do nothing, win.

Weaving in and out of traffic may be marginally faster but puts the driver at a much higher risk of accident so that tradeoff is not worth it.