I have been driving cars for 59 years, tractor trailer and/or buses for 50 years and I never knew there was any disagreement on this. Every usage I had ever heard by drivers, police, safety men or accident investigators all referred to the right hand lane of a multilane highway as the inside lane. Is this a regional difference? Most of my driving has been in the northeast ans midwest?
I can understand from a design point as Busted looks at it it makes sense that the left lane is the inside lane. I think my thought of the right lane being the inside lane came from car racing, where on a track typically you have to pass on the outside, that turned into the passing lane being the outside lane.
I agree with you on this. Having driven for almost 40 yrs. now, some as a truck driver and having ridden with troopers on many occasions as well, the inside lane is the right hand lane of a multi lane road, and the outside lane would be the passing lane.
On any road with more than one lane in one direction, the “inside lane” is the lane closes to the center of the entire roadway, the “outside lane” is the one farthest from the roadway’s center.
On a road with only one lane per direction, there is no “inside” or “outside” lane. It’s your lane and the oncoming lane.
I live in the Northeast and have driven in the northeast, the midwest, the upper midwest, the west coast, Florida, and Hawaii, and Canada, and I’ve never heard it referred to differently. Oh, and I’ve spent time in England, and even though the directions are reversed the “inside” and “outside” lanes are still per the definition I’ve described.
After reading all the responses it looks like we all agree that we disagree! lol
On a two lane road, the outside lane would be the break-down lane. The inside lane would be the one on which you are driving.
Just kidding. I have no idea. I just think this whole debate is silly. I think I will go debate with my neighbor about the use of artificial turf.
Silly? The OP has been arguing about this with his wife for 40 years! If this is the biggest of their disagreements i hope they realize how fortunate they are.
I’ve been driving 40 years. I always referred to the inside lane as the right lane. This is closest to the median. Some 2 or 4 lane roads have no median strip in the middle.
???
The left lane is closest to the median. In England the right lane is closest to the median.
More gasoline on the fire…
My AASHTO design book and GDOT Design book make repeated references to the inner shoulder and inner lanes near the road median, and the outer shoulder and outer lanes near the road edge.
Also, I checked out waterboy’s link. Interesting it has a definition for outer lane, but no definition for inner lane or inside lane.
This morning on a traffic report, there was an accident on one of our highways, and the traffic reporter said “The left, inner lane is blocked”.
Again, as clear as mud.
Must be. I never heard of the right lane as the inside lane. Except for Japan and the UK.
I replied "I can understand from a design point as Busted looks at it it makes sense that the left lane is the inside lane. I think my thought of the right lane being the inside lane came from car racing, where on a track typically you have to pass on the outside, that turned into the passing lane being the outside lane."
To make it more clear you are correct sir, and I was wrong, so was the reporter.
As a weird thought while thinking about this, do roundabauts go clockwise in England? Our race tracks go counter clockwise, are they clockwise in England? Say you had two cars side by side on a two lane road. If you took the ends of the road and made a circle to the right, they would go clockwise. If you took the ends of the road and made a circle to the left they would be going counter clockwise, overlay them and you have a head on crash, go figure!
I’m looking at it like BK is. If you have 2 or more lanes in each direction, the farthest LEFT lane is the INSIDE lane. You have either other cars or a median on either side of you. In the RIGHT lane you have other vehicles only on the left side and NOTHING on the right. How in the world could the right lane be INSIDE anything??
transman
thank you. not an engineer either but I which of my two feet is the right one.
On a 4 lane the inside is next to the median. outside is the shoulder. If you are riding in the inside or left lane in the US and you are not passing or gaining on a car to pass, GET OVER! You travel in right and pass in left. I had to teach this to my 21 year old nephew who had never heard this. It is just a rule of the road we should all know! STAY RIGHT. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I’m considering putting train horns on the top of my Accord to “teach others” 
Now I wish you would tell Iowa drivers to get out of the left lane except to pass. They are the worst offenders I have seen and can’t seem to read the Minnesota road signs that stay keep to right except to pass.
With all due respect though, the highway design manual using the terms “inner” and “outer” for design purposes is not the same as “inside” and “outside” for driving purposes. Of course if you are repairing the left shoulder, the specs might refer to the inner shoulder but that doesn’t mean the left passing lane is the inner lane. Let’s just call it left and right.
Thankfully, the trafficcopter guy says Left and Right instead of Inner or Outer, unless he’s speaking about a circular roadway, like a bypass.
That’s a much better way of describing the lanes. I’ve also heard them referred to as numbers (#3 lane, etc) which could also be confusing.
You are correct about England’s roundabouts. They go clockwise.
I’ve never seen an oval track anywhere other than the U.S., but the racing circuit question is interesting. I don’t know. I know in France the drive on the right hand saide like we do. The lanes change when you go through the Chunnel.