Originally Posted by
randya
if the lane is at least 14' wide, it probably qualifies as 'shareable'. However, most urban roads in older cities don't have luxurious 14' wide lanes, in many cases 10 to 12 feet is the norm and some are even narrower.
Your typical commercial truck is 9' wide, not including the mirrors, so a lane less then 10' wide isn't really usable by other then cars and bicycles. Such a street probably doesn't see a lot of traffic so using the opposing lane for passing shouldn't be a problem. There are several scenarios and the law typically doesn't differentiate. Unless you have read the actual laws, they may not say what you think they do. Unless you have studied law, they may not mean what you would interpret them as saying, either.
It really takes someone fighting the charges and getting a court to interpret the law to see what it really means.