Or. Rev. Stat. » Oregon Revised Statutes
Oregon Revised Statutes

Or. Rev. Stat. § 811.410 (2026)

Unsafe passing on left; penalty

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORSoregonlegislature.gov JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

      811.410 Unsafe passing on left; penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of unsafe passing on the left if the person violates any of the following requirements concerning the overtaking and passing of vehicles:

      (a) The driver of a vehicle that is overtaking any other vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left of the other vehicle at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.

      (b) Except when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted under ORS 811.415, the driver of an overtaken vehicle shall give way to the right in favor of an overtaking vehicle and shall not increase the speed of the overtaken vehicle until completely passed by the overtaking vehicle.

      (c) The driver of a vehicle shall not drive to the left side of the center of the roadway in overtaking and passing a vehicle proceeding in the same direction unless the left side is clearly visible and is free of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance ahead to permit the overtaking and passing to be completed without interfering with the operation of a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction or a vehicle overtaken.

      (d) An overtaking vehicle shall return to an authorized lane of traffic as soon as practicable.

      (2) This section does not authorize driving on the left side of the center of the road when prohibited under the following:

      (a) Limitations on driving on the left of the center of a roadway under ORS 811.305.

      (b) Passing in a no passing zone under ORS 811.420.

      (c) ORS 811.295, 811.300 and 811.310 to 811.325 that require driving on the right.

      (3) The offense described in this section, unsafe passing on the left, is a Class B traffic violation. [1983 c.338 §637; 1987 c.158 §168a]

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 1994–1994 · leading case: State v. Mealer, 879 P.2d 230 (Or. Ct. App. 1994).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
State v. Mealer, 879 P.2d 230 (Or. Ct. App. 1994). “the roadway by this section under any of the following circumstances: ‘ ‘ (a) When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction under the rules governing this movement in ORS 811.410 to 811.425 or 811.808. “(b) When preparing to turn left in an…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.