united-states traffic
Is it legal for me to violate traffic rules in a non-emergency situation if traffic flow is stopped?
<p>The other day I was on a small-ish two lane road where traffic in the other lane was traveling in the other direction.  I came upon an unattended stopped car with it's emergency blinkers on blocking my current lane.  Since I could clearly see no traffic was coming in the other lane I moved around the stopped car, briefly crossing the solid yellow line so I was partially in the wrong lane, before returning back into my own lane and continuing on my way.  I was neither the first nor the last car on this road to do so.</p>

<p>I feel little regret for temporarily ignoring the solid line to pass the stopped vehicle, in fact I'm pretty sure I could have done it with a police officer right behind me without worry that I would get a ticket.  Still I did violate the rules by traveling in the wrong lane.  I was wondering rather this sort of 'common sense' violation of traffic laws to adjust for extenuating circumstances was technically illegal.</p>

<p>I know in an emergency situation I'm allowed to violate the usual rules if necessary to avoid a crash, for example to quickly swerve into the wrong lane to avoid a collision if someone cuts me off and there is no other way to not strike them.  However this wasn't an emergency situation.  I would likely have been stuck behind this vehicle for an extensive length of time if I had waited and abide by the usual driving laws, but no ones life was in danger.  Was I still authorized to adjust the usual rules to move around the obstacle?</p>

<p>It's likely that you'll find similar statutes for your state. Florida's specifically considers the circumstances you've described:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>316.081 Driving on right side of roadway; exceptions.— </p>
</blockquote>

<ul>
<li>(1) Upon all roadways of sufficient width, a vehicle shall be driven
upon the right half of the roadway, except as follows: </li>
<li>(a) When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the
same direction under the rules governing such movement;</li>
<li>(b) When an obstruction exists making it necessary to drive to the
left of the center of the highway; provided any person so doing shall
yield the right-of-way to all vehicles traveling in the proper
direction upon the unobstructed portion of the highway within such
distance as to constitute an immediate hazard;</li>
</ul>

<p>This last entry represents your stalled car. An obstruction exists and you've yielded the right of way to oncoming traffic.</p>

<p>You're good to go.</p>

<h2>To answer your headline question: no</h2>

<p><strong>But ...</strong></p>

<p>What you did was almost certainly <strong>not</strong> a violation of the road rules.</p>

<p>You haven’t given a state so using <a href="/questions/tagged/new-york" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;new-york&#39;" rel="tag">new-york</a> as an example, the <a href="https://dmv.ny.gov/brochure/mv21.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rules</a> state on p. 31:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>One solid line:</strong> You can pass other vehicles or change lanes, but you can only do so when ob­structions in the road or traffic conditions make it necessary.</p>
</blockquote>
