Inside, Outside, Near Lane, Far Lane, whatever...

[Steve]

Ok, admittedly this is an extremely minor point, but I find
the whole discussion of 'inside lane' and 'outside lane' very
confusing. So confusing that after reading the posts, I still
don't know whether the UK and the US are the same or different.

Relative to 'inside lane', it doesn't matter whether you drive
on the left or the right, the Inside lane is at the center of
the roadway (roadway meaning combined lanes in both directions
whether divided or not), and conversely the 'outside lane' is 
at the outer edge of the roadway. 

It has been my experience, incuding a couple of visits to 
Germany, that the closer you move to the center (inside) of 
the multi-lane roadway, the faster the traffic moves. This is
logical since slower moving merging traffic enters in the 
outside lanes then move farther inward as they speed up. 

So, are we (UK/US) the same or different in this respect - 
fast/passing lane vs slow lane, and 'inside' vs 'outside'
lane?

Not saying that it is important, just that I'm confused by 
the discussion.

Steve/bboyminn

PS: Don't know if I mentioned this, but I recently discovered
that, though I consider myself Norwegian-American, I can
trace my father's father's side back to a direct ancestor in 
Gravesend, Kent, England in 1625. Who knew?