Posted on 02/28/2014 6:12:43 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
One of my biggest pet peeves on the road is the left-lane highway cruiser. If you’re a compulsive reader of my articles (Why would you do that to yourself?), you may remember that I have written on this very issue before.
I don’t care how fast you are going. The leftmost lane on the highway is for passing. That is basic road etiquette, but, not surprisingly, few people here in Georgia follow it. And it is frustrating.
Well the Georgia State legislature is here to save the day. They are currently enacting a bill (dubbed the Slowpoke Bill) that would make lollygagging in the left lane a misdemeanor. That’s right. All those people with their left blinker still on … going 62 in a 65 … in the left lane … pacing the car on their right … with ten cars piled up behind them … Johnny Law is coming for you.
The reaction to the bill is hilarious. Some lady (armygirl1974), who probably has no idea how bad she is at driving, responded, “What if the speed limit is 65 and I am going 65, am I supposed to move over and let someone going 90 pass[?] Give me a ticket, I dare you.” Are you supposed to move over? Yeah. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. I mean, seriously? Is that a real question? Who made you the hall monitor of safe driving speeds? I’m looking forward to seeing you on the side of the road getting ticketed for just that.
The rules are there to allow everyone the maximum opportunity to drive the way he wants. The speed limit is an arbitrary suggestion, and that’s a fact. Depending on the police officer and the stretch of road you’re on, you can go as much as 15 over the speed limit (and maybe more in some cases) without having to worry at all about a police officer pulling you over. So the more likely scenario for the Slowpoke Bill is a person going the speed limit and someone else who wants to go even ten miles an hour faster pulling up behind them. Neither driver would be ticketed for speeding, but under the Slowpoke Bill, the person in front would be ticketed for blocking up traffic.
This is not just a hypothetical example. Here in Georgia, we have a loop around the city called 285. The posted speed limit on 285 is 55 miles per hour. No one, and I mean no one, goes 55 on 285. The average speed is a little under 70. If you went 55, you would be a danger to society. If armygirl1974 decided to go 55 in the left lane to keep everyone legal, she wouldn’t be doing a public service. She would be (and probably is) a public nuisance at best. The Slowpoke Bill would see her ticketed for those shenanigans.
So … Well done, Georgia legislature! This may be one of the only times I ever congratulate you. So savor it.
This is two different posts of yours, and I think it says what most of us know about the fast lane blockers.
“”The best thing to do about it is get up early enough where you don’t have break the law and also rely on your fellow citizens breaking the law to get to work on time.
I’ll admit in my younger days I’d sometimes be late and speed when I could.””
“”While people driving well below the speed limit can cause problems on freeways, by far the biggest dangers are caused by the habitually late or habitually impatient.””
the slowest drivers are in Hawaii... this is a general statement, but nobody there is in a hurry to get anywhere... ever...
I bet you do, I think in almost every passing lane blocker we see an angry, passive aggressive personality who in his mind, gains the power he wishes for, when he gets in his car, and moves into that passing lan, and squats in it, as the rest of the world tries to get around him and not get killed as they pursue their own lives.
Thanks, I remember I had a hard time thinking of a name.
I don’t see any big psychological thing about it. The older I got, the more responsible I got, the less need I had to drive fast and depend on people clearing out of my way to get places at the speed I would have liked.
+
Blocking the passing lane is one of the most dangerous activites on the freeway, it breaks the flow of traffic and causes hundreds of high speed lane changes.
Which term escapes your comprehension ?
While I can’t stand slowpokes in the left lane, I have a problem with the penalty being a misdemeanor. It should be a civil infraction.
Traffic flow, you aren’t the law, just move over, no matter how much your need to play boss of the world.
Here is what the cops have to say on a thread where they have been discussing the lane blockers.
“”Recently, I was traveling south at about 75 mph when I came upon a guy in the far left lane doing about 70. Speed limit is 70. There’s 3 lanes. I stayed on the guy’s a-ss for about 2 miles. I flashed him twice, nothing. I didn’t want to haul balls, but he was starting to get all kinds of cars backing up. He had 2 lanes available to his right. Normally, I’ll keep it at 78-80 to keep the flow going. This guy wouldn’t move. Finally, I turned my lights on, he began to pull over to the left, I motioned -—> and he got the hint, started moving over, got into the ‘slow’ lane, I turned my lights off, got into the middle lane and continued about my business. I think the guy was perplexed as WTF just happened. So, from there on out, I continued the 22 miles south until I hit the county line, and you think anyone even dared to get into the left lane? It was awesome. I can’t imagine what everyone behind me were thinking.””
Oh, I can't wait to try that one out on the next officer who pulls me over.
Responsible drivers don’t try to impose personal order and take revenge on the world by squatting in the fast lane.
It isn’t up to you to worry about why the world is driving faster than you, and need to get by you, just be responsible and try not to block traffic flow, set ego aside, and let the traffic flow at it’s own natural rate.
It is also incorrect to keep saying that lane blockers are at the maximum speed, and that they are only blocking speeders, in real life that is by no means always the case.
Oh, boy!
Where have YOU been?
Not something I would suggest saying to a highway-patrol officer here in California, much less in Georgia.
They don’t actually contradict themselves anyway, just as a ticket related to “conditions” might not reflect the actual numbers on a sign.
“”The most popular law follows the Uniform Vehicle Code, which says a car driving below the “normal speed of traffic” should be driven in the right-hand lane. Because it indicates “normal speed” instead of saying “speed limit” a driver going above the speed limit but slower than most traffic is still in the wrong.””
We do have signs, about every mile on the highway, that say "Keep Right Except to Pass".
They may as well be written in Klingon for as much attention as people pay to them.
The perpetually clueless and the self-appointed-speed-limit-enforcer-control-freaks continue to hang out in the left lane.
The signs are fake, but you might enjoy reading what law enforcement thinks of those dangerous, anal types, determined to show the world they matter.
When asked why more of those guys aren’t busted, here are a few of the cop answers.
“”Because they move out of OUR way in a hurry. In order to write ‘em, you have to catch ‘em. Most people tend to obey the laws when there’s a patrol car around...especially when they’re behind you.””
“”Because I don’t work in every jurisdiction in the country.....””
“”A simple rule of thumb is that if you are being passed on the right, you are in the wrong lane (regardless of what the speed limit may be). One should only use the passing lane for passing - not for cruising. This used to be ‘common sense’ and was taught as part of driver education, but it has seemingly disappeared right along with common decency.
The Germans certainly have figured it out, so it is puzzling why American drivers cannot. Perhaps it is just a sign of the continual ‘dumbing down’ of our society.””
“”This applies here, in day light and night time. People wont budge. I’ve recently started stopping for it and everyone and I mean everyone I stop, seems to have no idea the differences in the lanes. Even after explaining it, some still dont understand. Our driving laws and licensing laws absolutely suck. We do need to be more like the German way of doing things.””
“”I lived in Germany for two years and have been back twice to visit when on vacation. They definitely have superior driving skills when compared to Americans. The Germans have perfected the “keep right except to pass” way of driving and EVERYONE uses their directional signals. Passing on the right is verboten (prohibited), but is not necessary because nobody hogs the passing lane.””
Here is the thread. http://forums.officer.com/t169762/
I swear on a stack of bibles here in Atlanta these people that do the posted speed limit in the two inner most lanes are directly responsible for charred bodies all over the roads. This is a good attempt.
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