‘Slowpoke’ law leading to citations for some South Carolina drivers

WHNS Greenville ^ | June 9, 2022 | Jarvis Robertson

[where's_the_Outrage?]

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - As the 100 deadly days of summer moves forward, we wanted to take a look at how one recently passed state law is affecting drivers.

The ‘move right’ law, or as many call it the ‘slowpoke’ law.

“If you are traveling on a controlled access highway, you should stay out of the left hand lane unless you are passing or overtaking a car,” said Corporal Joe Hovis, with the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

[Vermont Lt]

I drove through Columbia last week. I drove from Western MA to Southern FL. The stretch through Columbia was the worst segment of the drive. The drivers were bad. The roads sucked. And the stops off the highway were poorly staffed and maintained.

SC along the coast is nice. Interior SC is not my favorite place.

[TexasGator]

“Because people like you insist on driving 65 mph in the fast lane.”

Totally false irrational personal attack. Not your first

“You might be passing someone doing 63 mph, and you think you are following the law, but you are actually being a thick headed slow poke.”

Totally false irrational personal attack. Not your first.

[Reddy]

This.

Stay out of the left lane unless passing or GOING WITH THE SPEED OF TRAFFIC IN THAT LANE. However, if someone is behind you in the left land, move over and let them pass. Period.

*Now let’s talk about zippering-in when there is a lane closed on a road. lol

[cuban leaf]

I fantasize about a big V-blade on the front of my truck.

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Even better!😎

[cuban leaf]

And if I’m doing 75 and 80 in the fast lane and someone is behind me wanting to go even faster? I move over and let them go.

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Same here. Sometimes I pull in behind them and use them as a radar screen. It’s actually saved my butt a lot of times, yet allowed me to really make up time.😎

But the key point is this: When it comes to the passing lane, the speed limit is irrelevant. All that matters is relative speed of vehicles. If you’re doing 120 in the passing lane and someone wants to pass, you move over and let them pass. Pretty simple.

[Responsibility2nd]

Truck drivers are the biggest offenders on the road today. I just cringe when I am doing 75 mph and I see one of those 18 wheelers move over in the passing lane.

I do the same thing you do. I see if there is enough space to go around them on the right and move over in front of them before they get too far along. Otherwise I just resign myself to doing 68 mph in the passing lane for the next five minutes or so while they lumber pass another truck doing 62 mph.

[Reddy]

One of the other problems contributing to people not being able to use the left passing lane for its intended purpose are the idiots who go at or below the speed limit in the middle lane on a 3 lane highway. They should stay in the far right lane.

[cuban leaf]

When I taught my kids to drive the rule was “if you are ever passed on the right you should not be in the left.”

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Same here.

Another rule I taught them: If there is a cop behind you, pull off the road into the nearest parking lot or side street as soon as possible. Don’t give him time to come up with an “excuse” to pull you over.

[Responsibility2nd]

See post 10. Who posted that? Why, you did

You actually believe it’s OK to camp out in the left lane if you’re doing the speed limit.

I’m sorry you’re taking offense at my personal attacks, but you’re still a road hogging moron.

[cuban leaf]

Though I agree with your sentiment on the subject in general, the personal attack kinda ruins the post.

[Scrambler Bob]

Left lane is running 85 plus.
Right lane about 62.

Unless you have a real hot rod, it is almost impossible to jump out of the right lane and into the left lane into the space between left lane cars.

[AppyPappy]

My local favorite is people driving 5 over until they get to a lane closure and then they slow to 5 under by the time you get to the end of the lane closure, they are at 10 under.

[DoodleBob]

100 deadly days of summer. That's a sick way to think of summer.

I posted this frequently during the pandemic but it's applicable here. There is a SEASONAL DIMENSION to death.

The majority of deaths in most countries can be attributed to causes that feature a distinct seasonal pattern. The figure depicts the relative monthly frequencies of nine selected causes of death in the United States for women and men combined for the years 1959–2014. The reported number of counts in parentheses in the title of each panel is the actual number of deaths.

EXCEPT FOR MOTOR FATALITIES, which are also seasonal but negatively correlated with most other causes.

" 100 deadly days of summer" prolly came from the same consultant to told Bidet to say "winter of severe illness and death".

Viruses gonna virus. Even non-viruses gonna non-virus.

Enjoy the summer!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It’s funny how often I see you on the road, dashing left and right and back left again, causing everybody to slam on their brakes. You are everywhere!

[Alberta's Child]

I'm a civil engineer and I work in this particular area all the time. There's another angle of this "keep right except to pass" law that becomes problematic in urban areas.

In addition to the law requiring vehicles to keep right except when passing, many states also prohibit trucks and buses from driving in the left lane of a multi-lane highway with more than two travel lanes per direction. This seems reasonable on its face, but it presents a dilemma in urban areas where a highway has a combination of two features: (1) three travel lanes, and (2) closely-spaced interchanges.

The closely-spaced interchanges make it impractical for through traffic to drive in the right lane because vehicles in the right lane are traveling more slowly than usual when entering and exiting the highway. So you end up with this inefficient scenario where buses and tractor-trailers that may be driving 50+ miles through a metro area on an interstate highway are basically "stuck" in the middle lane of a three-lane cross section for mile after mile because the traffic in the right lane is moving slowly, and these trucks and buses are prohibited from driving in the left lane.

This dilemma is one of the things that has spurred a discussion about implementing "truck-only" lanes in heavily-traveled freight corridors where long-haul trucks would be able to operate completely outside the mix of general local traffic.

[cuban leaf]

I’m more forgiving regarding middle lanes. I would like it if they would move to the right, but don’t really point the bony finger of blame at them as I do people in the passing lane. It’s more of a courtesy thing.

FWIW, I’ve been in the middle lane with nothing in front of me, and I’m passing someone in the passing lane, and there is a truck in the far right lane, and I’ve passed the person in the passing lane and pulled IN FRONT OF THEM to allow people behind me to use the middle lane to get passed the passing lane nazi. I’ve sometimes gotten five or more cars through by doing that. Then we all go on our way, leaving the slowpoke to do what he does.

[Responsibility2nd]

My latest car has adaptive cruise control. I love it. I love it to death.

As you know using regular cruise control on the interstates just isn’t practical. No matter what speed you set it to you either always have to slow up or slow down.

If I have my cruise at 80 and I’m zipping along in the passing lane, I can very easily move over, as necessary to the slow lane and my adaptive cruise control will automatically bring my car down to 60 mph while maintaining a very safe distance from the car in front of me.

When the left lane is free again, I move over, my cruise automatically takes me back to 80. Easy Peezy.

[Fresh Wind]

I have noticed that if there are 3 lanes, the slowest traffic is always in the center lane. The only exception is when an exit is coming up. People get in the right lane and slow down to 10 mph below the limit miles before the exit because they are afraid of missing it.

[rockrr]

Yes. We’ve had a similar law here in Washington state for as long as I can remember. It is universally ignored and it does absolutely nothing to affect traffic patterns.

[cuban leaf]

It’s funny how often I see you on the road, dashing left and right and back left again, causing everybody to slam on their brakes. You are everywhere!

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Yes, I am! 😁

But nobody has to slam on their brakes. I’m going faster than them. However, if they have that newfangled cruise control that keeps them a certain distance from the car in front of them, yes, their cruise control will sometimes “slam on the brakes” briefly.

But that “dashing left and right” thing is something I stopped doing in my early 40’s. And now that I’m retired (68), I’m never in that much of a hurry.

But the pre-40’s me is why they are trying to enforce these laws now. They want to ticket the speeders and they don’t want the speeders getting so frustrated they cause an accident, or worse. And believe me, I’ve seen plenty of left lane Nazi’s pi$$ off a LOT of people, creating multiple “aggressive drivers” as everyone takes their opportunity to pass them. But I’ve personally left that life behind.

BTW, I have about 1.5 million miles under me, and only drove truck when I was 16. The rest is four wheel.