Posted on 04/04/2005 11:07:55 AM PDT by KidGlock
Colo. Cracks Down on Left-Lane Dawdling
Mon Apr 4, 9:15 AM ET AP
DENVER - Colorado is serious about its no-dawdling law in left lanes. Drivers who insist on staying in the passing lane are risking tickets as the State Patrol has begun enforcing a law requiring motorists to use the left lane for passing only.
Since the patrol started enforcing the "Left Lane Law" three months ago, troopers have written about 460 tickets or about an average of five a day to drivers who dawdle in the left lane.
The law applies in zones with speed limits of 65 mph or higher. It took effect July 1, but troopers gave drivers until January to get used to the new law; warnings were issued instead of tickets.
Master Trooper Ron Watkins said that since the ticketing campaign began three months ago about 90 percent of the drivers he has pulled over for dawdling or cruising in the left lane said they didn't know that it was illegal to do so.
Violators of the left lane rule may be fined up to $41 and have three points tacked onto their driver's licenses. The law is not enforced when the highway is too congested to allow drivers to pass.
LOL, how many times did Shaun Hannity get busted in the HOV lane when he worked in Atlanta?
That's a joke right? I know all about "Michigan Lefts"
I think I've met this woman on the interstate.
She wants to control other people and keep them from driving too fast. You can guess which party she votes for.
She's a Democrat. She automatically moves to the left and impedes progress.
For the record, I find it annoying, too, but really, unless the driver is dawdling below the speed limit, how is he doing anything wrong?
YES YES YES thank you God. Now, no tickets please, pull them from their cars and just shoot them.
Yes, they should ensure order,
but should they profit from it?
I noticed this being really bad on the 36 towards Boulder.
For the most part I agree with you. But I have found one (fairly) good reason to use the left lane on the interstates. Sometimes the road maintenance is not kept up very well and the right lane gets severely washboarded and chewed up because of heavy trucks that are required to use the right lane all the time. If there's light traffic I have on occasion just cruised in the left lane because it's smoother.
But that's only happened a couple of times in my driving career. Mostly I just drive the speed limit and I keep to the right except when passing.
This annoys the heck out of me every day in Milwaukee. We have a lot of left-side exits on the freeway, so if someone is going to use one of those exits, they think it's their God-given right to do 5 under the speed limit in the left lane for 3+ miles before the exit. I usually just end up passing on the right, like everyone else.
My dream is to have some sort of laser that would puncture the idiot's tire. Barring that, I'd like one that etched "butt head" on the rear panel of their vehicle. It wouldn't get him out of my way like the punctured tire would, but he'd know he'd pissed someone off by dawdling in the left lane.
Me too. I move to Kansas from the east coast about 10 years ago, and started to see this all the time I-35. It really makes me mad. Anal retentive control freaks.
I'm so thankful I rarely, if ever, have to go to Boulder. I avoid 36 like the plague. It was bad ten years ago when I was there for school. Its only gotten worse.
I'll stay in my Cheesman Park area, thank you very much :-)
And what are the majority of these morons doing?Talking on cell phones no doubt.See that alot here in Georgia.
bttt
Sorry, but this makes absolutely no sense. If everyone drives in the left lane, that's the lane that is going to be in need of maintenance because of all the additional wear-and-tear.
Michiganders are afraid of going their normal speeds in Ohio. Ohio tickets and planes are legendary.
This just hit me: Although I hate dawdlers, the state may have other motives. That is, there are many stretches of highway here in western Washington where I can slide by in the far RIGHT lane at 20 over for several miles while there is a traffic jam in the left lanes.
And have you ever seen people kinda like me who will go over the limit on a three + lane freeway (in one direction) and avoid the far left lane like the plague?
This will force the speeders to the left and out in the open where they can be more easily picked off.
All government has to do is redefine 'wrong'
From law.com:
crime
A type of behavior that is has been defined by the state, as deserving of punishment which usually includes imprisonment. Crimes and their punishments are defined by Congress and state legislatures.
Odd that the Constitution gives the power to define punishments FOR crimes, but nowhere is the power to define *crime* itself.
"About damn time grandpa in the 1978 Pinto got the F*CK out of the way!!! "
My 75 year old father was taking me to the airport a few months ago. We were in the HOV lane in the Renton "S" curves on I-405. He was so pissed at the asian lady poking along at slightly below the speed limit in front of us that he floored it on his Ford Ranger and PASSED HER ON THE LEFT SHOULDER.
Interesting point.
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