Posted on 03/11/2014 1:39:42 PM PDT by PaulCruz2016
Left-lane lurkers on Georgia’s highways and interstates are a pen-stroke away from trouble under legislation given final passage Tuesday by the Georgia Senate.
House Bill 459 would allow authorities to ticket those who lollygag in the state’s left lanes. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for any driver on a divided highway who does not move to the right when a car going faster approaches from behind.
With the state House already signing off on the measure, all it needs is Gov. Nathan Deal’s signature to become law.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
I’ve seen them with this “I’m going the speed limit so I’m doing nothing wrong” look on their faces. They remind me of the John Goodman character in The Big Lebouski that, after making a fuss about his constitutional right to sweear in a public place, continuing to sit at the counter and “enjoy” his coffee.
‘cept it is obvious he is not enjoying it.
Impatient drivers in the left lane often care little about the situation, they just want everyone out of their way. If I can get over, I do. Thanks for not tailgating, and please drive safely.
Sometimes I wish the speed limits were actually completely enforced for a day. Probably would be 50 million
citations.Might lead to some changes.
I drive 62 miles from my house to my office every day. Most of the roads have a 55 mph speed limit but I’ve been averaging 65 or so for the entire time I’ve lived here. They are also mostly two lane roads. When I DO come across a car going 55 it is like he is crawling and I immediately pass him. It is not dangerous at all to do 65 or 70 on these roads, which may be why every single person I know who has actually been ticketed on these roads was doing over 75.
It’s very simple: if you aren’t passing anyone, get in the right lane ASAP.
Seriously my main beef with it is that I just hate the mindset of everything should be again’st the law. Thats what this kind of navel lint stuff is. Next thing it will be if you forget to turn on your lights while driving on a cloudy day. Its all just a bunch of BS.
Almost never is somebody poking along at 45-50MPH in the left hand lane.
States that are having a problem with these passing lane nannies are becoming more agressive about either passing laws against it or, more often, initiating a PR campaign that they are going to start enforcing it.
Seriously one problem is people going the speed limit in both lanes allowing traffic to pile up with the poor buy in the back going about 30 on interstate. I’ve seen it happen.
I’ve passed them on the shoulder on many occasions. Sometimes it REALLY ticks them off.
In Ohio, about 30% of fatal accidents include “speeding as a contributing factor.”
I’ve been up to 142 mph in my 2001 Chrysler 300m in montana’s I-95. If I had had a blowout, there would have been a serious accident and speed would have been a contributing factor, but not the cause.
Fact is, as you speed up, the laws of physics changes what happens if something “breaks”. A blowout at 35 mph is no big deal. Still, we are willing to take the risks.
I’ve been driving 46 years. My wife tells me that if I ever get in an accident it will be spectacular. I agree. But I’m not into accident survival anyway. I’m into accident avoidance. This is why I can drive the twisties around here at night at high speed, pass 30-40 deer on a single trip and not hit a one.
I am happy for this law, assuming it does change our traffic.
As an example, coming home from the airport at 11pm Saturday night, I-85 north was flowing fine, everyone doing 65-70mph.
We get to Jimmy Carter Blvd and major traffic jam. For those that don’t know, I-85 North is 5 or 6 lanes wide there. Turns out there were two cars in two left lanes running side by side at 60-65. Now 5mph doesn’t sound like much, but it caused a road block and tension for the drivers that wanted to pass. I weaved through traffic to pass them, never going over 70 (speed limit was 65).
I have been to Europe several times and it is so nice to be on the highways with 3 lanes and everyone moves over as soon as they finish passing. Even in the areas where there is a speed limit, the traffic flows much smoother because everyone is aware of the cars behind them.
Of course in Germany, it is $1500 to get a drivers license and you must take 6 months of classes prior.
Of course in Germany, it is $1500 to get a drivers license and you must take 6 months of classes prior.
“In other places it is a serious problem”
Yes but I could care less whats going on in other places. I’m talking about my own state. I don’t want everything to be agains’t the law just because its an irritant to a few people. I don’t want GA turning into a nanny state chite hole like Seattle.
I wasn’t kidding about doing 75MPH in a 70MPH zone. So now I guess the cop will pull you over and ticket you for speeding but not speeding fast enough. two tickets.
If I’m going the speed limit or greater and I’m passing people on the right, I don’t care about someone who comes up on me because they want to go faster.
If I’m passing someone on the right and I’m going the speed limit or greater no one has a “right” to complain I’m not going fast enough for them. It’s ridiculous. No one has a “right” to the left lane just because they want to go fast.
I’m often on the beltway going 70 (the limit is 55) in the left lane passing people on my right. Inevitably even at that speed some jerk comes up on my back and tailgates me because I’m not going fast enough for them.
Seventy! In a 55! How much faster could someone want to go?!
The Mario Andretti wannabe can breathe deep the vapors of my tailpipe because I’m not getting over in that situation.
If I come up to someone while in the left lane when I’m going 70 (or any speed over the limit) I slow down and maintain a safe following distance because guess what, at 70 MPH (or any speed over the limit) I don’t have a right to complain someone’s going too slow, even in the vaunted and sacrosanct left lane! Besides who gets to decide what speed is correct for the left lane, the guy going 75? 105?
I don’t own the road and just because I would like to go faster than 55 doesn’t mean everyone else does. The left lane is for passing, which means in theory if people are going slower than 55 in the right lanes then one might only go 55 in the left lane (which has also happened on occassion). The point is that as long as traffic in the left lane is passing that in the right, then the left lane serves it’s function. No one has a “right” to pass others faster than other people. No one has a right to the left lane just because they want to go faster than everyone else in it.
This is a stupid law (described in the OP) for the exact reason Campion asked. Either get rid if it or get rid of the speed limit because with laws like this, the left lane turns into a “drive as fast as you want” lane, and everyone else on the road be damned.
The less virtuous a people, the greater the need for laws.
I don’t remember who said that, but it describes what is happening in the US today. When everyone is taught, before getting a license, what a passing lane is, we don’t need a law. When people camp out there with impunity, it creates enough of a problem that a law is needed.
Just like intersections don’t have traffic lights until traffic hits a certain level, at which point one is installed.
You’re a good guy and I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. :-)
Yeah. I confess that my dream is that, if only for a day, I could legally use a full sized hummer with bumper guards to drive in the passing lane in one of the states where people like to camp out in the passing lane, flash my lightes ONCE at the nanny in front of me and if I don’t see a turn signal within, say, five seconds, ram them off the road, to the left.
A guy can dream...
BTW, when people unreasonably get on my bumper, for whatever reason, if they are really annoying about it I’ve found a great solution. To wit, I slam on my brakes as hard as I can, but only for a nanosecond to get the following phisical effects: The tail lifts, the nose dives, and the guy behind me almost loses control of his car when he sees my car do that. It’s best to be carrying when you do it, though.
50% of all people are below average in math.
If you are in the left hand lane doing 50 MPH you deserve to get tailgated and harrassed by the other drivers. Left to their own devices drivers generally manage to handle the slow pokes on their own. Thats why I don’t want a stupid law agains’t it. Takes all the fun out of driving. :-)
All these old grannies on these threads sound like my 91 year old mother. There should be a law agains’t everythng she doesn’t like. LOL!
If you are in the left hand lane doing 50 MPH you deserve to get tailgated and harrassed by the other drivers.
Left to their own devices drivers generally manage to handle the slow pokes on their own.
Yeh I hate tailgaters for the sake of tailgating. If you are tooling along at 80-85MPH on the interstate and some guy/gal flies up behind you at 95MPH then it hardly even gives you time to put your blinker on and move over to the right to let them by.
I’ve been guilty of excessive speed and tailgating in the past. My personal best was 3 hrs and 15 minutes from my college roomate’s parents’ drive in Jupiter, Fl to my parents drive in Jacksonville. I was harrassing truckers to get out of my way. I even blew through a speedtrap on I-95 but they just didn’t want me. LOL!!
Now I have Mr. GG2 who I affectionately call double nickel to keep me within acceptable norms.
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