Posted on 08/09/2004 12:25:49 PM PDT by Dog Gone
Two weeks ago I wrote that my traffic pet peeve is slow drivers using the left lane of a freeway and refusing to move over to let others pass.
This comment generated a flurry of e-mails and phone calls, with about a third of respondents agreeing that police should focus on ticketing these lane hogs who disrupt the normal flow of traffic, not speeders. The majority was critical, however, contending I was encouraging dangerous driving.
David Woerner of Houston called me "arrogant" for asking slower motorists to clear my path.
"If I am in the left lane and going 5 or 10 mph over the limit already, what right do you have to demand the lane?" he asked. "You have no more right to get there faster than me, as long as I drive the speed limit."
Several inquired about what the law says in this area.
My right to pass you in the left lane, even if I'm exceeding the posted limit, comes from § 545.051 of the Texas Transportation Code. The law requires that all drivers "moving more slowly than the normal speed of other vehicles at the time and place under the existing conditions shall drive in the right-hand lane."
So if you're doing the speed limit in the left lane and a line of cars is behind you waiting to pass, you are not only being rude, you are breaking the law.
Remember the saying: "Two wrongs don't make a right?" It's not your job to enforce the speed limits, which are kept below the normal speed of traffic because of poorly conceived environmental rules and the government's greedy desire to collect revenue from fines. Also, freeways are designed for very fast speeds; the design speed is usually higher than the legal limit.
Someone trying to obstruct traffic is creating a greater danger than a driver going faster than the artificially set limit.
"Thank you for finally pointing out the dangerous situation created by left-hand hogs, and the resulting impact on freeway capacity and mobility," wrote Andy Slavin of The Woodlands. "This has truly become an epidemic situation in the city."
I endorse a libertarian approach to traffic enforcement: If you haven't hit something, what have you done wrong?
Handing someone an expensive citation for nothing more than driving the freeway's design speed represents government money-grabbing at its worst and has nothing to do with promoting safety.
Robert Flanary of Houston endorses my call for higher speed limits on freeways or the elimination thereof, such as on Germany's Autobahn system.
"Lowering the freeway speeds in some Texas cities a few years back is not what's going to help reduce pollution," he wrote, "since bottled-up traffic causes more smog than the people doing 70-plus."
Although some respondents spoke out in favor of issuing more tickets to those of us who decline to obey speed limits, they declined to obey the "slower traffic keep right" law.
"If I'm proceeding down the left-hand lane at the speed limit or maybe slightly over, I shouldn't be a problem except to those who refuse to obey the speed limits, " wrote James Exum of Houston.
Folks, let's show some courtesy out there. If a right-hand lane is free, I always drive in it. The left lane is for passing only, unless the freeway is gridlocked. Go the speed you are comfortable with and allow others moving faster to safely go by.
I thought that the law mandating that no one drive in the left lane was for highway driving, not in town.
Also, Houston has some left lane exits on the urban highway system (which some speed demons try to use as passing lanes).
I stick close to the posted speed limit as well, and I'll gladly move over to let faster vehicles pass if I'm not not already passing slow vehicles. Unfortunately that never seems to suit the moron behind me who wants to pass the same vehicles I'm passing, only more rapidly than I'm passing them.
That makes me crazy too.
>>However, the law will never be effective until troopers start ticketing slow drivers.<<
Rotsa Ruck. The law is not intended to ticket people who are only doing 70 on a 65 MPH, instead of 80. It's to ticket week-end U-Haulers doing 45.
Ridiculous that people believe they have a right to drive like maniacs.
It ain't just Houston. Ohio is horrible for these left lane creepers. I've seen 'em get on the freeway and cut across 4 lanes of traffic just to hang out in the left lane and force everyone to pass on the right.
Just my observation but 9/10 times it's someone wearing a hat.
It's so bad on I270 around Columbus that often the right lane is the fastest lane. My solution is this: designate every lane the left lane and Ohio drivers will be in heaven.
Ridiculous that people believe they have a right to drive like maniacs.
just my opinion, but I've always considered the left lane
the lane for those willing to risk a speeding ticket. If you
are not,then don't sit there and drive there.If you think
you can deputize yourself to control traffic, go buy a junior g-man badge and a trooper outfit, put lights and siren on your slow-mobile and issue pretend tickets and we'll see who goes to jail 1st.
Yeah, I am usually shouting that at least 10 times a day. "It's the linger, slender pedal, people!".
So, there are now different speed limits for left and right lanes?
See, I was taught that the if you are going to be on the freeway, and your exit is far away, stay in the left lane - AWAY FROM THE ENTRANCES and EXITS, so you don't interfere with traffic. Then when you get close to your exit, move over - to exit the freeway.
Frankly, if i'm doing the speed limit, it's my right to be in any d*mn lane I choose to be.
However, I do try to move over and let those who choose to speed (10-15+ MPH over the posted limit) get around me. That is, when possible.
Good one. It appears even some FReepers like to drive like sissy liberals, go figure. Hey people, what part of speed limits are arbitrarily set well below highway designs don't you understand?
WRONG. The rest of traffic (those in the right lane) is moving slower than I am, so I am in the left lane passing the slower moving traffic. The fact that a few members of of traffic want to drive even faster does not trigger the operative phrase. The "normal speed of other vehicles at the time and place under the existing conditions" describes the traffic in the right lane and I am NOT "moving more slowly" than them.
We have the metered entrances all over L.A. Most of them are far back enough from the actual freeway that you can get going. My 1970 BMW has no problem getting up to speed.
No, but in my town that will get you a state trooper in your face to write you a ticket for "road rage." So the cops will write you up for trying to get the baffoon to pull over but they won't ticket the slower driver for not maintaining reasonable speed on the highway...go figure.
The way to end this is to begin ticketing drivers who drive 10mph or more under the posted speed limit. If your rig can't handle the posted speed, use another route...but stay out of the left lane unless you're passing!!!
"I stick close to the posted speed limit as well, and I'll gladly move over to let faster vehicles pass if I'm not not already passing slow vehicles. Unfortunately that never seems to suit the moron behind me who wants to pass the same vehicles I'm passing, only more rapidly than I'm passing them."
Yup. And there are a few of those here on the thread. They believe that their right to speed trumps everone else's rights on the road. If I am driving the limit and passing slower traffic on my right, then those speeders will just have to slow down until I can safely change to the right lane after I finish passing.
If the left lane is for passing, then that's what I use it for. I won't break the law by speeding, just because the impatient guy behind me wants to drive over the limit. Sorry...but that's how it is. I do promise to return to the right lane once I've passed the slower traffic, though.
nope, but I used to live in Sarasota, Florida. pretty well got used to people going through life with the blinker on.
ALL tailgaters should be summarily executed. No trial. No jury. No excuses. You ride my tail, you die.
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