El_Gringo_Grande

one way or another.

http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0108/486306.html

The "left lane law" says you cannot drive in the left lane if you are not going the speed limit unless you are passing or turning left. They have recently started enforcing it probably because they can't get as many speeders because people are driving slower to save gas. I know I go 60-65 mph and I rarely get passed.

It has it's place but overall I think it is a stupid law. And a $200 ticket?

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Hambergler

So if one drives the speed limit or below they get a ticket for going too slow and if one drives over the speed limit they get a ticket for going too fast. No one is allowed in the left lane other then to pass except for emergency vehicles? Wow, that would cause a massive amount of traffic in my city.

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Elwenil

This was tried in Virginia about 10 years ago and it became null and void simply because of traffic jams. We actually had it worded so that we couldn't stay in the left lane for more than a few miles or we got a ticket. I never knew anyone who actually got pulled over for it and all of my LEO friends said it was stupid and they had much more important things to do than count mile markers while following someone.

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SmokingTarpan

Oh, so when you slow down and move to the left lane to be courteous and protect the trooper, you can then get a ticket for driving too slow in the left lane! Man, I should apply for a job down there, I can think of dozens of silly ways to get money from ordinary citizens.

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USN_Squid

I read somewhere that this law is strictly enforced on the autobahn and their lower incidence of accidents can be attributed to it. The difference being that in certain sections there's no upper limit last I heard. Anyone have any first hand experience?

The law here is a little different; in the hammer lane you must go faster than 55 but slower than 75. Although realistically if you're not going 80 you probably have someone tail gating you already. If nothing else I think enforcing this law would force people to maintain some situational awareness which is sorely lacking.

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Switch

LOL @ comparing German autobahn and US roads.

Driving is a completely different thing there -- its a highly respected practice on the autobahn.

In the use we eat drink talk shave etc while we drive. In Germany cup holders are considered confusing.

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USN_Squid

It is in my car too. I think it's a valid question to compare similar laws dissimilarly enforced. Remember, the ideas behind Eisenhower's plan for our national highway system were born on the autobahn current cultural differences notwithstanding.

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Rincewind

Are you kidding? This is awesome. I saw it in Action on the Turner Turnpike yesterday coming back from Missouri. A trucker was going 70 in the left lane (speed limit of 75) passing a line of wal-mart and UPS trucks going about the same speed. It was taking forever (literall I was behind him for over 10 minutes) and there was a line of 30 or so cars behind it. The line of trucks and cars passed a trooper waiting for speeders. The HP pulled out and started passing everyone on the shoulder. He got ahead of the group and whipped behind the semi and proceeded to pull it over. It was great.

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Ferris Bueller

They tried this in colorado too. After a few months, the police just stopped enforcing it because of situations like the one rince described. Technically, even though it was taking a long time, the semi WAS passing people, and therefore made correct use of the lane. Any good lawyer would punch straight at that logic, which is exactly what happened in colorado. The signs are still there, but everyone just ignores them now.

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Morganan

There is a similar law in PA, basically here the left lane on highways is only for passing people. The minute you have passed someone you are supposed to get back over in the right lane or risk a ticket.

Thank god the cops don't really enforce this law here, as our roads suck from all the trucks on our highways and our winters and more times then not the right lane is only a marginal improvement over a dirt road for smoothness of driving.

MagnaCentipede

One of Florida's few good attributes is that the right lane is for speeding and the left lane is for hauling ass. If you get pulled over, it's either for going too slowly or for doing Limit+20 by yourself or while in a sports car, which stimulates the local economy with $300 of your dollars.

Yeah... don't try to impress your girlfriend with your sports car in Florida. For every MPH you can go over the speed limit, the Highway Patrol can do two.

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ScratchMonkey

Every law like this creates less respect for the law. (The stupid drug laws are another example.) In another thread we talk about loss of respect for police. I think that's because cops are bound to be the face of these laws. If we didn't have stupid laws, cops would have a lot more respect.

I've encountered the left-only-for-passing law in Oregon while heading north to Washington and Canada on vacation, and it seemed to work pretty well. It was a breath of fresh air after getting stuck behind "blue hair" in California's left lanes. But perhaps the very low traffic density is required for that. It would suck in a city.

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War.mongeR1

I'm amazed at the sentiments here. This law is awesome and so necessary. I put about 1000 miles a week on my car going to work at different counties. One of my biggest pet peeves are people (especially semi's) who jump out in front of you in the left lane and end up not passing the semi on the right. I got stuck behind a pair last Friday going 65 (in an 80mph zone). I let it slide for about 10 miles, but then I started flashing my lights and laying on the horn. Finally the driver got a clue and sped up and got back in the right lane. Once I passed him, I got back in the right lane and several people passed me waving and giving me the thumbs up. Sometimes people are in their own little worlds and need to realize that the left lane if for passing. There are signs posted everywhere saying, "Keep Texas Moving. Left lane is for passing only." BTW, I've never seen a hp pull anyone over for passing safely, even if it requires speeding. I've passed plenty of hp's doing 10 over the limit, and they never seem to care. They see I'm doing it solely for passing and not continuously speeding.

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Elwenil

Obviously you have never driven a semi. If you had, you would understand the need for longer distances in front of you and the need to get over in the left lane to go around another truck. Yes, it does happen that you end up in a rolling log-jam sometimes but most of the time that is a direct result of the terrain, the weight of the truck, and the power in the engine. Getting over to the right lane and slowing down isn't always a consideration to the driver since a semi takes a lot longer to get back up to highway speed and in the long run causes more problems. In a way you are sort of a victim of the people who complain all the time about how fast the semi trucks are and all that mess. Because of the lower speed limits for trucks and the rising insurance costs, more and more trucking companies have limited the trucks to 60 MPH, which also limits it's pulling power in the end and causes these situations more often than it used to happen. But it is important to note that in most cases, if the speed limit is 65 MPH, it is still legal in most places to go as slow as 45 MPH and still not break the law.

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SmokingTarpan

Except that, according to the law ("The law says the left lane is only meant for drivers who are passing or turning.") the trucker wasn't doing anything wrong. He may have been going slower than you might have liked, but he was passing those in the right lane. Him getting pulled over is a good example of how this law is already being distorted and enforced poorly. In addition, wasn't he actually speeding anyway? I know that most states I've visited, the speed limit for truckers is 10mph under the standard (e.g. in IL our limit is 65, but 55 for truckers). If it's that way where you are, then the trucker wasn't going under the limit.

My problem with this law is that it creates a catch 22 situation. You're not supposed to be in the left lane unless you're going over the speed limit, right? Yet going 1mph over the speed limit is speeding and against the law. Are officers likely to enforce that so strictly? Doubtful. But it remains that the law creates a situation in which almost any use of the left lane can result in you getting a ticket. As much as I love our LEO's, there's always the ones that are pricks having a bad day or something (I refer you to the police officer arresting a fireman thread). This law simply gives more power to that kind of crap.

All things aside, I don't know where you guys all live that something like this is needed, heh. Illinois isn't known for its great highway drivers, but I routinely encounter people zooming up on me like a bat out of hell when I'm already passing someone by doing 10 over. I've yet to find people on a highway going under the limit in the left lane. Now city, that's a different story. :P

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