State Rep. Mike Bennett hasn't abandoned his quest to punish motorists who settle into the left lane and force faster drivers to go around them. The Bradenton Republican has re-introduced a bill this year that was vetoed last year by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.
It targets drivers who don't move over "once they realize that traffic behind them is overtaking them at a high rate of speed," Bennett wrote in a column sent to newspapers several weeks ago.
I think the pokey people cause at least as many accidents as the speed demons. Especially dangerous are those who can't seem to grasp that the left lane on I-69 is a passing lane, not a driving lane.
Comments
One important point to make for all this is that WHEN a slowpoke is doddling along in the LEFT lane, and people pass them on the RIGHT...THEY become law breakers as well.
When people ignore any chance to become further educated, it looks like we have to legislate it...
I can't see smaller government coming from any of that...not as long as idiots abound.
B.G.
Bob G. falsely wrote:
>One important point to make for
>all this is that WHEN a slowpoke
>is doddling along in the LEFT
>lane, and people pass them on
>the RIGHT...THEY become law
>breakers as well.
Bob -
Passing in the right lane is legal. In fact, the driver manual issued when I got my first license said that if the slower driver in the left lane will not move over after you have 1) overtaken him, 2) sounded your horn, and/or 3) flashed your lights to signal your wish to pass, "you may pass on the right -- but do so with caution, because you are dealing with a poor driver." That's virtually a quote.
The left lane dawdler makes passing him on the right necessary and perfectly legal when he illegally declines to move over and permit the pass.
It's also the law, by the way, that if a driver has cars backing up behind him who are unable to pass, he should PULL OFF THE ROAD IF NECESSARY to let them by, as often as need be.
Oh yes, one more thing.
"Overtaking" is not illegal, and it is not "tailgating." It is what commonly leads to a pass.
A passing car will obviously overtake you first, then pass. Overtaking is the earliest normal and routine sign of the need to pass.
Sorry, but there's yet one more detail to add here.
It IS illegal to interfere with a car passing you in any way. You must permit the pass, you may not maneuver until until the pass is completed, you may not accelerate even inadvertently, and you certainly can't pull into the path of the passing car for any reason, particularly not to "stay ahead" or otherwise hamper the pass.
A passing car has the right to pass you and you are obligated to permit it, even if you have to slow down a bit (that's in the manuals too).
You got the manual right there in front of you Steve? That's a heck of a memory! I'm still wondering why it is so difficult for so many people to use their cruise control?
tim -
Still have that manual and I've had to refer to it now and then when correcting people who have come to believe somehow a 180-degree backward version of the actual law.
Cruise control would be great if we could leave it on -- if we could count on being able to cruise at our selected speed in the right lane; overtake, signal, and pass a slower car in the left lane; then return to the right lane upon the completion of each individual pass with the CC still purring along. Heaven.