August 15, 2004 6:35 AM

Memo to Miami drivers: you could learn something here

MOVE IT! Passing in left lane is a law-granted right

Anyone who has ever ridden with me knows that I am not the most patient of drivers (just ask Susan; she'll be happy to tell you). I try, and I try, but I drive fast and and I'm impatient. Other than that I'm virtually perfect....

Come to find out that I am not the only struggling with this demon. The good news, though, is that I have the law on my side- at least in Texas.

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....

everal 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 ยง 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....

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.

In Europe, if you are in the left hand lane and impeding faster traffic behind you, someone will crawl up your butt and flash their brights. I do it now; it's a bad habit I never unlearned once I came back to the States. It will get someone's attention, but strangely enough, most people don't seem to appreciate it.

Take it from someone who has dealt with this far too often: if you're going to do the speed limit, fine. Just stay the hell out of the left-hand lane. It's neither your job nor your responsibility to enforce the speed limit, and you may well become a hazard to other drivers. If you're going to take a moral stand on honoring the speed limit, that's your call. Just don't put the rest of us at risk and don't do it in the left lane.

I'm not condoing breaking the law, but the fact of the matter is that speed limits are set artificially low. There is no reason that I shouldn't be able to drive 75 MPH if it can be done safely. In the words of the immortal Sammy Hagar:

I can't drive 55.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on August 15, 2004 6:35 AM.

Yeah, but thy're "fair and balanced".... was the previous entry in this blog.

I got mine...you get your own is the next entry in this blog.

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