FINALLY! Driving slow in the left lane? Get ready to pay.
06-23-2008 | 11:07 PM
#1
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Scion Evolution
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 341
From: Seattle, WA
FINALLY! Driving slow in the left lane? Get ready to pay.
http://www.komonews.com/news/20656789.html
Thank you WSP 
SEATTLE -- Even if you're going the speed limit it might not be enough to prevent you from getting a ticket if you're holding up traffic in the fast lane.
State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its intended purpose: passing.
"We're doing 58, 59 miles an hour and they are just sitting there, traffic's passing them on the right hand side," Trooper Keith Leary said while pointing out a car in the left lane of Interstate 5. "That's exactly what we don't want to see happen."
...
Leary reminded Bonifcho that drivers need to stay in the right lanes unless they're passing another vehicle.
Everyone pulled over during Leary's patrol said they thought it wasn't a problem as long as they were going the speed limit. But the law says otherwise.
"It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic," the statute reads.
The reason for the law is to help keep traffic moving and to diffuse potential road rage situations.
...
The State Patrol said several recent collisions caused by slow vehicles in the passing lane have prompted increased enforcement of the law along area interstates.
Drivers in the HOV lanes are exempt from the rule, but anyone else could be facing a $124 ticket.
State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its intended purpose: passing.
"We're doing 58, 59 miles an hour and they are just sitting there, traffic's passing them on the right hand side," Trooper Keith Leary said while pointing out a car in the left lane of Interstate 5. "That's exactly what we don't want to see happen."
...
Leary reminded Bonifcho that drivers need to stay in the right lanes unless they're passing another vehicle.
Everyone pulled over during Leary's patrol said they thought it wasn't a problem as long as they were going the speed limit. But the law says otherwise.
"It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic," the statute reads.
The reason for the law is to help keep traffic moving and to diffuse potential road rage situations.
...
The State Patrol said several recent collisions caused by slow vehicles in the passing lane have prompted increased enforcement of the law along area interstates.
Drivers in the HOV lanes are exempt from the rule, but anyone else could be facing a $124 ticket.
06-23-2008 | 11:40 PM
#5
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Balliztik
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Posts: 9,538
From: Washington
What I love is the latest trend of everyone to drive 5 miles under the speed limit on city streets.........and to take half a mile to get up to that speed.........meen while I am buring gass like crazy triying to get into a dear that actually uses less gas than 2nd gear............
Also Prius pnwers.........just because at 35 mph the motor turns from electric to gas usage.........why are you not smart enough to pull over and let the line of 37 cars behind you go by...........I do not want to drive 29 in a 35..........I want to drive 35...........
I am glad they are gonna give out tickets onthe freeway.........after talking to Giovanni.......in Europe if you get passed on the right you can get a ticket for going to slow.......and you need to move over..........
And do not get me started on highway 512.........WTF.........every one is driving 50 in a 60 and plugging both lanes up doing it and it is insane............Ahhhhhhhhh
Sorry spent my day rebuilding a bathroom that I jsut rebuilt Friday that got trashed SAturday.........again..........AHHHHHHHHH
Also Prius pnwers.........just because at 35 mph the motor turns from electric to gas usage.........why are you not smart enough to pull over and let the line of 37 cars behind you go by...........I do not want to drive 29 in a 35..........I want to drive 35...........
I am glad they are gonna give out tickets onthe freeway.........after talking to Giovanni.......in Europe if you get passed on the right you can get a ticket for going to slow.......and you need to move over..........
And do not get me started on highway 512.........WTF.........every one is driving 50 in a 60 and plugging both lanes up doing it and it is insane............Ahhhhhhhhh
Sorry spent my day rebuilding a bathroom that I jsut rebuilt Friday that got trashed SAturday.........again..........AHHHHHHHHH
06-23-2008 | 11:59 PM
#7
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From: Back in the "grove"
Yaaaaaaaaay 
lets hope they enforce it as much as the no licence plate light ! lol
and yes what brian said these people that take a half a mile to get up to 35 or so
get a flippin clue!! the gas you just saved i burnt by passin your slow a$$!!!!
pretty sad when i can get a 105,500lb truck off the line and up to the speed limit faster than a 2000 lb car!
lets hope they enforce it as much as the no licence plate light ! loland yes what brian said these people that take a half a mile to get up to 35 or so
get a flippin clue!! the gas you just saved i burnt by passin your slow a$$!!!!
pretty sad when i can get a 105,500lb truck off the line and up to the speed limit faster than a 2000 lb car!
06-24-2008 | 12:04 AM
#9
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Balliztik
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9,538
From: Washington
Agreed.......the last few weeks I have seen loaded trucks get going faster than cars.........if people want to save gas..........try buying a car that uses less gas........I did...........and even with all my romping on it still get a average of 33mpg.........and that is in the city ith liek 4 dozen stoplights in a3 miles........LOL
06-24-2008 | 01:03 AM
#12
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Balliztik
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9,538
From: Washington
the hypermilling is simple......let off the gas and it shuts off the gas to the injectors.........my Yaris does it........but first you have to get up to speed...............or you are just puttign around below the speed limit ____ing everyone off........
06-24-2008 | 01:16 AM
#14
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Posts: 1,300
From: Lake Oswego, OR
Yes, this is the kind of laws that need to be enforced. In Cali they are banning the use of hand held cell phones too.
I still hate the people who don't signal to get into a turning lane or off ramp but once they are somewhere that they can only turn then they turn it on...
Prius' owners (that I seem to be around) hate them-drive the speed limit
Same with Subaru owners (minus wrx and sti) here in vegan capital oregon who drive just slightly slower and figure they are making you a better person by making you fit in their idea of the eco-friendly person...
I still hate the people who don't signal to get into a turning lane or off ramp but once they are somewhere that they can only turn then they turn it on...
Prius' owners (that I seem to be around) hate them-drive the speed limit
Same with Subaru owners (minus wrx and sti) here in vegan capital oregon who drive just slightly slower and figure they are making you a better person by making you fit in their idea of the eco-friendly person...
06-24-2008 | 01:34 AM
#17
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From: Tampa, FL
We have this same rule here in Illinois but it's not enforced! Some of us fast drivers need to honk or flash our lights to get the slower traffic to move out of the way! Sometimes I find myself in the left lane following the speed limit and I get flashed at by someone driving faster.
I don't get mad and I just move over...why can't slower drivers in the left lane do the same?
I don't get mad and I just move over...why can't slower drivers in the left lane do the same?
06-24-2008 | 02:15 AM
#18
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,123
From: Hela Fass Dooo P.N. Dubya
Bout time! This has been my big pet peeve long before hypermiling. I could never understand how idiots can just cruise along at 62 in the fast lane, oblivious to the backup they are causing. Hopefully this will help, cause the older i get, the more it pi$$es me off. Alright, where's my prozac?
