Last Resistance – by Michael Minkoff
One of my biggest pet peeves on the road is the left-lane highway cruiser. If you’re a compulsive reader of my articles (Why would you do that to yourself?), you may remember that I have written on this very issue before.
I don’t care how fast you are going. The leftmost lane on the highway is for passing. That is basic road etiquette, but, not surprisingly, few people here in Georgia follow it. And it is frustrating.
Well the Georgia State legislature is here to save the day. They are currently enacting a bill (dubbed the Slowpoke Bill) that would make lollygagging in the left lane a misdemeanor. That’s right. All those people with their left blinker still on … going 62 in a 65 … in the left lane … pacing the car on their right … with ten cars piled up behind them … Johnny Law is coming for you.
The reaction to the bill is hilarious. Some lady (armygirl1974), who probably has no idea how bad she is at driving, responded, “What if the speed limit is 65 and I am going 65, am I supposed to move over and let someone going 90 pass[?] Give me a ticket, I dare you.” Are you supposed to move over? Yeah. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. I mean, seriously? Is that a real question? Who made you the hall monitor of safe driving speeds? I’m looking forward to seeing you on the side of the road getting ticketed for just that.
The rules are there to allow everyone the maximum opportunity to drive the way he wants. The speed limit is an arbitrary suggestion, and that’s a fact. Depending on the police officer and the stretch of road you’re on, you can go as much as 15 over the speed limit (and maybe more in some cases) without having to worry at all about a police officer pulling you over. So the more likely scenario for the Slowpoke Bill is a person going the speed limit and someone else who wants to go even ten miles an hour faster pulling up behind them. Neither driver would be ticketed for speeding, but under the Slowpoke Bill, the person in front would be ticketed for blocking up traffic.
This is not just a hypothetical example. Here in Georgia, we have a loop around the city called 285. The posted speed limit on 285 is 55 miles per hour. No one, and I mean no one, goes 55 on 285. The average speed is a little under 70. If you went 55, you would be a danger to society. If armygirl1974 decided to go 55 in the left lane to keep everyone legal, she wouldn’t be doing a public service. She would be (and probably is) a public nuisance at best. The Slowpoke Bill would see her ticketed for those shenanigans.
So … Well done, Georgia legislature! This may be one of the only times I ever congratulate you. So savor it.
Read more at http://lastresistance.com/4903/georgia-pass-awesome-slowpoke-bill/#xC8Fzf9zAjK502rW.99
Just what we need cops being able to give out tickets for “driving too slowly.” Cops would have a field day with this.
Just another way for them to suck out your money…..
There are TWO reasons why ‘they’ do things…anything….
The ‘real’ reason…
and the one they want you to believe is for your benefit…
so your happy about it….
happy to give an officer more power to stop and ticket YOU and me.
I really think we need LESS rules and laws, not more.
Left lane arrogance has more to do with upbringing, or learning to drive.
Teach better…. stuff the laws.
“The speed limit is an arbitrary suggestion”; are you kidding me? There’s usually two posted speeds on the interstate – a minimum and a maximum – so yeah, you can arbitrarily go any speed between the two. But I just watched a video of a guy that was pulled over for doing 72 . . . in a 70. I was a deputy sheriff in FL – I gave you 5; but if you passed me, and I was doing the limit, you got stopped. I’ve driven through Atlanta and know that doing the limit will get you run over.
I remember reading about a town in Germany where they removed all the stop signs. They actually had a drop in accidents, because people worked out the “not crashing into each other” thing and also were paying attention to the road, and not the Politzei.
Here in California every one of people piloting cars has a drivers license. Its ridicules notion that licensing people to operate a vehicle does anything but generate revenue and enslave a population. That is yet another thing that is going to be abolished after we take back our government.
One thing is for sure out here. The Asians are hell on wheels though. Every dam time I see an accident it seems they are at the heart of it. That’s another thing we’re going to fix. Mass deportation of people who don’t belong here. Tired of this Balkanization of my country. What a mess. This $#IT hole of a country has become something that would make my ancestors spin in their grave.
If the author thinks Georgia drivers are bad, he should check out the morons that laughingly pass as licensed drivers here in CA.
Much of the road rage here is entirely justifiable.