Do you know why I pulled you over?

*Disclaimer #1, no, I haven’t been pulled over for this yet.

There are some really dumb traffic laws out there, and this happens to be one of the dumbest. The sheer nature of the law assumes that someone will be speeding and someone else will be impeding their progress.

Bahn Storming

wesleychapelcommunity.com

So, let’s talk about this for a second. Let’s assume you are trying to follow the posted speed limit and are not exceeding it. Slower vehicles are supposed to stay to the right (it’s the law, right?). If, by the nature of traveling the speed limit, you are able to pass people while traveling in the left lane then you are not causing anyone grief because you are in fact going the speed limit.

Let’s just say an emergency vehicle comes up from behind you with their lights on. What do you do? You move to the right, like the law says to do. If you don’t move right, you can and should be ticketed for not following the law. So, is this an issue with traveling in the left lane?

If you are going slower than the speed limit, well, then you could be pulled over because you are actually being a hazard to other drivers and should be pulled over for being a danger to yourself and others.

Finally, that leaves anyone who is going over the speed limit, which I do regularly. *Disclaimer #2 – I do not condone speeding, I am just merely using myself as an example. First, if you are speeding you can be pulled over for that because you are violating a law already on the books. However, since you are speeding you are likely passing slower people who are staying on the right. Thus, no need for the law. If you are one of those jackwagons (is that gender specific or is it all-inclusive?) who decides that you are going to speed at an unreasonable rate and unsafely, well then there is already a law on the books for that. It is called reckless driving.

So that leaves a scenario where I am traveling over the speed limit and passing people on the left when a jackwagon speeds up from behind me and tailgates me as I don’t move immediately out-of-the-way. Who is in the wrong here? As we are both exceeding the speed limit, both of us are passing people on the left. We are both speeding, only one of us is doing it in an unsafe manner. I am not really impeding anyone in traffic, except the jackwagon behind me who feels the need to run everyone off the road to get to where they are going. Get my drift here?

The “keep right” law is dumb.

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