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I'm aware of that and it's a dangerous practice especially if it's a truck. The key to safety on the highways is maintaining the flow of traffic. Both your slow pokes in the left lane and people passing on the right cause disruptions to that. You need to aggressively ticket both however by getting the slow pokes out of the left lane to opportunity to pass on the right is less likely.
It should be impossible to pass on the right in normal traffic, if not someone is committing a violation and is the one who should be ticketed.
A person exercising proper lane discipline who comes up on a someone violating the keep right laws will wind up passing them on the right and should not be criminalized for the failures of others to follow the law.
Beyond that, there's plenty of roads that have left exits/merges and other conditions like it that make passing on the right a necessary practice sometimes.
I just don’t understand the lack of common sense of those who want new laws, since most of these desires relate to emotional stuff they get ticked off from. There are existing laws that cover every driving situation, and there is no way that there can be a cop watching every tailgater out there. Not only do you want new traffic laws, but for every aspect of your life. Even in the neighborhoods you live at there are house-paint rules, lawn rules, flag display rules, parking rules on your own driveways, trash rules, spitting rules, smoking rules at your own house, and on and on…
Does the OP really believe that a new law is going to stop other from tailgating, littering, distracted driving, and the rest? We have become a nation of sheep, where everything in our lives must be taken cared of by some law or government.
Those who drive slower than the speed limit in the right lane, not the left.
Wait, you want people who drive slower than the speed limit in the RIGHT lane to be ticketed? And those who drive slower than the speed limit in the LEFT lane NOT to be ticketed?
Here's what I said in its entirety, not snipped, but with spacing and bolding to make it more clear:
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady
Okay, so are we in agreement, then?
Those who drive slower than the speed limit in the left lane, (and)
those who drive faster than the speed limit in any lane, (and)
those who tailgate,
and those who weave in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed
should ALL be aggressively ticketed for their equally egregious violations of traffic laws?
If you really mean that those who drive slower than the speed limit in the right lane should be ticketed, you'll have to explain that reasoning to me.
If you really mean that those who drive slower than the speed limit in the right lane should be ticketed, you'll have to explain that reasoning to me.
Anyone who drives in any lane considerably (key word there) slower than the speed limit is causing a hazard to those driving the speed limit.
I presume that's what the person meant. But.. There's lots of caveats even with that.
On an interstate with a speed limit of 75.. Noone should be on it if they're driving less than 55. And, even that may be too great a difference.
But, around here.. We've got lots of country roads where someone will be driving a tractor down the road.. Max speed around 15-20mph.. Most of those folks are very considerate.. If they get someone behind them, at the first safe area, they pull over to let people behind them go by.
Driving well off the speed limit is just as reckless as tailgating, swerving or anything else.
But reckless driving is largely subjective, and reliant on testimony.
However, drunk driving prosecutions are able to present actual scientific blood alcohol tests, which are a lot more objective.
DUI is just a lot easier for the police and judges to move forward on.
You've hit this on the nail. The reason there aren't more prosecutions for reckless driving is that it would be dependent on eyewitness testimony and convincing a judge or jury that a driver drove in a manner that "consciously created a grave risk of danger to others" or some other standard that is somewhat nebulous. DUI can be proven simply by administration of a blood alcohol test.
Many people also ask why the police write so many tickets for speeding as opposed to other traffic violations. The simple reason is that speeding is easy to prove because of radar.
The police and prosecutor love to be in a situation where all they have to do is walk into court and testify about the condition that equipment was kept in, what they were doing a certain day, and what the numbers were when they "clocked" a certain car or administered a breath test to driver. It takes most of the subjective element out of the process.
I partly blame this on lazy police and prosecutors. However, another element is the legal system which requires that even traffic offenses be "proven beyond a reasonable doubt". Prosecutors doubt their ability to convince 4 to 8 members of the lay public that conduct is "reckless" when much of the case depends on eyewitness testimony and the jury implicitly realizes that the stakes may be very high for the driver charged with the offense. Of course, the jurors weren't there when it happened and often just can't visualize how incredibly dangerous some misconduct really was. I remember, one day, watching two cars literally drag racing down a street lined on both sides with homes and apartments. I think any juror watching that scene in person would have wanted to put both drivers in jail for months (if not years). Yet, conveying the danger posed by that conduct through testimony in court is much, much harder.
Wait, you want people who drive slower than the speed limit in the RIGHT lane to be ticketed? And those who drive slower than the speed limit in the LEFT lane NOT to be ticketed?
Here's what I said in its entirety, not snipped, but with spacing and bolding to make it more clear: If you really mean that those who drive slower than the speed limit in the right lane should be ticketed, you'll have to explain that reasoning to me.
Oops. That was a reading-comprehension failure on my part. Dang whiskey must've kicked in a little quicker than I remember.
US Society: We choose Alcohol as our Vice, if you take it away we'll make you pay.
US Society: We think drunk drivers are worse than murderers and reckless drivers are just as bad.
The only way to thwart both reckless driving and DWI is to create a society/environment that isn't as dependent on personal vehicles to gain access to popular areas.
However, another element is the legal system which requires that even traffic offenses be "proven beyond a reasonable doubt"
Being that most traffic offenses don't even go to trial, the prosecutor rarely has to prove anything.
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