My commute down to work really sucks sometimes. As it did yesterday morning. I was already running late so when I hopped onto I-15 I cruised into the far left “fast” lane, only to slam on my brakes and slow down to the pace of a snail. Traffic was heavy and after riding along at barely 40 mph for a few minutes, I eventually was able to squeeze into the other lane. I began to pass the cars on my left and soon realized what the source of the delay was…a woman in her car yappin’ away on her phone, entirely unaware of her driving speed (or lack thereof). She seemed completely oblivious to the middle fingers and shaking fists pointed in her direction.
I’m sure most of you can relate…and if you can’t, you soon will. For Utah is a melting pot of bad, irresponsible, and discourteous drivers - no offense, but I would dare say most Utah natives and transplants would agree with me.
But I digress…
Just yesterday the Utah House of Representative recently unanimously approved House Bill 402, which essentially make slow cars get out of the way or get a ticket. Primarily proposed for two-lane canyon highways, the bill would require a driver to pull over in safe spot if five or more vehicles were following closely behind and let the other cars pass. The bill addresses not only the obvious frustrations such drivers cause, but safety issues as well; if traffic (or the slow car) stops suddenly, it can cause accidents.
Thank freakin’ goodness. What’s more annoying than an overly-cautious driver going 15 under the speed limit?
5 responses so far ↓
1 T Payne // Feb 27, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Does anybody think this will actually make a difference? What are the chances that a cop will be one of those five cars?
If people get a ticket for this, 99% of the time it’ll be because a cop is being inconvenienced, not a common citizen.
(Heaven forbid our local law enforcement arrive at Krispy Kreme five minutes after the “freshly baked” light comes on)
2 Sharpie // Feb 27, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Maybe once this bill is passed, we could make an anonymous phone call to the cops to report a slow-driving idiot. Do you think that would work? You know there are cops just hanging out in the precinct or, like T Payne said, at a donut shop. Instead of setting speed traps, they could pool all their time and energy into finding the slow ones!
3 Liz // Feb 28, 2008 at 3:14 pm
It’s a great law in theory, but I don’t think it will do much.
4 Trevor // Feb 28, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Hopefully cops will enforce this on the freeway more than mountain highways because that is where slow traffic creates more of a hazard. But I won’t believe it until I see Grandma getting a ticket for driving too slow.
5 Crystal // Mar 8, 2008 at 9:25 am
It sounds like a great idea, but I’m wondering how many people are going to notice that there are 5 cars behind them? Can you see that far back in your mirror?
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