OK enforcing left hand lane speed

OK has adopted a new law making it illegal to drive below the legal speed limit in left land and have began aggressively enforcing with warning for now. However, they will start to ticket in several weeks and fine will be over $200. Other states are moving to do same. The notion is to keep left lane clear for emergency vehicles as well as improve traffic flow and safety.

http://tinyurl.com/2trsmn

So are they in effect encouraging folks to drive ABOVE the speed limit?  ???  I mean I can see the rationale behind this from a safety perspective, and the general Drive Right, Pass Left practice.  But creating a legal precedent that prohibits a driver from traveling above OR below the speed limit sounds like it could have some tricky side effects.

If, and I stress IF the sign says something like
Speed limit
  70

Minimum
  50

I would have no problem with the police ticketing doing 45.. But I'd have a serious problem with them ticketing someone doing 65

Wow, that's a tough one.  I would tend to agree that they need a "minimum" speed posted as well as a max.  I really really really hate people that get in that left lane and have a line of cars a mile long behind them.  But wow, a ticket for going too slow...man.

Their point is that if you are going below the speed limit, you need to be in the right lane or passing someone who is going slower.  They are not encouraging people to go over the speed limit.  They want to keep the left lane on multi-lane roads open for passing and for emergency vehicles. 

Texas has a similar law that went into effect a few years ago, but I have never seen anyone stopped for doing it and plenty of people still drive in the left lane well below the speed limit.  I think long-term enforcement of that law will be difficult.

Dan

Arkansas has a similar law, but I have never heard of it being enforced. It as also illegal to block another vehicle in the l lane regardless of speed. According to a HP officer I talked to you could be ticketed even at or below the speed limit. 

An example from Germany where "Drive Right, Pass Left" is usual:
At upgrade routes sometimes every lane has its own minimum speed. For example no minimum speed at the right lane, 40 mph at the center lane and 60 mph at the at the left lane - for me 
So the very slow trucks are forced to stay in their right lane, vehicles which are faster, use the other lanes. So the different kinds vehicles are separated by their speed.

I think that is just about the dumbest driving law I ever heard of.

Isn't Oklahoma the state where they marvel at "skyscrapers seven stories high".

There are certain sections of I-40 in OK as well as other states that I drive in the left lane for a smother ride (@55-60). I do, however, watch behind me and get to the right well before being overtaken.

Smoky said:

I think that is just about the dumbest driving law I ever heard of.

Isn't Oklahoma the state where they marvel at "skyscrapers seven stories high".

Click to expand...

Thought that was In Kansas City they had the skyscraper.. But then they'd gone about as fer as they could go.

By the way, Do you know what limits the height of sky scrapers?







How hit the fire department can pump water

If I recall correctly, the reason they passed a similar law in Arkansas several years ago was because everyone was driving in the smoother left lane, including truckers. One year a national trucking association picked Arkansas' interstate system as the worst in the nation. Over a five year upgrade program, most of the worst roads were repaired, so you don't see as many people hogging the left lane.

In Oklahoma, most of the roads I've been on in the last 18 month were as bad or worse than Arkansas roads were in the mid to late 90s. We've been all the way across I40 west to east, across the eastern turnpikes through Tulsa up into Kansas, and from Oklahoma City down to Wichita Falls, Texas.  There were a number of times that, if I could, I moved over to the left, even if I was going 10 mile an hour below the speed limit. It's safer from the standpoint of driver fatigue.

Dan Walters said:

Texas has a similar law that went into effect a few years ago, but I have never seen anyone stopped for doing it and plenty of people still drive in the left lane well below the speed limit.  I think long-term enforcement of that law will be difficult.

Dan

Click to expand...

Actually, in Texas it's not a law, but more a policy.  Still isn't enforced except by people flashing their passing lights!

Try driving around Baltimore.  If you don't get to the left lane (so you can slow down) as soon as you get on their beltways, you'll get run over.  The right lane(s) are for merging on and off at high speed and usually by the same motorists at each interchange.  I've actually seen drivers watch the lights and exit an off ramp, cross the intersection, and speed back up the on ramp, just to gain a few car lengths. 

The problem with that is that when the slow ones retire here to North Carolina they camp out in the left lane of our freeways too.  We think they are having car trouble so we STOP in the right lane to offer help.  That's when Bubba from Oklahoma rear ends us both with his monster truck. 

Actually, I'm for any law (and enforcement) that will make the left lane a passing lane only..   I don't care if you are doing the speed limit, or not, if there is room to move to the right after passing then you should do it, period.   There is NO valid reason to hang out in the left lane unless you have the entire road to yourself.

It is a safety issue.  Driving in the left lane without regard to folks behind you forces folks to pass on the right.  It does not matter if you are doing the speed limit and they are speeding, you are not enforcement and you belong in the right lane.  I commute on I40 daily and have to endure folks who cannot figure out where the right lane is.  Truck drivers are very good at using the right lane and other professional drivers seem to stay to the right.  Its simple, polite and safe.  Perhaps liberals are not the only folks that lean left ;D
Phil

Something that bugs me....
On a 4 lane divided highway, I try to be courteous when someone coming down the ramp. To make it easier for them to merge, I move into the left lane.  Then I expect them to either pull ahead, or slow down a bit to allow me to move back into the right lane.  All too often they stay in the blind spot with their front end even with my right rear tire.  Then , if i put on the turn signals and slowly start to ease right, they land on the horn.  Why is that??
Art

OnaQwest said:

Actually, I'm for any law (and enforcement) that will make the left lane a passing lane only..

Click to expand...

I agree with the regulation of "left lane for passing only" but effective police enforcement of such a new law seems spotty at best.  Especially if out-of-state drivers don't know about the law in the first place.

How about signs along the roadway (every few miles) that say "Left Lane for Passing Slower Traffic Only" ... too simple to work?  ??? :

Why is that??

Click to expand...

Ignorance. Bad expressway driving habits. Many people are locals who use them for just a few miles and then exit, and see no need to speed up and 'go with the flow', or may be (usually) older folks that have reached their 'comfort' speed and lock into it regardless of other traffic.

I generally keep to the right lane and will move to the left for merging traffic for different reasons and under specific conditions. 1. I will almost always move over for large trucks. They can take as long or longer to accelerate to freeway speeds as I do, so I give them that small courtesy. They will generally do the same for me. 2. I will almost always move over for vehicles parked on the shoulder. You can never tell if a door is going to open into your lane of traffic or someone is going to appear from around the front of the vehicle. It's better to give yourself and them extra clearance. 3. I will sometimes, but not often, move over for cars, minivans, etc. They have the speed and maneuverability to merge safely without any help from me. The previous three conditions are tempered by 1. "Can I do it safely without impeding traffic already in the left lane.", and 2. Will I be able to return to the right lane in a reasonable amount of time/distance to allow me to exit where I want to, or use the shoulder if I have a problem. If 1 and 2 are not possible, I slow down.

Yielding for emergency vehicles always takes precedence. Also, many states already use "Keep right except to pass" signs, and I've found that most people comply. Even out-of-state drivers can or should be able to read.       

John:

Yes the skyscaper was in Kansas City, but Will Parker returns to Oklahoma, bedazzled from a trip to the relatively modern Kansas City, and tells everyone about the skyscrapers and strippers and they all marvel.  At least you knew what song I was referring to, good job!  <g>

I approve of a law limiting the left lane to passing, but not a law requiring everyone to travel at a set speed.

As for merging, that is one of my pet peeves.  The right lane has the right of way.  It is the obligation of merging traffic to adjust their speed to fit into the traffic that already occupies the right lane.

Sure, when it makes sense, it is a courtesy to slow down for merging traffic.  But done incorrectly, that will cause rather than prevent accidents.

The Coast Guard has a marine law which I often think of when I am in the right lane looking at merging traffic.  

A ship that has the "right of way" is to continue their present course and speed.  The ship that does not have right of way must give way.  In fact, the Coast guard enforces this so strongly that they go on to say that if the other ship does not give way, hold your present course and sound five blasts on the ship's horn.  The reason for this is that if there is not a clear right of way, this leads to confusion, and both ships adjust course and collide.

Of course, most auto drivers are not as skilled as most boaters, so I use the marine rule only to remind me to be VERY careful if I have the right of way and then decide to adjust my course.

Sounds to me like the OK lawmakers need to attend  a few drivers safety courses BEFORE they are allowd to make traffic laws.