MN is passing a law to fine left lane drivers

They could make it $1m fine and it wouldn't make a difference if no one enforces it. In Mass, the state troopers are the worse left lane offenders. The law has always been on the books here and it carries a $100 fine (Failure To Keep Right). It worked until they made it legal to pass on the right.

A couple of years ago, they passed the wipers on/lights on law here. A little late, because most cars do this automatically now. After being on the books for a year, a local news station did a story about it and found that not a single citation had been written anywhere in the state.

Slow left laners cause road rage which is far more dangerous than 10 over on a road that was designed for it.

HackerAce wrote:
Just relax and take a chill pill. Will driving a little slower kill you? I have a hard time understanding the pervasive need that people have to be "winners". This is not Nascar!

A five, or even ten, mile per hour difference makes such a little difference over an hour as to be comical. Do the math.

So it takes you five or ten minutes longer to get to your destination. You probably lose anytime you might think you have gained waiting at the stop light on the off ramp :)

Actually studies show driving too slow is actually more dangerous than driving to fast (assuming a similar deviation from the average).

So, yes, it can kill you.

To the original point: There are existing laws that cover this. This is just grandstanding.

Yes, some MN drivers are not knowledgeable or care about lane designation. It is especially bad around the TC. I drove for a living for a few Winters. It took about three years until I figured out that letting another driver rent space in my head for free was a bad deal.
Now that I'm retired, I plan my trips around the rush hours, if possible. That eliminates the race that happens every eight hours. On the road, I find most drivers are courteous and drive with proficiency.

HackerAce wrote:
Just relax and take a chill pill. Will driving a little slower kill you? I have a hard time understanding the pervasive need that people have to be "winners". This is not Nascar!

A five, or even ten, mile per hour difference makes such a little difference over an hour as to be comical. Do the math.

So it takes you five or ten minutes longer to get to your destination. You probably lose anytime you might think you have gained waiting at the stop light on the off ramp :)

You are 100% right. And you are free to drive as slow as you want in the right lane, up to the minimum speed limit.

Grit dog wrote:
@ hackerace. Yeah it would kill me to go slower......not literally, but I got almost 30k miles mostly on urban Seattle freeways in the last year. 5-10min 4 times a day is 20-40min....per day. Move to the right!!

I am sorry... you live in Seattle :( the population out grew the roads 20 years ago and that area is a mess.

@ hackerace. Yeah it would kill me to go slower......not literally, but I got almost 30k miles mostly on urban Seattle freeways in the last year. 5-10min 4 times a day is 20-40min....per day. Move to the right!!

Same thing here, stay out of the left lane unless overtaking. I remember driving an empty fuel truck from Pocatello to Boise in the left lane, I couldn't take the pounding in the right heavily traveled one.

drsteve wrote:
MI has been enforcing this for a year or so. About time, too. They have also cracked down on the clowns who wait until the last minute to merge when there's a lane closure.

Now if they will just go after the speed governed semis taking five minutes passing each other...

I wouldn't say they have been enforcing it. Maybe a few campaigns when they go out and target it but I have not seen any active enforcement. There is one section I drive almost everyday where there is a state cop in the median. 95% of the time I am in the right lane doing the speed limit and passing someone in the left (third) lane and never have had them stop the slow vehicle in the fast lane. And this is with no one else on the road but us two vehicles.

Just relax and take a chill pill. Will driving a little slower kill you? I have a hard time understanding the pervasive need that people have to be "winners". This is not Nascar!

A five, or even ten, mile per hour difference makes such a little difference over an hour as to be comical. Do the math.

So it takes you five or ten minutes longer to get to your destination. You probably lose anytime you might think you have gained waiting at the stop light on the off ramp :)

NCC-1701 wrote:
Left lane driving is extremely common and somewhat annoying. But, I'd rather they put about a $1000 fine on the huge percentage of the population that doesn't seem to know that when they come down an entrance ramp they are supposed to actually look and time themselves in instead of blindly coming down the ramp and assuming everyone can or should get out of their way. A number of times I've had drivers somehow not see my 40' motorhome and almost pull off the ramp right into me and I couldn't get over because of traffic on the other side of me. :M

X2
Those morons dont remember the part of the driving test that said merge smoothly. They believe you are supposed to get out of their way. They ride along side my 63 feet of rig until they are on the shoulder then drop back and accelerate the way they could have and go flying around me on the left. Unbelievable number of idiots out there.