June 23, 2008, KOMO website
We need stronger enforcement!

SEATTLE -- Even if you're going the speed limit it might not be enough to prevent you from getting a ticket if you're holding up traffic in the fast lane.

State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its intended purpose: passing.

"We're doing 58, 59 miles an hour and they are just sitting there, traffic's passing them on the right hand side," Trooper Keith Leary said while pointing out a car in the left lane of Interstate 5. "That's exactly what we don't want to see happen."

The driver, Brasta Bonifcho, said he was surprised what he was doing was illegal.

"I didn't know that, I really didn't know that," he said. "I am guilty, no question about it."

Leary reminded Bonifcho that drivers need to stay in the right lanes unless they're passing another vehicle.

Everyone pulled over during Leary's patrol said they thought it wasn't a problem as long as they were going the speed limit. But the law says otherwise.

"It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic," the statute reads.

The reason for the law is to help keep traffic moving and to diffuse potential road rage situations.

"It just takes one thing to set them off," Leary said of frustrated drivers stuck behind slower moving vehicles. "If we can alleviate one of those things, maybe we can avoid an assault."

The State Patrol said several recent collisions caused by slow vehicles in the passing lane have prompted increased enforcement of the law along area interstates.

Drivers in the HOV lanes are exempt from the rule, but anyone else could be facing a $124 ticket.

 

^ I hope it is not just a PR campaign... also I formally volunteer to be deputized to help enforce this law... NO MERCY :-)

 

PJ, you can't wait for the "point by" with a Prius, you'll never get it.

 

When my wife drives the Prius, we get about 50mpg. I drive, and we get about 44mpg. I'm pretty sure the car has realized that I'm obsessed with slip angle.

Kidding aside, if you are even considering a prius, and you drive/own a reasonably high performance car, your mpg in the Prius will suffer as a result. There is literally no discernible benefit to speed gained from the accelerator pedal. Honestly, I can audibly stomp on the gas and NOTHING happens.

However, this car is INCREDIBLY good at pissing off drivers in pickup trucks. I've had at least three want to pull over "and kick my fairy ***". I admit to helping them question my sexuality and goading them a bit. It's amazing how effective a Prius, a wink, and a very effeminate wave can be.

Oh, and since I love you all, please be careful around the Prius. The brakes are actually, ridiculously effective.

I've had some good times in this car, it's even been on the TRACK!! That said, it's 90k miles old and we're about ready for an electric something or other. Hoping for an Aptera or a Tesla, but this is her car, so she picks.

Wait, did I just go off topic in my own thread?

 

Hahaha... I can't stop laughing at PJ's comment on Gregoire and Copenhagen.

Personally I would gladly pay for her flight myself if she promises to remain in Copenhagen. I'll even spring for first class!

Sadly I don't see it happening, so I'm just going to go out and fire up the cars in an attempt to warm the globe up a bit. I'm already tired of the cold with no snow.


As for Trevor and his law breaking, I think Mark had it right. The Prius was pegged and simply couldn't make it through in time.

 

Little do they know that you are a US MARINE trained killing machine with the apocolypse now "get some, get some" playing in your head on a loop

 

You are right about the brakes on the Prius... They stop the car ridiculously fast.

 

Sweet Jesus, did you just call me a Marine? While I certainly think very highly of anyone that raises their hand to serve their country, I should be more vocal tothe group on my background. Make no mistake, I am a former

AIRBORNE RANGER

But I'm just a nice fat teddy bear these days. Wouldn't hurt a fly...okay, maybe fly that deserves it, but no other.

 

Oh that is right
I knew that
sorry SIR
:-)

 

Now I have this visual in my head of the bar scene in Officer and a Gentleman with the good ol' boys wanting to mix it up with the Naval cadets.....

 

While technically it is theoretically possible for the driver of a Prius to be a competent, selfless, considerate road-user (as evidenced by Trevor taking the wheel of his wife's vehicle) ... it is a statistical improbability of such infinitesimally small degree that it can be considered such a small anomaly that it can effectively be ignored. Much the same way that although technically possible for a Subaru to support both an NRA and "Vote Republican" bumper sticker, the statistical odds are negligible.

 

Mr B.....Damn I love your posts since you've been back in College for your 4th degree.

 

I ain't even got one yet. Yes, I know that "ain't" ain't a word -- I know this because I've been edumicated up good.

 

Paul, I always love to read your posts. BTW, I also drive a Prius, and I"ll be the first to admit that Prius drivers **** me off... even when I'm in my Prius.

 

Paul -- LMAO!!!

I love your sense of humor...