Emily Lawler has a driving peeve that's familiar:
You're going 70 miles per hour on a two-lane highway. You move to the left to pass a big truck and -- brakes! -- you're stuck behind somebody going 65 miles per hour in the left lane.
"I just pass on the right," comments a MLive reader.
The MLive writer channels her road irritation into research for a we-can-relate tale of motoring misbehavior. There's even a half-minute video case study and a link to Section 642 of the Michigan Vehicle Code, enacted in 1949.
It's the law. We're all supposed to be driving "upon the right half of the roadway," in legal terms. . . .
Since 2012, the Michigan State Police have issued 6,090 tickets for improper lane use, according to MSP spokeswoman Tiffany Brown. The number of citations has been climbing:
- 1,322 were issued in 2012
- 1,935 in 2013
- 2,070 in 2014.
- 763 have been issued so far in 2015
A comment deluge confirms that this topic is as hot as the temper of someone behind a lane hog. Lawler's article, posted Friday morning, has more than 1,100 reader responses by Saturday afternoon.
Two samples:
► I just pass on the right. People driving on open road in the left lane are obviously not a good enough driver to understand which lane they should drive in. -- Jacob
► Here's another one that drives me crazy: I've got my cruise control set for 80, tooling along in the left lane in light traffic and see a car following a semi up ahead in the right lane.
Just as I approach them, the moron behind the semi decides that is when to pull out in front of me and then take about four minutes to get past that truck.
They don't bother to judge my speed of travel and wait the five seconds for me to fly by them? Nope. Now is the time to pass, even though they've been tailing that semi for miles! -- "Michigan Football"
-- Alan Stamm
