 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Getting Around: To stay right with the law, stay right on the highway
Friday, December 24, 1999 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
I shouldn't drive 55. Not in the left lane anyhow.It backs up traffic. It's a safety hazard. And, perhaps most of all, it induces road rage among denizens of the highway inclined to speed in the first place.
Those points were made clear yesterday after I took a company-owned Tin Lizzie on a 142-mile circle tour of interstates in the Pittsburgh region.
Except for entering and exiting the speedways, I traveled the entire distance in the left lane, a violation of a state law that went into effect Wednesday.
For doing something I would not normally do, I was reprimanded with people flashing their high beams, single-digit "Pittsburgh salutes," tailgating, nasty stares and drivers dangerously cutting back in front of me after they passed.
The experience supports my belief that the new law has merit.
The keep-to-the-right law was an amendment to other Harrisburg legislation, also effective this week, that toughened the rules and requirements for 16- and 17-year-old drivers and driver's license applicants.
It puts into writing the common courtesy and common sense that all drivers should have been practicing since their first day behind the wheel. That is, keep to the right on all free-flowing highways, unless passing.
The amendment that lawmakers passed didn't put it quite so simply. Here's the way the legal jargon reads:
"Vehicles shall be driven in the lane nearest the right-hand edge of the roadway, except when overtaking another vehicle, or for a distance up to two miles in preparation for a left turn, or as directed by official traffic control devices, police officers or appropriately attired persons authorized to divert, control or regulate traffic."
The fine for violating the law is $25, plus court costs. After a variety of costs are tacked on, the bill will come to $93.50 starting Jan. 1, when some of the costs increase.
When police -- mostly likely state police -- begin enforcing the new law, "I think they'll use discretion," said Betsy Martinelli, spokeswoman for the AAA West Penn/West Virginia/South Central Ohio Motor Club. "The left lane has traditionally been the 'passing lane,' and the idea is to remind people."
She and state police Cpl. Barry Gaston of Troop B Findlay barracks both believe that the growing number of road-rage incidents nationally was as much a motive as safety for adding the amendment to the state Motor Vehicle Code.
"The majority of road rage is instigated by people going too slow in the left lane," Gaston said. Eliminating a driver deliberately going too slow in the fast lane defuses such situations.
I know I enraged several drivers during my tour yesterday, although I never drove below the speed limit. I also finished the drive before noon, while traffic still ranged from fairly light on Interstates 79 and 70 in Washington and Westmoreland counties to moderate on the Pennsylvania Turnpike from New Stanton to Monroeville.
I didn't spot any state police. And they didn't spot me.
"The law will be enforced," Gaston said. "Obviously, when there are traffic jams, you can't expect to keep people out of the left lane. Even when traffic is heavy, we'll give a little leeway."
Because urban traffic, six- and eight-lane highways and other circumstances raise too many unanswered questions and leave too much to interpretation in the new law, the AAA Motor Club and House lawmakers have already rushed a revised version of the law into the legislative hopper.
The clarifications and amplifications, introduced by state Rep. Richard Geist, R-Altoona, not only address those issues but put them in more easily understandable language, such as:
"No driver shall drive continuously in the left lane of a limited-access highway so as to impede the flow of other traffic."
There's more, such as prohibiting big trucks and vehicles towing trailers in the far-left lane of limited-access roads of three or more lanes.
Provisions also have been made for "traveling at a speed greater than traffic flow." We've all found out at times that you can be a prisoner of the right lane even if you drive 65, or even 70 on some roads.
What does that tell you about the gift that Skrinjar sent me -- a lump of coal from the only friend he says I have at PennDOT?
Send your transportation questions, complaints and suggestions to Joe Grata c/o The Post-Gazette or e-mail him at jgrata@post-gazette.com. Please include your address and phone number for confirmation.
|
||||||||
