We have all been there – coasting on the freeway, a longdistance to go and cruising to get there in a reasonable amount of time, whenyou hit someone going 55MPH in the left-most lane. We didn’t buy a car with a turbocharger or supercharger just to sit behind this inconsiderate person driving 10 miles under the speedlimit. Most of us know the left-most lane as the “fast lane” – a lane fordrivers to coast at the maximum speed in order to cover longer distances. NewJersey has recently implemented laws that impose heavier fines for thesetraffic-causing individuals in an effort to keep them to the right.
These are usually referred to as “keep right laws,” and NewJersey isn’t alone in implementing them. They are notable however in pursuing acrackdown and greater penalties for offenders. Speeding is much easier toenforce and more profitable in ticketing so police officers around the nationusually focus their efforts on ticketing speeders. The people of New Jerseyhowever have made this issue a priority to keep the traffic and road ragecaused by slowpokes in check.
State Senator Donald Norcross (D) has sponsored the bill,telling the Philadelphia Inquirer "Being trapped behind a slower vehicleis one of the biggest triggers for road rage. Some people have told me thefines we're proposing are not high enough. They said, 'It should beexecution.’”
He has decided on a softer approach, increasing the minimumpenalty from $50 to $100 and the maximum penalty from $100 to $300. Theincrease in fines may help motivate police to pursue offenders, and thusencourage offenders to move to the right.
Many offenders are from out of state, so the increasedrevenue from the tickets will help pay for new signs when crossing state lineswarning every one of the keep right laws in effect in New Jersey. I can onlyhope that this trend will sweep across the nation and that California will alsoenact similar laws – we all have places to go!
