Watch out law-abiding citizens, you may be liable to get a ticket the next time you drive slightly under the speed limit.
In a news story that seems like something straight out of The Onion, a woman was cited for driving too slowly in the left lane of I-95 in Maryland. She was clocked going a reasonable 63 miles per hour on a highway with a 65 mile per hour speed limit.
"You can drive in the left lane in Maryland as long as you are doing the speed limit, or not impeding by going 10 mph under the speed limit," says retired Sgt. Rob Moroney.
It would appear that it is increasingly hard to appease a police force that supports itself via citations. Though Moroney does not believe the ticket will hold up in court, what if the woman did not stand up for herself? Furthermore, why do we have speed limits posted when they are not actually speed limits, but speed minimums?
For those interested the woman, who chooses to remain anonymous, disclosed her ticket. It reads, "Failure of driver, driving below speed limit, 63 in a 65, to keep right."
Some have already chimed in with support for the ticket, claiming that people who aren't speeding in the left lane are annoying. Chad Hasty of News Talk 790 in Texas is one such person:
"I have no problem with the police pulling her over. One of my driver pet peeves is when you see people driving too slow in the far left lane. That lane is for passing. You see it all the time where the driver in the left lane holds up the flow of traffic. It can be a little dangerous."
Certainly a slow driver amongst speeding drivers would be dangerous, but then the question must be asked, who is at fault? The person obeying the law or the person breaking it?
The ticketed woman also claimed that she was driving slower than normal because of particularly dangerous driving conditions. Winds had picked up to nearly 40 miles per hour, more than enough to be an effective force on the road.
The driver has filed a complaint with the Maryland State Police and plans to fight the ticket.
