🚀 go-pugleaf

Clark Simmons wrote:
[background snipped]

>   There had to be more to it than that.  The portion of I 35 through
> Selma is hardly 5 or 6 miles long in itself.  This seems to have been a
> blantant attempt to impede traffic.
> 

That's exactly what it was. A blatant attempt to "impede traffic." And, 
it's against the law in Texas. And, it can easily occur when someone's 
driving in the left lane, at about the same speed as traffic in the right 
lane, and traffic begins to back up behind them. As for that stretch of 
I-35 being "hardly 5 or 6 miles long," I don't believe I indicated that 
the traffic jam was constrained to JUST Selma. It wasn't.

> > Ah, Clark, have you noticed what's being talked about is the OBSTRUCTION
> > of traffic. If you're driving down a stretch of freeway, with very little
> > traffic, then most folks will pass you on the right with no more than a
> > ponderous glance. It's when somebody is driving along at the same speed
> > as the car next to them that obstruction of traffic can occur. And, I'm
> > sorry if your sources have misled you to believe that is not a ticketable
> > offense, at ANY speed, above or below the posted limit, because it most
> > assuredly is one in Texas.
> 
>   No, what we're actually discussing is whether or not it's required for
> a driver driving at the posted limit to move to a right lane to allow a
> driver to pass in the left lane when he's exceeding the posted limit.
> Delibertly obstructing traffic is a ticketable offense.  Driving the
> posted limit in the left lane is not obstructing traffic.  I'm not
> advocating obstruction of traffic.
> 

When this never-ending thread began (what seems like centuries ago), 
that's EXACTLY what it was about, and the left lane campers made, and are 
still making exactly the same arguments you are making. Deliberate or 
not, a person driving in the left lane at about the same speed as traffic 
in the next lane can very easily become guilty of what you have now 
admitted is a ticketable offense. That's been the point all along. Not 
that you have to drive faster, or that you have to pull over in an unsafe 
manner. Just that if traffic is beginning to back up behind you, it might 
be wise to look for a hole and get out of the way, because at THAT point, 
you ARE in violation of those little black and white signs that say 
"Slower Traffic, Keep Right." It has no correlation to the posted speed 
limit, and can occur at ANY speed, above, at or below the posted speed 
limit.

-- 
Olin Murrell
Austin, TX
olin@bga.com
http://www.realtime.com/~olin