Move it on over. Rock it on over. Move over little dog, the big ole dog is barreling down.
Our state Legislature made it a priority to penalize those slowpokes who take up the left lane of travel on the highways and impede the flow of traffic.
Of course, they are right in that these drivers are a nuisance. Many seem to think the left lane is just as useful as the right lane. For a leisurely Sunday drive, perhaps. Truly, these drivers pose a danger to others and themselves. The left lane is for faster traffic and not for those going at or, most certainly, below the posted speed limit.
They won’t all readily admit it, but our lawmakers were a bit peeved that these left-lane hogs were impeding their ability to zip to Columbia during the legislative session. So, they came up with a law, the “slowpoke” bill, which they passed in 2021.
For a time, it seems, the new law worked. Slowpokes, when caught, could incur a whopping $25 fine not for speeding, but rather for going too dang slow.
Fast forward to the start of the 2023 session and, wouldn’t you know it, one of the first priorities for our lawmakers was not fixing crumbling roads. Instead, they said they noticed slowpokes are starting to drift back into the left lane of travel. The solution? Hike that fine from $25 to $100.
A Senate subcommittee gave it the full throttle and it’s likely speeding its way into law.
We do have to wonder, however, if state troopers will be a bit lenient when it comes to drivers hogging the left lane on Interstate 26 as it is in the throes of a massive overhaul. The lanes zig left, they zig right, the concrete barriers and reflective barrels are downright imposing and scary.
That said, the Legislature might have hit on something. Hike the fine again and you have some dollars that can be poured into make our bridges and highways safer. We’ll gladly take a few bucks over here in Greenwood County where a short span of bridge along Airport Road and crossing Rocky Creek has been shut down to through traffic for more than a year. Maybe it’s in competition with the bridge along Mathis Road in the county. You know, the one that took longer to repair than it took to build the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston.
And yet, our lawmakers are pushing to fund Interstate 73, a largely new construction project, to get our friends from Ohio and West Virginia to our coastal play lands faster. That’s great, but what about our existing roads, lawmakers?
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