Florida Highway Patrol to Ticket Slow Drivers

As our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg know, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) has announced that it will begin to ticket drivers who drive too slowly in the left-most (“fast”) lane on our Florida highways.

While most people might equate slow driving with safe driving (a common justification for driving slowly is the idiom, “better safe than sorry”), our experienced car crash attorneys know that sometimes slow driving can amount to more than an annoyance – it can create dangerous conditions on already-dangerous highways. In this blog post, we explore why slow driving can be dangerous.

To begin with, as our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers know, when a slow driver stays in the left lane, you may be “forced” to pass on the right – passing on the right, in a roadway system designed for passing on the left, can lead to confusion and accidents. Imagine the scenario: you are in the left lane behind a slow driver, and are attempting to pass the driver in the middle lane. At the same time, a driver in the right-most lane (out of 3) is attempting to pass a slow driver in front of her, by passing into the center lane. The result is that two drivers (one in the left lane and one in the right lane) can collide in the center lane while both trying to pass slow drivers ahead of them.

Further, slow driving can cause problems when it comes to warnings of braking. When you see the brake lights ahead of you flicker on, you know it is time to slow down. But when you assume (incorrectly) that everyone on the highway is travelling at about the same speed, you may overestimate the time you have to slow down. If you are travelling 65 mph, and the person, say, 100 feet ahead of you is only travelling 45 mph, and you both brake at the same time, they will come to a stop significantly sooner than you will, and thus what stops your car might be hitting the back of theirs.

Finally, as the FHP has stated, and as our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg know, slow driving causes road rage and crashes caused by frustration.

In addition to being dangerous on its own, slow driving can be an indication of potentially dangerous driving. Two common types of slower drivers are discussed below:

The distracted
Many people who are distracted by things such as texting, web surfing, music choosing, etc., tend to drive more slowly (perhaps thinking that driving slowly while texting will reduce the likelihood of an accident). If someone is distracted and driving slowly, their slow driving is not mitigating the danger they pose because of their distraction – instead, for the reasons discussed above, it is making their driving doubly dangerous.

Senior citizens
Growing old has its downsides, which is why many senior citizens tend to drive slower than their younger counterparts. Common reasons for this is stiffening of the joints, lessened strength with which drivers can push on the gas pedal, decreased vision, etc.

As our personal injury lawyers know, the FHP is now issuing tickets to those who drive 10 mph below the posted speed limit in the left lane. According to the FHP, whose top priority is safety, drivers who prefer to travel at speeds under the speed limit should stay in the right lanes and allow other drivers to pass them in the left lane. Slow drivers could be ticketed, in some Florida counties, at amounts between $160 and $175 and could further receive up to 3 points on their licenses for the infraction.

If you have any questions about this or any other personal injury- or auto accident-related issue, please do not hesitate to contact our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg. You may contact us by telephone at 561-266-9191 or by e-mail at daronberg@build.simple.biz. We look forward to assisting you!

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