DENVER (AP) - Drivers who insist on staying in the left lane are risking tickets as the State Patrol has begun enforcing a law requiring motorists to use the left lane for passing only. Since the patrol started enforcing the "Left Lane Law" three months ago, troopers have written about 460 tickets or about an average of five a day to drivers who dawdle in the left lane.

The law applies in zones with speed limits of 65 mph or higher.

It took effect July 1, but troopers gave drivers until January to get used to the new law; warnings were issued instead of tickets.

Master Trooper Ron Watkins said that since the ticketing campaign began three months ago about 90 percent of the drivers he has pulled over for dawdling or cruising in the left lane said they didn't know that it was illegal to do so. "They've had six months to figure it out," Watkins said.

Violators of the left lane rule may be fined up to $41 and have three points tacked onto their driver's licenses, according to the State Patrol. The law is not enforced when the highway is too congested to allow drivers to pass.

Retired state lawmaker Ken Arnold of Westminster, a former state patrol major, helped push the law through last year to cut down on road-rage incidents sparked by slower cars clogging the left lane.

Mindy Crane, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said hundreds of signs have been posted in the state since summer instructing drivers to keep right unless they are passing.

I hope we don't get any "Left Lane Laws" here.

I mean because what the hell are you supposed to do in order to get in the turn lane? Go into all the way from the right lane every friggin' time? And how the heck would it be practical on a freeway? Sounds like BS to me.

From my understanding it's not like that at all...it's specifically for the people who "Ride" the left lane and refuse to get the heckl out of the way of faster moving traffic. I LOVE this law :)

It's very practical on the freeway, Dark Knight.  The left lane is mostly for passing and if you have a three lane hwy and someone in each lane going below the limit it can get very annoying. 

As for the turning lane, I think you can drive in the left lane to get into the turn lane.  I would think the main targets would be those driving below the limit on a freeway or highway.

From my understanding it's not like that at all...it's specifically for the people who "Ride" the left lane and refuse to get the heckl out of the way of faster moving traffic. I LOVE this law :)


You got that right, RnRF.  Let's hope that Colorado eradicates that most annoying of road phenomenon, the "Left Lane Bandit".

:)

It's very practical on the freeway, Dark Knight. The left lane is mostly for passing and if you have a three lane hwy and someone in each lane going below the limit it can get very annoying.

As for the turning lane, I think you can drive in the left lane to get into the turn lane. I would think the main targets would be those driving below the limit on a freeway or highway.


Bull. The left lane isn't for just passing. Its the fast lane, and the right lane is the slow lane. Thats how it is in Texas anyway.

You got that right, RnRF.  Let's hope that Colorado eradicates that most annoying of road phenomenon, the "Left Lane Bandit".

:)
;)

This is a pet peeve of mine, if you are picking off the occasional car, then you make the pass and move right again, if the flow of traffic is heavier and you want to drive faster then you stay in the left lane, the beauty of making this work is always watching for faster traffic coming up from behind and moving over for them. I spent some time in Germany in the early 90s and did alot of driving on the autobahns and they seem to have a much better grasp of freeway driving than us, transports would poke along doing 80 or 90 km/hr and a couple of lanes over buddy could cruise along at 200 km/hr in his Porsche 911, it works well there :)

This is a pet peeve of mine, if you are picking off the occasional car, then you make the pass and move right again, if the flow of traffic is heavier and you want to drive faster then you stay in the left lane, the beauty of making this work is always watching for faster traffic coming up from behind and moving over for them. I spent some time in Germany in the early 90s and did alot of driving on the autobahns and they seem to have a much better grasp of freeway driving than us, transports would poke along doing 80 or 90 km/hr and a couple of lanes over buddy could cruise along at 200 km/hr in his Porsche 911, it works well there :)
I was paid the highest of compliments by a friend, concerning my driving. They said I'd fit right in with the way they drive in Germany. He lived there for years and told me they know what they're doing ;)

I was paid the highest of compliments by a friend, concerning my driving. They said I'd fit right in with the way they drive in Germany. He lived there for years and told me they know what they're doing ;)



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