Something Interesting Happened To Me
 

I just have to share this with all of you 65 mph governed trucks.

A few days ago I was pulled over in Georgia by a State Policeman for driving in the left lane on a 3 lane highway (I-75) south of Atlanta. I knew I was wrong by being out there but I was passing several slow trucks who absolutely refused to move over and let us pass. We asked (nicely) over the cb radio for them to give us a break and move to the right so we could pass as we were running empty (I was with several trucks trying to pass) and they pretty much ignored us. So I passed finally on a hill in the left lane and got pulled over for it.

Here is where it got interesting. the cop was an older (55 year old) black cop with a very heavy southern drawl. He waived me to the back of the truck and asked for my license. He said you need to stay in your truck lanes and thats that, no excuses, even if you have to pass the slow trucks on the right. So I asked him, why they dont pull over the slow trucks who refuse to yield to us and here is his response, "Sir, did you know that most of us have cb radios in our cruisers?" I said no, he said "We monitor cb traffic and I heard you all asking them to move over so you could pass and I also heard them refusing, on that note I was about to pull over the lead truck when I saw you enter the left lane so I had no choice but to pull you over first". Now that I have given you your warning, you can go so I can catch up to them and issue them a summons. I was all smiles!

I guess there are Highway Patrolmen out there that absolutely "Get It"! this goes back to the thread about slow trucks not moving, you better watch out in the state of Georgia! lol:D

So, in other words you put yourself farther behind because in all your years you've never figured out that two wrongs don't make a right?

Keep right except to pass!

Does it really hurt to slow down a few MPH for a bit to let someone by?

I had to learn patience, and it wasn't easy. I'm still messed up by it.
Never cared for bumper wars.

Sounds to ME like he got out, stretched his legs and did a "walk-around" to check his equipment.

So did you see if maybe they were passing traffic slower than THEY were? I 75 is a mad house. My truck is governed and if I am im the passing lane its to pass. Yeh, the 70+ trucks get upset, and yeh, I'll move over when i get a chance but I'm not going to stay behind a line of traffic going slower than me becuse some faster truck decides i should.

+1 As long as I am passing someone then I'm doing nothing wrong. He never did say if slower trucks were taking up the center and right lanes in an elephant train or not. If they were just in the center lane only then yeah ok they were wrong if the right lane was wide open for them to move over out of the way.

Then again I will camp in the middle lane when I know I'm coming up on dangerous ramps where lots of traffic normally comes off from. Being local I know which one's to look out for and get to the center. Not worth having some fool drive under me thinking I'M supposed to yield to them. At those ramps, I could careless if some faster truck is on the move up behind me, try to raise me on the CB, it rarely is ever on.

No in this case there were slower trucks in the right lane, but that being said there was also plenty of times where they could have moved over to let us pass in between the slower trucks and then come back out in the middle lane. I dont mind when a slow truck passes another, I get that, I too have driven 65 mph trucks and I know how frustrating it can be passing another one thats going 64. But at least when I did I would move back over giving the faster trucks a chance to pass. In this case the drivers that refused to move over were deliberately staying in the middle lane when they could have easily moved over. Could I have passed them in the right lane? Maybe but that would have been a crap shoot as the spacing was in my opinion not enough to do it safely.

Fustrating as it is I guess its here to stay and we will just have to deal with it.

Would it have hurt you to stay in the center lane for a few miles? You were very lucky that you didn't receive a ticket. The next cop might not be so generous. Slower trucks and cars should keep to the right, but many are not courteous or understand about the rules of the road. It would have been safer for you to have either passed on the right or stayed behind the slower trucks until you could change lanes without taking a chance on getting a ticket.

I go 60-62 and I have no problem slowing down to 55 to let everything run smoother. Also I will not pass someone that is going only 2-3 mph slower than me unless there's a huge mile long opening.