Indiana law will move slowpokes out of passing lane

• Police say officers will have wide discretion applying the law.
• In Georgia, 310 drivers were ticketed for slowness last year.

Come July, motorists in Indiana will need to step on the gas or step aside.

If they don't, they'll face fines.

A new law aimed at slow drivers permits police to ticket motorists in the left lane if they hold up faster drivers behind them and don't move to the right.

The so-called "slowpoke" law is believed to be one of just two in country that attaches a fine to dawdling drivers in the "fast lane."

And police say they will be writing tickets, which max out at $500 but are likely to be much less.

"It's the law and that's what we do, enforce the law," said Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox.

The bill was sponsored by State Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, and signed by Gov. Mike Pence in this year's legislative session. It becomes law on July 1, just in time for the summer's busiest travel day, the Fourth of July.

McMillin said the law is intended to get drivers to use the left lane only for passing, as the law also requires.

"I just want to see the roads used the way they are supposed to be," McMillin said. "When I drive, I pass on the left and then get back to the right."

In Georgia, which passed a law last July 1, State Police have issued 310 tickets. But that doesn't include tickets that county sheriffs wrote. The maximum fine is $1,000, but each county determines the amount and the tickets are usually much lower.

Georgia State Police Capt. Mike Perry said the officers have wide discretion about when to issue tickets. Generally, he said, a motorist who is holding up a long line of cars is more likely to get a ticket than someone who is blocking only a couple.

That's the approach Indiana State Police are likely to take, said Capt. Dave Bursten. The intent is to keep traffic moving smoothly.

"It's really just using common sense," Bursten said. "We've all been on the highway when some driver, or two drivers, are blocking the road and there's 20, 40, 60 cars behind them and up ahead it is crystal clear for miles."

Bursten said slow drivers can cause traffic hazards, because frustrated motorists behind them "start jockeying for positions and making sudden lane changes."

Some lawmakers opposed to the law said it isn't needed and isn't enforceable. They worried that it would reward speeders while punishing the lawful.

Bursten said police would not nab slowpokes at the expense of speeders.

"If someone is going 75 (mph) and someone behind them comes up at 90, we are going after the guy going 90," he said.

State Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, who drove a truck commercially for 33 years, voted against the bill because he said enforcement would be too arbitrary.

"Who do you pick out to ticket?" he said. "You will see several clusters of backups at any one time."

In bad weather, construction zones and in preparation for making a left turn, drivers would not have to move over. But Tomes said even that is too subjective a standard.

"How soon do you have to get over to turn left and how is the officer to determine (that)?" Tomes said.

Cox said he will give his deputies wide discretion to determine whether a slow driver merits a ticket.

"I guess it comes down to what they consider a priority," Cox said. "They have that same discretion for lots of things. One deputy might not like loud exhausts, while another doesn't like a broken turn signal."

Bursten said most fines for driving slow would probably be in the $100 to $200 range.

At the Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. Memorial rest area on I-70 in Plainfield, drivers on Friday said they liked the new law.

"It makes sense because it is a matter of courtesy," said Darrold Trueper, 68, a traveling salesman from St. Louis, Mo., who comes to Indianapolis once a month. "What gives them the right to back up everyone else? It's very aggravating."

Trueper drives often between homes in Missouri and North Carolina but doesn't see much difference in each state's drivers.

"Indiana's are about like everywhere else, no better or worse," he said.

Brian Sutton, 47, Martinsville, who drives 200 miles a day for his job at an electric company, said the law wouldn't apply to him too often.

"I am one of the slower drivers, so I'm always in the slow lane," he said. "But I do see a lot of grandmas and grandpas driving in the left lane really slow holding things up, so I think it's a good law."

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.

Highlights of law

Under Indiana's new "slowpoke" law, a person may not continue to operate a vehicle in the left-most lane if they know another vehicle is overtaking them from behind, except in the following cases:

1) Traffic conditions or congestion make it necessary to operate in the left-most lane;

2) Bad weather, obstructions or hazards restrict travel to that lane;

3) When necessary to comply with a law, regulation, ordinance or traffic-control device;

4) When exiting a roadway or turning to the left;

5) When paying a toll or user fee.

The law does not apply to vehicles driven by emergency personnel or workers involved in highway maintenance or construction.

Those who violate the law are commiting a Class C infraction and may be subject to a ticket at the officer's discretion