Speeding Down the Highway

          I read recently that the Florida legislature is considering a change to highway speeding laws.  The speed limit on the interstates is 70 mph, but in the language of the new proposal, if a driver is at that speed or higher in the left lane, he may be given a ticket if there are drivers behind him who want to go over the speed limit.  Yes, that's right, speeders are given a free pass, and the guy doing the speed limit is to be ticketed. 
          That's wrong and I hope it never gets put into law.  First, driving at the speed limit in the left lane, is not driving slowly.  Slower drivers should not be allowed to clog up the left lane.  Agreed.  And the driver doing 70 mph or more in the left lane ought to pull into the middle or right lanes if possible.  That's just good manners.  But if the traffic pattern makes it dangerous to change lanes, or if there are trucks to drive around, or if there are slow drivers to dodge, it is often safer to stay in the left lane--regardless of how many speeders are lined up behind you, tailgating, expecting to be able to go 80 mph or higher.  Stepping on the brake and going a little slower seems to threaten the speeder's manhood--or womanhood.
         The bottom line is that every speeder's impatience trumps my safety and endangers not only my life but his own too and who knows how many others who can be mangled in a crash caused by reckless drivers who dart to the middle or right lanes and then do 90 through three lanes of traffic just because they can't abide being behind someone who is only doing the speed limit.  And we're talking 70 mph here, fast by any standard.  It's crazy to encourage these speeding lunatics.
           But  that is apparently how some people in the Florida legislature want it.  God only knows how fast they go with their privileged, ticket-proof license plates along the interstates, virtually immune from state police radar guns.  It's hard enough driving on the highways; let's not make it worse by enacting a law that actually encourages speeders and tickets law-abiding citizens.