Indiana State Trooper enforces state's Slowpoke law, goes viral
One Indiana State Trooper has gone viral after enforcing the state's "Slowpoke" law, or "move-over" law. The internet has spoken, and many like State Trooper Stephen Wheeles' logic.
Wheeles tweeted a photo on Saturday of a vehicle after initiating a traffic stop on Interstate 65. According to the trooper's tweet, the driver was holding up traffic because she continued to drive slowly in the left lane. Since tweeting the photo this past Saturday, over 30,000 people have re-tweeted and nearly 80,000 individuals have "liked" the photo.
I stopped this vehicle today for a left lane violation on I-65. The driver had approximately 20 cars slowed behind her because she would not move back to the right lane.
Again...if there are vehicles behind you, you must move to the right lane to allow them to pass. pic.twitter.com/tePjJ1Xigy
— Sgt. Stephen Wheeles (@ISPVersailles) June 16, 2018
The law first went into effect in 2015 and is meant to keep slow-moving drivers out of the fast lane. Police departments often say a slow driver can be just as dangerous as a speeding driver as their slow speeds disrupt a natural traffic flow. Wheeles went even further to defend the law and said a citation could be in order even if the driver is going the posted speed limit.
"The spirit of the law is that since many people drive well above the speed limit, it creates an ‘accordion effect’ as traffic starts backing up behind the slower vehicle," he said. "This is where many of our crashes occur on the interstates. It’s all in the name of safety."
His reasoning wasn't a call for anyone to start breaking the speed limit, however.
"Vehicles all travel at different speeds. It was put in place to keep left lane drivers (or the family ten cars back) from getting run over by faster traffic while in the left lane," Wheeles added in a follow-up tweet.
Do every driver a favor and keep to the right when traveling at lower rates of speed.
