In Washington State, is it legal to speed on the freeway or not?

In this article about drivers who won’t get the fuck out of the left lane if traffic is backing up behind them, there are difference in opinion. There are drivers who won’t get out of the way, and those who would like for those drivers to get out of the way. As it is, states’ rights prevails and so each of the 50 states has different laws about driving in the left lane. In some states, you cannot hold up traffic in the left lane. In some you can. Some states allow drivers to cruise in the left lane, some don’t.

In Washington state, it is illegal to hold up traffic in the left lane, even if you are doing the speed limit (ranges 55 – 75 miles per hour there). According to the state trooper interviewed for the article, you are breaking the law if you are driving the speed limit and holding up traffic. That means of course that the speeders in the left lane are legal and the son ofa bitch who won’t get out of the way is the lawbreaker.

So, it is illegal to drive the speed limit if you are holding up speeders. At the same time, I assume that it is illegal to drive faster than the speed limit (accepting that the cops will give you a buffer). So it is illegal to speed and not speed at the same time, in the left lane.

Actually if you really want to drive fast around Seattle, you can pay for the privilege. Some of the freeways in King or Pierce County allow you to pay a toll to drive in an inside lane that’s cleared of traffic.

IT graduates shortages now eh?

Two postings on my CIO magazine feed.. Silicon Valley twentysomethings eating dirt now, and 25% of US IT jobs to be offshored within two years. Have a nice day.

Walking in my town is dangerous

Four pedestrians were run over last night in my town, one dead, one severely injured, the others I suppose were only moderately injured. I almost got run over in a crosswalk in “uptown” (downtown) when a driver sped through a red light long after it had changed. In Charlotte, there is little regard for pedestrians (or for red lights in some cases). Seems like you can run over one and cause death, you can flee the scene and it’s really no big deal here.

Obama wins the Presidency

Yesterday, the Electoral College met in the various US state capitals and elected Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States.

The shames of Palm Beach

First, Jews (and Gentiles) in Palm Beach accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan in sufficient numbers do deny Gore the state of Florida, and thus the Presidency in 2000, giving us 8 years of Bush and Cheney. The butterfly ballot will live in infamy. Now, there’s this new shame, the man of the party did this to his own.

Player kicked off hockey team for comment about ex

What can an athlete do off the field (or ice) that is so bad that his team will cut him for doing it? Shoot at someone, or shoot someone? Take illegal drugs? Punch out a fan during a game? Drive drunk and hit some0ne? Take a gun to a strip club? Have sex with underage girls at parties where you get them drunk? Drag race and contribute to someone being killed? (Sorry, a few Charlotte examples thrown in there) Having half a dozen children in as many cities? Nope, none of those reasons is bad enough to get someone cut from his team.

Now one player for Carolina Panthers was not welcomed back to the team after what he did, but he did have his ex girlfriend murdered, and he was arrested and convicted for it. He’s still in prison I believe. And of course Michael Vick was cut from the Atlanta Falcons (and sent to prison) for his cruel treatment of fighting dogs. Now, what if a league were to suspend a player indefinitely, and the player’s team kicked him out, just because he made a crude (but not vulgar) comment about an B-actress ex. We are talking about the violent (and starved for publicity) National Hockey League no less.