New bill targets slow left-lane drivers

Going slower than the speed limit in a highway’s fast lane could earn Washington drivers a speeding ticket under a bill pending in the state Senate.

Senate bill 6105, filed last week by Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, would create a series of fines for driving any slower than the speed limit in the left lane, with the amount of the fine going up depending on how much slower than the limit a car is going. The bill calls driving slow in the left lane “obnoxious, inconsiderate and dangerous behavior.”

Related: Contentious battle brewing over busy West Seattle corridor

“People who drive in the left lane under the speed limit and just sit there, creating a health and safety hazard for other drivers – and it doesn’t matter what you do – I think they need to start getting ticketed,” Baumgartner told KIRO Radio.

Combined with existing maximum speed limit law, the slow-driving bill would mean any driver in normal traffic who is not precisely driving the speed limit in the left lane could be ticketed. Fines would start at $27 for going one to five miles per hour under the speed limit and increase on a sliding scale. The fine would be added to a $124 fine that already exists.

“I think if this bill were to become law and tickets started being handed out, I think the public would learn pretty quick,” Baumgartner said.

It’s unclear whether the bill will get a hearing before the legislative session scheduled to end Sunday.

Baumgartner said the bill seems to have support now, but if it doesn’t pass, he’ll try for an amendment to the transportation package.

The senator successfully passed a bill to raise the speed limit by five miles per hour on some state highways. He said that will be implemented on rural roads and portions of I-90 if the governor doesn’t veto the bill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.