x
Breaking News
More () »

'Slowpoke' bill introduced at Minnesota Capitol

"We just want to make sure things are done efficiently, and people aren't just camping out in that lane," said Republican Sen. John Jasinski about drivers who may be driving slower in the left lane.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota lawmaker says he’s trying to bring some relief to the roads by addressing what he considers a congestion and safety concern: slowpoke drivers.

“We just want to make sure things are done efficiently, and people aren’t just camping out in that lane,” said Republican Sen. John Jasinski about drivers who may be driving slower in the left lane.

On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee approved Jasinski’s bill – which essentially seeks to increase the penalties for left-lane lagging. The Judiciary Committee will review the bill on Friday. Jasinski said he expects that committee will also consult with law enforcement to tweak the bill’s language, amount of the fine and whether it should remain a petty misdemeanor or be increased to a misdemeanor, as currently called for in the proposed legislation.

Despite the potentially higher fine and greater overall penalty, Jasinski says he doesn’t expect people to pay a hefty price for the new regulation.

“I don’t foresee law enforcement giving out thousands of tickets. I think warnings are good enough and raise awareness,” he said.

He also added the bill is not intended to protect speeders but to simply encourage safer, more efficient driving.

“We’re just trying to promote efficiently getting traffic through the metro areas, through the outstate areas and avoid frustration, road rage and all those things,” he said.

Overall, Jasinski said he’s heard from more people on this issue than any other in the last 14 months. He notes that the vast majority of the responses have been positive.

Meantime, KARE 11 found in a simple poll of a few drivers that people have passionate opinions about this proposal.

“People who are speeding should stay to the left and us slowpokes can stay to the right, myself included,” said Lisa Sikich of White Bear Lake.

Lily Wellenstein of St. Paul agreed the increased awareness would be good: “Hopefully it would help speed up traffic.”

But Brian Watters of Burnsville noted the legislation goes too far, saying: “I think the bigger fine would be enough of a motivator and not necessarily increasing it to a misdemeanor.”

Dennis Freeman of Buffalo Lake agreed the legislation should not get a green light, saying, “That’s ridiculous. You’re going to give somebody a misdemeanor just for driving slow. Slow is safe.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out