...OK...the Texas govt website says:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... TN.545.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which agrees with the text that Keith B and gigag04 posted...and I addressed yesterday...which CLEARLY says that under (1) passing,(clearly defined in the text) (3)on a roadway into three marked lanes for traffic or (4)on a roadway restricted to one-way traffic the "UNLESS" following the admonition "shall drive on the right-hand half of the roadway" applies...they are EXCEPTIONS to the "shall" ..... the (b)section talking about those travelling slower than the normal speed does not apply to my posted situation...I am travelling at the speed limit or slightly above, and am not impeding NORMAL traffic by doing so-----normal means normal...not speeders...which are an exception...common sense dictates that...and the idea that there is no speed limit in Texas is....way out there...and totally false...
now...as I said originally, unless there is a sign posted saying to drive in the right lane only...driving in the left lane is legal...the quotes from "the Director", the two erroneous news article quoted, and the Texas Highwayman quotes do not quote the law...are heavily laced by opinions not expressed in the law...and reference the wrong bill number...the correct bill number is 297, not 287, and that bill says nothing to change 545.051...
...it simply tells the Highway Dept to use a different sign...saying left lane for passing instead of slower traffic keep right WHEN they replace damaged or missing signs...or when they place new signs...it doesn't change the law 545.051 in any way...it expresses by legal regulatory signage, which we must obey, of course, that WHERE THE NEW SIGN IS POSTED, we must drive to the right unless passing...not only if we're slower than normal traffic...
...as the at that time the article was written, the trooper interviewed was in authority and given the job to explain the change in signage...I'm taking his comments as true and informed:
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/070398/AST-1248.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; if you'll read that text, you'll see that the new law didn't change 545.051, didn't tell the state to change all signs, and the DPS itself said that the new signage had to be posted before anyone was ticketed (fined) for driving in the left lane unless they were driving slower than normal, in which case they would be violating the old sign and get a ticket. He said that until the new sign was posted...the law didn't apply. WHY? because the law 545.051 didn't change...and until the new regulatory sign was posted...545.051 still was the law in power on the highways...
...the articles/blogs that reported the new signage were in error because they wanted the law to say drivers had to drive to the right....and that law said no such thing...it wasn't even directed to drivers...it only affects the driver once it is posted and then he is required to obey it...as my original post stated and I agreed...there are MANY miles of highway today in Texas where there are no signs of either type...many where the old sign is still up...for those areas 545.051 is the law...
...Now...I know, having driven since the 60s, that it is nicer, safer, and Texas polite, and all those good and wise things to go ahead and move right when we can to let a car pass us even if they're speeding...BUT I maintain that they can wait until I've completed passing the slower than the speed limit traffic to my right...nothing in the law says that I have to slow down, hit my brakes, and attempt to find space within the slower traffic to my right , then pull right, just because they want my lane...when THEY can slow down, wait until I've done my passing, and pull in ahead of the slower traffic...like I posted in the beginning...they are no more important than anyone else on the road...
...as to LEOS, past or current...we are not the best source for legal advice...and we do, as you see, disagree...we're just folks with our own attitudes...and noone here has shown me in the written law 545.051 or the HB297 of the 75R session(the new signage bill) where my original statements were in violation of an y law...both are written clearly...the only room for contention is if someone wants to contest the meaning of normal...and society defines normal as law...ie the speed limit...and the Director agreed with that in his closing statement...
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/070398/AST-1248.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; nothing gives anyone the right to speed... read his posting and you'll see that it HAD NOT been illegal to drive in the left lane until the new signs that said not to were posted...it has been about 13 years...and 545.051 has not been changed...the exceptions (1), (3), and (4) still have force of law...and the new sign, if posted, has power to remove (3) and (4)...notice how often you see the new signs....
...my objective has not been to insult anyone...or anger anyone...but we can't win an argument by quoting a law and then adding our opinion to the words of it...that's opinion...nor can we say "this means that...or which proves"...when the law...or other "authority source", in this case the Director's letter..or the reference to the signage law...does NOT say what you have said it does...or when what a blogger or Highwayman writes contradicts the law's content and intent...
...HB297 of the 75 R session says:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/75 ... 00297F.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; does not change the driving law at all...the change for us happens when the sign is posted and we read it...it, where it is used, supercedes the normal(there's that word again) driving law as defined in 545.051....
...now I'm done...and you may still disagree with my post...but the law is the law...and it only says what it says....
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