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One of my driving pet peeves isn’t those people who blow by you going way faster than you are, but instead, it's the drivers who insist on driving way slower.

Which is why I think Rochester should follow Florida’s lead when it comes to slowpoke drivers on our highways and interstates.

According to this story by Fox-9/Twin Cities journalist Mary McGuire (who I worked with when we were both at Fox-47 here in Rochester but who was working in Florida when she wrote this story), the Florida Highway Patrol is cracking down on drivers who don’t drive fast enough.

Authorities in Florida noted that, much like here in Rochester, the Tampa area has a lot of out-of-town visitors who head down to the Sunshine State on vacation. That means many drivers aren’t familiar with area freeways and interstates, and often end up impeding traffic by driving too slowly. And, Mary’s story said those slowpoke drivers could now be in line to get a ticket!

I think the Minnesota State Patrol and Rochester police should do the same thing here. One area, in particular, that seems to attract slowpoke drivers is the Highway 52 northbound ramp from Civic Center Drive.

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In fact, this just happened to me again the other day -- I ended up behind someone in the right lane who wasn't accelerating up to highway speed coming off the ramp and merging onto Highway 52.

This makes trying to get around them on the left difficult, because traffic in the middle and left lanes of northbound Highway 52 is already traveling at highway speeds, and, thanks to the pokey driver in front of me, I couldn’t get going fast enough to merge in.

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Things would flow much more smoothly if drivers would accelerate up to highway speed once they get off the ramp, in order to match the speed at which traffic on Highway 52 is already traveling.

Perhaps the threat of a ticket for going too slow – as police in Florida are now doing – might be a good thing here in southeast Minnesota, too! What do you think? Do slowpoke drivers aggravate you, too? How should they be handled?

Listen to Curt St. John in the Morning
Weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5

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