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Bill Allows $200 Fine For Slow Drivers Who Don't Move Over

Photo: Wikimedia contributor Admiral capn for Creative Commons http://bit.ly/2mDcwpj

Slowpoke drivers beware. You may soon face a fine for bogging down traffic in the left lane of North Carolina interstates.

A House judiciary committee passed a bill Wednesday that would make it illegal for someone to block the steady flow of traffic by cruising in the passing lane. That means drivers could face a $200 fine.

Bill sponsors call it a public safety issue. They say drivers traveling below the speed limit in the left lane create tight clusters, and that can cause accidents.

The proposal would expand a current law requiring vehicles traveling less than the speed limit to be in the right lane.

Rutherford County Republican Rep. David Rogers opposed the measure, saying it wouldn't seem fair to punish drivers traveling the speed limit who don't move over if a speeding car approaches.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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