Bailey’s ‘Slow Poke Law’ Expansion Passes Senate Committee

The Tennessee Transportation & Safety Senate Committee passed a bill extending the state’s ‘Slow Poke Law’ to smaller highways.

The bill sponsored by Senator Paul Bailey would apply to divided highways with two lanes in each direction.

“Senate Bill 1497 extends the Slow Poke Law to two lanes rather than three or more lanes,” Bailey said. “This is legislation that we passed a few years ago on three or more lanes. It’s just moving it on down to two lanes.”

Bailey presented the bill before the Committee Wednesday. He explained the original bill was designed to keep slower-moving vehicles out of the passing lane.

“A couple of years ago when we originally passed the ‘ Slow Poke Law,’ we have cars that basically move to the left lane, impeding  traffic from being able to pass in the proper lane and move on,” Bailey said. “A lot of times, there’s distracted drivers in that left lane that are impeding traffic.”

Bailey notes the bill also comes from personal experience as the law would apply to roadways such as Interstate 40 and Highway 111.

“I believe that we should go ahead and extend [the law] to two-lane highways to help our traffic flow even better,” Bailey said. “Those of us that drive in from other areas of the state certainly appreciate having the flow of traffic get us here in a more speedily way.”

The Committee unanimously approved and calendared the bill for a later session.