By Corinne Murdock |
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office won a Rocky Mountain Emmy for their video of Sheriff Mark Lamb doing “God’s work”: nabbing drivers holding up the left lane made for passing.
The four-minute video, “Stop Camping in the Left Lane,” features Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb as he catches drivers remaining, or “camping,” in the far-left lane reserved for passing and impeding the flow of traffic. One of Lamb’s earliest featured targets was holding up his car and several others while also driving under the speed limit.
“[A]s you know, one of my pet peeves is people camping in the left lane,” said Lamb. “So I’m out here doing God’s work today: we’re going to stop people from driving in the left lane and being inconsiderate of others.”
It appears that no tickets were issued, and therefore no wallets were harmed, in the making of the video.
Lamb was filmed monitoring traffic on the I-10 highway. The sheriff narrates from his dash cam his monitoring one Texas driver camping in the left lane, resulting in three to four other cars to pass on the right.
Lamb pulled that Texas driver over. The Texas driver responded that he “was going the speed limit,” to which Lamb informed him that the left lane is reserved for passing, not strict speed limit adherence.
The Texas driver then claimed he attempted to switch over to a right lane, but was unable to do so, to which Lamb replied that he’d been following him for “a while.”
The exchange hit a lighter note as Lamb asked the driver whether he had any weapons in the car. When the Texan answered in the negative, Lamb advised him that he should for personal safety reasons.
“Do you have any weapons in the car? No? Well, you should, it’s dangerous out there!” said Lamb.
Lamb ultimately let the Texan off with a warning and a valuable lesson about the power of the passing lane.
“It’s not about going the speed limit, it is about: the left lane is for passing,” said Lamb.
The sheriff also had a message for those who refuse to believe in the purpose of the left lane as exclusively for passing.
“And for all those know-it-alls that plan on sending me an email and telling me how wrong I am, let me save you the time: don’t bother, ‘cause I’m not going to read it anyway,” said Lamb.
Another driver took more effort on Lamb’s part to pull over. The driver of a truck hauling construction equipment on a trailer failed to notice the backup of cars behind him and Lamb signaling for him to pull over for “about four or five miles.” Lamb informed the driver that he needed to be over in one of the right lanes, to which the man insisted he hadn’t noticed the sheriff or the backup.
Again, Lamb didn’t commit to a ticket: he opted to offer a warning to the man and sent him on his way.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
