I have to admit something to you: I am that driver on the highway who won’t get out of your way in the left lane.
    Here’s the scenario:  I’m on the highway in the right lane when I start to get too close to a big rig.  So, as I check my clearance, I signal and shift to the left lane and safely cruise past.  However, a driver comes up behind me and clearly outpaces  me.  Instead of waiting for me to clear the truck, he or she pulls up to my rear bumper.
    I don’t like that. Half the time, my kids are in the car.  Now that driver endangers them.
    Perhaps at this point, you agree with the driver behind.  What are my options?  Speed up?  I am not interested in outright speeding; tickets, insurance and gas budget taught me better.  Slow down?  That guy is too close; that option has been removed.
   Eventually, I will be able to change lanes, but that driver behind me is not patient.  He or she continues to tailgate.
   Now, perhaps you think that I should change lanes as soon as my rear bumper clears the big rig and let this guy pass?  Alas, don’t overlook the two-second rule of thumb. Even if a driver is completely attentive and at the top of his or her game, the reaction time is seven-tenths of a second (visualexpert.com). To be a safe, considerate driver, I cannot change lanes until I’ve gained a two-second lead on that big rig.  Still, the tailgating continues. Occasionally, he’ll generously flash his lights to remind me that he really wants to get by.
    I got my first driver’s license in Florida when I was 16.  When I attended Auburn University, my wife subtly pointed out that driving in the left lane of the highway was something rude that Floridians did.  I read the Florida and Alabama drivers manuals and, after giving it about five months’ consideration, I started to cruise the highway in the right-hand lane and have ever since.
   The Mississippi Driver License Manual (2012) comments on this topic.  I like page 48, which opens with the italicized title line “Drivers cause 85 percent of all accidents.” It gets more candid, going on to state that, “You may drive like a bully or a law-breaker” after “undergoing a personality change” upon taking control of a vehicle’s speed and size.  However, the meat-and-potatoes is on page 55 regarding Interstate Highway Driving.  Specifically, it says the speed limit (also known as the “maximum speed at which you can legally operate your vehicle here”) “under ideal conditions” is 70 mph.  It also says the right lane is for slower vehicles.
  Now, a great many drivers confuse these concepts.  Just because I go slower than you does not mean that I am in the wrong lane.  Admittedly, I tend to drive three to five mph over the posted limit. So if we’re both already speeding; then why are you so important to risk reckless tailgating?
  With only about 28 total patrolmen available to cover the 10 counties in District 5, Miss. Highway Patrol Troop G Public Relations Officer Sgt. Criss Turnipseed confirmed the challenge his agency faces with ticketing drivers guilty of tailgating.
    “The law only says that it ‘should be a prudent, safe distance,’” he said. He said any tickets given are easily contested in court due to the difficulty to produce evidence.
   “The most common accidents are rear-end collisions,” Sgt. Turnipseed pointed out.  “You will almost always find on the report: ‘Following too closely’.”
     So, I invite you, dear reader, to please answer me: what is the urgency?  I already plan to change lanes; I want to change lanes.  Why do you need to tailgate?