By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

This seems to be the summer of safe-driving initiatives.

First there was "Click It or Ticket." Then came the "Drive for Life" campaign and "Driver Education Days," two programs designed to reduce accidents.

Now, the National Motorists Association is promoting yet another program called "Do The Right Thing." It's a nationwide effort to get slower drivers to stay in the right-hand lane.

Hawai'i is notorious for having slow drivers who hog the left lane — or at least that's what some people would have you believe. Over the years, there have been hundreds of calls to talk shows here and letters to the editor complaining about drivers who don't stay out of the "fast" lane, even when they're doing 25 mph.

Of course, this is the same group that thinks most speed limits should be abolished and traffic cameras banned from the United States, but there's still something worthwhile in what it suggests.

The group says letting faster drivers get by improves highway safety. "By not obstructing other drivers, we are allowing traffic to flow more smoothly," the group says. "When traffic flows smoothly, there is less tailgating, less weaving in-and-out of traffic and therefore fewer accidents."

The problems with slower drivers, according to the association, began in 1973, when the government imposed 55-mph speed limits on most states. Before that, American drivers pretty much traveled at their own pace and "slow drivers," even those going above the posted speed limit, had enough sense to stay to the right, the group argues.

Even though the 55-mph limits have been lifted in most places now, most drivers have become accustomed to driving the same speed no matter which lane they're in, the group argues. That makes trouble for everyone, it says.

Like most states, Hawai'i law suggests that drivers should stay on the right side unless they are passing another vehicle. Section 291C-41 of the Hawai'i Revised Code says "any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic" shall be driven in the right-hand lane.

So if you get stuck behind somebody not doing the right thing, what should you do? The association says there are a few rules of courtesy to follow:

• Drivers of a faster vehicle in the left lane should signal their desire to move past a slower vehicle by turning on their left directional light for a few seconds and allow the slower driver plenty of time to merge into the right lane.
• If the turn signal fails, only then should drivers flash their headlights. If that fails to catch the slow driver's attention, the best tactic is to fall back and wait for another opportunity to safely pass, the group says.

Mike Leidemann's Drive Time column appears every Tuesday. Reach him at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.