Florida House to Consider Banning Driving on Certain Highway Lanes

Tallahassee, Fl- Florida House Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R) is leading efforts to ban driving on the furthermost lanes of Florida highways. 

Representative Mulicka filed a bill yesterday, November 1st, that would restrict usage of left highway lanes for emergency or road maintenance vehicles or for passing cars. 

The bill explicitly states that for multi-lane roads with a speed limit exceeding “65 miles per hour, a driver may not operate a motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle.”

If passed into law, Florida drivers found driving on the furthermost left-hand lane could be admonished with traffic infraction violations starting on January 1st, 2025. 

Currently, only eight US states prohibit driving on the left lane. These are Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and West Virginia.

Such traffic regulations, however, are more prevalent across the world, such as in European countries like the United Kingdom or Spain. 

A similar bill was filed last March but died before reaching a floor vote. While the bill may be controversial amongst constituents, committee votes for the bill demonstrated nearly unanimous bipartisan support for the move. 

Mulicka,who represents the Fort Myers area, also led Florida’s previously enacted 6-week abortion ban. 

The constitutionality of the ban is currently being assessed by the Florida Supreme Court. 

The case, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, et al. vs. the State of Florida, calls on the Florida Supreme Court to either uphold Florida’s initial 15-week ban or strike it down, returning Florida to the former 24-week standard. Should the Court uphold the 15-week ban, the six-week ban would then go into effect.

“82,192 babies who (were aborted) were never given the opportunity to live, to grow up, and to find their purpose in our world,” said Mulicka in defense of the ban.