Betsie Snoey of Mukilteo writes: “We use our Flex Pass to attend doctors’ appointments in Bellevue and to visit our grandchildren in Issaquah. We have run into this problem twice and our daughter’s family experienced it once. We travel along at the speed limit and come upon a car travelling slowly (50 mph). How do we legally and efficiently handle this? May we cross the double white lines if we’re not near an exit/entrance point? We observe other vehicles going around the slowpoke by crossing the no-cross lines. We’re hoping this is a viable solution because it’s a pain to be in the toll lane and not be able to travel the speed limit (sometimes the other lanes are flowing well).”
Washington State Patrol Trooper Mark Francis responds: “Unfortunately you can’t cross double white lines to pass. Be patient and wait for dashed openings. There is no minimum speed limit in Washington yet, so those slower drivers, as frustrating as they are, aren’t breaking any laws unless they are negligently and dangerously slow.”
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