A State Trooper from the state of Indiana went massively viral after tweeting an image of a vehicle that he’d pulled over.
Sergeant Stephen Wheeles was out patrolling Indiana state highways when he encountered a vehicle driving slowly in the left lane.
The car — a Chevrolet Captiva, reportedly had “approximately 20 cars” stuck behind them.
Sergeant Wheeles saw this scene as a prime opportunity to share a traffic law that’s often forgotten.
After snapping a picture of the vehicle pulled over on the side of the road, the Trooper tweeted the image out with an accompanying message regarding road safety.
I stopped this vehicle today for a left lane violation on I-65. The driver had approximately 20 cars slowed behind her because she would not move back to the right lane.
Again…if there are vehicles behind you, you must move to the right lane to allow them to pass. pic.twitter.com/tePjJ1Xigy
— Sgt. Stephen Wheeles (@ISPVersailles) June 16, 2018
“I stopped this vehicle today for a left lane violation on I-65. The driver had approximately 20 cars slowed behind her because she would not move back to the right lane.” Wheeles wrote. “Again…if there are vehicles behind you, you must move to the right lane to allow them to pass.”
That was last Saturday. Since then — the tweet has received nearly 100k likes.
Many have even gone so far as to adorn the Sergeant with the title “hero”.
Lol….Thank you sir. Making the world safer, one slow poke left lane driver at a time…. https://t.co/vVG7oW43i6
— Sgt. Stephen Wheeles (@ISPVersailles) June 23, 2018
The viral media spurred on discussion regarding common situations on the road. For instance, what happens if you’re driving the speed limit in the left lane and someone who’s speeding wants to pass?
Even if you are driving the speed limit?
— Brian Hunt (@boilerbrian) June 16, 2018
Stephen went on to urge that he’s not encouraging speeding.
This is in no way encouraging people to speed. Those speeders are definitely in violation also. Vehicles all travel at different speeds. It was put in place to keep left lane drivers (or the family ten cars back) from getting run over by faster traffic while in the left lane.
— Sgt. Stephen Wheeles (@ISPVersailles) June 17, 2018
Keep killing it Sergeant Wheeles!