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A few months ago I took a road trip from Chicago down to New Orleans.
几个月前，我开车从芝加哥去新奥尔良
And on the way back up (we were somewhere either in Tennessee or Missouri),
在回去的路上（在田纳西，也可能是密苏里的某个地方）
I got pulled over — it was my first time getting pulled over.
我被交警拦了下来——那还是我第一次被警察拦下
And it wasn’t for speeding.
但我被拦下并不是因为我超速
it was because I was driving in the left lane.
而是因为我是靠左行驶的
So there are basically two types of drivers in the world.
开车的人基本上可以分为两种
There are people who get really upset about all the people driving slowly in the left lane.
一种是特别烦那些在左侧车道慢慢悠悠驾驶的人
That’s Joey. He fits into that first group.
这是Joey，他就属于这第一类人
And then there are a lot of drivers who had no idea that this is even a problem.
另一种是完全不觉得这是一个问题的人，而这种人其实有很多
Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that. I don’t drive much.
没错，我就是这种人，抱歉，我不经常开车
The truth is, when drivers hang out in the left lane,
事实上，当有人慢吞吞地靠左行驶时
it makes traffic worse and more dangerous for everybody involved.
交通会变得更家紧张，对路上的其他人造成的威胁也更大
Here’s what that looks like.
情况差不多就是这样
If you have relatively slow drivers scattered amongst the right and left lanes,
如果左侧车道和右侧车道上都有慢速行驶的车辆
faster drivers have to repeatedly slow down and weave back and forth,
那么快速行驶的车辆就不得不反复减速，左冲右突
changing lanes many times to pass all of them.
反复变道才能从慢车中解放出来
So if you're going five miles slower than everyone else
所以，如果你开车的时速比其他人都要慢5英里
and you're traveling in the left lane, it forces them to make dangerous moves
而且你是靠左行驶的，那么其他人要想开到你前面，就不得不冒险
trying to pass you on the right which is more likely to cause an accident.
往右变道，就很有可能引发安全事故
But there’s a better way for traffic to flow
然而，确保交通畅通还有一个更好的办法
and that's if we only use the left lane for passing.
那就是规定左侧车道仅限超车
If all the slower drivers are in the right lane, a faster driver can pass several at once,
如果所有的慢车都在右侧车道行驶，那么快车能够一次超越好几台慢车
and get back over to the right, which cuts down the total number of
再回到右侧车道，这样就能减少
lane changes and eliminates the slowdowns.
变换车道以及减速的总次数
Move over, or get a ticket.
要么靠边，要么吃罚单
That's the message from state troopers to people driving too slowly in the left lane.
一些州警对在左侧车道行驶过慢的人发出了这样的警告
Some people argue that as long as they’re going the speed limit,
有人抗议道，只要他们行驶的速度没有低于最低时速
they shouldn’t have to move over.
就不应该让他们靠边
But there’s evidence that
然而，有证据显示
slowing down and changing lanes is actually more dangerous than speeding.
减速和变换车道其实比超速更危险
Research has shown that the strongest predictor of an accident
研究表示，预测交通事故最核心的数据
is variance from the average speed of traffic.
就是车辆与道路上平均车速的差值
And a car going five miles per hour slower than the surrounding traffic
时速比其他车辆低5英里的车辆
has a greater chance of causing an accident than one going five miles per hour faster.
比时速比其他车辆高5英里的车辆引发交通事故的概率更大
That’s why every state has some law on record that restricts the use of the left lane.
这就是为什么美国每个州都有限制使用左侧车道的法律规定
In 29 states, any car that’s moving slower than the surrounding speed of traffic
美国有29个州都规定了，任何慢于周围车辆的车辆
should be in the right lane.
都必须靠右行驶
And in 11 states, the laws are stricter —,
还有11个州的法律更严
they say that the left lane is only for turning or passing.
他们规定，左侧车道只能用于超车和掉头
Historically police didn’t really pay that much attention to slow left lane drivers,
过去，交警并不是很关心左侧车道行驶过慢的车辆
but more recently there have been campaigns in places like Washington, Texas and Ohio
然而，最近，华盛顿州、德州、俄亥俄州等地都出现了抗议活动
where police are actually issuing tickets to people they spot traveling slowly in the left lane.
于是警察已经开始给他们查到在左侧车道行驶过慢的车辆开罚单了
The reason why I stopped you
我让你停下
is the law in the state of Washington is keep right except to pass.
是因为华盛顿州的法律规定了不超车就要靠右行驶
This is something that has always been illegal and against the law here in Michigan,
在密歇根州，靠左行驶一直都是违法的，犯法的
But now officers are rolling out this new education effort to help the public understand
但是，现在交警们正在开展全新的教育活动，帮助大家了解
just what they can and they cannot do when it comes to this type of driving.
在这种规定下开车时，他们应该做什么不应该做什么
Now, it doesn’t have to be this way.
现在，他们不必这样了
A good example of this is the German Autobahn —
规范交通秩序，一个很好的例子就是德国的高速公路
so this is Germany's highway network,
这是德国的高速公路网
which has long stretches of road with no speed limits and it has surprisingly low accident rates.
他们有很长的路段都没有时速限制，交通事故率反而低得惊人
One reason for this, some researchers think,
一些研究人员认为，原因之一
is that German drivers are more likely to stay in the right lane for traveling and only use the left for passing.
是因为德国人一般更喜欢靠右行驶，除非要超车
That shared norm helps keep them safe.
正是大家不约而同的努力，保障了他们的安全
So fellow drivers I am sorry — I didn’t know the rules.
所以，后面的朋友们，实在不好意思——我还真不知道有这些规定
But I’m not alone, and if more people understand how this works,
然而，这种人不止我一个，所以，如果更多的人了解了这其中的缘由
we will have much fewer traffic jams.
那我们遇到交通堵塞的情况就会更少
And our roads will be a lot safer, too.
我们的道路也会安全得多
