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Twitter cheers trooper who ticketed slow driver in fast lane

If you've ever been stuck behind a driver that just won't get out of the fast lane, meet Stephen Wheeles, your new hero.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

There are bigger problems than getting stuck behind a slow driver in the fast lane. But it's still so annoying, sitting behind the wheel on an endless stretch of highway, unable to get around a driver who could be Yoda. ("When 900 years you reach, drive fast you will not!")

So it's no wonder social media applauded Indiana State Police Trooper Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, who tweeted recently that he stopped a driver for just that very violation on Indiana's Interstate 65.

"The driver had approximately 20 cars slowed behind her because she would not move back to the right lane," the appropriately named Wheeles tweeted. "Again ... if there are vehicles behind you, you must move to the right lane to allow them to pass."

Wheeles stopped the driver 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Indianapolis, he told the Associated Press, where she was driving under the 70 mile-per-hour (112 kilometers) speed limit yet refused to leave the fast lane.

One of the trooper's new fans is a guy who knows a little something about going fast, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal (son of legendary Bobby Rahal). "This guy is my hero," Rahal tweeted. "Fast lane cruisers are one of my biggest frustrations!"

Rahal wasn't alone in his praise. Former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman and others joined in.

Wrote one: "Aint no shame in the right lane!" And another posted a mocked-up photo showing highways signs that read, "If there is someone behind you and no one in front of you then get out of this lane," over the passing lane.

Residents of other states would like to see slow drivers pulled over in their states as well. "Make it illegal to drive in the left lane except for passing like (Washington) state," wrote one. "I hate driving to Vegas behind California drivers."

And when one Twitter user said Wheeles deserved a parade, the officer gave himself one via GIF.