While it’s dangerous to merge onto the highway below the speed of traffic, it doesn’t give you an excuse to accelerate and pass on the breakdown lane, either.
Osceola County commuter and Redditor /u/NeedMySims shared headshaking dashcam footage from earlier in February (Feb 12, 2026) to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing a driver from Delaware, being too impatient, passing a slower car using the emergency breakdown lane, essentially saving no time at all.
Check out their hare-brained maneuver below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident happened on the I-4/US-192 interchange in Kissimmee (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam shows, OP and traffic in front of them were going south on I-4 before heading onto the onramp towards 192 East.
A driver in a company work truck (Hamilton’s Home Improvements 302-894-2934 License Plate C129587) in front of OP is too impatient, unwilling to wait a couple of seconds to pass a slow-merging driver in a Nissan Pathfinder in front of them.
Taking matters into their own hands, they illegally pass the Pathfinder using the emergency breakdown lane to their right.
But, with little to no traffic, they could’ve waited a couple more seconds until they merged onto the interstate.
Their 4D Chess move essentially gained them no advantage at all.
While commenters pointed out this pickup driver’s desperation move as not the smartest thing to do, they did recognize they saw themselves faced with another dangerous situation.
“Dumb move, but he’s probably frustrated with cars that merge at 35MPH onto a 60MPH highway,” the top comment from /u/MONSTERBEARMAN reads.
“I’ll never get how people can drive on the shoulder without a care in the world. Have they not seen how much garbage and nails and screws and glass and crap is on the shoulder?” /u/zeronian wondered.
Other commenters pointed out that, by tailgating the slower driver, they were also setting themselves up for failure, and there is a more legal, happy medium to deal with this situation.
You can solve the problem of not being able to merge onto a 60+ mph road because the person in front of you is doing 35 by not tailgating,” /u/SomethingIWontRegret pointed out.
“It’s not just following distance. It can be acceleration room. Take it from someone who drove underpowered cars in the 1980s. Make yourself room and use it.”
In Florida, passing another vehicle by driving onto the shoulder/breakdown lane to get around them is illegal because the law prohibits overtaking by leaving the main‑travelled portion of the roadway.
A conviction for this kind of improper or unlawful passing is a noncriminal moving violation that typically results in **about *3 points* on your license and a fine generally in the range of roughly $150–$300 (plus court costs), though exact amounts vary by county. (legalclarity.org)
