There’s essentially one stretch of blacktop — which goes by two names — running down the spine of the 55-mile-long rock called Whidbey Island.

State Highways 20 and 525 are two-lane roads for most of the distance, and the number of places where it’s safe to pass are limited.

Add to the mix ambling tourists, residents hurrying to get to work and big trucks passing through and you have a veritable recipe for road rage.

With the island’s population only growing, it’s critical that drivers be conscientious about how their driving affects others on the road.

While the police have long focused on impaired driving and speeders, there’s a growing awareness that people who drive too slowly or try to control the flow of traffic are not only annoying but dangerous.

One of the biggest complaints from drivers in the state is the “left-lane campers.” They’re those motorists who drive in the left lane and refuse to move over, slowing everyone else down and resulting in some impatient drivers trying to pass them on the right.

It’s illegal and dangerous.

The Washington State Patrol campaigned to end this behavior, saying it’s not a driver’s job to control the flow of traffic. We don’t need a freelance hall monitor on the roads. It’s up to the police to decide if people are driving too fast.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, recently proposed increasing the ticket for left-lane camping, since the current threat of a $136 ticket doesn’t seem to be changing behavior.

Whidbey Island has its own versions of annoying drivers. There are those who drive below the speed limit and delay a whole line of cars, but when they get to the few passing lanes on the island, these drivers either refuse to move to the right or, worse yet, hit the gas to prevent anyone from passing.

As the signs tell us, it’s illegal to delay five or more vehicles, even if you think you’re going the speed limit. Under state law, a driver who is delaying others is supposed turn off the roadway “wherever sufficient area for a safe turn-out exists, in order to permit the vehicles following to proceed.”

The law defines a slow-moving vehicle as “one which is proceeding at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place.”

Anyone who’s driven on Whidbey roads has probably gotten behind plenty of slow-moving vehicles. What’s equally frustrating is that the police rarely seem to do anything about these offenders.

Perhaps an increase in fines for left-lane camping will make driving on Interstate 5 more pleasant. It’s worth a shot.

As for Whidbey Island, we hope drivers who like to take it easy will be thoughtful to others and let them pass. And we hope police officers will deal with those who aren’t so thoughtful.