[V6 Cannonballer]

Folks are probably gonna hate me for being the big "D" Bag, but here's the situation:

I was driving along and came up behind a guy in the slow lane, who had recently pulled into traffic. He was puttering along at about 10 miles below the limit, so I passed him two or three block later and got in front of him by maybe two car lengths, going a few miles over the posted speed. He didn't like this. So he speeded up to pass and get in front of me but he ran out of room, so he lined up with me at the signal, giving me the "stink eye." This was an older farmer looking type, possibly in his mid-50's, driving a beat-up, ragged late 80's Pontiac Bonneville. The body was straight but the car barely looked roadworthy. Anyway, he kept easing forward and looking at me at the light. When the signal went green, I couldn't resist. I got on it just a little then eased off and had him thinking 3 or 4 times that he would overtake and pass me, but then I ran just a little ahead each time, barely clearing his front end. He finally gave up, pulled into the center turn lane, and made a LEFT TURN onto another street. I was still traveling in the far right lane.

Suddenly speeding up after I had passed was one thing, but making a left turn after all that? I could ALMOST get it, had he been intending to make a right turn and he thought I jumped in his way, but turning left??? I say he had his humiliation comin'. He must have been one of them haters.

 

[StuckInNY]

You probably did exactly what I would have. People's pride quadruples when they get behind the wheel. I actually just installed a dash cam just in case some moron hits me on the road (unless it is my fault, then the camera gets hidden under the car seat!).

 

[V6 Cannonballer]

I get tempted to buy one every now and then myself, and just record every second I'm on the road. There's nothing but kooks out there.

 

[marylandGT]

I dont know dude. Sometimes you got to be the better man and let stuff go. I drive for a living and one thing I see more of is people flying up in the left lanes and cutting people off for an exit ramp, or a right turn in your case. Then they gotta stand on their brakes because the exit turns into a 25mph curve. Sometimes when someone makes an a$#hole move in front of me,I clap a few times like I'm applauding their f%@#ed-up manuver. That really pisses them off.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

.................................................

 

[BenLoves5.0s]

that's actually a pretty smart idea. I was with my friend one day and we stopped at a light for a good 30 sec before some idiot rear ended us and then tried to blame it on my friend for stopping at the light lol

 

[V6 Cannonballer]

Yeah, but trying to get in front of me in the right lane so that he could get into the left and make a left turn... I could have let it go, but he would only have kept me at 10 miles below the limit again, just so he could granny over to the left for his turn.

He wasn't riding my butt any (as he never got behind me: he was in the lane next to mine), but I certainly didn't need him in front of me (in my lane--which is what he was trying), as he was likely the type to suddenly nail his brakes, had he gotten there, so he could cut a lane of traffic for his left turn.

Point taken though. I could just have walked off and left him at the light without easing up. He would have chugged along blocking the passing lane and made his turn anyway. Remember, he started off in my lane then moved over, but only after I had passed him.

I decided to just have some fun with the situation. Childish? Yes, but...hey...you know...

 

[V6 Cannonballer]

It just boggles me that road blockers get p***d when you pass them, especially when there's a ton of room forward and behind.

 

[joe7280]

I had a minivan try messing with me on I-95 on the way back from Ohio...I was cruising at a decent 82mph, and he decided to ride for awhile a few car lengths behind me. Then all the sudden, he speeds up, gets in the fast lane, and slows down to about 75 when there were two cars blocking the other lanes. I of'course had to get out of my cruise control, wait for him to finally pass those guys, and resume my cruise control.

After the second time this douche did this, I popped it up to 120+ and put a good 2+miles of distance between us. A few minutes later, he comes puttering along to do it again, so I cut him off and took another stroll at 120+ for some more distance between us. That was the last time I saw him...lol...

 

[V6 Cannonballer]

Kooks everywhere, I tell ya! I have two more stories from today...LOL!

First story: on my home from work I took the LONG (secluded) way through the county. So...there I go, down the single lane (in each direction) blacktop, NO OTHER CARS around. A woman driving a large Honda crossover thing of some kind comes in from a side street. LOTS of visibility in BOTH directions! She waits until I'm right up on her, then eases out of the side street RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! I had to pass her to keep from running her over! Did I mention the sun was still in full blaze? As I passed I noticed she was NOT on a phone (SHOCKING). She was a 30-something blonde (nice looking too) with her nose in the air and a military officer's sticker on the windshield. And wouldn't you know it? SHE made a left turn a county block ahead at a 4-way flashing stop. I deal with this stuff every single day, regardless of how sanely or insanely I drive. You just can't get away from the nuts out here.

 

[V6 Cannonballer]

Second story from my commute home this evening:

I was WAY out in the "back 40" on a freshly paved, straight as an arrow two-lane (in each direction) blacktop highway, again with bright sunlight (though it was beginning to drop a little) and no other cars around. Wide open visibility with no place for police to hide (remember, I'm in the desert). So I'm taking full advantage of my freedom. Wouldn't you know it? A black, scooped something or other appears in my rear view. Headlights on. OK. It's NOT a cop, as they do not drive with headlights on in this bright of sunlight (out here anyway), as it takes away their stealth advantage, especially near dusk. This car starts gaining on me, though I'm at 80. He's moving at a pretty good click too. So I get down on it. Leave him. I slowed down because of an enormous industrial farm tractor with a plow that was straddling the shoulder and the right lane about a half mile ahead. I was moving at around 45 when I passed him, as I didn't trust that huge plow assembly up front, that was hugging my lane. As soon as I passed the tractor, I moved into the right lane in front of it and drove at a decent pace until I could ID my shadow. It was a black body-modded retro Ford T-Bird (11th generation, 2002-2005) with a 20-something enlisted Marine driving it. So I got down on it again. He did too. Stomped it! I thought for a few minutes that he'd catch me but he never did, until we neared civilization and I slowed to the posted limit. Lo' and behold, the kid was picking up his cell phone, kept eyeballing the back end of my Pony, and was pacing me without passing. Shortly thereafter we hit a reduced speed zone because of a signal up ahead. He stayed right in my blind spot in the other lane, eyeballing me and chattering away on the phone with a very serious look on his face. I turned right at the signal and very civilly drove into the outskirts of town. He stayed at the red signal, waiting to continue in a straight line.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was upset because he got his butt handed to him and was trying to dime me out to 9-1-1. Who knows? Maybe it was just one of those things. It was odd, though, that he never would line up with me, just to make eye contact. It didn't matter though. We were close enough to town that I wasn't going to take anymore chances.

 

[412horses]

A new Mustang seems to bring out the worst in quite a few drivers.

Mostly I just watch people makes asses of themselves. I mean when you think about it, it's pretty damn trippy that our cars just being there have such an influence on some people.

However I will admit to mashing the pedal a few times when someone has tried to speed up so I can't make my manuever... I am three or four car lengths ahead of them before they even know what happened. It's beyond priceless. :bigthumbsup

 

[PoitNarf]

Just be careful with how you react to others on the road. A few years ago I had seen some psycho weaving through traffic on my commute to work several times. On this particular day, he ended up behind me riding my ass, barely more than a car length behind me at 70mph. I was passing some cars in the middle lane, and I always get out of the left lane when I finish passing, so I hadn't been in the left lane for very long. I tapped the brakes just a bit to let him know to ease off, so he threw his hi beams on. Being stupid, I flipped him the bird. He finds an opening about 5 seconds later and passes me all while I continue presenting my middle finger to him and not even looking at him. As soon as he gets right in front of me in the next lane over, he swerves into my lane trying to run me off the road, then speeds off. I don't flip the bird on the road anymore as a result. Be careful out there everyone, lots of people are on the road that shouldn't be licensed to drive!

 

[Supes2011GT]

ugh i feel yas. worse is ppl sitting in the passing lane really there are 2 other lanes for slow ppl. left is to pass get in pass and get back over. i passed 5 ppl like this and one was one of those porshe suvs' n the driver took offense. ugh well he shoulda put the cell phone down and learn to drive lol. ppl like that are reasons highways get so clustered

 

[CKourouklis]

'Baller, tellya what - if any of your driving is taking place 'round Phoenix, you're a better man than I am. Born there, visit family there, feel like I'm taking my life in my hands every time I get on the Superstition. Rabid dogs - only way I can characterize a great many Phoenix drivers, and there's only one thing you can do with a rabid dog.

But as for Narf and 412, I got a story here that seems to tie their points together. Is it something about a new Mustang bringing those choice bits out of other motorists? Maybe.

I guess I'm an Angeleno by driving temperament, if not from ever having actually lived in LA. Don't know what it is, but I get the Los Angeles driving m.o. immediately and I just seem to work naturally from the same playbook down there. Moving to NORTHERN California has been far more agreeable to my life in every way except one: driving. The lane discipline that's already tenuous down south is just totally absent up here, and just wtf it is with people SLOWING DOWN to merge with freeway traffic, I'll never get.

Coming back into Marin from a booking I had in San Francisco one day, I see I've picked up some rocket surgeon in a 2500-series Chevrolet cargo van on my tail, front bumper bent about eight inches higher on one side than it is on the other, and the guy just tries to plant that crap in my back seat.

Well Marcellus Wallace don't like that from nobody except MISSUS Wallace, so I walk him soon as I'm open ahead, on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Get slowed by some traffic up front, this little homunculus punk with his apparent delusions of menace is all over me again.

A lane opens to the left and this time, I drop kick that emeffer into last week. But as luck would have it, he's found some kind of end run as we approach the 25 mph toll booths crossing north to the bridge and he's parallel with me two stations over, squealing thru the window like some slit sow about "hey a$$hole, I wasn't trying to race you, I was just in a hurry".

Oh yes, totally impressive. Didn't sound at all impotent or butt-hurt about the motorist he didn't get to push around that day. :nogrinner

And with the potato-level intelligence he displayed, I don't guess it's any surprise that the simple fact I wanted to be away from him was just too advanced a concept for him to contemplate.

 

[adspru]

CKklis, "I just want to get away" That's exactly my thoughts, I hate it when other vehicles are on the road with me that don't have the ability to avoid my car if I need to abruptly change course. I like to "Drive Solo".

 

[Diggerpine]

Too many drivers out there that don't know the "rules of the road". People are no longer courteous and road rage is rampant. Be careful out there!

 

[CKourouklis]

CKklis, "I just want to get away" That's exactly my thoughts, I hate it when other vehicles are on the road with me that don't have the ability to avoid my car if I need to abruptly change course. I like to "Drive Solo".

Exactly. Distance gooooood, closeness baaaaaad - doesn't sound like such an all-fired revolutionary concept, does it? And yet you'd think it was collided-particle string theory to some people.

 

[Curr]

Too many drivers out there that don't know the "rules of the road". People are no longer courteous and road rage is rampant. Be careful out there!

I see this every. damn. day. driving in towards Boston on the highway. Just another reason I don't go about without my good friend Les Baer. People are f'in crazy and road rage is the normal.

 

[5ohwhoa]

A new Mustang seems to bring out the worst in quite a few drivers.

Mostly I just watch people makes asses of themselves. I mean when you think about it, it's pretty damn trippy that our cars just being there have such an influence on some people.

Unfortunately, I think that's true. Some people seem to think they have something to prove to me on the road, presumably because my car is faster than their's. It's always the most unlikely cars too, not someone in a Camaro or some other fast car, it's usually some d-bag in a minivan who doesn't want to get passed. Hell, just twenty minutes ago I had some pole smoker beating the piss out of his 15 year old Chrysler 300M, trying to keep up with me after I took off out of a stoplight spiritedly.

About a month back I'm driving on my way to work. I come up to a red light, behind some lady in a clapped out Nissan Versa, and we're both turning onto a four lane, 35 mph road. She turns right into the far right lane and I turn right into the left lane. I'm not accelerating very hard and I go to pass her in my lane, the left lane. She cuts me off and moves into the left lane so I jog around her into the right lane to pass her and there's a car maybe 1000 feet in front of me. A

At this point, I don't think much of it and I'm still not accelerating very hard to pass her. I pull my nose up to her front doors and all of the sudden she takes off like she's again trying to keep me from passing her. So I bury it trying to get around her before I get up to the car ahead of me and I don't make it and end up having to slam on the brakes to keep from plowing into the car that's ahead of me. I look over and she and her 300 lb 12 year old who's in the passenger seat are sitting there laughing at me, very obviously because it was intentional.

Needless to say, I got around her and she got some words and gestures for her trouble. Then she claimed she was calling the cops on me because I supposedly threatened her. People just suck.

And with the potato-level intelligence he displayed, I don't guess it's any surprise that the simple fact I wanted to be away from him was just too advanced a concept for him to contemplate

Indeed. A lot of people don't seem to understand that I don't want to race them, I just want to get the hell away from them.