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Subject: Things that Peeve and Road Rage
Date: 1998/02/10
À
An earlier thread talked
about how while overtaking another driver ~5-10 MPH, the other driver will
accelerate and match speed to pace you, thus preventing you from completing the pass. I see this
all the time on
66 and 495. My explanation is this: I think some of these people
don't even know they are doing it. They subconsciously speed up
when they see you gaining,
without being aware of accelerating. Then there's the opposite. Somebody passes you
and then once they lose sight sight of you periphally, they slow and camp off your left front
bumper.
All I can say is this:
complete idiots. My driving style is to make sure that at no time, if at all possible,
do I impede anybody else's progress. I make a run up 66E 3-4 nights a week to visit my
girlfriend, and
have seen it all. There are some nights that I'm the fastest driver
on the road. About 20% of
other drivers will change lanes out of the left to let me by.
And that I
believe is because the headlights on my Pathfinder are blinding them. Mind you, I
am not tailgating, just driving with a normal spacing. The others sit and force me to pass
on the right.
This is a 4 lane highway!! Then there are other nights where I
am not the fastest. I ALWAYS
change lanes into the right to let someone by, if I happen to be in the left-most
lane at all. The idiot that started the other thread received his well-deserved abuse.
I have very rarely been passed on the right,
usually due to gaps in the middle lane occuring before me, and then the
middle lane speeding up. If I find myself stuck in a right hand turn lane but
want to go straight, I'll turn right anyway, just to avoid slowing up other traffic, or cutting
somebody off.
The other night, I saw a guy trying to make a turn, completely
stuck out in the
perpendicular lane. About five cars ahead of me and then myself had to veer in the other lane
jsut to clear his bumper. I slowed, honked, and held up my hands as if to say " WTF?
", and he flicked
me off. I just laughed, not believing that this guy would not
put his car into reverse. My
philosophy is this: I'm not the only car on the road, so I make sure to be as
courteous as allowed to other drivers.
I don't tailgate, I let
people in when they signal, I stay right unless passing, and don't impede other drivers. However, that courtesy ENDS when it is not extended back to me. I have
been known to tap brakes when 'gated, box in some asshole who previously cut me off, told people
they were
idiots at stoplights after pulling off some astoundingly stupid
move, etc,etc. I know I'll be
flamed for this, but there are times when I do lose my temper, and pursue
things a little far. Scariest?
Blacked-out, rusting Suburban
in D.C., when I slowed to a crawl after being tailgated at a distance of perhaps
3 feet on a one lane road. He pulled into a 7-11 to get around me, so I sped up. Then he backed
off a little
bit. Then he turned off with no further incident. Afterwards, I
realized it was extremely
dumb for me to do this, but I let my temper get the best of me. You see, I don't do that
sort of thing to other people, but when someone starts it with me, I can't help but want to finish
it.
Let me tell you, I almost always win. So if you travel 66E
on week nights and
squat in the left lane, and notice a Green Pathfinder travelling faster than you, get out of my
way first chance you got. And
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