SO fed up with idiot drivers (moving, cars, office)

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Blame the jackass in the passing lane. He is the jackass but if the passing lane was clear, this would have never happened.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Some people are so impatient, such as the one billl described, that they willingly jeopardize their own safety and the safety of those around them to try to get to their destination a few seconds faster.

[OneTrickNet]

575 is full of aggressive drivers to begin with. The Highway Patrol really needs to step up and monitor the entire stretch. The speed limit is 65, yet the majority of travelers push 80+ without batting an eye. The fact that it's only 2 lanes makes it worse.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by stillinthesouth

Passing in an exit lane is way out of line.

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Two wrongs don't make a right. Some people are so impatient, such as the one billl described, that they willingly jeopardize their own safety and the safety of those around them to try to get to their destination a few seconds faster.

I never said, it wasn't.

My feelings are you let them past to minimize these kinds of situations.

This situation, not much you can do with a major jackass such as that driver.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

Blame the idiots driving slow in the passing lane. If they would get out of that lane people like me wouldn't have to pass you on the right daily. Thank you

It sounded to me like billl was driving in excess of the speed limit himself, the driver in the left lane was passing him, so obviously doing even more.

Exactly how fast to people need to go or "get out of your way"?

Someone blasted by me last night while I was doing about 82 on the connector. Do we all need to make concessions for those who wish to drive 100 MPH?

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

It sounded to me like billl was driving in excess of the speed limit himself, the driver in the left lane was passing him, so obviously doing even more.

Exactly how fast to people need to go or "get out of your way"?

Someone blasted by me last night while I was doing about 82 on the connector. Do we all need to make concessions for those who wish to drive 100 MPH?

If someone is behind you move. Simple

[cwkimbro]

Great! I've been needing a bad driver venting thread for awhile!!!!

I completely agree with Bill. I don't care what you think about other drivers habits if you are using them as justification to drive recklessly or illegally yourself.

I'll admit there is a left lane hog problem, but equally so there is a problem when traffic is in moderate conditions or worse that people think they are entitled to a clear left lane to go 80-90 mph. That is not the case. I can be in the left lane going 65 and I'm still legally passing car after car. There is no shortage of people who start to drive aggressive and tail people aggressively and complain about the left lane hog, yet that car is their right to be there... they are passing other cars (and/or traffic is thick and spread out)

So when I hear left lane driver complaints... I take them for a grain of salt... half the time they are justified, but half the time they really aren't. The problem is all people say the exact same thing and you can't really know for sure unless you were there.


The other issue I constantly run into is people who tail cars, some out of aggression and some out of habit.

I've noticed a few things... The ones doing it out of habit are often Baby boomers, especially ones in trucks and larger SUVS, and Generation X moms. I guess there are a constant rate of high schoolers doing it too. It often appears to be out of habit with these groups, like defensive driving is not on their mind at all.

Then there are the stressed out aggressive ones.

A few months back I was on a two-laned, less traveled secondary road with a speed limit of 35. It has many curb cuts for driveways and was fairly curvy and hilly. A pickup truck approached me fairly fast and got rather close to me. Not extremely close, but too close for comfort. I knew I'd have to stop extra slowly if I turned. I was going just a hair over 40, so already speeding. So i just slowed down to about 35...maybe a hair under. More often or not people get the idea. I didn't hit the brakes, but merely hit accelerator more lightly. Of course the guy is one of the 5% out to prove a point, so he just gets really close to my bumper. I maintain speed for half a mile and there is no other lane or place to turn off. So before we get to a curve and a hill coming up I slow down 25. By this time the guy is less than a foot off my bumper. In my rear view mirror it looks like hes about ready to eat my car.

From my perspective this guy is creating an unsafe situation for me. The only thing I can do is slow down and stop extremely slowly. Eventually I was only going about 10 mph. A few cars started to line up... I felt sorry for them. The guy never got off my bumper at all and stayed stubborn. A half mile later (which seems like an eternity going 10mph) we finally got to a 4-way stop where I could turn and part ways with him.

These people really irk me. They know I'm slowing down because of them. Most the time people eventually get the idea and back off a bit and things go back to normal. Yet they just get really stubborn and unsafe.

One last disclaimer... not that this should matter... For anyone who has ever shuttled around a really old relative in their 80s or 90s and/or have had the past experience to know that someone who is 90 years old and in good health is never likely to truly recover from even the most moderate car accidents. The difference from a quick stop getting rear-ended at 40 mph and getting into a fender bender at 10 mph is easily a difference of 5 years of their life not to mention the quality of life. There is a point where the body just doesn't recover from trauma very well.

I wish I could meet that guy some day. I doubt he would have aggressively tested me so much to my face. The sad thing is it was a residential connector road, so whoever it was probably lives within a couple miles of me.

What gets to me is we can trade stories and complaints all day long, but too of the wrecks....especially the more dangerous ones... are caused by people simply driving impatiently or aggressively.

[billl]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

If someone is behind you move. Simple

If someone is in front of you slow down. Simple.

And don't tailgate.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

If someone is behind you move. Simple

Not so simple. This is a city with lots of cars. Just because someone wants to go faster, doesn't mean the car in front of them is driving improperly. In fact more often than not... that car would like to go faster too, but can't.

[PKCorey]

Cwkimbro, in this day and age of concealed weapons, you are a bold guy. With idiots like that, I rather speed up then to impede them. I hate tailgater's but I rather risk speeding then the back and forth with them. I'll take a ticket over a pine box any day.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Cwkimbro, in this day and age of concealed weapons, you are a bold guy. With idiots like that, I rather speed up then to impede them. I hate tailgater's but I rather risk speeding then the back and forth with them. I'll take a ticket over a pine box any day.

You raise a good point, but there are risks everywhere in life. You just have to analyze them to the situation.

In my situation from my pov at the time the risks of a moderate accident causing problems were higher, than the rarer occasion someones goes into a gun someone down road-rage mode. I mean we all know it happens and it makes the news when it does, but its far far far more rare than accidents caused by tailgaters/aggressive drivers.

The problem with speeding up is you can't drive too much faster safely than I was going on that road. I'm also thinking of the likeliness I have to hit my brakes (ie. someone pulling out of their driveway on a blind curve, dog in road, etc..).

In most situations its safer to slow down and when possible just let them pass. What was noteworthy about this situation was the guy was just stubborn... in most cases you slow down just a tiny bit and people get the idea and you can resume your speed again.

Speeding more also increases the chance of an accident, but more importantly... it makes the accident worse and increases the chance of injury, especially for older passengers who might have a more fragile body and can't recover as well.

I'm not slowing down to have a car vs car argument with the guy. I'm slowing down to increase safety in an unsafe situation I can't control otherwise.