MORE idiot drivers...

[Wolfie]

Ok so I was at the store the other night (CompUSA, go figure). Going to get on the interstate, it's a bit messed up. There are 2 left turn lanes, which then merge into one lane. Then up ahead, another lane merges in from the right (for traffic from the other direction). Ok so what happens? This freaking fool wedges himself up between the car ahead of me and myself, just so that they could get ahead of me. They could have merged behind me without any problems, since the next vehicle was a ways back. But nooo, instead they just HAD to nearly cause an accident just to be one vehicle ahead. Of course, they are completely stupid, saying as how they not only merged dangerously to the middle lane, then changed lanes a few times, but also because I managed to pass them and stayed in front of them the remainder of the time that I was on until my exit came up.

 

 

 

THEN... On another day... You'll love this...

 

Went by a sub shop (not Subway), then heading back home, I took a right onto a main 2 lane road. I got into the left lane, and wouldn't ya know it, but both lanes had slow pokes. Come on, 40mph in a 45mph stretch? No offense you stupid freak, but if you're not gonna do the speed limit (*cough or faster cough*) then get your ass to the right hand lane and let others pass by you. Ok so because of that slow ass, we got stopped at a light. THEN his royal slowness caused us to get stopped at the next light as well. So the person in the right hand lane pulled up some and made enough room that another car (followed by me) managed to get in front of the jerk in the left lane. That's when I decided to show my rear some. As we approached a 3rd light that was already red, I slowed down sooner than usual, with the prick getting up on my ass. When the light changed, since I was making a left at the next intersection, I drove excessively slow. Made sure that he saw what it was like to be stuck behind someone that's not even doing the speed limit. Ok so I go to make my left turn and then decide to tell him who's #1.. (For those who aren't to clever, that means showing the bird, the 1 finger salute, flicking them off, giving the finger, saying "sit and spin", "up yours", etc.)

 

Ok so the guy is now roadraged, leaning out of his window, looking at me as he's driving past, flicking me off. Oh how fun. So I'm flooding him with the #1 as he's driving off and then I see him make a left a block down. I proceeded to go and then stopped next to an alley, to see if he was going to go past. When he didn't, I continued to the corner and made a right, while noticing him popping in at the first corner. Then went down a block and made another right, while he was turning that last corner I just came from. Ok so back at the main 2 lane road, I was waiting for traffic to clear up so I could go. Meanwhile he pulls up behind me. Mwahahaha, already have a plan in place. I had cell phone in hand and was getting 9-1-1 ready.. Plan was to notify them of the situation and then lure the stupid freak to where a police precinct used to be (but is still used for police business), basically into a army of cops. But, as I pulled off, I noticed that the ass was outside of his car, ready to walk up to mine and that was the last I saw of him. Darn, and I was hoping to see him get tazered by a trigger happy cop...

 

Oh well.. Can't have everything.. After all, where would you put it?

[Amanda]

his royal slowness lmfaooo

 

 

aww wolfie all the drivers pick on you. :[[

 

poor baby

Edited October 12, 2007 by Amanda

[Quackster]

My gosh driving seems like some kind of game o_O

[Wolfie]

My gosh driving seems like some kind of game o_O

To some people, it is.

 

They don't realize that how they act on the road with their driving affects others. It's common courtesy and common knowledge that when there are 2 or more lanes, the left lane is the "fast lane". Meaning that you don't drag your feet by driving slowly. I can't say for certain, but I think that waste of a human life was on the cell phone. That's all fine and dandy, but when driving and using the phone, the phone gets your LEFT OVER attention span, not the first helpings of it. When I'm driving, if I talk on the phone, I don't give a shit who it is I'm on the phone with, the come second to the driving. If I feel that the driving needs more attention, then it gets it. I'll even flat out ignore the person on the phone without warning if necessary. I've never had an accident from talking on the phone, and I don't plan for that to ever change. Anyways, I hope that ass went griping to his friends, only for one of them to be like, "Seems weird that whenever you drive, everyone flicks you off..." and "I've seen you drive, you sure you didn't do something to provoke it first?"

 

Would be awesome for him to explain it and then someone be like, "How fast were you going?" and then be fussed at.. "You were being an ass, that's why it happened." Sometimes the satisfaction isn't in getting revenge, but in the person realizing just how much of a screw up they were being and how they only made it worse by being a jerk about it.

[BONES]

They don't realize that how they act on the road with their driving affects others. It's common courtesy and common knowledge that when there are 2 or more lanes, the left lane is the "fast lane".

 

People just do not give a shit.

[Toby]

I know this is an old thread, but it's on the first page so I don't consider it to be thread necromancy. Having said that, here goes.

 

While you may have been miffed by the fact that the driver in front of you was going 5 under the speed limit, do you think that your actions made the situation any better? So what if you are upset at the other driver for going slower. Cutting him off, then intentionally going slow in front of him doesn't make you any better of a driver than he/she was.

 

Quite simply, at the speeds you mentioned (40 in a 45 zone), it will take you LESS THAN eight seconds more of time to travel the same distance at 40 miles per hour, as it would take you to do in 1 minute at 45 miles per hour. LESS than eight seconds. Was that really worth putting multiple lives at risk by doing the things you did?

 

I drive professionally for a living, and yes my vehicle is slower than most on the roads. But there are some slower than I am, and I do have to use the left lane to pass them. People such as yourself who may get mad because I'm doing 3 miles per hour under the limit and decide to intentionally travel slowly in front of me, put a great number of lives at risk, delays in great multitudes of people's schedules, and quite possibly put my job in jeopardy.

 

So, next time, before you think you're going to try to teach me, or some other person out there driving, what it is like to be stuck behind someone doing less than the speed limit, consider the ramifications of YOUR actions if said student of your decides to collide with you.

 

BTW, the definition of speed limit is as follows:

A road speed limit is the maximum speed allowed by law for road vehicles.

There's nothing mentioned in there about a minimum speed, though I do admit some roads have them such as interstate highways.

Edited June 30, 2009 by Toby

[Wolfie]

Quite simply, at the speeds you mentioned (40 in a 45 zone), it will take you LESS THAN eight seconds more of time to travel the same distance at 40 miles per hour, as it would take you to do in 1 minute at 45 miles per hour. LESS than eight seconds. Was that really worth putting multiple lives at risk by doing the things you did?

When those 8 seconds turn into minutes because that person won't make it possible for people to pass, then they are being a jerk (putting it kindly). I barely recall the situation (although I still remember it) and time and distance alone doesn't sound like much, but when you add in the reality of stop lights and the domino effect of other traffic as well, those 8 seconds can turn into 5 minutes or more easily, and that's for just a few miles. Imagine that happening on a trip spanning 20 miles or more, where a few seconds here and there turn into minutes. Suddenly a trip that should take less than half an hour may take twice the amount of time.

 

If the person is driving a vehicle that is known to be slow or required to remain below a certain speed limit, then I consider that to be one of those exceptions. When I see big rigs on the interstate, I know that they may not go quite as fast as others and I also know that if they need to stop suddenly, they'll require even more distance to stop properly without causing an accident. Which is why I avoid being in front of them (for my safety) and I tend to give some well earned respect to drivers in those vehicles. They're transporting goods or inventory necessary to provide services and somewhere along the line it'll come back to me. By messing that person up, it could continue on a chain of events that will affect me the next time I go to the store. That and I know that drivers of such vehicles likely encounter a lot of crap and the last thing they need is more crap. That and professional drivers are more likely to not act disrespectfully towards others.

 

Which brings me back to the idiots and jerks that I encounter. If the speed limit is 45 MPH, then the slow pokes should get into the right lane. If I exceed the speed limit and get pulled over for it, then whose fault is it? It's mine, so let me deal with it. But at least it should be my choice to go faster than 40 MPH when the speed limit is 45 MPH. There is such an offense as impeding the flow of traffic. It's when someone is driving in such a way as to cause other traffic to slow down, usually by going under the speed limit when there's no justifiable reason for it. If there was heavy snow on the ground and someone was doing 25 in a 45 zone, then I'd think they were crazy for going so fast. But with no reason to go at 40MPH in the left lane, that's just being a jerk. If they were having car trouble or feeling sick or something else where they felt it necessary to drive at a slower speed, then they should be in the right lane so that others can pass by them. I've done that before, where I've gone slower than the speed limit, but I made sure that others could get past me so that I wouldn't slow other people down.

 

 

Just today, I was behind someone that had a phone surgically attached to her ear and she wasn't driving as well as she thought she was. Crossing over the double solid lines is bad, even when in a parking lot. When I'm on the phone while driving, as rare as that is to begin with, I put driving as my main priority. Person on the phone can shove it for all I care, my driving comes first. If the driving conditions don't require extreme attention, then I'll divert some to the phone, but if I feel that I need more attention on the road, then more attention it gets, period.

 

I'll even forget about the phone altogether until I'm able to talk again, that's how low of a priority the conversation is to me. But I've seen lots of people lately that can't seem to drive without talking on the phone at the same time. Makes me wish I could press a button and block their service for about 10 seconds. Long enough for them to drop the call and after it happens a few times, maybe they'll give up and just drive. Either that or some way to break into the call and say, "Look (man/lady), I'm behind you and you obviously can't drive while on the phone so either pull over and talk or hang up and drive." Or if I want to make it real short, pipe in and say, "Get off the damned phone and drive already!"

[Toby]

I will say, I am a big rig driver. I know my vehicle is capped out at 67 miles per hour. Knowing this, I'm professional enough that when I see another vehicle approaching behind me when I'm wanting to pass someone, if they are coming up at a pretty good clip, I'll wait to pass. I'll be nice enough to not be an obstruction in their way.

 

But, to be honest, I've seen (on the news) way too many shootings, beatings, or other accidents caused by one driver showing another driver a lesson (such as in your case) inducing a mad session of road rage. Just think the next time you may be considering doing that, will this person have a gun and go so far over the edge that I won't get to go home?

[Wolfie]

But, to be honest, I've seen (on the news) way too many shootings, beatings, or other accidents caused by one driver showing another driver a lesson (such as in your case) inducing a mad session of road rage. Just think the next time you may be considering doing that, will this person have a gun and go so far over the edge that I won't get to go home?

That's why I make sure that I can lose them before I give any 'respects' to them.

 

If we flick each other off, then oh well. If they flick me off and then turn the corner, no loss to me, I'm not going to try to follow them. If they think I've done something wrong and it pissed them off (regardless of if I did something wrong or not), then so be it. If I made a mistake in some way, either inconsiderate driving or whatever and I know that I possibly irritated someone, then if they drive by and give me a look or whatever, I'll just let it go because hey, it can be frustrating to try to drive with respect for others only to have others not show the same respect back. I know this so I take my medicine if I deserve it. I'm not looking to get into a one on one brawl. Anyone who goes to that extent needs to learn to just vent and move on instead of letting it consume them.

 

 

Take a recent situation. I was in the left lane and was going to make a right turn in a few blocks. I checked my blind spot and saw that the right lane was clear enough for me to merge over safely. I merged over and then the vehicle that I got in front of suddenly sped up and came real close to me. I looked in my mirror and saw the guy waving his hand in the air like, "Wtf is your problem?" as though I had cut him off. He thinks that I didn't notice how far back he was when I merged over and that I didn't notice him speeding up AFTER completing the lane change. I gave him the number 1 vote as well when I made that right turn. He tried to stop to back up but I think he realized he lost that battle with all the traffic he'd have to fight just to try to get to me.

 

I won't deny though, that in that situation, it would have totally rocked to have a camera recording the different views, so I could show him that he didn't have any reason to act upset with me to begin with. Sort of a "in your face" with the added bonus of "next time pick an idiot to get mad at".

 

 

The risk of someone having a gun or whatever else is what keeps me from hopping out of the car, running up to the idiot in front of me and then saying, "Get off the damned phone!" or other things to let them know that they're pissing others off.