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I drifted a little toward the center lane, which was, in turn, mimic'ed by my shadow, then swerved right at the last moment to straddle the hole. The driver behind me did not have time to react and hit that thing with some serious force! Moments later, he backed way off - probably a good 6-8 seconds back. I was laughing so hard that my wife thought I had finally snapped.
Well near the end of the road there is a small bridge and this part of the road has falling into a bit of disrepair as the pavement either side of the bridge had sunk an inch or two. So as I appraoched the bridge I slowed way down using my brakes. The BMW took that opportuninty to swerve into the oncoming lane and gun it. Man you could have heard him hit that bridge a mile away.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I cannot help but find that sort of self-imposed justice humorous in a deeply satisfying way. I have to wonder if drivers like the one in that BMW recognize the error of their ways, or if they just curse out the offending event and blame everything around them, learning nothing in the process.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
Almost forgot: Got my tax return today and it will pay for our gas to Illinois and back. That helps.
What do you do if it is on a rural two lane highway when there is no lane to move to the right?
Or what do you do if it is on a two lane road with plenty of opportunites to do a safe legal pass but they won't pass?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That's what happens to me with tailgaters - I remember it several times in Georgia too. You have plenty of room to go around, just pass me! It even happens on multi lane roads...driving on an interstate, someone will just come up and ride your tail, even though passing requires nothing more than a lane change. I guess this is the lowest common denominator in action :sick:
I think some people are followers. I have had more women than men tend to stay behind in the middle and right hand lanes of a 3-lane interstate. I decided long ago that the distaff members tend to not want to change lanes, speed up, slow down, or anything: they just like to follow.
On the two-lane highways we have, they will not pass. There's a straight road with no hills, glacial plain, for 10 miles in this area and a female driver will not pass although I sometimes travel that road at 50-52 just because I don't feel like going faster to get to the destination town. Most people travel 60 - 62 on that road and will get behind and pass at the first opportunity. (For those ready to complain because I'm going too slow, I'm dawdling at 52 in light travel times. If a semi who does need to get places gets behind, I speed up until he passes. If two or more cars build up behind, I speed up.)
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
There has been many a time when I have driven vehicles or vehicles with loads and was driving well under the speed limit for very long distances. When someone approached from behind, I would either move to the extreme right of my lane to give them ample sight distance to see that the road ahead was clear for a pass. If passing was not feasible in the oncoming lane or if there was a tractor/trailer rig needing to pass, I would move onto the shoulder and decrease my speed so the other vehicle could get by as expeditiously as possible without needing to use the other lane.
I went 350 miles a few years back at an average speed of 40 mph, and I never had more than 2-3 vehicles behind me (and only then because they were stacked up when they approached) and no single vehicle was "stuck" behind me for more than a mile, tops. Usually, I just moved over as they approached and there was never even any need for them to slow down. Sometimes, though, especially with steep downhill grades, I needed the extra room in the lane to manage my rig, so I didn't feel comfortable moving to the shoulder until the grade eased.
I cared about the drivers I stopped and the drivers I assisted. Got to assist the husband to deliver a baby in the back seat of his car on the right shoulder of the Mac Arthur freeway many years ago, and several years later, I watched my wife deliver our daughter as I was driving about 75 mph in our 67 VW going to Kaiser Oakland.
Life is amazing and the memories are worth it.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
Good to all and stay safe.
jensad
Anyway, the guy continues to ride my bumper. I pass the line of cars on my right and move over. He whizzes past me, just in time to stop at the next red light. I am right behind him, in right lane. He takes off from the red light, but due to congestion he really can't go very fast--but that doesn't stop him from tailgating the driver ahead of him. Then he swerves into the right lane--free at last!-- and starts to accelerate when just up ahead he sees the unmarked patrol car on the side street and slams on the brakes. Unfortunately, the officer didn't catch him violating any traffic laws. I wonder if he realized that all the slow morning traffic kept him from getting a moving violation? Probably not. I wonder if he learned anything about the futility of speeding and darting in and out of traffic in rush hour, on a residential street with a lot of traffic lights? Probably not.
Yep, that about sums it up!
I nearly found myself falling to that trap last night, as I left work almost precisely at five, which I rarely ever do. Not surprisingly, I found the roads to be much busier than they are an hour or two later in the evening. However, not having not adjusted my mindset yet, I went from the left lane to the right at one point in order to try and ease past a dawdler just in time for a traffic light (one of the last ones on my commute ) to change to red. The light was long enough for a fair amount of traffic to back up in both lanes, and I had two vehicles ahead of me. After the light turned red, everybody decided that five under the speed limit was a good speed, so I really had no place to go.
Just as I was considering becoming impatient with the sedate pace and lack of traffic flow, it dawned on me what time it was and that any efforts to get around one driver or another would not yield anything more than lower fuel economy. So, I settled in for the tedious haul home and caught up on my email.
Hahaha; no, just kidding about the email. I settled into the speed and just resigned myself to a less-than-engaging drive home. Tonight, though, I don't think I'll leave for home quite so early. :P
Nevertheless, it is not uncommon to see vehicles zoom from light to light on the timed route. :sick:
Today's observation - is it legal to drive a late model BMW without yapping on the phone?
And why do people from countries where traffic is an insane lawless free for all then come here to the land of order and slow revenue based law enforcement and drive like they are both timid and 150 years old?
I did see something odd today - Acura MDX with a driver who was both not female and not on the phone. Rare sight.
The only time I get in the right lane to pass is because the left lane (or even 3 other lanes are blocked by LLC's). I do hope that ONE of the 4 is paying attention enough to realize I need a few more feet to pass one of the others as they all are liking the side by side road block driver a thon method. So I will tailgate just a little bit in the right lane (because everyone knows the right lane is the fast lane in CA during rush hour), if only to remind the guy in front that he needs to speed up .5 MPH so I can get just a few more feet of room to get passed someone. This is only done when you have 3 or more drivers going side by side at speeds + or - .2 MPH to each other.
In all the times I've driven LA freeways in rush hour, I've never noticed that the right lane is the fast lane, not consistently anyway.
I usually just pick whoever has a 1/2 car length lead or more if everyone's going the same speed and pick on them to be the one to stop the roadblock. Sometimes it's just a 1/4 car length lead, sometimes it's 3/4.
Whoever appears to be going .1 MPH faster and has a slight lead will be the one needing to move out of the way. I don't do it viciously, it's just something's gotta give in a 4 car road block.
That's hardly fair to the person in the far right lane who is doing exactly what he or she wants to do and is supposed to do. If you want to wait patiently behind them because they are going slightly faster than an LLC, that's fine. But "picking on them" by tailgating because you feel they are the "one needing to move out of the way" is pretty aggressive and just plain wrong, IMHO.
I'm with Backy on this one. If you feel the need to pick on someone, it should be the LLC.
The real funny thing is that folks really have a tough time understanding the practical ramifications of the concept of keep right except to pass, with the corollary being; applicable for every one ELSE but "me me me me," being the lone exception. What they are really seeing in the other lanes are the ... "other exceptions. "
That component may also be a very small part of the total "driving behavior equation. Those folks that go slow in the fast lanes, usually also have no compunction of cutting over FAST into the slow lane and slowing down even slower than the slow lane to make a turn off that they would blame slow lane travelers in "cutting THEM off."
Since I was in no hurry I decided that since she was flipping the bird, beeping her horn, and flashing her lights that she got to ride around 10 under for the half mile to the highway. So, I guess I was an inconsiderate as her, but, IMHO it was deserved.
There are times like this I wish I still had my 79 Continental, a nice brake check and her Stratus goes to the junkyard. That would be just wrong though.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
It kills me how a horse trailer or 40ft motorhome etc requires nothing more than a normal license.
When I encounter jerks, I just go around.
You know, I think I agree with you for the most part, and I think I'll adjust my driving a bit accordingly.
I don't know if it's "picking on them" so much as selecting them as the one who must "correct the wrong situation." People shouldn't drive side by side down the freeway 2 or more wide anyway, if one needs to swerve, do a lane change avoidance manuever (emergency), and so forth, it will more likely cause an accident; therefore it is really an unsafe situation. It's best when every lane has a slightly different speed.
Agreed it's best if the left lane goes faster then the right lane, but it's worst if everyone is going the same exact speed. Better then that alternative is passing on the right. Sometimes you are just in a hurry. People that actually work for a living can't wait around for slow pokes; my time is too valuable.
Also, to clarify, I don't tailgate in a manner that is unsafe. Just enough to get the point across to the person in front that they are blocking traffic and should move over or speed up. I'm always ready and waiting for the idiotic brake checker (and my brakes are better than most cars out there).
The person that does the rear-ending is going to be fully 100% blameable about 99.9% of the time. That includes situations that include myself. Since I'm a safe driver, I've been rear-ended several times, and have never rear ended anyone that caused any damage of significance (do admit I bumped someone once when I was young and was following a bit too closely while not paying attention fully due to 10-20 MPH freeway traffic, if my brakes were better I'd of stopped in time, as it was, I probably hit them at 2-3 MPH). I learned my lesson; which is to always pay attention fully while driving. Also, you have to take into account the performance of your vehicle and the capability of your own brakes.
Now that all being said.... I think thousands of accidents annually are caused by LLC's indirectly. I am saying LLC's do not give people the right to tailgate in a manner that causes accidents, or relieves them of the RESPONSIBILITY of rearending someone. You can't cause accidents on purpose just cause there are bad driver's out there such as LLC's. I'm just saying that many many accidents probably wouldn't ever happen if it wasn't for LLC's (the domino effect, the "why are you braking" on the freeway effect, and so forth). Traffic jams cause a lot of accidents indirectly in and of themselves, and a lot of traffic is caused by LLC's.
But when it comes to direct blame, you are the driver of your own vehicle, and you should never drive in a manner that allows you to rear end the vehicle in front of you no matter how badly they drove.
I understand that feeling of being stuck behind an LLC. Drives me nuts. Glad to see you might be a bit kinder to the person doing the safe and legal thing.
I only had a problem with bicyclists when I was on an Audi Club drive through the Malibu area. They acted like they owned the road; going 2 and even 3 wide at times. Maybe it's an LA thing. Funny thing is that in a contest of car vs. bicyclist, car will win in the event of a collision.
What gets me is when there is a bicycle lane, and they won't use it. WTH?
They tend to ride in large groups or ride two abrest forcing cars to drive into traffic to avoid them. A lot of them are very cocky and act like they own the road. We really cater to them here and they don't even have to pay yearly license fees like I did when I was growing up.
Grrrr :mad:
Then tonight as we neared Marquette, there was a right lane camper at a light yakking on a cell, followed immediately by someone juggling what appeared to be a check register and some receipts as she was negotiating the two lane roundabout there.
Other idiots were likely overlooked most of the trip as we were in vacation cruising mode. As we got close to the barn, the idiots came out of the woodwork. Every third driver would probably fall into the inconsiderate category if I had a commute.
Looking forward to parking the van this week and hopping on the bike. :shades:
There are also people packing out there, and who would have no problem using their gun if someone ticked them off. Also there are people out there who would think nothing of getting out of their cars and beating the crap out of someone who did something, no matter how small, to tick them off. We see headlines along those lines every day.
Don't become a headline.