Road Rage, revisited.

[dmccarty]

...

So I called the cops and told the above story. They said they'd have to witness it to do anything about it. So I said hey, trust me. Just sit at X location between 7:45-7:50 and you'll witness it.

Two days later they had her pulled over. And a few days later they had her pulled over again. I never saw her again after that. She probably changed her route.

Someone that entitled might very well have decided to argue with the officer and it escalated with her getting arrested which might have cost her her job.

I have seen similar behavior except the woman would get into a right turn lane and then turn left. I would see other people do this so they would not have to wait in line, but there was one woman who I saw do this several times.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

So ya'll have been startled and annoyed by people blowing horns? Ever had anything worse than this happen to you? Tired and sleepy semi driver headed home in wee morning hours after a long trip had to pull over and lean on the wheel for a little sleep. A prankster co-worker 45 minutes behind saw him, turned around, eased up nose to nose,turned his dome lights on and layed on the horn. Poor guy said he was certain his time on earth had ended.

It was not a horn but a jack a...ss on a Harley with loud pipes. I was doing the speed limit and the a...s hole had to pass me. Fine. However, that a...ss hole down shifted which made the pipes scream, right as he got next to me. He did this on purpose. Extremely loud and scared the s...t out of my young child who was sleeping in a car seat. The kid woke up screaming.

Later,
Dan

 

[jaxs]

The sound of Harley engines is unmistakable even with the quietest mufflers available and I absolutely adore it. Installing excessively loud exhausts is profane.
But to the point of your complaint about showing out and startling folks. Truckers needlessly jake braking should be fined even if no signs forbid it.

 

[Jstpssng]

Truckers needlessly jake braking should be fined even if no signs forbid it.

Yes. A properly used Jake is part of driving a truck. Yet when somebody uses it to slow, then just keeps hitting the throttle to listen to the noise, he is creating a public nuisance.
The same can be said of Harleys, or any other bike/auto with straight pipes.
I had a kid pull up beside me years ago as I was speeding up after slowing for a car to turn. He stayed by my open window tapping the throttle while his GF on back laughed, as I worked up through the gears on my Ranger. About the time the straight stretch ended he decided to finish passing… then I watched that grin come off his face as he realized that while that little 350 Honda was loud, it also didn’t have power enough for him to be a d-head. I wasn’t racing or playing games, I had just accelerated normally while he was being a jerk.

 

[deezler]

Ah-haa so THAT was you back there riding my bumper,and what is it you call what you were doing,,,,drafting? Well in case you are interested I called you several names,none of them was drafter.

Lol, no, that wasn't me. I don't ride anyone's tail just for the fun of it, or to bully anyone out of my way. Don't get the road rage boilin' up in ya!

You probably haven't done rush hour highway driving in Michigan before. Aside from a few choke points, we have generally enough highway capacity for high speed commuting, but it's kind of like a drag race between a thousand people at once. If you leave more than 2 or 3 car lengths in front of you, you are getting passed on the right as soon as it's feasible by the guy behind you. So defensive driving actually means staying in the drafting wake of the car ahead of you and avoiding this unsafe practice.

It's honestly amazing that we don't have more multi vehicle pileups from this practice, but most everyone is pretty good at it. My mentality is to get where I'm going as quick as I safely can - I tend to be one of the guys looking further ahead and coasting strategically at times, to help everyone avoid the accordion panic stops.

 

[Buggs67]

Zipper and roundabouts common in Europe.

Drivers must know about zipper because I was amazed how everyone ques and seamlessly merges.

We call it an Alternate Merge. Most people are good about it.

The circle/roundabouts and 4 way stops are a different subject. Many people are clueless re: who has right of way and/or hesitant about going. And the 4 way stops screw up people's concept of ROW at a regular 2 way stop.

 

[JasperFrank]

The accordion stop'n goes are my personal frustration. I'll time it, and attempt to break the compressions for every one else behind me that might be tired of clutching. There is always some jerk, that will take the momentary opening and jut in front, to continue the spring.

 

[MossRoad]

I've posted this video before. Very interesting.

 

[Buggs67]

There is a lot of frustration and anger in the world today. And it easily comes out when someone on the road with you starts F'ing with you. The people who brake check, or purposely prevent you from passing, the "left lane loafers". Best to be like a duck and let it slip off your back. A lady "stole" my parking spot at Walmart last week. I was considering giving her a piece of mind and then...just let it go.

Road Rage would be a good reason to CC; not to take action against someone, but to ensure our safety.

 

[dmccarty]

...
The circle/roundabouts and 4 way stops are a different subject. Many people are clueless re: who has right of way and/or hesitant about going. And the 4 way stops screw up people's concept of ROW at a regular 2 way stop.

DOT is building more and more roundabouts in my area, and they do work, once you get the hang of it. Having said that, we have many people from other areas that are confused by the roundabouts....

One day I was behind a car with four guys in it and the car was plastered with bumper stickers about Mexico. I think the guys were from Mexico. In spite of a sign that said to go RIGHT, the went LEFT, which was against traffic! Luckily there was no on coming traffic and they only had 50-100 feet to drive before getting to the road they wished to take but it could have been very ugly.

Later,
Dan

 

[MossRoad]

 

[Buggs67]

When I was still OTJ we used to create massive traffic jams at rush hour trying to clear accidents. Naturally many of the accidents happened at areas where the road curve tightly or there was an entrance/exit or stop light. And all the rubberneckers made it worse. And it was made worse when we had to close both lanes to recover the crashed vehicle. BUT... as soon as all wrecks were hooked up we would all clear the scene at once. I can only imagine the people's attitude who suddenly had clear sailing with no explanation of why it had stopped up.

And FWIW we tried to keep traffic moving smoothly, moving vehicle off onto the shoulder. One time a rubbernecker rear ended a car who was slowing legitimately for traffic and I watched it happen. Needless to say he got a ticket.

 

[crashz]

I think the angst is getting to us all.

A Toyota Tundra was parked next to me at the grocery store the other night. My car was the only other one in the lot essentially. The driver of the Tundra must have thought it was funny to park next to me, about 6-inches from my driver side door. No way was I getting into the car, or even walking between the two.

I flicked my key out to do some damage. My better judgement stopped me before I did anything. But just the thought of keying somebody's truck is not something I would ever do. I think the world is getting more stressful. Some take it out on others. Those victims react violently. Anger begets anger and the cycle picks up momentum...

 

[Jstpssng]

I can only imagine the people's attitude who suddenly had clear sailing with no explanation of why it had stopped up

I think we’ve all been on that end of it. Last year I was on the way to my mother’s house when the sign on the interstate warned of an accident ahead. I decided to jump off at the exit before, but traffic was already backed up afterwards. I called my mother and told her I wouldn’t be bringing lunch after all, and sat there for 45 minutes wishing I’d dumped the last 2 cups of coffee rather than drinking them. All of a sudden traffic started moving like somebody had pulled the plug in the bathtub, but it was 20 miles before it spread back out to a natural rhythm.

I think the angst is getting to us all.

A Toyota Tundra was parked next to me at the grocery store the other night. My car was the only other one in the lot essentially. The driver of the Tundra must have thought it was funny to park next to me, about 6-inches from my driver side door. No way was I getting into the car, or even walking between the two.

I flicked my key out to do some damage. My better judgement stopped me before I did anything. But just the thought of keying somebody's truck is not something I would ever do. I think the world is getting more stressful. Some take it out on others. Those victims react violently. Anger begets anger and the cycle picks up momentum...

It’s people who are intentionally being D-heads that I don’t understand. Did they somehow think it was funny? Years ago a coworker from Massachusetts told me of a “joke” his two buddies had played. They were at a busy intersection and just as the light turned green they both got out, popped the hood and pretended to be fiddling with the engine. That lasted until the light turned yellow, when they jumped back in and drove off, leaving everyone else to sit through the light again. He thought it was funny… I thought WTF?!?

 

[JasperFrank]

I have had many experiences of the opposite of road rage.
Call it "Road Kindness."

Some good folks in Montana saved my butt, by pulling up next to me and yelling out the window, "TRAILER!!" And honking their horn. I pulled over and found that the front U bolt, to the boat I was towing, had pulled completely out and only the two back straps were holding the boat, which had gotten loose and the boat was falling off the trailer.

Back during the CB days, I use to drive X-country allot. And not with a lot of money as a starving college student. Sometimes I figured I could make it just picking up hitch-hitchers and ask for a few bucks for gas. Two dollars or three dollars went a long way then. But I knew given my MPG I wasn't going to make it on the gas I had, unless I could draft a truck. So I'd CB the truck ahead of me, and explain the situation, and that I would be very careful, always in view and keep all the other bugs off their tail. Every trucker agreed this was a win-win. And somehow I got 30 MPG out of a 69 Chevy Malibu, V8, on highway driving.

Driving back one day after work, the car blew out a heater hose. I had some Duck tape, and knew where a local stream was to re-water. I pulled over there, and proceeded with a fix to get me home. Three cars pulled over offering assistance. And one said, here's my gallon of drinking water, for me to use, free, to get home, they had just bought.

There are some passes in Oregon on the I-5, and I wondered why are there these milk jugs filled with water on the side of the road just before the crest of the pass. I understand that now that these were good meaning persons that, put those there, just wanting to make your bad day a bit easier if you over heated.

I try what I can to get back to this sort of America, when we cared for each other.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a cousin that pulled over to help a guy with a flat tire back in the late 60s/early 70s as I recall. The guy stabbed my cousin and stole his car. Cousin lived with no ill effects, but man. Grrrr....