Another SD (Sucky Driver) Story

[myswtghst]

My mom and I were out running around the other day - mall, movies, etc, enjoying my day off. I was driving her car (a VW Bug), up the big ol' main road near our house (45mph, 4-6 lanes total) around 5:30pm - so right around rush hour.

As I'm driving, I am in the right lane, but need to get into the left lane eventually. I notice that a little stick shift Mini Cooper in the left lane has dropped back about three to four car lengths from the van in front of it, so I quick signal and get over - nowhere near to cutting him off, mind - and adjust my speed to match traffic.

All of a sudden, Mr. Mini Cooper comes flying up to the back of the car, and proceeds, for the next mile or two, to tailgate me as obnoxiously and dangerously as he can. I can't go anywhere, I couldn't have even moved over to let him pass so he could tailgate the van in front of me, given traffic, and I can't possibly go faster than the 30+ cars in front of us, so I just stick with my speed, making sure to give some extra room in front of me so I don't wind up getting hit into the car in front of me, just in case.

We finally make it to the street we're turning left onto, so, like a good, responsible little driver, I hit my blinker plenty early, and slow down as I get over. Mr. Mini Cooper decides that he'll show me how he feels about me "cutting him off" and, at the last possible second, veers over into the left turn lane IN FRONT OF ME with no blinker, barely giving me room to stop.

I literally was in shock/talking about this with my mom for the next 20 minutes or so....I mean, if I had looked down, knowing I had a few car lengths to stop at the light, as no one was in front of me when I got into that lane, and he'd pulled that stunt, I very well could have hit his car, and what's more, if I had, I most likely would have pushed him and his little bitty car out into oncoming traffic.

Seriously....people need to control their road rage. If "proving a point" is worth putting your car and potentially your person in danger, you need to calm the heck down.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Not a smart thing to do in a small car either. Had you been driving an SUV or pickup truck and couldn't stop in time, you'd be in his front seat.

[Nakajo]

Ahh, I had a sucky driver this morning on the way to work. Guy, who is right next to me, cuts me off with no turn signal in the middle of an intersection. Almost got in an accident, I did, and I let loose my horn.

Guy ends up turning right into my work lot, with a cop following seconds later with his lights on, as he saw the whole thing.

Sweet, sweet karma.

[ArenaBoy]

You know, it's threads like these that make me an advocate for public transportation. I don't know what it is but when rain or snow gets involved people get stupider.

[Pagan]

I was driving up Rio Grande the other day. This road is 2 lanes (one north, one south), has a speed limit of 25mph, and this is enforced by the Village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque that it goes through. So I get this yahoo practically in my backseat because I'm doing the speed limit. Well, I tap the brakes and it was hilarious seeing his face in my rearview: and he backed off.

I had another jackass doing the tailgating thing on Rio Grande, but this one was also flashing his lights at me to pull over and let him go around. I wouldn't do it and less than half a mile later, he turned onto another street. Seriously, what the hell was your hurry?

[PepperElf]

Guy ends up turning right into my work lot, with a cop following seconds later with his lights on, as he saw the whole thing.

Sweet, sweet karma.

like the time some guy passes Mom in a no-passing zone, at some ungodly speed. A few minutes later Mom passes by his car... on the side of the road with a cop car behind it.


But seriously I hate road rage. I remember driving the highway to work one day. The car in front of me was sluggish so I took the left lane to get around him... Only to have some car zip up behind me, flashing his lights like crazy... at least a minute's worth of rapid omg-omg-omg-omg-move-move-move-move kind of flashing. Thing is... That doesn't encourage me to move. I'm a b***h sometimes So... I slowed down instead, enough to let him realize that, no i'll stop before I pull over to let him by.

Finally I get by the sluggish car on my right and change lanes... think I got a middle finger as the road-rage driver took off. Would serve him right if a cop got him. i mean really... *yawn*

he's lucky i didn't do a full break-check on him.

[IT Grunt]

he's lucky i didn't do a full break-check on him.

I get tempted to do something like this myself. Typically, though, I slow waaaaaay down. If they don't get the hint and just keep tailgating, well, I suddenly have alll the time in the world. I remember one time I was doing something similar, passing a slow car. However, I only pass if it means I don't exceed the speed limit, or if I have to, I only bump it up to 5 over or so to get past them and get back to the speed limit. So if someone is out for their Darwin award and driving at 90+, and then they have to suddenly slow down because I'm passing someone even slower, I don't care. I had one honk her horn at me because I took too long to get back into the right lane after I finished passing.

I got a sense of satisfaction one day by watching this guy fly past me doing at least 90, and as luck would have it, hidden in front of me (I was driving a van) was a cop. Sitting in the median, another cop. This guy had 2 of them on his ass, I loved it.

[Shabo]

I had some lady tailgate me the other day. We were on a road that I've been pulled over twice on. It's watched pretty closely by the cops, so I know better than to speed (but I do drive the speed limit). Besides, the speed limit switches between 40 and 45, so it's not like you're moving slowly anyway. Regardless, this lady is riding my bumper, making me very nervous, and also turning around at times to chat/yell at the people sitting behind her! What if I had to slam on my breaks for whatever reason!?! She would have slammed right into me, even if she was paying attention!!!! I hate people like that.


Then there was a time where I was pulling out of the road my college is on. This intersection is terrible. It's a 3-way, but it's also on a bit of a curve. Kind of like a Y shape. If you are on the road my college is on, road A, then you really can't see people coming at you from the right. They are usually going 30+ mph because the road they are driving on has a 40 mph speed limit up to that curve. So I'm waiting to turn left, and I see an opening in the cars coming from my left, start to pull out and look right (because the cars really do come whipping around that corner) and saw a big dump truck coming from the right. I stop, but I'm halfway out into the intersection. There is a car coming from my left, but do they stop? Not until I finish pulling out in front of them, and they lay on their horn the whole time. WTF did they want me to do? Were they going to go around me? It's not like they didn't see me pulling out to begin with!

Another time I was at that intersection, and I was pulling out when a truck comes flying around that corner. They were going much faster than they should have been, and I slammed on my brakes as soon as my brain processed what was happening, and the jerk flipped me off as he drove by! Oooh, boy, I would love to have a few minutes with him. I have a few choice words in mind... and he would be walking funny after I verbally ripped him a new one!

I really need to utilize the side streets and avoid that intersection... or they should put stop signs in all directions to prevent crap like this.

[CorDarei]

i know this isn't always the case... but if a hospital is near, you may want to let the people w/ flashing lights going really fast by, as they may be in an emergency to get to a hospital. I've seen a few people who i thought where assholes because they were tailgating me rush by me after i let them, and then eventually end up at the hospital. so they weren't trying to be an asshole, just in an extreme hurry.

[ditchdj]

We had really icy roads this morning. This morning some tool decided to fly up on my rear end when I was going 20 turning onto Burkhardt. I slid and went up on the curb before finally getting control again. I laughed when the tool behind me changed his toon in a hurry and backed way off and cut his speed down.

[Catwoman2965]

I hate obnoxious drivers, but sometimes they get what's coming to them...i don't recall where it was, but i heard a story on the radio last week. A guy had pulled out of a driveway, and was suddenly being tailgated by someone else in a white van, who was also using "rude finger gestures". First car pulled into a parking lot, and was followed by the van.

They both get out of their cars, and the van driver has a .357 and proceeds to approach the first driver, who at first glance, was an elderly man with a cane. LIttle did he know! The guy with the gun gets close enough, and the older man cracked him over the head with his cane! Obnoxious driver runs back to his van, and stashes his gun. The older guy turned out to be a retired sheriffs' deputy! hahahahaha - the other guy went to the hospital, and then jail. Reportedly, his head was red and bruised, and the other guy was fine....

[PepperElf]

However, I only pass if it means I don't exceed the speed limit, or if I have to, I only bump it up to 5 over or so to get past them and get back to the speed limit.

I usually drove in va at 5mph over the limit, especially on the highways since that was the flow of traffic. but we usually got some idiot who felt speed limits were suggestions.

kinda reminds me of a co-worker who got a reckless driving ticket and how upset she was, cos she had to go to court (can't just pay the fine via mail). Her "reasoning" was that there was no clear sign where the HOV lane becomes the normal lane (ignoring the fact that she was illegally driving in the HOV anyway), therefore she shouldn't be held accountable for driving 75+ in a 55 zone. (the hov is 65). every time she want off on a rant about it (which was daily), i sooo wanted to say "STFU. If you don't want trouble then try driving the F***ING speed limit for once! It's your own fault, so shut up and stop whining."
(rolls eyes)