Sometimes they do get what's coming to them.

[Shalom]

"EXTRA! TORTOISE BEATS HARE"

My car broke. Not sure what is wrong with it yet; either the torque converter isn't unlocking, or else the catalytic converter's stuffed up causing excess back pressure, but either way the thing isn't accelerating under load and won't go up hills. I have a rather long drive home from work (~65 miles) and with a car that right now takes a minute and a half to get up to 45mph and won't go any faster than 60, I knew this was going to take a while. (I left it by the mechanic last night on my way home from work; haven't heard from him yet.)

This all happened about 11:45 PM, so there wasn't all that much traffic on the road. I was on US 9, which is a divided roadway with traffic lights and a speed limit of 50mph. I pull up to a red light, and someone comes right up on my rear end. I'm in the center lane of three (the right lane turns into an exit a little way up the road). The light turns green, I start rolling (the car does accelerate normally up to about 20, whereupon it chokes), and see the guy behind me take off, whip into the right lane cutting off whoever was there, shoot past me on the right -- there was another car ahead of him in the right lane, and the distance between my front bumper and that car's rear bumper was shorter than the idiot's car, so he had to do an S-curve to get into the space -- cut me off so close it looked like he was going to take my front bumper along with him, fishtail a bit, and roar off down the road.

I don't know what bit him, as he didn't even give me a chance to start moving before pulling his maneuver. I could see him getting impatient if he was stuck behind me at 25mph for an extended period of time, but this was just an idiot being an idiot.

Now I haven't read the driver's manual for this state since back when my wife was studying for her permit, but I'm sure there's something in there about checking your mirrors before executing a lane change. This idiot apparently failed to do so, because if he had, he'd have noticed the two marked police cars that were right behind him...

As I was struggling to pick up speed, the two cop cars rocketed past me, one on each side, and took off after the guy. About 20 seconds later, the red and blue lights go on... I passed him doing about 30 with my double blinkers on, as he was sitting on the shoulder. What do they say, "more haste less speed"?

I don't know what they charged him with, as Felonious Stupidity is not found in the NJ Statutes.

[nhollywood]

I would guess they charged him with "wreckless driving", "unsafe/improper lane change" , "failure to signal" and probably "passing on the right".

[protege]

I've occasionally seen idiots get what's coming...

The best though, happened a few years back. I'm driving home slowly, because of the ice and snow, and simply because the road was a bit twisty. Right behind me, is a beat-up Chevy Impala. First straightaway I come to, the Impala illegally passes me...and literally leaves me in the dust.

Er, that is...until I come around the next-to-last corner on that road, and see him getting busted. Seems Mr. Impala had hit some ice while speeding, and had slid right into the back of a parked police car I sure hope he got a proctologist for the ticket he was about to get

[IT Grunt]

Karma(TM) brand instant justice. Just add stupidity.

[bainsidhe]

My karma story isn't nearly as entertaining. Some jerkwad recently hit & ran on the driver's side of my car and creased both front and back doors. Fortunately I have insurance, though I'm sick about having to shell out for the deductable & rental. Wasn't exactly in the budget. On the plus side, the collision shop tells me the a-hole must've done some nice damage to his own car. I hope the karma burns.

[Ben_Who]

Three times on a drive home from the Chicago area, some twerp driving Mommy's car would pull up on my taillights so close that I couldn't even see their GRILLE. At 70. Whereupon they would flash the lights and honk the horn and gnash their teeth and beat their breasts and tear their hair in their strident demands that I get the hell out their way or they were gonna ram me. Big truck (or heavy traffic) on my left, car coming up fast on my right, not gonna happen.

They all squeaked past me with about one foot clearance, often offering the single-digit salute as they cruised on by, seventeen year olds driving $60,000 convertibles with names like the Lexus Entitlement and Mercedes F-U Class.

Every single one of them, and I cannot stress this enough - every. Single. One. I later passed in my little red spitbox, hauled up on the side of the road, with at least one (and that little white convertible with the blonde hottie driver had THREE) police cars preventing further progress.

The interesting thing is that the fact that I was passing them meant that their harassment of me had earned them exactly nothing in the speed category, as being caught had cost them their lead, Dirk Dastardly style.

I waved at the blonde as I drove by. No hard feelings. Besides, she seemed pretty steamed.

Love, Who?