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I don’t know what was in the water...

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  • I don’t know what was in the water...

    ...but something somewhere just exploded in a road rage event horizon.

    Making my way back home from the city over, I hit a little patch of traffic in the highway. It was about 2pm on a Sunday, so I guess it was time for everyone to head home after stuffing face. In front of me was a car going about five miles under the speed limit, so I shift to the left lane to overtake. It was in this moment that a moderate speed highway “caravan” in front of us and a high speed “caravan” in back of us decided to collide.

    Now in front of this ~65MPH road hazard was a silver car going a hair under the speed limit. I honestly didn’t consider her much; once I’d noticed the group of speeders behind me, my only concern was getting in front of her so they can go on their merry way. I love highway speeders. They drastically reduce the chances that I get a second glance from highway patrol, so I don't play nanny and force them to slow down.

    I’m getting close to overtaking silver. Speeders are on my ass and I’m trying to fix that. Silver decides that that’s the perfect time to start swerving on the road: speeding and slowing, pulling halfway into my lane before jerking back into hers. No way I’m passing her now...oh look, there’s a cell in her hand. Lovely.

    There’s a white truck behind me now, literally on my bumper. I couldn’t see the grill of her car. I can’t speed up without trading paint with Texty McTexterGirl, and I can’t slow down because it would be an immediate high speed wreck. Hoping beyond hope that my cruise control is steady, and watching other speeders passing me on the right only to squeeze within inches of my front bumper to get between me and Texty, I’m pretty well stuck exactly where I am.

    Texty almost swerves into two of those in that speeding stream through this all.

    Finally, White Truck gets an opening and shifts lanes to pass me up. I slow down for a little breathing room. Oh, but White Truck crammed herself right in front of someone else trying to do the same, so that person had to brake pretty hard. This caused...another White Truck to yank into my left lane and get right up on my ass. Again. White Truck the Second.

    There’s still a trickle of high speed cars in the right lane, and I really can’t see what’s there because WT2 is blocking my vision. Once again, I can’t even see his grill. I can’t speed up because Texty is texting, and I can’t slow down and maneuver if she decides to take her act to my physical location. I’m not proud of it, I know it was a stupid and risky thing to do, but I was pissed off and scared: I tapped my breaks twice.

    Now, I didn’t slam on my breaks. I did slow down a little bit, but my foot was back on the gas and gunning it afterwards. I didn’t want to have WT2 slam into me, I just wanted him to back off. His reaction instead: the opposite. He stayed behind me, swerving as if to “avoid” me but didn’t back off even an inch. He yanked into the right lane and gunned it, the bed of his truck coming so close to hitting me that I honestly though I was going to get batted off the road and end up head first into one of the trees. I thought that he was going to slam on his brakes in front of me, but I was lucky; he decided to just flip me off and yell at the rear view mirror.

    As quickly as the storm came, it ended about then. The rest of the speeders overtook me. Texty (and several others) pulled off at an exit. The speeder caravan was jerkily weaving through the moderate speeders in front of us. The road in back of me was empty. Everything was as it should. I’d ran into every single one of those kinds of drivers at some time or another, but this was the first time I ran into all of them all at once.

    Fun times.

  • #2
    That's scary. I'm glad you got out of it safely.

    Comment


    • #3
      I would suggest a couple of things for when these assholes try a bit of road sodomy on you:

      If you feel the need to do a brake check, don't take your foot of the gas; instead, tap the brake with your off foot to get the lights to show, but maintain your speed with your main foot.

      Otherwise, just slow down. Don't brake at all, but let your foot off the throttle just the slightest bit to reduce speed so that you have a better (hopefully) opportunity to get yourself out of the way of these people who seem bound and determined to be in the next highway statistics report.

      ^-.-^
      Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

      Comment


      • #4
        That's really good advice Andara, thanks. I didn't even think of using both feet like that. I think it was just being caught off guard with so much going on that made me lose my head. I know next time I'll keep it on and have a few more tools at my disposal.

        Comment


        • #5
          I end up getting in the left lane and boosting up my speed to where others are in the right lane. Then I get some Speedy McSpeedster behind me on my tail. (normally a nicer newer car with someone who believes the road belongs to them)

          I, then match the speed of the car nearest to me even if it's slower and stay like that for maybe 5 mins effectively ticking off the person behind me flashing his lights to get me to move over.

          Sorry buddy. The road isn't mine and it sure as hell isn't yours either. ..Plus Karma's a bitch.

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth JarethsPet View Post
            I, then match the speed of the car nearest to me even if it's slower and stay like that for maybe 5 mins effectively ticking off the person behind me flashing his lights to get me to move over.
            I would very strongly suggest against doing this or playing any other games on the road.

            Cars are weapons. Never forget that little fact, because crazy people don't.

            ^-.-^
            Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

            Comment


            • #7
              Wow. That sounds like every morning on my way home.
              You really need to see a neurologist. - Wagegoth

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Bronzebow View Post
                Silver decides that that’s the perfect time to start swerving on the road: speeding and slowing, pulling halfway into my lane before jerking back into hers.
                I've had this happen, and my loud horn gets a good workout when it does.
                "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

                Comment


                • #9
                  I wouldn't tap brakes in a case like that. The guy knows he's on your ass, tapping your brakes is not going to tell him anything he doesn't already know.

                  I would recommend taking your foot off the accelerator and gradually slowing down so you're not going at such a dangerous speed. Better to be in a lower speed wreck than a higher one. Asshole behind you will have to slow down also. He'll still be on your ass, but so would he be if you maintained speed or sped up.

                  I would also maintain your lane...who knows what sort of foolishness these people will pull? If you try to get out from in front of them, you have no way of knowing if he's going to whip around you without warning. If he does, and you're changing lanes at the same time, you're going to wreck.

                  When he DOES whip around you...and he will...immediately slow down. His intention will be to whip back in front of you. You mentioned that you were afraid his truck bed would hit you...well, he wanted to scare you. If you had immedieatly slowed way down he would have charged farther ahead of you than he intended and left plenty of space to pass safely.

                  Of course, be on the lookout for him slamming on brakes to "get even." But if you have kept that cushion of space, no problem.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth JarethsPet View Post
                    I, then match the speed of the car nearest to me even if it's slower and stay like that for maybe 5 mins effectively ticking off the person behind me flashing his lights to get me to move over.
                    Uh... what? You deliberately block the passing lane even if means going less than the speed limit?
                    There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth JarethsPet View Post
                      II, then match the speed of the car nearest to me even if it's slower and stay like that for maybe 5 mins effectively ticking off the person behind me flashing his lights to get me to move over.
                      It can get you a ticket in Ontario too, even if you're doing the limit. There was a case a few years back where some people deliberately drove three across at the speed limit as a protest. They were ticketed for obstructing traffic, because they did it with intent to slow traffic down.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth It's me View Post
                        Uh... what? You deliberately block the passing lane even if means going less than the speed limit?
                        I have done this, once, because some dude was intent on only barely not kissing my bumper. So I slowed down because he was far too close to be safe at that speed. I'd have gotten over and let the asshole pass, but as soon as I was no longer the lead car, he'd whip around and start jockeying around (5 lanes at this point in the freeway), and once he was out from behind me, I'd go back to speeding.

                        Seriously, I was already in position to go as fast as conditions would allow, so it's not like this guy had anywhere to go that didn't involve going through someone else.

                        But if there are only 2 lanes and someone wants to be a douche, I'll slow down enough to give them the opportunity to pass, and let them get nice and far ahead of me so that when the inevitable happens, it won't happen to me, too.

                        ^-.-^
                        Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
                          Cars are weapons. Never forget that little fact, because crazy people don't.

                          ^-.-^
                          From what I've seen, crazy people are oblivious to that fact . They routinely try to push 18 wheelers around in order to save a car length or two. In the "vehicles as weapons" viewpoint, they're bringing a knife to a gunfight.
                          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Seriously scary. I second the recommendation to simply slow down, rather than tapping the brakes.

                            Quoth wolfie View Post
                            From what I've seen, crazy people are oblivious to that fact . They routinely try to push 18 wheelers around in order to save a car length or two. In the "vehicles as weapons" viewpoint, they're bringing a knife to a gunfight.
                            Oh, they haven't forgotten that cars are weapons. They just forgot that semis are bazookas and think that the territorial displays that work on other smaller vehicles work on everyone.
                            "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
                            - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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