Road MannersFollow

i like it when your behind a few cars in the passing lane, still moving faster than those in the crusing (righthand side) lane. and the guy behind you decides your going way to slow and flies passed you and right up to the bumber of a slower car in the right lane. i always get a smirk on my face as i pass them knowing their pissed because i wont let them back in. (till im passed them)

futile efforts to cut 10sec of time off your time getting to wal-mart amuse me.

I tend to hate everyone else on the road.

All that sh[/b]it, on a regular daily basis, is why I'm glad I'm not commuting around Westchester anymore.

I mostly just hate the people that wait until the last possible second to change when their lane is going away.

They will try to slip past every responsible person who notice the first sign to merge to the left and hope that someone will let them slip by.

I always try to change lanes as soon as possible.

Only if said Box Truck has no power-steering. Let's make the sh[i][/i]it interesting at least.

Who were you passing at the time, on the empty stretch of highway?

Point being, that everyone is right in their own eyes. The vast majority of people feel that they are above average drivers. So if 90% of the people are above average drivers then how come it seems like 90% of the people are idiots on the road?

Now being completely honest with myself I can recall several mistakes, sh[/b]itty moves, or just plain bad decisions I've made driving, some of which were just downright dumb.

Do I hate the as[/b]shole driving 40 in a 55 with their blinker on? You bet I do. Have I ever been lost, looking for a road that I knew was right here, squinting at roadsigns through a rainy windshield trying to catch mine before I zoom past it. Was I going 55 while trying to concentrate on trying to make out those tiny letters? I doubt it.

Do I shake my fist at that stupid bi[/b]tch who just flew across 3 lanes of traffic nearly killing me in the process? Oh ya! Have I ever made a last second manuever to catch that exit on the left side of the highway when I was expecting it on the right, knowing that if I missed it I was going to have to spend probably half an hour on one way streets in a city I've never been too trying to get back on the expressway and backtrack hoping the exit exists in that direction on the highway? /guilty.

Do I flip the bird at that cun[/b]tbubble flying past me in the right lane weaving in and out of traffic like he owns the highway? Oh ya I do. But what would I do if I just got the call that my wife was in the hospital and not expected to make it through the hour?

None of us are perfect drivers, maybe it was just her day to fu[/b]ck up and you drew the cosmic lucky number.

All I know is, after driving a few hours time in NY and NJ, when I came back to the Baltimore/Washington area I really felt that my "skill level" of driving had increased beyond the norm of the area.

You really can tell a difference between driving skills in different locales.

One thing I noticed about "up North", is that people honk their horns at absolutly NOTHING, and no one else thinks twice about it. DOWN here, honking your horn is a good way to start an altercation. I think it's just because they KNOW that they are ****** drivers and get extra defenses.


As far as "agresssive driving" goes... It's a damn neccesity. I calll it "assertive driving", because if you try to drive rationally, you will get cut off, honked at, passed, tailgated, and ran off the road by all the other ******** out there... It's run with the flock or get left in the dust.

Recenlty I was pulled over for "unsafe lane-changing". All i was doing was going around all the ****** slow traffic.... The cop asked me waht my problem was... I simply said "Pfft!!" and gesured toward the obvious idiocy that was going on in the road next to us... an area where an exit is located, so people feel the need to try to bypass certain lanes so that they can get ahead of everyone... and thus causing all the other idiots to panic and slow down. My "unsafe lane changing" was me trying to get as far away from it as possible..

GOD, I am so full of road rage I could write a fu[b][/b]cking book about it.

Let's see, this morning... 5 MPH backup on I-95... for about 7 miles.. WHY? you ask? cause a person with a flat tire was getting his car hitched off on the side of the road.. THAT WAS IT! .


I really could go on and on and on and on...... I'll spare ya's.

There is a difference between offensive driving, and aggressive driving...

As I see it, offensive driving is taking initiative to get away from all the morons. Aggressive driving is either: taking initiative to fu[/b]ck with other people, or taking initiative without noticing or giving other drivers any consideration.

You know, that's how I feel about driving too. It's like how, say, Michael Jordan plays basketball, or Tiger Woods plays golf. As if they have an extra set of senses, or are slowing down time, or can see everything going on from another perspective. I often don't need to consciously think about driving, relying more on what seems like instinct.

Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving faster is a maniac.

-George Carlin

Couple observations.

First off, to the OP. I'm assuming there were three lanes, since you referred to the right and middle lanes. Um... Given that there was no traffic, why not pass in the far left lane? Give youself that extra lane of space, just to be safe. Defensive driving is about assuming that someone will randomly decide to move into your space. Assume that it'll happen and always position yourself in the safest spot possible.

Also. Don't dawdle when passing. Couple of mentions in this thread bring this up. The whole thing about someone passing you on the right, then getting stuck when you don't let them back in? Um... That usually means you're passing too slowly. Worse, you're one of those people who slows to about 1mph faster then the car in the next lane when passing, but then accelerates like crazy when you finish (so you can get to the next car and pass super slowly).

Do it the other way around. The safest spot to drive is in the gaps between clumps of cars. Drive at a moderate speed when you're in the open areas, leaving the clump behind you behind, and allowing for faster drivers to pass you between this group and the next. When you approach the next group of cars, find an open lane and pass. Don't match speeds. Don't spend 5 minutes passing one car. That's not only annoying as all heck, but probably the least safe way to drive.

Same deal with the OP. I'd have moved another lane over and moved past as quickly as possible. Don't give the other driver the chance to swerve into your lane. If you've got wide open freeway, why on earth are you getting close to the one other car on the road?


I also totally disagree with this bit:



I see it the other way. Sure. Technically, the person in the lane has right of way, but let's be sensible here. Presumably, the car already on the freeway is going faster then the one on the ramp. This means that typically, if you are in the right hand lane, you can see the car entering on the ramp ahead of you and to the right, while you are approaching at a faster speed from behind him and to his left. He's got very little leeway in terms of speed adjustment (he's accelerating to freeway speed, right?), while you can trvially match speeed and arrange to either let him in front, or behind you. More importantly, you can easily see him, while you are in his blind spot.

If you and a car entering on the on ramp are both right next to eachother, it's because you didn't bother to avoid it. Simply adjusting your speed intelligently can completely avoid the problem and costs you *nothing*, doubly so if you're planning on getting off at the next offramp anyway. Sure, you *can* insist that he crane his neck back, locate you, calculate relative speed, and make an adjustment, but it's a hell of a lot easier for you to do so, and if you're like me, you assume that eventually, you'll run into someone who *won't* do that, and you'll end up in a crash. Again. Why not just avoid the possiblity of a problem ahead of time and make space for the driver?


Don't get me wrong, I'm a habitual speeder. But don't underestimate the power of simply slowing down every once in awahile. Even in heavy traffic. Heck. *especially* in heavy traffic. You can't make a space by speeding up all the time, but you can *always* make space by slowing down. There's no reason you and another car should ever be fighitng for a single slot in a lane in a situation like that. It always amazes me how many people insist on riding the bumper of the car in front of them in heavy traffic, as though if they let someone in, they'll lose something. What they actually do is slow themselves down. When you leave gaps between you and the car in front of you, you give the cars to the sides of you space to change lanes. That means the can change lanes without having to slow down. In many cases (like merging traffic), you will actually go faster by slowing down then riding the bumper of the car in front of you and trying to go "fast".

My personal pet peeve are folks that don't merge until the last possible second, and then cause even more of a backup because they're on the shoulder.