What was happening here?
I was in the 11th hour of a 12-hour drive yesterday. It’s about 6pm, it’s drizzling but not bad. I have cruise control set at 72 in a 65 mph zone on a straight, wide, 2-lane interstate. I see a couple of cars in the right lane doing maybe 55 so i move over to pass about 300 yards behind.
Then when i’m about 30 yards away the front car pulls in front of me! I honk at being cut off but the guy stays there. The car in the right lane has pulled away so i go to pass on the right. I look over to see if the person is a loon or texting or whatever and he gives me this weird “that’ll show you” look.
The best i can guess is that he was trying to slow down the crazy speeder?
If you ask me, cutting someone off when going significantly slower than them (i might add he didn’t have his lights on in the rain) is FAR more dangerous than anything i was doing.
Has anybody encountered this kind of strangeness?
Some people pay ZERO attention to the speed limit signs.
Some of those people are self-righteous assholes who think it is their business to show/demonstrate/act out toward people they believe are breaking the law.
So they’re being dicks because they believe you are speeding when the simple fact of the matter is that they are in error about the speed limit. Because they don’t read the fucking signs.
Then there are some people who are just self-entitled assholes who think they can drive in any damned lane they want at whatever speed they want and fuck everyone else.
A few years back I was cruising up 35W in Bloomington, MN, still in the 65mph zone a couple of miles before it drops to 55mph. I was driving 65 in the left lane and passing a few vehicles in the right lane. At the last second, one of them wrenched himself over in front of me to cut me off. About 100 yards later I had a shot to fly right and go around him and pull back into the left lane. At this, he sped up and got next to me in the right lane. He rolled down his window, flipped me off and started screaming at me about “speeding”. I have him a dirty look leaned over and pointed right at the “Speed Limit 65” sign we were just coming up on. The look on his face said it all and he dropped back and left me alone.
But I’ve been flipped off and chased down by other people, or had people pull up next to me at the night light and scream at me, because I went around them when they were driving 10mph or more below the speed limit in the left lane.
Hell, many years ago on a vacation, we came down a 4 lane road to find two cars side by side 15mph below the limit, with a pack of cars behind them. After about five miles of this nonsense with them repeatedly flipping off cars behind them and refusing to move, I looked around for the cops and then blew around them on the side of the road, yelling out the speed limit and pointing at the sign we were approaching. Several miles later, they’re more than a mile behind me and they’re still pulling the same shit.
Well, anybody’s guess of course.
My guess is the front car felt he was being tailgated by the 2nd card and finally switched lanes to get away from them. Being a crappy driver, he had no idea you were there and was surprised when you honked at him.
Human nature being what it is, he of course put the blame on you instead of himself.
Oh, I think the OP was paying attention to the speed limit. He knew he set his cruise control 7 mph above it.
Read again. He wasn’t talking about the OP.
I’ll also vote for the theory that the guy was completely unaware of you and was trying to get the other guy off his tail. If so, the real culprit was the guy following car number 1, who should have simply passed on the left.
It sounds like a whole lot of assholes are driving when the op is on the road. I wonder why?
An old roommate’s dad used to drive a beat up pick truck around Denver and his son would tell me stories about how he was going to do his patriotic duty to stop all of the speeders himself. Whenever someone was going to pass him going over the speed limit he would cut them off at the last possible minute and try to get them to rear-end his truck. He did get hit by a corvette while I knew his son and they were quite happy about the damage that was done to the corvette while none was done to his truck.
Self-appointed vigilante traffic cops. Like the ones who park their asses in the passing lane and go exactly the speed limit. Unless you’re a cop in an unmarked car, get the fuck out of the way!
While this is not what’s described in the OP, a common situation griped about goes as follows:
Complaining Driver is steaming up the passing lane at 75 mph or more. Ahead of him, a car doing the speed limit or a little above, moves from the right into the passing lane to get ahead of a slower car in front of him. Complaining Driver pulls up to and tailgates and/or flashes lights/honks at the car just ahead of him, who is expected to complete his own passing maneuver at 75 mph or more in order not to inconvenience Complaining Driver for even a few seconds.
Complaining Driver is in the wrong.
Safety note: drizzle can be just as dangerous as other rain, especially if it has been dry for some time previous*. This is because the water and oils on the road combine to create slick, thin layer. It can be especially dangerous if for some reason (like a local schmuck cutting you off) you have to suddenly apply the breaks. You really should drive more slowly and give extra breaking time in this situation.
*Since you came from 12 hours away, you probably don’t know whether or not the drizzle had been preceded by a dry spell.
Unlike a couple of people have theorized, he definitely knew i was there. The look he gave me when i passed him was a very knowing smirk.
I have no idea why the other car was behind him when i approached. Maybe that person was doing a good job and waiting for the faster car to pass before pulling out himself.
I guess i’m most confused as to why the blocker thought someone going 7 mph over the limit was some kind of crazy speeder who needed to be brought down a peg. I was passed any number of times on the drive by people going much faster. They weren’t around at that moment so I guess I was the victim by default.
Oops, just saw **shibboleths **response. You are correct and i would take that into account. But in this case i had only been away 2 days and we have had tons of rain in the last week and month. Plus the drizzle was the end of a strong storm. The fact that i was able to avoid rear-ending this clown shows I was driving within the conditions.
I know a guy who does this. I call him a “Free-lance driving instructor.” He thinks it is his job to teach everone else how to drive. Serious control issues, and (of course) his own driving record is abysmal.
I refuse to ride with him.
They’re both wrong. Inconsiderate, anyway. Since the speeder is speeding, it is up to him to adjust his driving to conditions. Were he doing the speed limit, he might have a complaint. The passing driver should be aware of what’s behind him. It’s up to him to not make himself a hazard to other drivers, even if other drivers are speeding. To pull out in front of an overtaking vehicle is discourteous and creates a hazard. THe slowpoke should be driving the speed limit. Not doing so is discourteous. But if he’s already in the slow lane, it’s hard for him to get out of the way.
I experience this situation frequently. I like to use cruise control, and I keep right as much as possible. As I’ve noted before, people up here tend to drive under the speed limit. Some, particularly Canadians who aren’t driving under the limit, drive well over it. I generally set my speed to an indicated 72 mph. Assuming speedometer error, this should put me at the posted 70. Or maybe it’s really 72. I’m gaining on traffic in my lane at 2 to 5 mph. I’ll see people overtaking on the left at about 2 or 3 mph. Were I the overtaking vehicle, I would see ‘me’ on the right and speed up so as to pass quickly. Most people don’t do this. If I’m close enough to the car ahead of me, and there is ample room between me and the car overtaking me, I’ll move left to pass. The other car had his chance, and he didn’t take it. If there is so little room that the overtaking vehicle would have to use its brakes, as opposed to just backing off the gas, I’ll hit my brakes and let him pass, then go around the car in front of me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been cruising at or slightly above the posted limit in the fast lane, and someone moves in front of me doing 10 to 20 mph under the limit to get around a slow person in front of him. And semi-trailers seem to make a game of it, waiting until the last minute to move left and tie up traffic for a couple of miles.
Even before reading the OPs response, I doubted this was the case. if you are being tailgated in these conditions, there are two things you can do. One, speed up a bit to get some room between you and the car behind, and then resume normal speed. If this doesn’t work, slow down, gently, until the car behind you sees fit to pass.