Although I hate the road ragers who’ll race you to the death to the exact change toll, here’s an item to notice, and one to test. 1. Light is already green and you’re turning left (with oncoming traffic far enough away) - notice how the oncoming vehicle will slam on his accelerator to beat you to the turn. 2. Converse - when at a stoplight, and you want to turn left, don’t use your blinker. 9 times out of 10 you’ll be able to make the turn before the oncoming traffic moves - if you use blinker, that’s a red flag to the oncoming bull who will slam on their pedal to beat you to the turn.
Any other psychological profiles documented by fellow road warriors??
FYI: A professor of mine has done a lot of research on road rage. Here’s his website.
One other thing-- Are you really suggesting we should not use our blinkers so that we won’t be beaten to the turn? If so, then you’re just as bad as the drivers who speed up to cut others off. Shame on you.
cesld, are you one of those…people…who try to make a left turn after a red light by cutting in front of oncoming cars before they can get started?
If so, I have little sympathy for your plight. Especially if you don’t signal to at least give the front row warning that you’re about to cut them off. They do have the right-of-way, remember.
I beg your pardon if I’ve misinterpreted your post…
One time I was making a left turn. There’s a turn lane, but no specific light. Traffic was heavy. I pulled halfway into the intersection to wait for a break in traffic. The light turned red, and before I had a chance to get out of the intersection, this DICK in an F-150 going perpendicular, to the same road as I, guns it across. Since his truck was so big and people behind him couldn’t see me (but I wager this would have happened anyway) everyone else behind him followed. So now I’m sitting in the intersection, blocking opposing traffic, and can’t finish my turn! Everyone starts honking, so I put it in reverse. The guy behind me (the only one behind me) backed up so I could roll back out of the intersection. AS I WAS ROLLING BACK, this hulking peanut brained meth freak strolls out behind me, walking his dog, right into my path. WHILE I’M MOVING! He realizes in his tiny, steroid addled brain, that I’m MOVING BACKWARDS, and that he’s put himself and his dog in my path, WHILE I WAS MOVING. SWEET CHRIST! So, seeing no other alternative, he flips out, starts screaming curses, and attempts to kick my taillights out! I put the ebrake on and reached back to get my 18", 5 lb tempered steel breakover bar in case this roid raging moron decides to come after me personally. The light turned green before I could get out and beat a dent in his fucking skull, so I gunned it through the intersection before the other side could move. Didn’t need that shit happening twice.
Moral of the story? I don’t know. There’s probably a whole handful of them stashed away in there somewhere. Everyone was honking at me and shit, probably thinking I was a nimrod. IT WASN’T MY GODDAMN FAULT! IT WAS THE F-150! I HAD A RIGHT TO MAKE A TURN IF I WAS ALREADY IN THE INTERSECTION!
–Tim
Here’s the scenario: Every morning on my way to work I descend the Carmen Drive onramp to get onto I-5. Shortly ahead of said onramp is the 2 lane offramp to go from I-5 to Hwy 217. As I said, I’m descending the ramp and eyeing the Interstate traffic for a suitable slot to merge smoothly onto the freeway, with my left turn signal on, I might add. Invariably there is a car to my left rear signalling to move right into my lane so as to make the transition onto the 217 ramp.
Okay, this is fine, he’s behind me, I’m ahead of him, and we want to swap lanes. The logical thing to do would be for both of us to smoothly exchange lanes in our current configuration, right?
WRONG! At least once a week this brain-dead dipstick will accelerate, almost cramming into the car in front of him, to get in front of me to change lanes. WTF!?!? Does this bozo think he gets extra commuter points by being in front of me for those few seconds before I get into the lane he just quit? I have no explanation.
For some time I’ve toyed with the idea of mounting a paint-ball gun in the grill of my truck. Do you think I’d get in trouble for decorating these peoples’ cars, purely as a warning flag to other drivers you understand? Kinda as a public service.
I see a lot of people on LA freeways who are afraid to pass. They’ll get into the left hand lane (lane #1) and advance on the traffic in the next lane to the right (lane #2), but then when they pull up to the next car, they won’t pass… they’ll just hang out in that person’s blind spot, just close enough to make it impossible for you to pass either car.
I’ve found that if you tailgate someone in lane #1 who isn’t passing the car in lane #2, you seldom get the desired result.
But in the situation above, it’s a lot more reliable to move over in lane #2 and pretend to be advancing to pass in front of the car in lane 1 and cut in front of him. Nine times out of 10, the car in lane #1 will speed up to cut off your passing opportunity.
Then you can get back into lane #1 behind him, and then pass him on the right once he’s passed the car in lane #2. Problem solved. 
Works every time.
If it weren’t so predictable as to be exploitable, I’d be annoyed by the total lack of courtesy these pass-o-phobes exhibit.
To AudreyK
- I meant that as a test, I did it a few times in my raging years on NYC, but do not endorse such behaviour.
Good to hear. So long as you don’t do that anymore-- that’s a silly and dangerous, to both drivers and pedestrians.
Y’know, I’m in the process of getting my driver’s license. Threads like this scare me.