# To The Jerk Who Almost Hit My Car **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128 "2003-06-02T14:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/1 "2003-06-02T14:02:25Z")
Look, buddy… You see those shiny things sticking out of your car that look like small ears? You’ve got one on each side of your shiny new black whatevermobile. They’re called MIRRORS, dickwipe, and they’re there for a REASON. That reason is so you can SEE WHAT’S BEHIND YOU ---
**Author:** ![Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bickering_Annoys_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/2 "2003-06-02T14:06:21Z")
Wouldn’t have helped. I almost got hit by somebody changing lanes. I got next to him at a stop light and asked (ok, yelled) him if he knew what was the proper way to use a mirror. He looked at me and said “Hey, you were in my blind spot.” I wonder if he ever realized what he said. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/3 "2003-06-02T14:08:33Z")
(ahem. to finish…) Those things are on your car FOR A REASON, asswipe, and that reason is so you can LOOK BEHIND YOU _ **BEFORE** _ you back up. Use them! Especially when there’s a line of cars waiting to get out of the parking lot…and YOU just happen to want to get out of your parking space! Oh, and that incessant HONKING noise you heard? It was ME, and I was TRYING to inform you that there was a CAR RIGHT BEHIND YOUR PARKING SPACE that you were about to bang into, weednozzle!!! You didn’t even TAP your brakes! You DICKNUGGET! You didn’t even SLOW DOWN! Fortunately for all involved, the car ahead of me moved JUST enough JUST in the nick of time so I could get out of your way, you arrogant, neanderthalic, troglodytic PUTZ. I don’t give a moldy rat’s tail WHERE you got your driver’s license, but it obviously wasn’t from anywhere that actually makes you pass a realio trulio DRIVING test, so crawl back under your rock and DON’T DRIVE NEAR ME anymore, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/4 "2003-06-02T16:34:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kfwilkinson \* > \*\*I don’t give a moldy rat’s tail WHERE you got your driver’s license \*\* Duh, KMart. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/5 "2003-06-03T03:02:11Z")
Oh, hey, sorry about that. I was trying to fix my mascara and talking to my ex-boyfriend on my cellphone. ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/6 "2003-06-03T12:54:36Z")
> [@](#): > > “Hey, you were in my blind spot.” I wonder if he ever realized what he said. He probably meant that you were in his blind spot. It’s a position in the next lane where your front bumper is roughly even with his rear bumper. You’re just far enough behind him that a look to the side doesn’t detect your car, and just forward enough that a look in the rear-view mirror and side mirrors doesn’t detect your car either. I’m pretty careful when I pull into the passing lane, but even I’ve gotten surprised when an anxious honk has informed me that someone has been driving in that position for the past several minutes. Important lesson there: if you’re going to pass, pass. If you’re not going to pass, back off. Don’t drive in the other lane (left **or** right) just off the other guy’s bumper. He can’t see you, and after a few minutes is likely to forget that you’re lurking there. ---
**Author:** ![Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bickering_Annoys_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/7 "2003-06-03T13:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WillGolfForFood \* > \*\*He probably meant that you were in his blind spot. It’s a position in the next lane where your front bumper is roughly even with his rear bumper. You’re just far enough behind him that a look to the side doesn’t detect your car, and just forward enough that a look in the rear-view mirror and side mirrors doesn’t detect your car either. > > I’m pretty careful when I pull into the passing lane, but even I’ve gotten surprised when an anxious honk has informed me that someone has been driving in that position for the past several minutes. > > Important lesson there: if you’re going to pass, pass. If you’re not going to pass, back off. Don’t drive in the other lane (left **or** right) just off the other guy’s bumper. He can’t see you, and after a few minutes is likely to forget that you’re lurking there. \*\* Yes, he meant I was in his blind spot. But the thing is, it is **his** blind spot. It is his responsibility to check - it’s called turning his head - to see if there is a car there. And as for lurking in a blind spot, I agree that it shouldn’t be done. In this case, his lane was going about 10 mph while mine was going about 40 mph (rush hour on a highway and I was in an exit only lane) so there was no lurking. However, I stand by my above statement - it’s still the responsibility of a driver to check his/her blind spot(s) before changing lanes. ---
**Author:** ![Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Bickering\_Annoys\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bickering_Annoys_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/8 "2003-06-03T13:13:57Z")
And to be a bit of a stinker: [Always Check Your Blind Spot](http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/blind.htm) [YIKES! Where Did He Come From?](http://www.commuter-register.org/cryikes.html) [Brilliant Driving School](http://nb.au.com/safe_driving/) ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-jerk-who-almost-hit-my-car/179128/9 "2003-06-03T14:53:34Z")
Thank your lucky stars you weren’t me. I was **walking** through the supermarket car park one day last year and a guy reversed and knocked me over. Only for the quick thinking of a fellow Tesco shopper who banged his hands on the bonnet and shouted to attract the so-called driver’s alleged attention, I would have been squashed. I hardly need to tell you that the boyo driving the car had no reversing lights, do I? Nor any semblance of remorse Not even a sorry He said: “Jesus, are you going to stay down there all day, you stupid old bitch?” Lovely.