Oh, and by the way, the reason my car was in the shop was because someone had been tailgating me and rearended me, causing $1500 worth of damage.
I’m with you 100%. What Phil did was understandable, but still the wrong way to go. Had he not flipped the other driver off, the Jag might not have tried to put him in the guard rail. But hey, we’re only human, and we’re never too old to learn - as we shall see in the anecdote ending this post.
My girlfriend has the tendency to give the driver of the car we are passing (and, e.g., whose car I just had to brake firmly for because he merged into my lane without checking his mirrors) the Evil Passenger Seat Stare. I always tell her to knock it off: people have been side-swiped for less. My Golden Rule of Driving is: do not make eye contact with other drivers unless it’s necessary.
Let the car do the communicating. If someone merges in front of you and could still move back, flash your lights. If the encounter is really close, just brake like there’s no tomorrow. If you’re next to the other car and he’s pulling to the left, honk the horn. In any case, NEVER make eye contact once the “incident” is over and you’re passing him. He’s either rightfully scared, or angry at himself for making the error, or too thick to admit he was wrong (in which case I am the asshole, in his mind). There’s nothing to be gained through communication at that stage.
I’ve had people gesture wildly at me when I was 100% positive it was THEIR fault. Stare straight ahead and floor it.
I’ve had people rolling down their windows at 120 km/h to curse at me. Like I would be able to understand them. Stare straight ahead and floor it.
I’ve had people honking their horns at me, flashing their lights, and using every damn signalling device on their car after I’d past them and merged back into their lane (normally, not cutting them off - FTR). Stare straight ahead and floor it.
I’m only human too, though (yes, you knew that already ;)). The other week, I was coming back from my parents place late at night. I got onto the merge lane of the highway and checked the left mirror. Only one car was approaching, and I could see him moving one lane to the left so as to give me the room to merge onto the rightmost lane (mind you: while this is not a mandatory move, it is considered the polite thing to do when you have the room and a safe opportunity. The Germans invented it). I hit the indicator, and merge onto the road.
Now, there’s two scenarios from here. When it’s crowded, I’ll let the guy pass me and move in front of me before overtaking him. I’d do that so the left lane wouldn’t be occupied while he was waiting for ME to pull ahead of him so he could move right. Makes perfect sense.
But when it’s empty, I’ll just accelerate at the rate I want, and the car passing me will either turn out to be quicker or slower, therefore in front of me or behind me. I mean, the left lane is not needed by anyone else, I have a clear road ahead of me, I’m NOT passing the other car on the right (which is illegal here), I’m merely accelerating more quickly.
You guessed it, it wasn’t busy and I opted for scenario 2. He moves over, I merge and floor it, he’s next to me for about 4 seconds (with the bonnet of the car never passing my rear door, I might add), and then I’m ahead of him, allowing him to move to the right again, leaving the left lane vacant. What’s the point in me losing momentum by letting him pass me where I’m just going to pass him straight back, right?
Wrong, according to this guy. He moves behind me, floors his car, and tailgates me for about 30 seconds, meanwhile honking his horn and flashing his lights. The highway is empty, and I’m in no danger of having to make an emergency stop (unless a deer would suddenly decide to take a liking to my grille, which is a one in a million chance in the Netherlands anyway). So I’m ignoring him for the time being. After about a minute of this nonsense, I decide I’ve had enough. So, I tap the rear fog lights button for a bit. I have two fog lights, so this LOOKS like I’m braking. However, my car is not slowing down, needless to say. The guy behind me backs off, and all looks clear.
But no, he’s coming back for more. In an ultimate attempt to pass me (his POS 1986 Opel Kadett could barely beat the head wind to move alongside me - I was doing about 145 km/h), he floors his car and slowly crawls past me in the left lane. Just when his rear bumper is ahead of my front bumper, he tosses his heap of junk onto the right lane and SLAMS on the brakes, locking all four wheels, sending the car into a dangerous looking slalom-like almost spin. I was alert enough to brake hard and decelerate quicker than him - possibly the state of his brakes had something to do with that as well.
He picks up speed again, and moves away.
I floor my car, and pass him. Not looking at him, not honking, no flashing lights, and certainly no repeat of the completely insane manoeuver he pulled on ME. I just wanted to get the fuck away from him. Someone whose reaction to a slight visual imput (tapping the rear fog lights button) after a minute of tailgating, horn honking, and lights flashing, is to try and fucking KILL me is obviously someone to get the hell away from.
I’ve learned one thing, though. Next time, I’m not even pulling the fog lights trick. I’m gonna floor it as soon as ANY incident occurs which isn’t my fault. Bad drivers are scary, but it’s even more frightening when they’re vindictive, homicidal assholes to boot. Not worth my time, my aggrevation, and certainly not my life.
[Edited by Coldfire on 03-20-2001 at 12:55 PM]
I with you on this one, Coldy.
Oh, and by the way, I have done some research, and found that of the 320 Jaguars that I have been taking notes on, The drivers are almost always macho assholes and poseurs. They never use the Jaguar for its intended purpose. I have a website that backs me up, in case any of you decide to question my obviously infallible knowledge.
SCORE!
The only thing worse than a tailgater is someone who won’t speed up when you ride right on their bumper 
This Jaguar jackoff sounds like the kind of person who rides in the lane that is closing until the last possible second then tries to cut over in front of all the courteous, reasonable people who merged over early to keep traffic moving, which in turn make us all have to stop and that ties up traffic worse because this DMF needs to be 5 cars ahead in line.
I don’t see much need to stereotype people by the type of car they drive. It’s not important enough to get worked up over, but I thought I’d at least share the opposing view. My current car is generally considered to be driven mostly by assholes, but I don’t think I’ve earned that distinction personally. I even stopped during a snowstorm a few weeks back to help a guy who had slid into the snowbank at the side of the road. I have no problem with rants about the way some people drive, but I haven’t seen a make of car yet that could turn all its drivers to the dark side.
And if I ever have the money to buy one great classic car, it would be an E-Type Jaguar.
Robot Arm
I wasn’t being serious about Jag drivers. Go to this thread and be introduced to the fountain of knowledge and logic that is “fatherjohn”.
My post will make a little more sense after you read his BS. On second thought, that thread was a colossal waste of time. You may just want to take my word for it.
Sometimes, some precious few times, there is sweet, sweet justice.
Just last night I was driving home from school. The highway was crowded, as always. Some soccer-mom type in a Volvo was right up my ass, so close I couldn’t even see her headlights. It’s exactly like Nacho4Sara said, YOU CANNOT MAKE ME GO FASTER IF THERE ARE CARS IN FRONT OF ME. Finally, she sees an opening to the right, swerves into the right lane, floors it, rockets right past me…and right past the cop hiding in a driveway. I caught up to her about the same time he did…Ah, there is nothing nicer in life.
:rolleyes:
There ain’t nothing in the world like a sore loser.