# What do you do when some bully tries to force their way into your lane? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 22, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574 "2015-05-22T07:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/61 "2015-05-23T21:32:58Z")
A. Let him have the spot. Yes he is a jerk, and the type of driver that typically drives a BMW or Mercedes, but what were you going to do, cause an accident? You lost what, 10 seconds of time, where an accident would have cost you hours, maybe more. I deal with this in NYC getting into one of the tunnels, all the time. You do all you can to shut the door, but Im not getting my car damaged because of some a-hole. As for “revenge” I’d advise against that too. One time in NJ my buddy cut off a woman like the BMW did, so at the next opportunity she went into the shoulder, and cut him off in return and got her spot back. My buddy flipped out, and started FOLLOWING HER down the Turnpike until we talked him down. Im not sure what his intentions were, but Im glad we were in the car to talk sense to him. Another time this car was tailgating us, it finally passed us, so my buddy does what you did, high beamed them for the next ten miles. At the next intersection the other car stopped, and the next thing you know we had four Puerto Ricans dressed like gang members trying to drag us out of the car. I DID see a situation like this once in Boston where the driver actually went as far as to have their mirror torn off in order to shut the door on a merger. Im sure it was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/62 "2015-05-23T22:17:34Z")
If you ever come across the car unattended, place a gas station squeegee across the battery posts. The car will go up in a huge ball of flames. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/63 "2015-05-23T22:58:13Z")
I drop back and let them in. Who gives a shit? It’s mere seconds of difference in time you get where you want to get, and who wants to scrape a bumper and have to wait 1/2 hour for the insurance people [READ: police] while you’re in the company of some hothead? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/64 "2015-05-23T23:33:42Z")
1. Get out of the way. 2. Hope to enjoy some schadenfreude down the road. A spin out is nice, but the guy pulled over by a cop is even better. I’ve seen both, but they are too rare. About once in 25 times, I would guess. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/65 "2015-05-24T08:01:16Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > 1. Get out of the way. > > 2. Hope to enjoy some schadenfreude down the road. A spin out is nice, but the guy pulled over by a cop is even better. I’ve seen both, but they are too rare. About once in 25 times, I would guess. I cant tell you how many times I’ve dealt with an aggressive driver and said to myself, “where’s a cop when you need one?” The only two Kharma satisfiers Ive seen was a few times when I saw Mr. “Drive Down the Shoulder to Beat Everyone Else in the Traffic Jam Guy” get pulled over, and another time when there was some sort of dispute between two drivers and one of the offended parties pulled up to the other car, rolled own his windrow, and started jabber jawing with him, and there went the bubble gum machine, yes, justice sweetly served! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/66 "2015-05-24T08:04:53Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If you ever come across the car unattended, place a gas station squeegee across the battery posts. The car will go up in a huge ball of flames. Wont make you look too good to the jury on the gas station video. 😃 OR, if being tailgated, drive on the rumble strip, that will shoot all sorts onto the tailgaters car; OR, turn on your windshield wiper fluid. Then watch the fun as the other driver runs you off the road, shoots at you, or kills another driver in their rage! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/67 "2015-05-24T15:45:17Z")
I’m sure the OP will be a fine addition to this MB. I look forward to viewing his full _oeuvre_ of youtube videos. Up next… how I smack my kid to make him learn who’s boss (the beast part is at 4:34 where I land a clean one on his cheek). ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/68 "2015-05-24T20:20:40Z")
I rented an RV that had advertising plastered all over it “Rent Me Rent Me Rent Me” … EVERYBODY was so perfectly polite around me it was scary. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/69 "2015-05-25T04:28:32Z")
> [@Kimbosquee](#): > > So I was picking my sister and her friend up from high school while there was a road closure due to construction. People who need to go through that street have to take a detour around that section of the road using a newly built stretch of asphalt on the side. This creates traffic congestion on the busy part of the road as people who normally go straight now have to make a right turn with the rest of us right-turners onto a road that has a 4 way stop right after the intersection. The detour is off one of the stop signs. It doesn’t help that people needing to take this route are merging last minute into the right lane from the middle lane which is supposed to be for merging LEFT into the straight through lane in normal circumstances. Traffic this time was especially congested as the high school on this street was letting out. > > I merged in to the right lane as soon as I saw the congestion up ahead, but people insisted on driving all the way up to the end of the middle lane to merge right. Now I’m all for using up all lanes in heavy traffic and zipper merging, but 1. this lane, once again, is for merging left and they were blocking people in that lane who wanted to make left turns and 2. traffic wasn’t backed up very far when I moved to the right, so most of them could have easily gotten in the back of the line; instead they congested both the right and middle lanes even more by sitting there and waiting for a space at the front or just swerving in. Soon afterwards there was no choice but to start zipping, but no one in this case did it the right way and it became a huge clusterfuck as people in the middle were still having to sit there begging to be let in or just aggressively moving in. > > At first, I had every intention of blocking these late mergers out, but once the middle lane became so congested that Vicks couldn’t fix it, I realized it was time to start taking turns. Here is a video of the incident I’m about to describe: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzAiVu8Ks58&hd=1#](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzAiVu8Ks58&hd=1#) (the events I’ll be describing start at 2:18, but you can watch from the beginning if you want to see what I just talked about + more assholes) > > When the Silverado pulled up next to the Ram in front of me, a BMW X5 was just behind him alongside me. I left a gap open when traffic started moving to let the Silverado in. As this was happening, I noticed the BMW getting closer to my side when we moved. It didn’t take me long to figure out what he was up to. At this point I wanted to move in closer (you’ll notice I did just a bit), but I wanted to make it obvious to the Silverado driver that they were invited to move in. I was practically begging the driver to just move in already so I could slam the door shut and even gave them a quick flash of the brights to signal that they were good to go. I figure it should have been obvious anyway by the gap I was leaving; I hate hesitant drivers :smack:. > > The asshole continued to slant closer and closer as we moved along and eventually you see his bumper come into view just as the Silverado finally moves in. I immediately shut the door. You would think he would get the hint by now that he was not invited. Every time traffic in front of us moved, he would beat me to it and inch his bumper in front of mine. At some point, I could not keep the door shut and had no choice but to stay off the gas and “let” the jerk in. I love how he never signaled too. I just threw my hand up in frustration. About a minute later, I had the bright idea to turn on my brights and leave them on so he could enjoy the pretty lights in his rear view mirror. It was my little way of getting “revenge”. I did turn them off as we passed the backed up oncoming traffic and then turned them back on again. > > Note how much of a crap driver he is afterwards. I don’t think staying put after the car in front of you leaves the stop sign counts as stopping at the stop sign. The bike lane is only for bicycles, no? Did you get your driver’s license at Disneyland? 😕 > > If and/or when this happens/ed to you, what would you have or have you done? > A. Do what I did and let them slide in front of you to avoid a collision or because you’re more passive like me > A2. A + exact some form of revenge after they manage to bully their way in > B. Keep them out at all costs and even move off to the side if you have to (wish I had done this) because there is no way in hell that’s happening > C. Something else It could be the camera angle - but it looks to me like you’re leaving a huge honking gap…I would have been within inches of the truck in front… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/70 "2015-05-25T04:44:03Z")
Depends what I’m driving and how much I’ve had to drink. (Sorry. I thought this was "What to do when some bully tries to bust into your **home** , and lost interest in posting a real answer before reading the rest of the thread) By the way, I drive a '65 Ford F-250 sometimes. Don’t wanna mess with that. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/71 "2015-05-25T09:27:22Z")
I haven’t read this thread, but I’m confident I’m supporting the consensus when I say you were being a petulant, dangerous ass. Coming here seeking affirmation was a bad move. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/72 "2015-05-25T09:52:08Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > I haven’t read this thread, but I’m confident I’m supporting the consensus when I say you were being a petulant, dangerous ass. Coming here seeking affirmation was a bad move. Petulant, yes, but nothing dangerous. She left a bit of extra space and another car squeezed in causing her to lose 4 seconds of time. Pretty exciting, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/73 "2015-05-25T09:54:49Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I let him in front of me, then run a search on his license plate to find his address. Then I race to his house before he gets home and ax murder his whole family. I scrawl “learn how to merge properly!” on the wall in baby blood, do an upper-decker in his toilet, and then go home feeling good about having done my part for traffic safety. Sure, sure. But, how, exactly, do you do a “search” on his license plate? ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/74 "2015-05-25T10:00:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Petulant, yes, but nothing dangerous. She left a bit of extra space and another car squeezed in causing her to lose 4 seconds of time. Pretty exciting, isn’t it? Ok, maybe “dangerous” was an overstatement. But, look, OP, we’ve all been in a situation where we suddenly notice we have to merge and rely on the kindness of others to let us do so. What if you had to merge and someone like you wouldn’t let you do so because they perceived you were trying to gain an advantage when in fact that was not true? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/75 "2015-05-25T16:16:16Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > Sure, sure. But, how, exactly, do you do a “search” on his license plate? > **[Free License Plate Look Up - License-Plate-Look-Up.net](https://license-plate-look-up.net)** > > Quickly and easily search any license plate number for any vehicle in any state of the USA. Look up vehicle and owner information. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/76 "2015-05-25T18:41:14Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > [http://license-plate-look-up.net](http://license-plate-look-up.net) You kids and your apps. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/77 "2015-05-26T03:41:16Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > I cant tell you how many times I’ve dealt with an aggressive driver and said to myself, “where’s a cop when you need one?” > > The only two Kharma satisfiers Ive seen was a few times when I saw Mr. “Drive Down the Shoulder to Beat Everyone Else in the Traffic Jam Guy” get pulled over, and another time when there was some sort of dispute between two drivers and one of the offended parties pulled up to the other car, rolled own his windrow, and started jabber jawing with him, and there went the bubble gum machine, yes, justice sweetly served! 😃 I have several, but my favorite was when I had just got my license. I was driving down a single-lane on-ramp leading to a road with a 45 mile per hour speed limit. About halfway up the ramp, I was at 35 miles per hour (driving dad’s old truck, which was a major gas guzzler, so I’ll admit I was taking it easy on the accelerator), when a guy went around me on the left shoulder of the ramp and almost took my dad’s mirror off. Little did he know that the car behind him was an unmarked police cruiser, but it sure didn’t take him long to find out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/78 "2015-05-26T08:41:37Z")
A bully forced his way into my lane today. Well, not the lane so much as coming from an on-ramp to the tollway. I stupid thought he’d speed up when he got himself comfortable in the lane but no, he kept driving at 60 in a 110 zone. Finally got to pass him and honked, which made me feel a bit better. What a tosser. Ordinarily, I just let lane bullies in. Not worth dinging my car but this bloke really pissed me off, so I wish I hadn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/79 "2015-05-26T20:22:51Z")
Ok, I watched the video starting at 2:18. You left too much room. If you want to be the dude that doesn’t let people in (or in this case, too many people in), you need to close it up. You left space for people to nose in. You let the Silverado in (who took waaaaaay too friggin’ long to merge in) but then you left room for the BMW to do it too. Now, yeah, that guy/chick should have waited his/her turn and slipped in behind you, but it’s reasonable to assume that the people behind you were being asses and locking it up so no one could get in. Or maybe the driver saw their chance and they took it. Either way, close it up and that doesn’t happen. You didn’t “shut the door”, once they get a nose in it’s over for you. (In my opinion the BMW should have angled in harder at the start to get it over with.) Cab/bus drivers will eat you alive. You are raging way too hard about this. This is city driving 101 and not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Kimbosquee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@Kimbosquee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimbosquee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574/80 "2015-05-27T02:52:44Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > There are different merge situations. And in heavy traffic where things slow down to a crawl, the zipper is best. > > BUT. Good god, people are so clueless. > > When it’s not congested and your moving along at 40-50 mph, just move over and keep traffic moving at speed. > > How can you miss these signs? > > - Road work ahead > - Left lane closed > - Another and another graphic big assed left lane closed sign > - Flashing arrow lights on the back of a truck 10 feet up in the air indicating to move to the right. > > And then they are surprised that their lane is closed and there are cones forcing them to move to the right, now forcing a 10mph ‘zipper’ move. > > Just get your ass over when the signs say to, and don’t slow everyone down. This is exactly what I’m trying to say. If traffic is backed up to hell, then please drive up to the end and zipper merge. That is exactly what I do myself in those circumstances. I’m even one to leave a congested lane in favor a less congested merging lane and merge at the end. The difference is, those lanes allow for proper zipper merging. In this particular case, however, the middle lane is for merging left and the right lane was not even too congested at the time. The middle lane also ended abruptly due to cones. The only reason both lanes became congested was because of the few people driving up to the cones and making a mess out of the situation. I merged early expecting it to go quickly, but these few people slowed it down. I would also not be too happy if I wanted to merge left and these people were blocking me. I guess I did leave too much room, but I wasn’t expecting someone to just nose in like that. I drive in heavy traffic pretty frequently and have never experienced this. I also didn’t want to freak out my passengers since my sister is a whiny backseat driver. I didn’t care as much about the “delay” as about how unexpectedly rude it was. I’m not really that upset (though I was pretty peeved when it happened), just thought I’d get it out and get some opinions and experiences. Maybe even learn a thing or two, which I am. How on earth did that poster up there know what city this was in?? Btw, are BMW drivers still assholes if they wrong another BMW driver? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-some-bully-tries-to-force-their-way-into-your-lane/720574.md?page=5)