Tangent: The sense of entitlement in this country is virulent and destructive. People are increasingly believing that they’re entitled to certain things, whether it be a piece of the highway, a tax break, millions of dollars from McDonald’s for causing their fatassness, etc, etc. Witnessing this only leads to more people adopting the mentality in order to “get even;” if everybody else is doing it and nothing’s stopping them, why can’t I?
No wonder half the world wants to see us lose a war and get bombed to hell; it’s always fun to see the guy going 80 get picked up for speeding.
Yeah, I believe that, though. My brother lived in Atlanta. He loved Atlanta, except for the traffic. He really learned how to drive like a road warrior there. I live in a relatively podunk area, so anyone who drives like that deserves to be flogged in front of his grandma.
Whenever drivers complain everyone else is wrong, I always think they are the wrong ones. In this case I assume you are slowing down for that light faar in excess of the required distance, and everyone behind you thinks “Oh, God, I’d better get out in front of Grandma before I get stuck behind her forever!”
Just a guess, but that’s how I’ve felt when I decided to pass some Grandma.
Mmmmmmyeah. Because not wanting to end up with my nose plowed up the ass-end of the car in front of me makes me a ‘Grandma’. Mmmmmkay :rolleyes:
The light is about 20-30 from the end of the merge lane. I hardly think that’s faar in excess of the required distance, especially if there are cars in front of me. And btw, it’s not a matter of what I think is right, but what is legal. Read your driver’s handbook and you’ll see that the behavior I mentioned in my OP would get you pulled over and ticketed if done in the presence of a cop.
Just adding a thought: I was in St. Louis when a person (I’m being polite) decided he needed to do this cut-of move in some construction on I-70.
My friend who was driving refused to let him in. He got behind us and literally tailgated us. And then proceded to try to run us off the road when we were out of the construction area. Speeding up to get in front of us then slamming on his brakes, changing lanes when we tried to get away from him, getting back behind us and tailgating. In a really nice little sporty black Lexus, I might add.
I called the police, gave them tag of the car, but they took the next exit so if anything came of it I don’t know. I was scared to death.
So I don’t try to stop anyone who does that particular cutting in trick anymore. It’s not that I think everyone is a psycho like that guy was, but I’ll be better off if I do assume it. I’d rather be alive and pissed than dead.
In the Bay Area cops actually sometimes sit at places where this kind of thing happens and nab the idiots who try it. It used to happen where I drove at a place where the right lane fed into an entrance lamp which backed up. The idiots would zip down the left lane, then try to push their way in. It was great when some of them got caught, and it solved the problem for a couple of weeks afterward.
After the bubble burst, we don’t have any traffic any more
Interestingly, I don’t notice that type of behaviour as much here in England. Drivers here are much more sensible. I think it’s part of the culture. In English schools, in which I currently teach, children are taught, “You’re no more important than anyone else. If you misbehave, you’re ruining others’ educations.” In American schools, we teach, “What makes you special from the other kids? What can you do that makes you better?” Obviously this is a generalization, but it’s my own personal experience. This sort of mentality taints everything.
It’s definitely part of the me-me-me competitive bullshit for which Americans are famous.
We had a similar merge lane when I drove to school in New Orleans. Three lanes become two, with the third lane becoming one of those emergency-only lanes. Well, the idiots would just go flying through the emergency only lane, cause they’re better than we are. And this was on a bridge, too, with a slight rise at the top.
At the end of the month, when the cops needed to make their quota, they’d stop just below the rise with their lights on, and ticket every one of those zoomy bastards. Every time I saw one, I had to roll down my window and yell “Nice job, officer!”
The reason New Orleans drivers are so dumb is the drive-through daiquiri shops.
That’s right, drive-through booze.
They put a straw in the cup and then cover the straw so you won’t drink it till you get home. Riiiiiiight…
Actually, the worst drivers I’ve run into are in the D.C. area. Traffic there is such pure insanity that it can’t be believed. But occasionally justice prevails. Mr. Butrscotch watched a guy in a small SUV try to pass him on the shoulder of a freeway exit lane one day, only to slide far enough down the slope (since it was on a steep hill) that all he could do was sit there and wait for the cops. Hehehe.
Re: Atlanta drivers. I’ve heard that the traffic is especially bad there (one of my aunts swore up and down that it was the worst). I’ve never driven in Atlanta, only visited a friend who is an almost-native (he’s lived there most of his life). He drives like a maniac!! An absolute MANIAC! I’d make comments about “You’re not really going to make that turn, are you?” (as he did some insane scary on-the-edge-of-my-seat manuver) and he’d look at me and say, “What?” as if he’d done something perfectly normal.
And guess what? He’s a cop! Scary, huh? Very scary. I do remember once driving with him on the freeway, and someone behind him started to tailgate. My cop friend got out his badge, and somehow flashed it in the back window, so the tailgater could see it. The tailgater backed away really quickly…
And to answer the OP? People do it because they’re jerks. Simple.
I should also add here that I’m from L.A., am used to rather, ahemerratic driving on the L.A. freeways, and yet my cop friend drove much more crazy than any Angeleno I’d ever seen.
I do it at times, but only if the driver in front of me is driving like an ass. Going too slow causes accidents too you know, and there is nothing to raise the blood pressure like somebody going slower than the regular flow of traffic.
However, if everybody is just going with the flow, the procedure in the OP is just way out of line.
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