Along the same lines of the turning right complaint…
There are quite a few exit ramps off the expressway that have two right turn lanes so that you can turn at the intersection. The one on the far right allows you to merge directly into traffic, bypassing the stoplight. The catch is, there is a sign that says if you use this lane, you cannot make a left turn at the next intersection.
The next lane over that also allows you to turn right forces you to wait until the stoplight turns green, but you can go ahead a make your left turn at the next intersection.
What ticks me off is some handjob that gets into the far right lane, and STOPS. He then waits for oncoming traffic so that he can cross over 3 lanes to make that left turn that is prohibited. I am just waiting for the day I see somebody at one of these intersections get a ticket.
FTR, the only accident I’ve ever had was while I was driving alone, the only car on the road, in a winter storm, on a sheet of ice. And that was 12 years ago.
What, are you nuts? That’s the perfect time to get irate! Then you can actually do something about it. <heh heh heh>
Seriously, I didn’t flip them the bird or honk my horn or scream at them through the windshield (alright, I made a few comments to myself), so I’m not a victim of road rage, and I fully admit to being an aggressive driver, but conversely, being a completely passive driver is just as bad, especially when they are clearly ignoring basic driving rules like maintaining speed while merging, merging safely, not blocking traffic, etc.
And the supersoaker, while amusing, isn’t wise. I have a friend who once threw pennies at someone through his window, but, as I pointed out to him, “You live in L.A. - what if he had a gun?” People have killed people for less. Hell, I honked my horn once at someone who deliberately slowed down in the left hand lane when I came up behidn him because, evidently, he has an extraordinarily small penis, and the guy followed me for five miles.
I found that the quickest way to quell road rage in other drivers was to keep one of the many brown paper liquor-store bags that littered my vehicle within arm’s reach. If another driver acted aggressively toward me, I’d place my hand in the bag, point my finger, and hold it up so the other driver could see it.
This worked far better than taking an actual liquor bottle in a brown paper bag and drinking from it. That just seems to make people more angry.
What? Hey, man, I already paid my debt to society.
Seriously. I sympathize, but I do take umbrage at this remark.
Tailgating is dangerous and foolhardy. If you’re dealing with an idiot, or an incompetant driver, the last thing you want to do is get close and pressure him. He makes a mistake and you both go down.
I’m an excellent driver, but when one of these fools starts riding my ass because I’m not passing fast enough, I have one of two responses depending on the situation.
Either I take my foot off the gas as I flip on my lights (the taillamps go on as if you were braking to the casual glance,) or, if it’s a little car and I’m in the SUV or the truck, I just hit the fucking brakes and let the chips fall where they may .
I save that for the little fuckers in their souped up Honda Civics, who get right on your ass and start flashing their highbeams while you’re in the left lane passing a slower car by a fifteen mile per hour speed differential.
A little taste of death does wonders for road courtesy.
I’d just like to say that tailgating a much bigger vehicle=dumb as a doorknob and anyone stupid enough to do that deserves whatever they get. Dreadful, eh? But, I find it hard to sympathize with random acts of stupidity.
I don’t typically approve of slamming on the breaks when being tailgated, however, I drive a wittle Toyota Tercel so doing that while being tailgated=not a good idea. I just wait until they finally pass me. shrug Heh
The tailgating, in these instances, were accidental - I mean, when you’re chugging along at 50 mph and someone stops dead in front of you, ramming your front end up their tailpipe just kinda happens. And I’m sorry, but if these idiots (and these idiots only, mind you) are going the exact same speed as the person next to them, they are creating a hazard and need to pull over. I don’t flash my highbeams and I don’t toot my horn, but yes, I do drive rather close to them. It rarely does any good, and even rarer someone taps their brakes (in which case, of course, I back off, and pass them on the right). These people are dangerous and shouldn’t be driving in the passing lane. If you’re going to pull out in front of me, fine, but at least make the attempt to match my speed, jerkwad.
thomasm has informed me that in California (unlike Pennsylvania) it is perfectly legal to pass on the right, but I still say it’s common courtesy to drive slower in the right and pass on the left (but at least I’m not doing anything illegal).
Are you sure about that? Maybe the laws have changed since I took driver’s ed., but I was taught that in a right turn, you must turn into the right lane unless there is a second right-turn lane, in which case you must turn right into your own lane.
It pisses me off when I’m going straight at 50 or 60 mph in the left lane and some bonehead makes a right turn into the left lane instead of the right, right in front of me (at about 15 mph).
There’s a big difference between ending up too close to somebody because they hop into your lane, and those genetic misfits who sit right on your ass flashing their lights because they’re unsatisfied that you’re only passing that tractor trailer by a speed differential of 15mph.
My remark wasn’t aimed at you; more at people in general who come into threads like this, bitching and moaning about other drivers, and not even considering that maybe they, themselves, with their string of accidents, are part of the problem.
Well, I just took the exam to get my California driver’s license, and I distinctly recall the diagrams that when you are turning from one lane in your direction to a road with two lanes in your direction, you can enter either lane. (Then again, maybe that was just at a stop sign or traffic light.) Still, if you’re going to make an immediate turn, wouldn’t it just make sense to wait until you can turn directly into that lane rather than turning and then having to change lanes? (I know, I know - common sense on the road doesn’t exist…)
I think Thomasm was mistaken, it is actually quite illegal to pass of the right in California. I recently spent a day in traffic court (expired registration sticker for those of you that are curious) and half the people in there had tickets for passing on the right.