How Would You ever Know?
 

I was southbound on one of our local freeways this afternoon, heading home from my little club's monthly "Sunday Drive". Traffic was typically heavy back-to-Seattle-Sunday-afternoon, but moving right along. Raining pretty darn hard, so everyone giving one another plenty of room, but still one of those days to just fall in line and cruise.

I was in the middle of three lanes, probably ten car lengths and holding behind the car in front of me. I picked up a set of headlights approaching rapidly from behind, weaving lane to lane, shooting those ten car length gaps. Brand new Massarati still with temp plates. He passed me on my right like I was parked, crossed over in front of me into the left lane, and crawled right up the next car's ass. Like NASCAR draft up his ass, bump to pass rules. When that car yielded the left lane, our hero crawled right up the next car's ass.

He did this to three or four cars, then turned on his flashers. Up until then, all I could think was "what an ass", hoping he wouldn't collect me up in his next ill-advised pass. The flashers got me thinking, though - what if this was an honest to God emergency of some kind? Wife giving birth, passenger had a heart attack, gunshot wound, etc.? He finally got behind a pickup that simply would not let him by, so he wound up swerving across all three lanes to go around it.

He was still just barely in sight when I went past a very clearly marked exit for a hospital. That, and he was taking chances that seemed to pose a greater risk than anything that might be taking place inside the car. So, eventually, I returned to "probably just a real dick", but it did get me to thinking. How would we know?

I get out of the way of people like that anyway, flashers or not, but I sure see an awful lot of people who don't, or won't. Like it bruises their fragile egos or something to simply move over and get that guy out of their lives. That was that last guy in the pickup, for sure. Wonder how he would have felt if he caused someone to wreck who was having an actual emergency.

Agree Jeff. It’s more likely an emergency situation based on your description. Like you, I always just get out of the way. Whether it’s a real emergency or some idiot, my engagement would serve no one.

Always best to err on the side of caution.

^^^ I feel the same way. Trailing my car back home from CMP today, I saw the same scenario, where a black econobox import was going between lanes and cars to get ahead, and then turned on his hazards. Traffic was heavy and I eventually lost track of him.

I had a situation a bit like this. A very stupid driver. I said to GF shame there is not a cop around when you want one, but YES there is a cop. Ha, I stopped and told him everything. He even phoned later that night to get more details. It was a Indian woman driving very dangerously who nearly wiped me out.

I just went on a road trip to Oregon then headed to the coast and then a leisurely ride south to the Bay Area. Anyone coming up on my tail would find me pulling over to let them pass. I’m just not a fast driver anymore so I stay to the right and let the world pass me.

A few years back we were on I-35 northbound and it was raining HARD. We were in my wife's Macan, and it has automatic wipers. They were in max speed mode. The speed limit is 75 but I slowed to 60 to avoid hydroplaning. Most traffic had slowed as well but some fool in a HUGE SUV came roaring up the left lane at 75 MPH I would guess. I shook my head and said to my wife, he will be in a ditch soon.

Sure enough about 15 minutes later we cam up on a wreck. He had rolled at least once, and there were many people laying on the ground, and several cars already stopping to help. His passengers did not deserve that crash, but the idiot driver sure did. It was obvious he started spinning and went right off into the ditch and stopped against the center cable barrier. Just to fast for conditions.

My attitude is AVOID. I tend to give adventurous drivers a lot of room.

Absolutely. I'm a dedicated slow lane camper on the freeway. I was only in the middle lane at this time to open up the merge lane for entering traffic. My philosophy on the freeway is to never be the fastest guy I can see.

I think the usual assumption when we see someone hauling ass and weaving in and out of traffic is that they are just driving like a dick. This guy left me feeling a little bit ashamed of myself for thinking that, at least until he passed the hospital off ramp.

I've always just let them go regardless. They are in and out of my life so quickly that it just isn't worth worrying about. The faster they disappear in front of me the better.

Not me man! I'd have done all I could to slow the SOB down!

(green font for sarcasm) Obviously, let 'em go...have to admit, never did consider the real emergency thing, but maybe if I saw flashers I would.

I get out of the way too. I don't need to get mixed up in what ever their problems are, psychological or otherwise. An ego is a terrible thing to stroke.

If someone has a legit emergency and needs to go upper level speeds to get to a hospital, they should have the flashers on already, not turn them on when they encounter someone who won't let them by.

Sure, there's a slight possibility their emergency gets more serious while they're on the way, but this guy was already driving like a dick in the rain.

So... 99.72% chance he's a dick. Probably late for a party, to pick up a hot date, etc. or just high on something, talking on his phone, and enjoying being a dick in his awesome Maserati.

I'd do my best to get out of his way, too... and lay back a bit further so if he miscalculated a pass and caused a multi-vehicle pileup, I could avoid driving into it.

One more thing... if a driver like this doesn't have his flashers on when he comes up behind me, I'm not going to do something unsafe to let him by (like merge over into a 3 or 4 car length gap in the next lane). I'll speed up a bit until I come to a safe gap.

It's hard to chill out ... out there...

Imagettinbetter ....

It's all "little schit" .... "out there" .... so I try not to sweat it ....

It's hard :D

But worth it...

Stationed in Germany in the late 60’s and driving a ‘56 beetle on the autobahn was an experience. Following a truck in the right lane, check left lane, put on left signal and spy lights blinking about a half mile behind me. Turn signal off, wait a few seconds and a Mercedes or BMW goes by at 120 MPH. Try again, and if you can’t get by the land train quickly enough, some one is right on your tailpipe, two wheels on the left shoulder with the left signal blinking as well as the headlights and 13 other driving lights on the front of their car. A millisecond after you start to pull back to the right lane, they will pass with two wheels still on the shoulder. Very impatient people over there. I’m told tailgating is illegal in Germany these days.

On a kinda sorta related tangent try responding to a 911 alarm, blue lights flashing but the car in front of you won't yield.

NJ law states that the blue light doesn't entitle me to any special privileges. I can't go thru red lights or speed and believe it or not no one is required to yield to a blue light. But imagine being on the other end waiting for me to get to you or your family member.

Highway driving is an interesting activity. In my younger days, I might overtake 4 vehicles for each one which overtook me. If someone was catching up, they were likely doing some serious speed. I think that is when I got into the habit of checking my "6" frequently. I don't like surprises. Now my speeds are closer to the average and the mirror scan is more important. If trouble is coming my way, I want to know about it and have an exit plan.
Be safe out there.

Best
Les

People don't even respond to the lights and sirens on our firetrucks and ambulances. Why would they respond to our blue lights....

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Just pull over and let the fools go; nowadays, we have tons of idiots with no licenses, no insurance and typically driving cars not even registered in their name. When they hit you they run or abandon the car if un-drivable. Here in CA that seems to be all too common.

Wow, that's surprising. I would expect pretty much all stops to be pulled out as part of law for emergency vehicles.
From a young age, I remember people pulling over when there's any sort of red/blue flashy light thingy on the road. That's the way it works, fire truck, ambulance, or police car with lights and siren, GTF out of the way. It's shocking to me these days how many folks seem completely clueless about that.

I think I saw something recently that says that in TX it's the law that if you are at a controlled intersection blocking their path you're supposed to pull through the intersection (when safe, of course) and pull over to let them through.

I had the opposite happen to me.
Guy was holding up traffic by pacing a truck and held up cars way back. People passing on ramps etc..
I got stuck behind him on 2 separate occasions.
Called the cops both times.
Turns out his wife and kids had been killed in a car accident and he just wanted to slow people down.
How Would You ever Know?

I would suspect slow drivers in the passing lane ultimately cause more accidents than they prevent.

How do you know some moron didn’t do something stupid that caused him to crash?

I drive fast in wintery conditions that most people wouldn’t drive in. Just because conditions have you driving slow doesn’t mean that others with better tires and ability can’t handle the conditions at higher speeds.

Should F1 racers slow to 60 in the rain too?

A few years ago I passed a cop crawling along in a snow storm.
He immediately lit me up and then went into a rant about how you need to drive to the conditions. My reply back was "yes, we should not drive beyond out capabilities".
Now he was pissed!
Lucky for me he got a 911 call for a car in the ditch not too far in front of us. Before he left he said he was about to throw the book at me and was up to 5 infractions. I guess he had a small weenie and was trying to make up for it. :D

F1 cars have huge wings and aerodynamics pushing them down, very special rain tires.
And they do red flag races in heavy rain.

The old "rule of thumb" for street cars is take the square root of the tire pressure, and multiply by 10. So 36 PIS tires, square root is 6, xa 10 is 60 MPH is the max safe speed.

He went by me going 75 or more. The speed limit is 75 but that is for dry conditions and clear visibility. He was driving too fast for conditions, and he paid the price.

That is one level below "Know why I stopped you?" "Yes because I let you".

Anyone traveling at a significantly different speed than "the flow of traffic", and anyone traveling in the wrong lane relative to their pace in the flow of traffic poses a threat to those around them. It all works better, it's all much safer, if we all go about the same speed, with the generally faster staying left and the slower staying right.

We've all seen the self appointed traffic cop holding up traffic by going below the pace of others in the passing lane. Traffic engineers refer to this as the "boulder in the stream affect". Traffic starts backing up behind them further and further as frustrated drivers change lanes further and further back in an effort to get around the slowing traffic. These self righteous twists will most often never even see the wreck caused by some impatient driver well behind them.

We have all likewise seen the "highly skilled" driver who would never let anything like a blinding snowstorm and/or icy roads slow them down. They are just that much better at driving than the rest of us mere mortals. The fact that everyone else has slowed down to about the same pace, and are doing their best to cooperate with one another, while being predictable and safe, means nothing to our budding F1 jockeys. Their superior skill and judgement will save the day when they startle some lesser driver into an unpredictable reaction, some schmuck who has the audacity to get in their way. These heroes are often every bit as oblivious to the problems they cause for others through their self centered driving habits.

*Sigh* It really is just safer if we all do about the same thing. Outliers at either end of the spectrum just cause problems for others.

^^^ Well said Jeff.
I make a point of never "blowing by" other cars.
If I feel like "playing" a little, it's always catching up to the next group of cars.

Very well said Jeff.

Iv'e spent the past 35 yrs cutting these a-holes out of and pulling their dead bodies out of their "well equipped" vehicles including the innocent victims of their superiority and entitlement.
I will say it has gotten increasingly worse the past decade.
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