Anyone else have roadrage issues?

[VINMAN]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
Half my office was born in Brooklyn, grew up on Staten Island and now lives out in NJ or Pennsyvania and complains about the commute! Ha! Move back to Brooklyn. I am anywhere in mid-town or downtown in 30 minutes and can sit and read the paper on the subway every morning.

Sounds like me!

I work in Staten Island, my average commute from home is between 45 min and an hour. When I have to go into Bklyn for work, somedays it takes me well over an hour just to get into Bklyn from the Island.

Move back to Brooklyn?? My old neighborhood is but a mere shell of what it used to be. Its horrible you couldn't pay me to go back there

[competentone]

Originally posted by 125shifter
I don't normally tail gate unless it's in the left lane. Then I tail gate the crap out of people.

I don't drive in the left lane, except to pass, but I always slow down when I have a tailgater behind me. If they can't follow at a safe distance, I make my speed slow enough that their distance becomes safe!

Just relax, cruise in the right lane slower than the rest of the traffic and enjoy the scenery.

[john70t]

When the cop arrives and looks at the crushed vehicle and the blood, tell him "they didn't pull over fast enough".

When driving a full size vehicle agressively around small vehicles and motorcycles, you're shooting at the empty ground in a crowded room. It doesn't matter if you hit anyone or not. 3-4,000 Americans are killed each year as a result of collision with trucks/suvs, and this number could be compaired to the WTC. Vehicle use as a deady weapon.

Sorry for the harsh words but I've no sympathy for people who play chicken with others lives. I've often wondered how my Clubwagon would fair if I slammed on the brakes some time(temptations). Several times I've had trucks laying on the horn while I waited for pedestrians to cross the street(their legal right).

I stay right, give people an "out", etc, etc... but recognize some people are just on autopilot through life, and there's little to change that.
Give 'em a couple flashes, give 'em a chance, and then go around. With so many more cars on the road, drivers traning and the police should be be pushing "stay right" more.

[gaijindabe]

Originally posted by VINMAN


Move back to Brooklyn?? My old neighborhood is but a mere shell of what it used to be. Its horrible you couldn't pay me to go back there

When things go downhill it is treated like the normal course of events - when a neighborhood improves it is called "gentrification" and considered a bad thing. Totally unfair.

Whole areas of the Brooklyn are being refurbished. It took 50 years to bring it down and we may be long gone from this world before it is done getting better..

Traffic will never be fixed. 15 - 30 years from now you will pull up to a highway and turn you car over to a computer - but that will only help a little. Volume is volume.

The only real solution is tele-commuting and traveling off hours.

[coldstart]

Originally posted by Jim Cesiro
I have passed on the right many times and I make it a point of getting RIGHT BACK OVER to the right lane once I am clear of the Left Lane Looser (LLL). Sometimes they will speed up and cock block you. In my Dodge this would suck, it had a speed limiter at 97MPH.

This was tried once when in the Audi and I had enough to jump past and in front. Then the LLL sped up. So I laid the hammer..... Man, that Audi really likes to cruise at 130. It was like silk. It felt like 80 in my Dodge. The LLL quickly became a dot in my mirror.

I log a tom of miles between Florida and North Carolina and it gets really old. I sometimes can pass more cars in the left than in the right. They line up 50 deep and all seem to be cool with doing 73 in the left lane while the right is empty.

You guys have to stop keeping me busy! The supply of personal injury sueage has never been heavier.....

Seriously, take it easy on the roads. I know it is annoying when some jerkoff is lounging in the left lane while talking on the cellphone, but they NEVER learn better and tailgating is definitely not the answer. Give those idiots MORE space so when they really screw up, you are not part of it. The potential consequences TO YOU are too great.

[gaijindabe]

Originally posted by john70t
With so many more cars on the road, drivers traning and the police should be be pushing "stay right" more.

They should. And it would make a huge difference. Time and lives saved.. But that would be relying on education and personal responsibility. I am not holding my breath.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by coldstart
You guys have to stop keeping me busy! The supply of personal injury sueage has never been heavier.....

Seriously, take it easy on the roads. I know it is annoying when some jerkoff is lounging in the left lane while talking on the cellphone, but they NEVER learn better and tailgating is definitely not the answer. Give those idiots MORE space so when they really screw up, you are not part of it. The potential consequences TO YOU are too great.

Actually I drive in the right lane. Many many many times I will pass someone camping in the left while driving the right lane. For whatever reason this upsets them and they speed up to keep me from getting in front of them. Sometimes I have enough momentum to carry by them and get in front anyway, other times I slow down get behind them, pass the car in the right lane, and get back over to the right lane. Then I pass them.

I do not barral down the left lane at these LLL's driving in their bliss, tailgate, then blow around them 90% of the time I am already in the right lane just driving by.

[singpilot]

When I first saw this thread I thought I had finally been had.

Sunday morning, I was last in a line of 30 or so cars in the fast lane climbing up thru Sepulveda Pass on the 405. Doing only 70-ish (Sunday drivers), which is slow for there. From out of nowhere, a Dodge 300 with 24 inch wheels comes up on my a$$ (between two and three feet). I am on the GoldWing. After a minute or two (enough time for him to come to his senses) I turn around in the seat and glare at him. He backed off for 30 seconds, then right back at it.

I moved into a space in the #2, and he then pulled up on the guy in front of me in the #1 while flipping me off as he went by. I moved over a lane or two more into an opening, and sped up, putting 8 or 10 cars between us, as I went back into the #1 lane.

Not too long after that, here he is again, on my a$$. The guy in the truck alongside me rolls down his window and asks if I would like him to 'handle' this. I said, "Be a witness.." He agreed, and I pointed to the Burbank offramp. We got to the Denny's there, I bought him lunch, and a CHP bike met us there. We gave him the description (by tattos) and the license number, and filed the ADW report.

They called me this morning with the info. When approached by the CHP at his home, he fired on the officers. They fired back, he is in the hospital, and my 'Assault with a Deadly Weapon' complaint will not be needed, thank you.

Thanks to the guy in the Dodge truck, I cannot put his name here, but I am buying his lunch again someday soon.

When I saw the thread title, I thought it was about me.

[VINMAN]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
When things go downhill it is treated like the normal course of events - when a neighborhood improves it is called "gentrification" and considered a bad thing. Totally unfair.

Whole areas of the Brooklyn are being refurbished. It took 50 years to bring it down and we may be long gone from this world before it is done getting better..

Who would have ever thought that the Gowanus Canal would become scenic promenade??

[bivenator]

125, I sympathize with you as i too am a road rager. People are so inconsiderate of others. i always try to give room and play nice stay calm and in control. This works for a little while. My solution will not fit everyone but i began taking the bus and train to work. Yes, good ol' Metro here in houston. The park and ride system is pretty darn efficient. 7$ per day to go from I-10 and 6 to the med center. To drive it would cost about $13. I am such a nicer person when I arrive home and I don't need 30 minutes to decompress after the commute. Is this a viable alternative? maybe not but something to consider.
My rage spiral out of control in 98 after purchasing my first new car. Some azzhat at a stoplight pulls right onto my bumper. I rolled forward to create a little space, he creeps closer. Again, I pull forward and again so does he. Only this time he is stomping the brakes to get his car to rock and inching closer. By now I'm watching him in my rearview and holding my palms up asking WTF do you want. He gestures and the light changes. We drive on with him beside me. We are cussing and gesturing and I'm pissed beyond belief. After a couple of blocks I let him go. Next day, same light on my way home from work, the same guy is there. I consider all the people in my lifetime that I have allowed to get off after stupid behavior and decide that not this time. Not today Zerg, I'm gonna have a piece of this Mofo. Roll up beside him and shout, "Hey, remember me" Funny look on his face and then the light goes on and he does remember. We trade FU's while at the light and i challenge him to pull into the McD parking lot. I pull in and he follows. We both get out and walk directly to each other and with nary a word start throwing hands. Fighting is very tiring. Fights in the movies last 10 minutes, not here. Not in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of summer. After a punches were exchanged and some wrestling ensued we got back in our cars and drove away. Stupid stupid stupid, could have easily been killed. My road rage was somewhat tempered after that exchange. Maybe you need to punch somebody.

[pwd72s]

I'm too old for fisticuffs and juvenile behavior like that...so I carry my high power, my 12 gauge loaded with 00 buck, and my mini-14 with 30 rounds of 5.56 ball. NEVER screw with me after I've been drinking, then decide to drive.

[mschuep]

I was going to try to write something insightful that would help us all to deal with road-rage issues...Bottomline is that it's going to happen and people will deal with it however they wish, so I will tell a funny RR experience instead.

Some fat chick was following me way too close in heavy traffic on Rt. 10. I was in the left lane, she was behind me making jestures and waving her hands and the whole bit. Nobody was going anywhere, but I think she thought that if she could just get everyone for the next 4 miles to get in the right lane, she could proceed as planned. Nobody else was near her because of the constant stop, go, stop, go, routine she was doing every 2 seconds, hovering between 1 and 5 feet from my bumper.

I waited for my moment, then pounced on the brakes when I had enough room in front of me to let off when she was about to hit me. It was awesome. She slammed on the brakes, lunged forward, all the crap in her car went flying toward the windshield and I scooted away unscathed. I don't even think she knew I did it on purpose. Though immature, I found it to be quite satisfying and funny.

[Christien]

singpilot, that's a hell of story - congrats, that's making the system work for you, although I suspect karma had a bit role to play in there. If only everyone were that level-headed when pissed off, and if other people would take the time to act as a witness.

[gaijindabe]

Originally posted by singpilot
I moved over a lane or two more into an opening, and sped up, putting 8 or 10 cars between us, as I went back into the #1 lane.

Not too long after that, here he is again, on my a$$.

This guy was driving like he was packing a loaded gun (and he was) and your getting back in front of him?? On a bike?? Sing-man, you have got to take it easy out there..

[serge944]

Everyone needs to be able to control their emotions. If you can't - well, you're no better than the idiot driver.

[singpilot]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
This guy was driving like he was packing a loaded gun (and he was) and your getting back in front of him?? On a bike?? Sing-man, you have got to take it easy out there..

In the past, I have found being in front of the idiot with a death wish was better than being behind him. The debris path from the inevitable wreck with him and everyone else is impossible to avoid if behind him.

That day, there was almost no way this guy was going to make up the 8-10 car length distance before I exited the freeway. What I didn't take into account was how crazy this guy was in passing / tailgaiting his way up thru the pack.

I treat everyone on the freeway as if they are armed and dangerous. When you are on a bike, they are. This guy would have been my fourth person gone to jail on a felony complaint had he not gone postal with the officer at his house.

[Moneyguy1]

Sounds like some here could use a course in anger management......

Or, could it be that some forms of road rage on the part of the individual causing it AND the individual reacting be attributed to insecurity and immaturity?

[singpilot]

If you think I have insecurity or maturity issues on a 500 pound motorcycle while being tailgated by someone in a 2000 pound car, I would gladly trade places with you someday and you tell me if you feel secure in my spot.

Rather than ratchetting up the situation at that moment, I get out of the way, find a witness, and have the deranged person charged with the crime they just committed.

Frankly, it is the most secure and mature thing to do under the circumstances. No one gets hurt, the weapon is impounded until trial, and the criminal is removed from society. He goes to jail and eventually trial. With any luck, he won't make bail.

Y'all might think about that next time you crowd a bike in California. We all have cellphones with cameras in them.

[RallyJon]

So what is this law in CA? Does it apply only to motorcycles?

[Moneyguy1]

Sing..

Your reaction is one I would consider sane and prudent.