Poll: You Witness Another Total Reckless Driver

[Rusty Heap]

Poll for the masses on what to do:


10:30 pm at night, a BMW 335i passes you ON THE SHOULDER to your right at a rapid rate of speed, on a 2 land hwy, you doing 60-65 in a 60 mph zone. He's booking at an easy 85-90.

Traffic up ahead, he tailgates 3' behind the next guys bumper. You write down his plate number and note that it's a DEALER plate BOLTED on. He proceeds to tailgate so close the the guy in front of him rapidly pulls over to the shoulder to let him by. The guy in the BMW blasts by at warp speed. Damn, this car seems 911 turbo light speed fast.

You stay on his tail hanging a ways back. Tempted to call in 911 as this guy is either going to kill someone or himself. His driving Wayyyyyyy out of line, this guy has watched too many "fast and the furious movies."

7-8 miles later you pull up to a stop light and see that he even has a kid in a car seat in the back of the BMW. 2-3 year old kid waving a happy meal box around. Kid or no kid, this guy is a danger and menace on the road. What if he kills someone, even one of YOUR family members?

So what to do? poll to the masses

[Rick Lee]

Call 911, say it's a drunk driver all over the road, give the plate number.

[Heel n Toe]

Dave, by calling it in, you could be preventing casualties if LE gets to the guy in a timely manner... why wouldn't you call it in ASAP?

If you didn't call it in, and you created the poll to find others here giving you reasons/excuses to back up your non-action, I don't think you're gonna find enough of that to assuage your guilt.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

Poll for the masses on what to do:


10:30 pm at night, a BMW 335i passes you ON THE SHOULDER to your right at a rapid rate of speed, on a 2 land hwy, you doing 60-65 in a 60 mph zone. He's booking at an easy 85-90.

Traffic up ahead, he tailgates 3' behind the next guys bumper. You write down his plate number and note that it's a DEALER plate BOLTED on. He proceeds to tailgate so close the the guy in front of him rapidly pulls over to the shoulder to let him by. The guy in the BMW blasts by at warp speed. Damn, this car seems 911 turbo light speed fast.

You stay on his tail hanging a ways back. Tempted to call in 911 as this guy is either going to kill someone or himself. His driving Wayyyyyyy out of line, this guy has watched too many "fast and the furious movies."

7-8 miles later you pull up to a stop light and see that he even has a kid in a car seat in the back of the BMW. 2-3 year old kid waving a happy meal box around. Kid or no kid, this guy is a danger and menace on the road. What if he kills someone, even one of YOUR family members?

So what to do? poll to the masses

If he was driving so fast how did you keep up with him for 8 miles?

If it's as bad as the way you tell it, i guess you call the cops, but it could also be some guy rushing to the hospital to see his dying wife too.

I try not to get the cops involved, ever.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Call 911/PD. Definitely.

Normally I'd give someone just driving quickly the benefit of the doubt (maybe they're having chest pains and trying to get to a hospital, or have a pregnant woman on board who's in labor, or maybe someone who needs medical attention urgently, etc.) However, there's a difference between someone just trying to go quickly and get around traffic and someone who's driving super aggressively (i.e. like a douchebag) and clearly is just treating the road as his own personal raceway with no care/concern for himself or anyone else on it. It's a bit of a judgement call but if I see someone simply going fast up the left lane I let it go. If I see someone going fast making lane-to-lane changes to get around traffic it depends. If it's someone clearly just being a dick (whipping in/out of lanes for no reason, tailgating when there's room to pass, etc.) then I'll definitely call 911. I've done it before too.

[Geronimo '74]

Do you call the cops when you see old folks struggling along at a speed that is too slow as well??
Or when they come on the road just before you because they misinterpret your speed and you have to stand on your brakes?. (Because they think they still drive adequately, and are still able to keep up in today's traffic)
At least that guy speeding is still alert and aware of the speed he has, aware that other people go much slower than him)
I do not approve of the driving you explained in your post, not at all.
But on the other hand, I admit of driving faster than average, and some people might see me as a reckless driver too. When in fact, I am very aware of things around me and potentially dangerous situations. And I brake accordingly.

I voted for the ignore option.
Calling the cops is not an option. If everybody is calling the cops when they see a "reckless" driver, phones would be red hot. (Besides, everybody has a different standard when they make that kind of judgement.)
That's why we have cops in the first place, they are the ones to make that assessment, and what is more, they are legally warranted.

(and I do wonder, like Snipe, how you kept up with him for that distance. Seems like you weren't driving Miss Daisy either)

[MFAFF]

Its obviously pretty personal...

But over here the traffic cops have largely been replaced by cash generators... err 'safety cameras'...so people like htis, regardless of rushing to hospital or not are 'free' to do as they please...

The one who drove a good friend of mine off the road and into his grave was 'reckless'...still, nobody bothered the cops with it until there was a burning car in the ditch....

[Jeff Higgins]

There is driving in a spirited manner, and then there is driving like an ass hole. Granted, different people have a different "ass hole threshold", and I'm sure I cross others' on a regular basis. Some, just by showing up in a Porsche, some just by driving at 5 mph over, some by flashing my high beams to aske them to get their 50 mph ass the hell out of the fast lane, and so on. But passing on the shoulder? Tailgating until the driver in front is intimidated into pulling over? No way. I'm pretty sure that crosses everyone's line.

As far as calling in the dangerously slow drivers, good luck with that one. I have done so on a number of occasions and, as far as I know, have never elicited a response. One very clear case of LE focusing on the "fast" guys happened on a group run up a local dead end mountain road a few years back. There were over 20 of us, and apparently a few motor home and SUV drivers called us in as "racing". So a sheriff's deputy came up to the top and waited for us to leave. We fell in behind a mini-van, with his truck between our group and that van. Well, the van crept down that mountain at a good 15-20 mph under the posted limit. All the way down.

At the bottom, we stopped to let the cop drive off. Instead, he came back and chewed us out for our "reckless driving" up the mountain. I asked him why he never pulled the mini van over, and he looked at me all confused. I reminded him it was state law that any vehicle delaying five or more other vehicles had to use the available turnouts to let those vehicles pass. We had passed at least eight to ten turnouts, he was going at least 15-20 under, and he had over 20 vehicles he was delaying. Whys was he not stopped for that clear violation? The cop had nothing to say, other than to tell us to slow down.

[Rusty Heap]

Interesting comments from all.

The guy wasn't drunk and weaving, he was VERY much in control other than being an asshat by passing me on the shoulder then getting caught up behind other traffic ahead of me.

It wasn't that he was on an all out Banzi run going WFO with his foot mashed to the floor and stuck there. He'd get on someones bumper 3' away with his bright white xenon foglights/highbeams on, basically in a bump-to-pass manuver, and once he intimidated them out of the way he's gone launched like a bullet, wrapped it up to 85-90+ only to get caught up in traffic again so it's not like I was in high speed pursuit.

He wasn't weaving like a drunk, he was in control, just being an asshat on his own public hwy private roadway. Rural Area, more likely to hit a deer than some toddler in a school zone. We raise cows not kids where I live.

As I said, I've done worse in my porsche, and it was amazing to me how many people did actually pull over to let me by when the Guards Red SC hood was in their rear view mirror, a lot of people did let me by even when I wasn't tailgating or riding their bumper.

Jeff, you just painted your car the wrong color! grins, deep sea blue is almost camo in the pacific northwest, you might as well have painted it battleship grey.

good comments all.

[VINMAN]

I would call it in. Without a doubt. I've done it many times. Like others said, big difference between driving "swiftly" and just being a douchebag. Driver is typical example of what I like to call an "entitlement driver". "I have a fancy, expensive car, so that gives me the right to drive like an ******* because I own the road!" We have plenty of those in my area.

[quicksix]

call 911,see if you can get the guys attention at the stoplight and ask him, for his kids sake, to slow down.
Ever been to an MVA with a kid in the car?

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by quicksix

Ever been to an MVA with a kid in the car?

WAY WAY too many times.

[speeder]

I would probably call that guy in. I would never rat someone out just for speeding, (that would make me the world's biggest hypocrite), someone could pass me on a deserted highway going 150 and I would not report it.

Someone blowing 4-way stops in the city w/o slowing down, however, gets a dime dropped. Just did it the other day, a new Escalade in front of me ran (2) 4-way stops like she did not even see them. (Texting)? One had a woman w/ a stroller about to cross, the pedestrians were left shaking their heads. She could have killed someone. I called 911, got her plate# at her next (forced) stop light and followed her onto the freeway giving updates on her location. (I was getting on anyways). I lost visual contact w/ her and was not going to speed to keep up, hell if I'm getting a ticket out of this and not her.

I figured it was a lost cause because she could have gone any direction on some interchanges/transitions, (62/212/5/494/etc. for MN. guys), but ~30 minutes later my cell phone rang:

"Hello sir, this is Officer Smith from the Eden Prarie police dept. and we have that Escalade pulled-over. What exactly did you see? OK, what do you want us to do?"

He basically gave me the option of coming to their location to make a citizen's arrest, (too far away or I would have been tempted), so I said, "can't you just taze the schit out of her?" (j/k) He said that he would give her a serious warning and put the stop and warning in the system so that if she gets pulled-over again, the next cop would know about it. (?)

Truly dangerous drivers absolutely deserve to get ratted-out and caught, if that's not what cops are for, I give up.

[m21sniper]

In the future direct all reports on fellow citizens to www.whitehouse.guv

Obama wants to know what YOU'VE been up to.

[sailchef]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

If he was driving so fast how did you keep up with him for 8 miles?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Now we have two idiots driving at high speed.

[lendaddy]

Calling it in later is pointless, the cops are not going to do anything unless they witness it. I get a dozen "Reckless driver" calls a day. Only the one s that are likely OWI drivers get any real attention....even those don't get much.

Call it in as a "rolling domestic", that will get actual officers assigned to locate....j/k

[450knotOffice]

Sniper, you'll have that attitude until someone who's obviously driving way over the top kills or maims someone in your family or circle of friends. Passing cars on the right shoulder and tailgating every car in front of him as if he were in a stock car race tells me that this guy has a "****k u" attitude to everybody else out there. It's HIS road and we are trespassing on it. A 911 call that results in him getting pulled over would be my little return "****k u" back to him. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[The Gaijin]

I think Sniper is trying to keep his sanity.

I do not drive in Philly much, but Baltimore or New York City is like a fu*king video game. 100% defense driving and just try and get home safe.

If the cops wanted to do anything about the problem, they would. A 911 call is going to do nothing but get a record of your calls into some database. After a while, you would be like the boy crying wolf, and they would not bother to pick up.

"Passing cars on the right shoulder and tailgating every car in front of him as if he were in a stock car race tells me that this guy..."

...Is just another fool on the road, one of millions.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by sailchef

Exactly what I was thinking.

Now we have two idiots driving at high speed.

Hmmm... he already responded to sniper's observation, explaining how he caught up in heavy traffic. Seems the biggest idiots here are posting, not driving...

How many times do we see this kind of ass hole weaving in and out of traffic, taking unnecessay risks, getting out of sight in front of us on the freeway, only to pull up next to them at the first stop light on the offramp? I've done it more times than I can remember. Sure doesn't seem to save them any time. They don't even seem to notice that many of those they just pissed off are parked all around them, either.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

... 100% defense driving and just try and get home safe...

Honestly that's why I resorted to offensive driving when I lived in NY.

Especially in the city. The nicer the car the more offensively I drove. Seemed to be the only thing that would ward of the cabbies.

Basically tells them "I'm a crazy m'fr and don't care so step off"