I got trolled for "agressive driving"

john70t · 09:45 PM

Took my dog on the road driving 3 hours to help a buddy install some doors for the last couple of days.
That project had it's own difficulties but it's a separate story.
It got done and done right.

About halfway through the trip, I'm doing 80mph in the left lane with cars stacked up to pass a semi.
I usually drive on the right for that same reason.
I'm noticing an SUV sweeping up the right lane and I think "nope, not going to make it".
I tighten my gap up to the dangerous 3-car-lengths everyone else is doing.
As the SUV reaches the very back of the semi it pushes over(no blinker of course) as if I wasn't even there.
I nearly tapped it's bumper.
I honk, give a "what the heck" gesture and back off.

1). The SUV brakes hard right in front of me, and I see the driver lift a smartphone up to take a rearward photo of my now "too close" car.
[playing the victim while nearly causing an accident]

2). The SUV weaves between both lanes, pulls to the right, and then back out in front of me as I'm trying to pass.
"I did it once and I'll do it again".

3). The SUV then accelerates fast, pulls into the right and brakes in front of another car.
I pull up in back of them, still looking for pencil and paper. Time to get a license plate.

4). The SUV takes off again.
I follow at distance, and the driver does the same thing.
But this time it brakes hard and right in front of a semi .
I think they went from 70mph to 45-50mph in a few seconds.
Driver is plum crazy.
I slow down temporarily in case the semi jackknifes or needs the left lane.
With cars now coming up behind, I accelerate well past them and notice the driver is a short-haired blond woman, about 50, with a camera pointed out the side window.

At this point I'm a bit shaken and ticked.
Still can't find a working pen, and decide to get Highway Patrol on the line to stop this maniac after she passes and get a plate.

5. SUV stays well behind me, then suddenly jerks to the right almost flipping, and crosses past the center of the off ramp "V" between two cars.

She left with pictures of:
A). My "too close" car.
B). My license plate.
C). I got nothing. Didn't even think to get the (best impartial witness) semi driver's plate. I was in pure navigate mode.

look 171 · 10-03-2014, 09:43 PM

sorry to hear that you have to deal with this nut case. This happens every time we drive in LA.

john70t · 10:07 PM

(Having driven in LA and the Bay Area, my condolences.)

Had to vent. Thanks for listening.
Note to self: With a dash cam there would be a few other drivers as witnesses.

Thinking of writing an open complaint to Highway Patrol...contingent on that SUV filing a complaint and identifying herself.

slodave · slodave's Garage

You would have had a field day with me today.

A kid pissed me off with his attempt at an illegal pass on a residential street. The look on his face after 10 minutes of "chasing" him around the neighborhood.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by look 171

sorry to hear that you have to deal with this nut case. This happens every time we drive in LA.

Really?? I've been driving here everyday for 32 years and I've never encountered anyone like this. But you encounter it "everytime (you) drive"? weird.

Sure, I've seen random acts of road rage but much more in the Midwest. My cousin gets flipped-off and road raged in Minneapolis simply for driving a new Porsche Boxster. Like almost everytime he gets behind the wheel. He says it's a nightmare.

look 171 · 10-03-2014, 10:24 PM

Denis, tell me that no one cuts in very close in front of you when you are on the Fwy? try the 101 at 10 or 11AM or just before 2:30 or 3. I was just started to drive with a permit 30 years ago, and remember there was no traffic then. IN the past 10 years, this place is bursting at the seams so drivers slot themselves into tights places. I admit, I am one of them and are always driving a little faster then traffic. I don't mean people are taking out their camera or jerking their wheels to the point of losing control crazy. So the answer is yes, people slot themselves with about 10' of space in front of me and everyone else daily going 60. No road rage, they are just trying to go home.

slodave · slodave's Garage

Seems like everyday driving on the freeways around here, the way you are describing it. You learn to anticipate and adapt.

look 171 · 10-03-2014, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slodave

Seems like everyday driving on the freeways around here, the way you are describing it. You learn to anticipate and adapt.

yep, nothing out of ordinary. Around other parts of the country where there are less traffic with much more open space, drivers tend to give each other a lot more room. What we encounter normal or daily is aggressive or simply getting too close, compared many of the smaller less congestive cities.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

People suck. That's really nothing.

Baz · Baz's Garage

I've been thinking about getting a dash cam myself.

I'm a contractor and always in a hurry to go from A to B but as a mature person I also realize there's more to life than just my perspective so I try to maintain some patience and understanding.

But....some of these (so-called) drivers....they're completely clueless on consideration and awareness.

My signature line says it all....

Nickshu · Nickshu's Garage

Another example of why we need a federal law preventing big trucks from using the left lane on two lane divided highways.

speeder · speeder's Garage

There is quite a large difference between what he is talking about here and normal crowded freeways in big cities. The freeways in L.A. are exactly like the ones in every medium-sized city in the U.S. except that people are better drivers here. And yes, you do not get your own 100 feet of "following distance" in front of you when it's packed. I'll pull in front of you myself.

The OP describes a psychotic person driving like a maniac trying to intentionally cause a collision on a 2-lane interstate highway with big rigs and lines of cars passing. Surely you've been outside of L.A. before and driven on an interstate highway? There are not 5 or 6 lanes to choose from. It's a different ballgame and potentially more dangerous with less lane choices to avoid someone driving like a homicidal maniac.

Scott Douglas · Scott Douglas's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by john70t

I tighten my gap up to the dangerous 3-car-lengths everyone else is doing.

The OP could have been describing I-5 in the central valley any day of the week IMO.
Your first mistake is quoted above.
Here in LA/OC we practice 1.5 car lengths on a regular basis.
You left too much room.

Just my $.02 for free.
I'd also recommend you get yourself a cheap camera for just such occasions too.
Lots easier to get the license plate that way.

LakeCleElum · 10-04-2014, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john70t

I tighten my gap up to the dangerous 3-car-lengths everyone else is doing.
As the SUV reaches the very back of the semi it pushes over(no blinker of course) as if I wasn't even there.

Next time you do this move, drift a bit to the right as they are coming up on you. Let them think you are coming into their lane. Offense is the best defense...

scottmandue · 10-04-2014, 07:05 AM

Well, I will be the jerk here... I'm another 30 year Los Angeles veteran... done my share of honking, bird flipping, blocking/cutting off, yelling at other drivers.
Then one day I had this epiphany... you never know who the other person is or what they have been through, maybe they are on the way to the hospital... maybe they just left the hospital and watched a love on die... maybe they are just a A-hole... maybe they are a crack head with a .38 in the glove box... maybe a gang banger with a 9 in his pocket...
Is fighting over a spot in traffic worth dieing over? Not for me... I handed in my vigilante traffic monitor badge and just let people go, and I'm much happier because of it.
Just my two cents.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Like button. ^^^

bmcuscgr94 · bmcuscgr94's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Well, I will be the jerk here... I'm another 30 year Los Angeles veteran... done my share of honking, bird flipping, blocking/cutting off, yelling at other drivers.
Then one day I had this epiphany... you never know who the other person is or what they have been through, maybe they are on the way to the hospital... maybe they just left the hospital and watched a love on die... maybe they are just a A-hole... maybe they are a crack head with a .38 in the glove box... maybe a gang banger with a 9 in his pocket...
Is fighting over a spot in traffic worth dieing over? Not for me... I handed in my vigilante traffic monitor badge and just let people go, and I'm much happier because of it.
Just my two cents.

^^ this. I was driving to work this week, most the way is on two lane hwy with limited safe passing places when this Lexus comes roaring up behind me and passes across the double yellow. Watched them do this to several cars ahead of me. We get to the bottom of the grade and they get caught in the traffic at the light. We both get on the freeway, the Lexus just a head of me. I catch up to him again on the off-ramp I take into town. He was wearing green hospital scrubs, had the big hospital's parking sticker on his bumper and he turned down the street to their parking lot. Late for work or coming in for a medical emergency? Don't know, but made me think a bit about my first impressions of him.

Don Ro · 10-04-2014, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

People suck. That's really nothing.

I like this POV,

Jolly Amaranto · 10-04-2014, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottmandue

maybe they are just a A-hole... maybe they are a crack head with a .38 in the glove box... maybe a gang banger with a 9 in his pocket...

Yeah I just back off and let them go also. I sometimes get a little satisfaction imagining that if they are the first one listed here that eventually they will have a run in with one of the second two and pay the price. I just hope no innocent bystanders get hurt.