Close call

I was returning home from an autocross this afternoon, enjoying taking an alternative route down A1A. 

I was following a pickup truck that was driving 55 miles per hour speed limit, which for along there on a nice Saturday afternoon is fine. 

Behind me, closer than I'm comfortable, is Mitzi and Bitsy (or could have been Muffy and Buffy) in mommy's little Lexus. There was no specific reason, and I have to admit to profiling, but I had a feeling that there wasn't a lot of intellectual capacity in play back there.

Sure enough, they pull out to pass on a straight stretch, with with an oncoming car a hundred feet away!

I've seen people pass in blind turns, and over the crest of a hill, and of course that's really stupid. When you could have seen the car in front of you if you just bothered to look up, and still pulled out, you've really got a special and unique kind of stupid going.

Until now, I've never brake checked anyone, and I never thought that to be anything but a real E36 M3 move. 

I didn't do the "go ahead and hit me" move, but I checked her up pretty good.

I waited until she got back in the lane behind me, because the last thing I wanted to do was give her nowhere to go while she was out there. 

It worked out okay, because then she passed me and I didn't want her behind me any more. I hope she scared herself, but I seriously doubt it.

If Florida drivers are to be believed, that's not even the worst thing they've done today. 

I see that stuff all the time.

The two-lane road in front of our shop goes up a hill, the two-lane road is also a truck route. 

A guy tried passing uphill a couple years ago and experienced a loaded dumptruck with a trailer coming down the hill.

He didn't make it and neither did the truck driver.

I was talking to a young man and I mentioned how low most peoples intelligence has become. He said he didn't think that was true. I asked him if he drove, his eyes got wide as he realized the truth. Remember you can't fix stupid, but you can muffle it with duct tape.

Here is a video of a few people not driving well. Sorry about the quality, it was fine when I was done rendering it. More if I ever get the time.

Linkey

This has been discussed a lot. Yes there are a lot of stupid drivers old and young. I think it is distractions that are the biggest factors. The biggest is the cell phone. People especially the younger set treat phones like it is a life support system. They can't sit the phone down while eating, sleeping with it on their pillow, during conversations and while driving. It would probably just be easier if it were implanted. For a lot of people the world stops if they can't answer a phone call or text instantly.

Just look around you when stopped at a traffic light I bet 50% are on the phone or texting. You can certainly tell who is texting by the swerving, panic stops, etc. A lot of people actually believe they can drive and text without being distracted. The easy button would be texting feature becomes inactive while in motion but it will never happen. Talking on he phone is bad enough. We have laws about drinking and driving with consequences but even though some states have laws about phone distraction I wonder if it is actually enforced.

The best course of action when you have someone riding your ass is to get out of the way and let them pass. I hate it when I am on my motorcycle and someone is too close for comfort behind me, I just pull over and signal for them to go.

Slippery (Forum Supporter) said:

The best course of action when you have someone riding your ass is to get out of the way and let them pass. I hate it when I am on my motorcycle and someone is too close for comfort behind me, I just pull over and signal for them to go.

You're absolutely right. She was crowding me some, but the move she attempted was way more than I expected. I had just begun to consider my options to get rid of her.

Absolutely right! In this day and age of road rage (both men and women) you never know who has a gun or who will run you off the road or worse if they get out of the car. I have witnessed two guys chasing each other through traffic trying to run each other off the interstate. 

Slippery (Forum Supporter) said:

The best course of action when you have someone riding your ass is to get out of the way and let them pass. I hate it when I am on my motorcycle and someone is too close for comfort behind me, I just pull over and signal for them to go.

People don't tailgate because they want to go faster.  People tailgate because they have no concept of the world around them.

I have slowed to 45mph on an empty Interstate to encourage a tailgater to go away.  They didn't, even though there were two lanes to the left for them to choose from.

And a lot of new cars have radar sensitive cruise control AKA Computer Assisted Tailgating.

If you want better drivers, eliminate driver aids.  No cruise control, no lane assist, no nothing.  Driver aids breed complacency and complacency is the first step to disaster.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Slippery (Forum Supporter) said:

The best course of action when you have someone riding your ass is to get out of the way and let them pass. I hate it when I am on my motorcycle and someone is too close for comfort behind me, I just pull over and signal for them to go.

People don't tailgate because they want to go faster.  People tailgate because they have no concept of the world around them.

Whatever the reason is, I pull over and let them pass me. I do not like dealing with people driving close to me that I know for a fact cannot outbrake my car.

If you are on a highway and after slowing down (without going as far as brake checking them) they still do not go around you, I would change two lanes over and slow down so that they can go over and then move back to the right lane.

Had some fun today.

Took the Suburban and flatbed car trailer to go pick up a 20' hay elevator that my wife bought for the barn.

Coming back I crested a hill before an intersection and the guy in the little Kia making a right turn from the side road looked right at me and pulled out anyway.

Heavy braking from me with generous application of the horn and high beams. He didn't even bother to try speeding up to get away from me.

They're everywhere.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

If you want better drivers, eliminate driver aids.  No cruise control, no lane assist, no nothing.  Driver aids breed complacency and complacency is the first step to disaster.

Part of the reason I enjoy driving a manual transmission so much is it forces me to focus on driving. It's really easy to get distracted with everything around you when all you have to do is press the a go button. 
 

I've done the pull over to let them pass me move and they've just pulled over behind me. I suspect it's someone thinking they were being funny trying to scare me but still a dick move. 

ShawnG said:

Had some fun today.

Took the Suburban and flatbed car trailer to go pick up a 20' hay elevator that my wife bought for the barn.

Coming back I crested a hill before an intersection and the guy in the little Kia making a right turn from the side road looked right at me and pulled out anyway.

Heavy braking from me with generous application of the horn and high beams. He didn't even bother to try speeding up to get away from me.

They're everywhere.

That is why I have a dash cam. I do need to get one for the truck. Today 2 different people went into my lane to get around Amish buggies so they didn't have to slow down.

I've bought several dash cams, up to about $100 range. No matter what I pay, they seem to last about a year. 

Since I currently have 5 vehicles (4 running), that means no dashcams at the moment. 

My garmin VIRB Ultra 30 was still on the mount, but even if it was recording, it's facing forward. None of this would have been captured. If it was, the video would have made it look like I brake checked her for no reason, which wouldn't work out for me.