Jonk67
Well-Known Member
On a late commute to work last week I had a strange run in with a guy that seemed to have road rage issues. The beginning of my 40mi. commute every morning takes me off the main 2 lane road to a left hand turn onto a 2 lane merging down to one in ~25yrds. The next 5 mi. are through a park, one lane with intermittent passing zones, windy, no shoulder, mostly just driveways and 90* turns to no where off of it. The speed starts at 30mph for 1/2 mi., then 40mph 1/2 mi. then 45mph the remainder to a 70mph hwy.
I commute in an '01 Miata so it's not intimidating...
I am stuck behind an ~'05 white Dodge Charger V8 (dual exh.) with tinted windows, chrome rims and a space saver spare on the left rear for 1/2 mi. of the normal road leading to the turn, he's tooling along ~5-10mph below the limit, talking on a phone I'm guessing. As we hit the left hand turn at the light to start the 25yds. of narrowing lane, he swings wide into the right lane, I jump into the left lane and begin to pass not wanting to be stuck behind him tooling along for 5 mi. As soon as I near his left rear tire he begins floating into my lane with both left tires over the line, not like he's changing lanes but like he just doesn't care if he's in a lane or not. I lay on the horn swerving over the middle lane to my left and gun it past him to avoid contact and oncoming cars.
This is where it gets interesting as I get up to 35-40mph in the 30, he guns it and runs up on my rear, then proceeds to let off, gun it, swerve left and right darting at my bumper, crossing the middle line as he does it. After 30 seconds of this I give him a brake check down to the speed limit. I see the whites of his eyes as he grabs the wheel and leans on his brakes >that worked...If I allowed it to continue I could see him clipping an on coming car head on as he was only paying attention to my bumper. We are coming to the 40 mph zone, I see an 18 wheeler coming towards us ~75 yards away. He guns it swings out next to me to pass, not wanting to risk anyones life I slow so he can pass. Once ahead of me he basically slams on his brakes and gets down to ~10mph, I leave 2 cars lengths to see what the idiots up to, now cars are piling up behind me so he turns on his hazard flashers...
We continue this way with him slamming his brakes everytime he has a chance but I'm leaving too much space for it to cause me problems. At one point he slows to ~5mph like he's going to stop. I unbuckle with obvious motions awaiting a confrontation and pull as far to the right as I can (no shoulder), he speeds back up to 20mph.
When we get to the 45mph zone I decide to try and pass, guess what, he guns it, I know we ran past 45mph and I was door to door with his V8 and my 140hp 4 (forgot to turn the AC off, I may have been able to pass then..). I relinquish not wanting to risk life again and pull back behind him. I easily return to my lane and handle the oncoming curves, he crosses the center line twice due to the bulk of the Charger, his lack of driving ability or trying to watch me in the rear view? We continue with a trail of cars behind us until we turn onto the minor 70mph hwy. He turns off his flashers and accelerate to speed in the right lane, I take the left and pass waving.
I always redo these types of scenerios in my head after, due to training, thinking of what I could have done differently. The only thing I can think of is at the point he slowed and turned on his flashers I should have found somewhere safe to pull off, let a few cars pile up behind him and then merge back in. Not being able to see me and inconveniencing another car might have prompted him to drive normal? My wife asked 'what did you do to him to cause that?', my reply - 'I honked when he drove into my lane'. I have to admit, I did envision his space saver blowing out during his highspeed failure to control moment sending him into the ditch....
Jon
I commute in an '01 Miata so it's not intimidating...
I am stuck behind an ~'05 white Dodge Charger V8 (dual exh.) with tinted windows, chrome rims and a space saver spare on the left rear for 1/2 mi. of the normal road leading to the turn, he's tooling along ~5-10mph below the limit, talking on a phone I'm guessing. As we hit the left hand turn at the light to start the 25yds. of narrowing lane, he swings wide into the right lane, I jump into the left lane and begin to pass not wanting to be stuck behind him tooling along for 5 mi. As soon as I near his left rear tire he begins floating into my lane with both left tires over the line, not like he's changing lanes but like he just doesn't care if he's in a lane or not. I lay on the horn swerving over the middle lane to my left and gun it past him to avoid contact and oncoming cars.
This is where it gets interesting as I get up to 35-40mph in the 30, he guns it and runs up on my rear, then proceeds to let off, gun it, swerve left and right darting at my bumper, crossing the middle line as he does it. After 30 seconds of this I give him a brake check down to the speed limit. I see the whites of his eyes as he grabs the wheel and leans on his brakes >that worked...If I allowed it to continue I could see him clipping an on coming car head on as he was only paying attention to my bumper. We are coming to the 40 mph zone, I see an 18 wheeler coming towards us ~75 yards away. He guns it swings out next to me to pass, not wanting to risk anyones life I slow so he can pass. Once ahead of me he basically slams on his brakes and gets down to ~10mph, I leave 2 cars lengths to see what the idiots up to, now cars are piling up behind me so he turns on his hazard flashers...
We continue this way with him slamming his brakes everytime he has a chance but I'm leaving too much space for it to cause me problems. At one point he slows to ~5mph like he's going to stop. I unbuckle with obvious motions awaiting a confrontation and pull as far to the right as I can (no shoulder), he speeds back up to 20mph.
When we get to the 45mph zone I decide to try and pass, guess what, he guns it, I know we ran past 45mph and I was door to door with his V8 and my 140hp 4 (forgot to turn the AC off, I may have been able to pass then..). I relinquish not wanting to risk life again and pull back behind him. I easily return to my lane and handle the oncoming curves, he crosses the center line twice due to the bulk of the Charger, his lack of driving ability or trying to watch me in the rear view? We continue with a trail of cars behind us until we turn onto the minor 70mph hwy. He turns off his flashers and accelerate to speed in the right lane, I take the left and pass waving.
I always redo these types of scenerios in my head after, due to training, thinking of what I could have done differently. The only thing I can think of is at the point he slowed and turned on his flashers I should have found somewhere safe to pull off, let a few cars pile up behind him and then merge back in. Not being able to see me and inconveniencing another car might have prompted him to drive normal? My wife asked 'what did you do to him to cause that?', my reply - 'I honked when he drove into my lane'. I have to admit, I did envision his space saver blowing out during his highspeed failure to control moment sending him into the ditch....
Jon
