Driving Rants

[Grok]

Attn: YOU.  Yes you.  I'm driving down the road minding my own business.  YOU going about 10mph faster than me and rapidly catch up to me.

WHY the hell did you suddenly stop right by my left rear fender and match my speed?  WHY when I try to slow down or speed up, do you continue to match my speed.  Hell I have slowed down to 45mph and your idiot self is still going my speed.  I speed up to 75 and you're still latched on.  GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.  Good God I hate those people.

And you know why they're doing it?  Cause they're on their damn cell phone not paying attention, and just thinking they're going with the flow.  But we're the only two people on the highway for a mile front or back.

Sometimes these people latch on to you and want to stay right behind you, no matter how fast you go.  So you think like, well wtf, I'll let them go.  You slow down and pull over, they should go blowing by you.  But hell no, they think there must be a reason you slowed down, so they nearly crash trying to slow down and get behind you.

I seem to attract these idiots in massive numbers.

GET YOUR OWN DAMN SPEED AND STICK WITH IT.  I AM NOT YOUR ESCORT.

[iago]

Me?




Speaking of Driving Rants, the worst place to drive, according to my Stepdad (a trucker) is Atlanta.  Their highways are 3 lanes, but truckers aren't allowed in the left one (by law).  The right is the driving lane, and the middle is supposed to be the passing lane.  But 99% of the time you get some old people going 35mph all the way down (speed limit is 65) beside each other.  They don't pay attention to the huge traffic jam behind them or the honking or anything.  Crazy people.

[Grok]

3 lanes?  When was the last time he was in Atlanta, 1960?  They are 6 or 7 lanes each direction.

[Trance]

Jesus, I wish we had that many lanes here in LA! We usually only have 4 to 5 in each direction, and when it's 5, it's because of the carpool lane.

[iago]

3 lanes?  When was the last time he was in Atlanta, 1960?  They are 6 or 7 lanes each direction.

hmm, probably a couple days ago, a week ago at the absolute most.  Maybe it was a different state, though.. but I'm pretty sure he said Atlanta (thus, Georgia).

[Meh]

My mum goes lierally mentall in a car on Sundays. She swears all the bad drivers come out on that day. she goes well faster than she should but others go a lot slower. She shouts the place down and wont stop. It drives me mental how someone can get so mad about bad drivers.  

[iago]

It drives me mental how someone can get so mad about bad drivers.  

You don't drive, do you?

[warz]

Grumpy old man, Grok.

[K]

3 lanes?  When was the last time he was in Atlanta, 1960?  They are 6 or 7 lanes each direction.

hmm, probably a couple days ago, a week ago at the absolute most.  Maybe it was a different state, though.. but I'm pretty sure he said Atlanta (thus, Georgia).

I live in Atlanta when I'm not at school.   I-285 is the perimiter that goes around the greater Atlanta area and I-75 goes through the city; larger trucks are not (supposed) to take I-75 through the city, but rather take 285 around.  Because of this, 75 is not a bad place to drive except through downtown at rush hour, but 285 can be awful -- the amount of trucks on it is obscene -- merging on with all of them can be an intense moment.  

Georgia 400 is our version of the Autobahn.

Edit:  Going through the city, 75 is ~4/5 lanes in one direction, but you can't stay in the 1st/2nd right lane because they usually turn into exit only lanes.

Edit 2:  iago, I will let you in on a little secret.  The posted speed limit of 65mph is a clever government joke.  Most drivers will drive between 70 and 80 if it's not too crowded.

[Hazard]

WHY the hell did you suddenly stop right by my left rear fender and match my speed?  WHY when I try to slow down or speed up, do you continue to match my speed.  Hell I have slowed down to 45mph and your idiot self is still going my speed.  I speed up to 75 and you're still latched on.  GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.  Good God I hate those people.

Did they have a chance to pass you?

[Grok]

WHY the hell did you suddenly stop right by my left rear fender and match my speed?  WHY when I try to slow down or speed up, do you continue to match my speed.  Hell I have slowed down to 45mph and your idiot self is still going my speed.  I speed up to 75 and you're still latched on.  GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.  Good God I hate those people.

Did they have a chance to pass you?

I suppose I should have mentioned these are 4-lane highways.  If it was 2-lane and I was aggravated by this I should be considered insane.

[Adron]

I suppose I should have mentioned these are 4-lane highways.  If it was 2-lane and I was aggravated by this I should be considered insane.

Does that mean 2 lanes each way or 4 lanes each way?

[Hazard]

WHY the hell did you suddenly stop right by my left rear fender and match my speed?  WHY when I try to slow down or speed up, do you continue to match my speed.  Hell I have slowed down to 45mph and your idiot self is still going my speed.  I speed up to 75 and you're still latched on.  GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.  Good God I hate those people.

Did they have a chance to pass you?

I suppose I should have mentioned these are 4-lane highways.  If it was 2-lane and I was aggravated by this I should be considered insane.

Why didn't you just change lanes?

[Grok]

Oh I've done that too.  These people are not paying attention and trying to drive "with traffic" that they still stay glued to your speed.

Other people say this happens to them too.  Someone gets hitched to them and is oblivious to everything else.  I was riding passenger with a friend driving a few years ago and he was talking about something, when I realized that he was attached in this manner to another car.  So I just watched and kept talking with him, his speed would go up or down 5-10mph to match the other car.  When I mentioned it to Eric, he denied it completely.  He didn't even know he was doing it.

[Hostile]

Attn: YOU.  Yes you.  I'm driving down the road minding my own business.  YOU going about 10mph faster than me and rapidly catch up to me.

WHY the hell did you suddenly stop right by my left rear fender and match my speed?  WHY when I try to slow down or speed up, do you continue to match my speed.  Hell I have slowed down to 45mph and your idiot self is still going my speed.  I speed up to 75 and you're still latched on.  GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.  Good God I hate those people.

And you know why they're doing it?  Cause they're on their damn cell phone not paying attention, and just thinking they're going with the flow.  But we're the only two people on the highway for a mile front or back.

Sometimes these people latch on to you and want to stay right behind you, no matter how fast you go.  So you think like, well wtf, I'll let them go.  You slow down and pull over, they should go blowing by you.  But hell no, they think there must be a reason you slowed down, so they nearly crash trying to slow down and get behind you.

I seem to attract these idiots in massive numbers.

GET YOUR OWN DAMN SPEED AND STICK WITH IT.  I AM NOT YOUR ESCORT.

It could be a scandal of some sort. The insinuation that he lingered in your blind spot for a long duration would make it a possibility. The other one is that people of this sort are always on cell phones or radios usually conspiring against a good target. The fact that you have a newer car also would make you a good target, as you're far more likely to have insurance and enough money to pay out.

It could just be the average jackass of course but generally when people are doing something like this they obviously don't care enough to be aware of their surroundings and it would make no difference who they are in that case. When this happens the best thing is usually to get in front of them if you can't get away from them.

This is also a tendency of the average driver because it's in short the lazy way to know you're doing the speed limit, which eliminates one checking process while driving. Even if the guy in front of you is doing 15 over and a police officer notices you, in almost any situation they would notice whoever is the first one to go by (which would have been you.) I am also guilty of doing this on lazy days, but I'm still aware of how stupid it is to drive in someone's blind spot, so I tend to drive behind them in that case.