steveg
Making a new reply.
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 27495
Loc: D'OHio
By the same token, she's doing 60, and if the speed limit is 55 (most traffic cops will grant you a 5mph grace zone as long as road/weather conditions are ok), she's under no obligation to go any faster. Plus the guy could have flashed his lights or honked to let her know he wanted to pass. Instead, he acted like a jerk and got a bit of payback for his troubles.
I drive a lot for my job, I can remember at least 4 times where a road rager caused an accident, unfortunately in those cases they took vehicles out that had nothing to do with it. One I was almost caught up in on a 4th of July while heading through town on the freeway.
We were going 60 or so. I saw the traffic stop suddenly in front of the guy in front of me that was flipping the woman to his right off, he didn't see it. Luckily it was a wide berm on my left. I saw that I had time to stop without hitting him, but the idiots behind me were tailgating. I didn't slow down and just yanked it on to the berm and went by the guy the moment he rear ended the car in front of him, and the car/s that were behind me accordioned into him and each other, a half a dozen or more. I glanced into my rear view mirror and saw a car a few cars back climbing on top of the backend of the vehicle in front of it. I heard on the radio later that the highway was shut down for a while. No fatalities, but it ruined a lot people's 4th of July.
six_of_one
Pool Bar
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 4474
Loc: Alexandria, VA
Originally Posted By: John Rougeux
Now, I'm not condoning the guy in the truck's behavior and he got what he deserved, but if you watch this version, you can clearly see that the person filming the video is in the left lane and no vehicles are in the right lane for quite a bit.
The law in the majority of states, if not all, is that you are to remain in the right lane until you need to pass, and then return to the right lane. Obviously they aren't doing that.
Well the truck isn't in the right lane either, so they're both on equal ground on that score. Plus we can't see what traffic is like in the right lane ahead, so merging may not have been practical. The driver of the truck certainly didn't think so or else he would have passed on the right earlier in the video ...
Regardless, I see the bad karma as less tailgating and more actually slowing down after passing to give the finger -- if the truck had simply continued its journey after passing, it would have been no harm, no foul …
six_of_one
Pool Bar
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 4474
Loc: Alexandria, VA
Originally Posted By: Jim_
I drive a lot for my job, I can remember at least 4 times where a road rager caused an accident, unfortunately in those cases they took vehicles out that had nothing to do with it. One I was almost caught up in on a 4th of July while heading through town on the freeway.
We were going 60 or so. I saw the traffic stop suddenly in front of the guy in front of me that was flipping the woman to his right off, he didn't see it. Luckily it was a wide berm on my left. I saw that I had time to stop without hitting him, but the idiots behind me were tailgating me. I didn't slow down and just yanked it on to the berm and went by the guy the moment he rear ended the car in front of him, and the car/s that were behind me accordioned into him and each other, a half a dozen or more. I glanced into my rear view mirror and saw a car a few cars back climbing on top of the backend of the vehicle in front of it. I heard on the radio later that the highway was shut down for a while. No fatalities, but it ruined a lot people's 4th of July.
Yeah, I've noticed lately that many drivers seem to regard driving as a competition. I've had several instances recently of signaling a merge into another lane, only to have a vehicle there two or three car lengths back actually speed-up and pass so I wouldn't be in front of them. More amazing is when signaling a merge into a left lane, having the same thing happen, but then the person actually merging into my lane ahead of me. Instead of letting me merge and them taking my place in the other lane, they felt the need to make it a race …
New Jersey Traffic Laws don't include dedicated speed lanes per se
New Jersey designates the Right Lane = Passing Lane Center Lanes = Traveling Lanes Left Lane = Transition Lane ...with NO PASSING On the Right Under Any Circumstance, ...& NO Traveling on a Shoulder unless the vehicle's disabled. & If You Avoid An Intersection by cutting through a service station You Do NOT Pass "GO" You DO NOT Get $200... ...you Go Directly To Jail, w/a Chocolate Key ...that the Judge tosses out into the Sun.
My question is WHY/WHAT WAS SHE VIDEO ARCHIVING In the First Place?
It's purely conjecture on my part...but... this guy may-have-been behaving badly for a while to justify the woman (...some sort of safety officer by the flashes of Safety Yellow/Reflective Tape on the coat in her vehicle...)
At one point she's even videoing into her rear view mirror. Again, I can only assume she intended to archive his actions AND HIS LICENSE PLATE to turn over to the Traffic Division.
I doubt it was originally intended for YouTUBE... ...until what happened happened...
Acumowchek Is this thing on?
Registered: 12/30/07
Posts: 4208
Loc: Petaluma, CA
Some guy was playing "Chicken" with another car, getting in front of him and slamming on the brakes. I had to swerve around to not get in an accident. A couple minutes later, he passed me going 90, and I flipped him off. He followed me for 30 miles, trying to run me off the road. I now keep my finger to myself…
steveg
Making a new reply.
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 27495
Loc: D'OHio
The absolute worst road rage I've encountered was as a cyclist. There are people out there who just hate having to share the road with anything lacking an internal combustion engine. Even during the fundraising bike-a-thon I rode in for a dozen years before I moved to NYC, there were always two or three incidents every year. Despite all the advance publicity, all the signs and banners along the entire 200 mi route, and PD traffic control at every major intersection in every town we rode through, there was always some ass-hat with a grudge against bikers.
I've had a few confrontations where I resorted to what I call the NY Harbor Salute — which means grabbing one or both water bottles out of their cages and giving the offending driver a wet blast in the face. Only once did I introduce a harasser's nose to my frame pump. In all of those incidents, the trouble-makers were so startled that they pulled off the road while I sprinted away waiting for a bolt from a crossbow to bury itself in my spine!
Some guy was playing "Chicken" with another car, getting in front of him and slamming on the brakes. I had to swerve around to not get in an accident. A couple minutes later, he passed me going 90, and I flipped him off. He followed me for 30 miles, trying to run me off the road. I now keep my finger to myself…
Yeah... gotta' watch that FINGER...
My Baby Brother has the # that Cops use to Run A Plate. You'd drive on by figuring that was the end of it... ...only to find my 6'2" 300lb. brother waiting for you in your driveway when you got home.
He's also mastered the art of "The Left-Handed-Toss" (an object deftly tossed from the driver's-side window OVER the Roof of His car.....into YOUR WindShield! anything from a Penny to an empty Pop Bottle. although a Lug-Nut is his weapon of choice.
Here's another lil' nugget for your arsenal: Did you know there's a way of Caving-In the Entire Side of Someone Else's Car, while doing no damage whatsoever to your own? ver-r-ry slowly.