Hybrids replacing SUVs as targets of driver anger

Tailgater solution: Spray your windshield-washer. It sprays over your windshield and into theirs in a nice mist pattern, especially effective at higher speeds. You'll know you succeeded when you see their wipers come on.

Use this technique sparingly-- you wouldn't want them to erupt in "road rage". :angry:

 

Its always fun to see their wipers come on but you are right, you wouldn't want to invoke road rage. I do it just enough to keep them guessing if it was intentional. (see post #14 on this thread)

 

Good post! Being passive-aggressive is just asking for trouble as well.

 

I have been driving for 56 years. I had driven my '06 Prius just 34 miles when I was pulled over for doing 50 mph in a 60 mph limit freeway. It turned out to be a fake cop. I wrote the Chief of the State Patrol in WA to inquire about the laws and got a response which said that I had committed no infraction since I was in the right hand lane.

I believe that the emphasis should be on driving both defensively and consideratly. We can't police the actions of others and if we anger others we may have indesired consequences. I get out of the way of others if they are impatient with my driving, but I drive legally at the speed of my choosing. I have yet to find a better way. An exception might be rush hour traffic where keeping with the flow is a higher priority. Even then, I choose not to exceed the speed limit by much.

Allan de

 

We have fake cops? Please elaborate.

 

Face it, people who tailgate have other issues. If you're driving the speed limit and passing using the left lane, it's your right. Kind people understand and follow the rules of the road, not bend them using self-centered justifications. And if you're being harassed, don't take it personally, they just finished with the last one and they'll soon be harassing the next one in front .

 

This has been a pet peeve of mine for years. People need to stop being judgmental of other drivers' needs or wants to drive faster than them and just drive courteously and simply get out of their way. There is nothing that is more frustrating and inconsiderate than someone that never keeps an eye on the rear view mirror, or does, but doesn't care that another driver would like to pass.

All throughout Europe people drive correctly by using the fast lane as the "passing" lane, not the place to hold a luncheon and damn everyone else. You use it to go faster, then get over when safe to let others pass. It's a simple and sensible concept lost on the American "it's my road" ignoramuses.

If people have any chance to drive across the country or drive in Europe, while keeping their eyes open, maybe more folks will understand the concept of courtesy and safety. For example, in some states in the US, if there is a car on the right shoulder, you can be fined for not getting over a lane as you pass them for their safety. These, and many other steps should be taught in driving class. It should not be our concern why someone needs or wants to drive faster than us, just let them by if you are in their way in the fast lane. It's the right and safe thing to do. You never know, there could actually be any number of reasons why that person needs to go faster than you. It's not for you to judge but for you to not act with a grade school mentality by "teaching them a lesson".

This absolutely makes me crazy. Of course, if you are in the right lane you have the right to go the speed limit or usually 10 miles under it and be safe. If someone wants to go faster there are lanes to pass you with so "then" it should not be much of a concern. At freeway speeds, "making a point" and not being courteous is both childish and life threatening.

 

There is a person who looks and talks like a cop here in the Spokane area who has red and blue lights on his car who has been stopping people lately. This was after dark so I couldn't see his car. I might have been suspicious sooner if I could have seen his car. I was really suspicious when he said he would mail me a ticket. I checked with all of the several local departments and the State Patrol. None had a record of a stop at the time and place where this took place. All were very unhappy about it. All had suggestions about how to protect yourself from people like this. One gave me a telephone number to report a fake stop which I did. Real cops understand. But real cops also know that bad things can happen from unfriendly citizens so it is best to be courteous and not do anything sudden.

Some suggestions included have a cell phone and be prepared to call 911, pull over in a lighted and public place if at all possible when being stopped, insist on identifcation if the officer is not in uniform (as was the case this time). I think the fact that I didn't let him intimidate me was a good thing even though he got mad as a result. But it was a puzzlement and I felt lucky that nothing worse than inconvenience happened.

 

Reminds me of a time some cops came to my door in the middle of the night in our old neighborhood. Before I would open the door, I asked to see their ID (through the glass door). The older one just complied without comment, but the young one got bent out of shape, saying, "Do I look like an imposter?" Well, you're dressed like a cop, but refuse to show me your ID, so YEAH, YOU SURE DO!

I hope somebody catches that knucklehead in Spokane soon!

 

Any official police officers on the board can correct me (PLEASE)

I think that any officer in a real police car with mounted lights will be in uniform. I don't think I have ever seen an unmarked car in Vermont in which the officer was not in uniform but then you mostly only have a chance to tell if you are stopped at a light. Would any non uniformed officer (i.e. under cover or off duty) pull people over for minor traffic issues? Even an off duty officer would not have blue lights in their private vehicle.

It is illegal in Vermont to have ANY blue lights on a vehicle that is not an official law enforcement vehicle. Red lights only on emergency and rescue vehicles, yellow strobes for vehicles with plows. I have to assume that whoever 'pulled you over' had removable dash mounted lights.

 

"Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a moron."
- George Carlin

 

However (at least in Vermont) you can drive ANY speed you like UNDER the speed limit on the interstate. The only legal requirement is you MUST have your emergency flashers on if you drop below 40 MPH. Pretty much the only time you see that is with heavily loaded semis that can't hold speed up the steeper hills. You are supposed to be in the right lane at any speed unless you are passing or there is an officer making a stop on the right shoulder. The posted limit is 65 MPH on most of I-89 and I-91 and is presumably (by the book) absolute though I've never heard of anyone being stopped for 5 over and even 10 over is generally ignored (weather permitting) except during holiday weekend 'keep the accidents down' time.

Now this might be a real eye opener for some of you, but there are only 2 lanes each way on either of the interstates and no HOV. I really don't care if people 'safely' speed in the 'passing lane' and I stay out of it unless I am passing. That said, you are supposed to move into the passing (or travel in this case) lane at interchanges so the people getting on and off can do so without undue hazard. The 'weaving' lane is dangerous enough. What does bug me are the people that think it is OK to go 70 or more in the 65 MPH section and keep it up through the 55 section around Burlington. They either will not let anyone in the travel lane or if you do get in, ride your tail for only going 55 or 60.

 

This guy had them mounted in his grill. In Wahington all police officers flash both red and blue lights. The State Patrol never uses non uniformed officers for traffic stops but some city/county departments do, sometimes. I think it is very bad practice because what is a citizen to do to protect themselves from situations like this? We are really at the mercy of the bad guy who has the drop on us big time.

Perhaps in the case of an accident an undercover cop might stop to help, but simple traffic? No.

By the way, I did demand ID and he showed me an official looking badge. I don't get stopped often enough to know what it should have looked like so I probably was fooled by it.

 

Out here most of speed traps are officers in unmarked cars, they make more money that way, much more.

 

I'm probably one of the Priuses they complain about , just because they like to complain. I got my Yellow Stickers, so I can now drive in the diamond lane without a partner in crime. But I've had a Harold in my car often enough that I've driven in the diamond lane with the Prius (and before that the Escort) for some time now. Diamond lanes can be a blessing when the highway is running full of cars.

I tend to go 10-15 mph faster than the next lane over, up to 70 mph. If the diamond lane is pretty empty and the next lane is really stopped up, I will go as fast as I feel comfortable (looking for darters as I go) up to that 70 mph.

This usually keeps the diamond lane occupants happy, but I have noticed that, once I move over a lane, the tailgaters will dart around me and proceed to hug the tail of the next person in front of me. No matter how fast we are all going!

In other words, they don't seem to be happy unless they are right behind the person in front of them. Period. There is no going fast enough to prevent these idiots from hugging your tail!

And All of them hate the fact that I have a smaller car that is keeping up with traffic. They are positive their SUV or sports car needs to go faster than my mom mobile. And They Must Pass Me At All Costs!

I grin when I see them stopped up the road with a black and white behind them.

By the By, we usually have three to four lanes each way, and I tend to use the second from the left when the traffic is light. Right lane is for merging, the middle two are for people like me, the left lane is for the aggressive idiots. Two lanes, yeah, I usually stick to the right, unless that lane is being slower than I want (speed limit +5 to 10 depending on the road).

Lisa

PS Yeah, I don't get the best gas mileage in the group. But it is better than the old Escort (which gets decent gas mileage), so I'm not complaining.

 

OK, so I've been researching the legal side of this argument, to see if you really can get a ticket for going too slow. I haven't found a definite Florida statute, and I have not searched nay other states yet, but I did find an ALR article on it. Here is a relevant quote, and I cite it becuse they would not have worded it as such if htere weren't some law somewhere preventing going too slow.

"A statute providing that any person driving a vehicle on a highway shall drive the same at a careful and prudent speed, not greater than nor less than is reasonable and proper, having due regard to the traffic, surface, width of the highway, and of any other restrictions or conditions then and there existing, was sustained in Commonwealth v Klick (1949) 164 Pa Super 449, 65 A2d 440."

6 A.L.R.3d 1326 ()



I'm working on locating the relevant statutes now...

 

I would assume that the speed limit would be such a restriction.

 

"What matter though the jury say, 'Deceased did have the right of way'". What I am trying to say is that situations alter cases. Police may cite obstruction of traffic, wreckless endangerment, road rage, or what ever mitigating circumstance which seem appropriate to the situation. Obstruction is more serious with traffic moving in only one lane in each direction, but in extremely heavy traffic, multiple lanes don't help as much. But simple minimum speed limits as opposed to maximum speed limits are uncommon. In WA state a minimum speed limit can be established if "study" indicates it is required and "appropriate signs" are posted to put the public on notice of the limits (RCW 46.61.425). Apparently this provision has never been used.

Allan de

 

Absolutely...

When gas peaked at $3.50 - $3.80 a gallon after Katrina, there was an obvious slowing down on the NY Thruway... but after people got 'used to' $2.50-$2.90, they were back to normal.

 

Absolutely right, situations certainly do alter cases. This is why I beleive that an officer can ticket you for going to slow. It may not be a speeding citation, but rather another moving violation, such as those you mentioned.

As for minimum speed limits, Florida statutes actually mandate a 50 mph minimum when speedlimit is 70 mph. However, every interstate around here lists it as 40 mph...