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Small case of road rage.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Lora, May 4, 2005.

  1. Lora

    Lora New Member

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    Venting:

    To you agressive drivers out there: that space I leave in front of my car between me and the driver who is also traveling 70 mph is a space for safety purposes- (incase that driver brakes, I have time to break as well yadda yadda.)

    The space is NOT for you to zoom into causing me to break for YOU.


    AAAgh. I get so tired of people driving like they are more important than the rest of us, endangering OUR lives.

    Sorry for the rant.

    ps: My Pri's due date is tomorrow, Cinco de Mayo! Lets hope she arrives when the doctor predicted!
     
  2. kkister1492

    kkister1492 New Member

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    Good luck on a successful delivery!

    We have a slightly different problem here--people stop at lights and leave 1 1/2 to 2 car lengths and end up messing up the light sensors and/or blocking the left-turn lanes. Seems like they are afraid that the traffic loop in the street might actually be a trap door!

    Thanks for letting me share the rantfest.
     
  3. Prius Noir

    Prius Noir New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lora\";p=\"86928)</div>
    That's not road rage in LA, that's everyday driving. Road rage is 8 freeway shootings in three weeks or is it 9 in two weeks? I lost count. :guns:

    Face it, it'll never change.

    Sorry for wedging in. :mrgreen:
     
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    lol

    It's when someone behinds you who's been respectfully following you for a while overtakes then cuts in closely in front of you even when you're travelling a reasonable distance from the car in front.
     
  5. seasalsa

    seasalsa Active Member

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    For me it is those last 4 or 5 cars that make a left turn in front of you after the light has turned red.
     
  6. majordude

    majordude Member

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    The things that set me off are the idiots who get in the right lane of a road and then DON'T turn right as 15 people with blinkers on back up behind them.

    The people who do the California Creep drive me nuts too. They take forever to stop and then proceed to inch forward for the next 2 minutes as the light sits there on red. When you have two or three California Creepers in front of you and you stand your ground, you look like an idiot because you have 12 feet in front of you because you actually came to a STOP.

    Oh yeah, and those people who slow down for a turn before they put on their signal get to me too.

    Oh and those that use the turn lane as a merge lane drive me nuts.

    I'll stop here. I'm beginning to feel that blood vessel in my forehead again.
     
  7. Sassee

    Sassee New Member

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    I think my biggest pet peeve is being followed WAY too close. However.. 8).. I have found the "cure". I innocently turn on my windshield washers!! Backs um off purty quick!! :guns:
     
  8. catsbox

    catsbox Member

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    Congrats on the new PRI! You will soon discover another purpose for that space in front of you. Coasting room to increase the MPG's! It really makes me mad when someone cuts in front of me, making me slam on my breaks and destroying my monthly stats on the MPGs!

     
  9. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    i probably don't have too much room to complain, seeing i'm an agressive driver.

    Two .... ok.. let's not set low numbers

    1. people who cruise in the very right hand lane on the highway when there is another major road or highway merging. see.. people use that lane to merge onto the highway. when people are there, there is a brake dance which causes gridlock

    2. people who merge at super low speeds who expect the flow of traffic to slow down for them because they don't understand what 65mph is. again.. causes gridlock

    3. people who cruise in the fast lane on a 4 lane highway. if you want to cruise... cruise in the 2nd lane from the right.

    4. i hate it when the fast lane is a train of cars. I enjoy everyone doing 70 to 80mph on 101.. but.. there is a train of cars, and the other 3 lanes look like deserts because people like to spread out in stead of just following the car in front of them. Us speeders are following cars in the fast lane, you can do it in the 2nd to slow lane.

    5. In California, the left hand lane is a passing lane. It's stated to be illegal to drive in the fast lane ( like they ever enforced that one )... if someone comes up behind you.. it's legal for them to flash their lights. you should move at this point if the lane to the right is clear enough to move. if you don't move it's impeeding traffic. ( is that spelt right? ) California law states that 5 or more cars behind you is impeeding traffic too.



    ya know.. i think that the highways need a couple improvements. average mph signs on merge ramps. it would make it more odvious to how fast you should be going. When there are a lot of merging lanes or offramps, there should be signs. " traffic keep left during merge"... this helps that little brake dance game that causes gridlock.

    this one is a little crazy, but we would have some of the most awesome highways if we did it. Highway license. tickets would make money. registration would make money. we would have a lot more money for our highways and a lot of people who shouldn't be driving on fast highways won't be

    but yeah.. those are some of my ideas. a few of many. i get this from driving about 200 miles a day. i watch traffic all day long.

    another thing. USE B gear or take off overdrive when in traffic. Yeah.. i know.. worse mpg .. but the suble slow down makes for a lot less breaking. less breaking means a higher low speed. I've had cars following me and the group behind me cruising and non breaking and the group a while in front of me is breaking and stopping. i was holding a fast pace but not enough to catch up to the gridlocked cars. i don't think we dropped below 25mph that day. we also didn't go above 45. it's a nicer commute when you cruise at lower speeds instead of stopping.. speeding up to 70 or so. and then stopping again.

    that's all for me * bows *
     
  10. vprius

    vprius New Member

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    So you are the one that comes up in back of me when I'm going 70-72 in the fast lane (speed limit 65) and flashes me! I'm going over the speed limit and don't think I should have to slow down and get in the middle lane (only three lanes on hwy 99). The right lane is for trucks and exiting. If I move to the middle to let you by you will quickly run up on the driver in front of me and fash them...is everyone suppose to move over because you want to go 80? Now I do agree if you have an emergency flashing is OK, or if somebody is going UNDER the speed limit in one of the left lanes, but otherwise I think it is just plain rude and one of my pet peeves. Am I the only one that feels this way? I know the law says to move over, so I do, grudgingly, but somehow I doubt 90% of those speed deamon flashers have emergencies! Sorry v8cobra...just hit a nerve :oops:
     
  11. vprius

    vprius New Member

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    To clarify my last post. I always move over if I see someone coming up fast behind me on an open hwy. I am talking about in traffic.
     
  12. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    hehe. no problem :)

    if there is a huge line of traffic.. no. i'll wait.

    if there is 1 person in the fast lane.. or maybe 3 people and a mile of space ahead of them with just a few people around.. then yes.. they don't belong there.

    i rarely speed alone. it's usually a group of about 10 cars or so behind me... a prius leading the pack.
     
  13. DanP

    DanP Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid\";p=\"87046)</div>
    Do us all a favor and start driving using your head instead of your balls.
     
  14. hdrygas

    hdrygas New Member

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    I know how you feel. I too have some anger when I am cut off. Today a double dump truck just murged with in inches of my bumper. He was big and I am small but with diesel at 2.769 I chilled and let him push his rig to the max and drove home. The smaller your car and the bigger their car is the more it happens. Just try to get back to the Prius space and drive off. Aggressive drives are going to get their own reward. As an aside some have suggested that the recent LA shooting is road rage and while that might be true could it also be a sniper like the one recently found in Columbus Ohio? I don't know but I would be willing to bet the police are not eliminating possibilities at this point.
     
  15. DanP

    DanP Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas\";p=\"87069)</div>
    The freeway shootings in the LA area have gotten a lot of press lately, but there really aren't any more this year than in a typical year. Sadly, freeway shootings have been a regular feature of Southern CA driving for years. There just happen to be a lot of armed people out there with underdeveloped pre-frontal lobes and hyperactive lymbic systems.
     
  16. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanP\";p=\"87060)</div>
    Do us all a favor and start driving using your head instead of your balls.
    [/b][/quote]

    you don't know much about me to be making a statement like that.
     
  17. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    btw.. the term i use as agressive is simply that i pass traffic. I know where all the cars are and their speeds. If a new car comes into my vision i make note. I have perfect vision that probably surpasses most. If there is one hobby i have, it's driving. I dive a lot and i drive very well. I have never been in an accident and i've been in some dangerious situations. I've had cars cut me off, come strait at me, all those in the rain too.

    i don't drive with my balls. i use my brain. I never get an adrenaline rush either. I simply drive and do it to my best. it simply sucks that there are such shitty drivers in california. including the ones that give me a bad name.
     
  18. NuShrike

    NuShrike Active Member

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    I agree with V8Cobrakid. When there are plenty of other open lanes out there, why do slower cars need to sit in the left lane? Do you know it's more dangerous to pass a car on the right because you have to drive through his blind-spot?

    Certain European countries (probably Germany with their autobahn) have laws which make it illegal for any car to pass another on the right for that above safety reason. Also, the car who's impeding the flow of traffic by failing to merge right would get ticketed too. It seems it's mostly crazy foreigners (USA) who don't understand this rule are a cause of accidents.

    If there's room on the road, don't take up the left side. Let cars pass you to your left, and try to pass them on the left side where they can see you.

    Imagine a world where you don't have to crane your neck and eyes in worry about merging into the lane to your right because NOBODY will try passing you from that side.

    IMO, the USA is too inadequate in training drivers to drive on the road whether in weather, or just plain street-smart rules.

    There's an entire lack of etiquette training for smart and efficient highway driving such as the passing rule, flashing your lights to signal a car to pass in front of you, or using your tail lights to thank a vehicle behind you for letting you pass in front, etc etc.

    If we tried to imagine that each lane of the highway has speed minimums which increases to the left and drive accordingly, it could reduce this need to "cut" somebody off people seem to have and we could then maintain a nice driving cushion for MPG cruising and safety again without fear. Currently, having more than 1 car length of cushion in LA driving is "asking" for it :p.

    Changing lanes is IMO inherently dangerous and it's best to stick to a lane and avoid causing other people to "flow" around you, or for you to drive around somebody else. Think of a big slow moving boulder in a flowing river. Use your brains, don't be that boulder.

    This way, the flow of traffic goes smoother, everybody is happier, and everybody gets where they want to go safe and sound.
     
  19. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

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    I'm with NuShrike. The sort of stuff you US drivers complain of strikes me as appalling.

    Here, motorway entry and exit ramps are long and straight - there's no reason why anyone should be joining the main carriageway or leaving it below 60mph. Merging is no problem.

    You are not allowed to pass on the left. And the right-hand lanes are for overtaking only. Otherwise, you move back to the left.

    A few "middle-lane hogs" seem to spend all their time in the middle lane, even when the left lane is clear. This holds people up, as only 1 lane of traffic can overtake them on their right. It's one of the most complained-of bad driving habits here.

    But other than that, it all works very smoothly. And I rarely see anyone "cutting in" to the gap in front of me.
     
  20. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(majordude\";p=\"87012)</div>
    Sorry about that, I forgot that lane was a right turn only at that corner. :)