Why do you drive like a douche? News at 11
So, I’m driving down 840, roughly near Franklin, TN when I spend five minutes behind this jackass:
For a good five minutes, the only two people on the road not me decided to drive side be side. I only snapped the photo because it was someone from WKRN ABC 2 in Nashville and wanted to shame them. I dunno if the driver saw me take the photo, but shortly after I did, they did what they should have done 5 minutes sooner and got out of the way.
November 10th, 2014 at 7:54 pm
road rage!
November 10th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
See this way too often out here in Central TX, too.
.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:06 pm
And let me guess: both of you were driving in excess of the (arbitrary and pointless) speed limit (imposed by mindless bureaucrats. So, boo-hoo, Uncle. Boo-hoo. Today was not all about you. Maybe tomorrow.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:17 pm
No. He was driving the speed limit. And is still a douche.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:29 pm
Driving the speed limit in the far left lane here on the interstate is dangerous. Arbitrary or not, law or not, it’s dangerous to you and anyone stuck behind you.
That said, I typically don’t see this sort of rolling road block even going the speed limit — a lot of times it’ll be an out of stater going 5mph under in the far left lane.
Protip, too: If you slow down to 5-10mph *under* because you see a cop, that cop is going to look at you sideways.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Wkrn is the local Occupy Affiliate.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
The left lane is for passing, not blocking traffic.
A couple years ago people were freaking because some woman in MD got a ticket for “failure to keep right” on the Beltway around DC.
“But she wasn’t speeding!!!!!!!!”
People sitting in the left lane cause more problems than anything else.
People bunching up/riding closer, idjits trying to squeeze into a spot too small to get in front of the other people slowed by the rude jerks, road rage, accidents.
Common courtesy is not at all common and, as can be seen above, people get angry when you point out how rude blocking the flow of traffic is.
November 10th, 2014 at 11:54 pm
Here in Texas it flat our against the law to stay in the left lane and not move over or on up and over and let the car behind you pass not matter how fast you are going. Having said that there are lots of jerks who do just that and I will push just a bit up close to them but usually all I have to do is wait just a little bit and a 2 ton, crew cab cab, 4×4, Ram Charger, turbo diesel or equivilent will come up and I pull to the right and watch him start to take the chrome off the bumper of the lane hog. Then I fall in behind the guy and let him lead he way for a while. Usually you have to be going well over our 75 mph speed limit and most of the traffic cruises smoothly at 80 which is fast enough for my Ford F-150 unless I take the tollway around Austin which is 80 and 85 speed limit and that is fun too.
November 11th, 2014 at 12:56 am
Here in Austin there are even times when 130, the toll road, with a speed limit of 80mph, experiences blockages. People paying to make good time are significantly less polite than on the always-blocked I-35 through town.
Take toll road 130 south out of Austin towards Seguin and the speed limit rises a seemingly insignificant 5 mph, to 85 mph. Block the left lane there and a tractor trailer rig will act like you aren’t there in the left lane, until you either get the message and move over or aren’t there any more.
November 11th, 2014 at 12:59 am
It should be a class A felony to be in the left lane if there is a car behind you unless you are doing 15mph+ faster than the car to your right.
November 11th, 2014 at 1:32 am
I lived in Ohio for a few years before moving down here to TN. Trust me, they are absolutely terrible in that state when it comes to trolling in the left hand lane. I head up there for work regularly, and between that and the density of Five-oh, I hate driving in that state. Be glad you live in the land of the free.
November 11th, 2014 at 7:42 am
@Veeshir – Maryland law specifies keep right only if you are going 10 mph or slower than the speed limit. Don’t know the specifics of the case you are talking about
“Special rule for slow-moving traffic.- On every roadway, except while overtaking and passing another vehicle going in the same direction or when preparing for a lawful left turn, any vehicle going 10 miles an hour or more below the applicable maximum speed limit or, if any existing conditions reasonably require a speed below that of the applicable maximum, at less than the normal speed of traffic under these conditions, shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.”
November 11th, 2014 at 8:47 am
If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. If you’re going to cruise in the left lane, do it at 10 miles below the speed limit with your right turn signal flashing.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:08 am
Also why would you want to hang out in somebody’s blind spot like that?
November 11th, 2014 at 9:25 am
I have done 140 in the fast lane and there is always someone tailgating you. No matter what speed you go. (No it was not a cop) Used to blast down briley parkway doing that. Never once got a ticket.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:47 am
That’s more than just a lane hog, that is a blindspot rider. Never ceases to amaze me. These people move up to in the left lane than slow to cruise in the blind spot.
When I lived in Maryland, I found it filled with such a-holes. But it isn’t exclusive. Seems to be the scared, unsure drivers who then do the worst thing they can do, especially when they do it to tractor-trailors.
Once when coming back to God’s country from Maryland, I was on the stretch of I-81 south of Bristol. Not another car in sight. Along comes a car in the left lane overtaking. But he gets right in my left rear blind spot and then starts pacing. I took a mph off the cruise control and sure enough he inched up until his trance broke. And just as sure enough, he had Maryland plates.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:56 am
Weer’d: Apparently blind spot camping is some sort of thrill game for idiots.
November 11th, 2014 at 10:45 am
In some parts of the multi-verse, that’s worth at least two warning shots from Ma Duce.
November 11th, 2014 at 1:02 pm
I had a similar experience yesterday on I-24E. Two underpowered semis were trying to pass each other doing almost sixty. One had Illinois plates and the other had Iowa plates – figures. One could go a little faster up the hills and the other could go a little faster on the flats.
I had to follow those two yayhoos for at least ten miles. When the one truck on the left finally moved over there was a line of traffic in both lanes about two miles long.
November 11th, 2014 at 4:02 pm
@TheOtherLarry:
If you get some identifying info from the truck(s), and contact the company HQ, you can make the trucker’s life interesting.
Most businesses that run trucks of any type are very sensitive to public input on driver actions. You can be fairly sure that the driver will not indulge in that particular bit of idiocy again. Inform the company that you will copy the complaint to any relevant agencies, if particularly stupid/dangerous. That makes it a double whammy, for both the driver and Company.
If more people followed through with such complaints, this sort of thing would mostly go away.
When they deregulated the trucking industry, the quality of drivers took a real dump, and never recovered, apparently.
November 11th, 2014 at 5:54 pm
“Keep right except to pass” is real, real hard for people to grasp.
November 11th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
I had a similar experience on 840 south of Nashville a few weeks ago.
I always pull over (in the right lane) for people who want to go faster than me.
I prefer taking Briley Parkway North / 155 North to get around Nashville.
November 11th, 2014 at 7:31 pm
I prefer the German rule: If you get hit from behind in the left lane, it’s your fault for breaking the “Keep Right Except To Pass” rule.
Now in the States, you may use the left lane (when there is more than one lane in your direction) to pass. You may or may not be able to use the left lane when not passing. The table linked below describes the law in effect in each state: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html .
November 11th, 2014 at 8:05 pm
Blind spot campers are fun to play with on an empty highway. Gradually decrease your speed, and see how slow you can make them drive before they stop playing with their cellphone or daydreaming.
when some retard is camping a blind spot, it’s usually because he is letting his subconscious drive, and his particular subconscious is a bleeding idiot.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:56 pm
I call it “Wing mans Syndrome” in which a driver rolls up behind another car in the next lane, left or right, and assumes the wing mans position, letting the lead driver do all the driving.
This puts the wing man in the lead drivers blind spot, but this never seems to be a problem. If the leader begins to change lanes, the wing man can always honk.
November 12th, 2014 at 9:24 am
>That’s more than just a lane hog, that is a blindspot rider. Never ceases to amaze me. These people move up to in the left lane than slow to cruise in the blind spot.
I call them “zombie drivers”. They’re really not in the conscious realm, they’re on autopilot.
>Gradually decrease your speed, and see how slow you can make them drive before they stop playing with their cellphone or daydreaming.
i usually slowly ramp up my speed 5-7 mph. They’ll follow suit. Then coast back down to your original cruising setpoint.
Usually the zombie won’t decrease, they’ll just continue on their merry way still in a trance state. Problem solved and they leave without even realizing that you’re messing with them, thus no chance at retaliatory road rage.
November 12th, 2014 at 11:07 am
The closer You get to my bumper, the more apt I am to “dog check” your stupid ass.
Don’t like the speed limit, 1) get it changed thru the legal system & until then 2) leave earlier.
I have ZERO respect for people that fail to leave early enough to arrive at their destination on time even allowing for a delay.
SteveA
November 12th, 2014 at 11:26 am
I have no respect for anyone who would endanger their own life and someone else’s just to be a dick.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:57 am
Any driver in the inside lane of a highway, driving at the same speed as a car in the adjacent lane, is an idiot. And the best course of action with idiots is to move as far away from them as possible.
November 13th, 2014 at 2:07 am
i usually slowly ramp up my speed 5-7 mph. They’ll follow suit. Then coast back down to your original cruising setpoint.
I had a “wingman” like that, staying with me as I sped up until I saw I was at 85, 15 mph north of my preferred cruising speed. So I slowed down – but all at once, braking off that 15mph in a hurry (no one behind or nearby in light traffic). Woke him up good, to judge from his delayed reaction. He probably thought I’d seen something he missed, like a police cruiser.
Will: thanks for that information. I’ve long wanted to ask truck drivers what is so godawful important about that half mile per hour that they’ll snarl up traffic for its sake – and overtake at that differential too.
November 13th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
>Woke him up good, to judge from his delayed reaction. He probably thought I’d seen something he missed, like a police cruiser.
Well, yea, if your goal is to provoke a reaction. If that’s what you’re after I have three other asshole ideas:
1. Suddenly accelerate while shifting into the fast lane. Then coast with them behind you. When they pass you on the right make a good effort to match their speed. At least for a mile or two. This one really freaks them out.
2. Just turn on your left turn signal, but don’t speed up, slow down or do anything else. Let it blink and blink and blink until they wake up.
3. Veer almost into their lane like you’re falling asleep at the wheel.
They all work, but my preferred technique gets rid of the zombie driver without their knowledge that they are being manipulated.