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Road Rage

SIKSKIER

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Holy crap yes.This is exactly how I feel.How many Massholes can you ticket though?Way back there used to be "slower traffic keep right" signs on NH highways.Bring them back.
 

Jcb890

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People staying/driving in the left lane drives me insane. They think just because they are going over the speed limit doing 70 or 75 that they are going fast enough. A decent percentage of traffic caused on the highway is due to this issue. If someone is behind you going faster, move over. Period.

That is, unless its not safe of course. Then you should move over as soon as it is safe to do so.
 

jimk

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I used to drive a 15 passenger van quite a bit as member of a van pool in 80s and 90s. I had a 140 mile roundtrip daily commute up I95 in Virginia to DC. That's a horribly busy stretch of road that brings out the worst in humanity. Saw a lot of road rage including guys going 85mph in the left shoulder to pass people going 75 in the left lane, but the worst was the time I was exiting I95 around 5PM near Fredericksburg, VA and two men in separate cars stopped and blocked the exit ramp to get out of their cars and start a fist fight on the roadway right in front of me and my van full of people. I was the nearest vehicle to the fight and I yelled out the window, "hey guys, break it up!" They were in typical office attire, but nonetheless wound up throwing punches while rolling on the asphalt. After a two minute tussle they each got back in their cars and we all drove away. Crazy, but also very sad. I was glad the fight came to a quick "no decision" conclusion and no one pulled a gun.
 

buellski

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I only drive in the left lane to pass. What pisses me off just as much as people staying/driving in the left lane are the assholes who think that driving 90 means the left lane belongs to them and only them when they need to pass. These are the people that pull up on your rear bumper, while you're safely passing a slower vehicle in the right lane, and then try to pass you on the right as soon as you clear the slower vehicle.
 

River19

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There also has to be some reason-ability to the whole "if someone wants to go faster move over" standpoint.

If the right lane is doing 65-70 in a 70mph zone and I'm "passing" that line of folks at 75mph but the guy behind me wants to go 85mph......perhaps he should be able to contain himself for 20seconds until I complete my pass of the slower traffic and find a space where I can do my desired speed. Now if that takes and overly long time then shame on me for misjudging the pass.

And I'll just throw this out there........Snowmobilers with single axle trailers with tires rated to 65mph doing 80+ MPH changing lanes like they are channeling their inner Jeff Gordon........ Discuss.....
 

River19

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I only drive in the left lane to pass. What pisses me off just as much as people staying/driving in the left lane are the assholes who think that driving 90 means the left lane belongs to them and only them when they need to pass. These are the people that pull up on your rear bumper, while you're safely passing a slower vehicle in the right lane, and then try to pass you on the right as soon as you clear the slower vehicle.

My exact point........those sphincters can wait until I make a safe pass within reasonable speeds (ie. within ~10mph of the speed limit)
 

cdskier

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What pisses me off just as much as people staying/driving in the left lane are the assholes who think that driving 90 means the left lane belongs to them and only them when they need to pass. These are the people that pull up on your rear bumper, while you're safely passing a slower vehicle in the right lane, and then try to pass you on the right as soon as you clear the slower vehicle.

Completely agree. I'm not going to cut the guy in the next lane off just because the guy behind me is impatient. I was taught to change lanes once there is a safe distance between you and the vehicle you just passed. Once I'm safely ahead of the person I passed, I'll move over.

There also has to be some reason-ability to the whole "if someone wants to go faster move over" standpoint.

If the right lane is doing 65-70 in a 70mph zone and I'm "passing" that line of folks at 75mph but the guy behind me wants to go 85mph......perhaps he should be able to contain himself for 20seconds until I complete my pass of the slower traffic and find a space where I can do my desired speed. Now if that takes and overly long time then shame on me for misjudging the pass.

Completely agree with this as well. If I'm passing people, I shouldn't have to go faster just because the person behind me wants to go faster. Calm down and once I'm done passing I will move over. It isn't like I'm going slow either as I'm probably at least going 5-10 over the speed limit anyway when I'm in the left lane passing others. If that isn't fast enough for people, too bad. Now if I wasn't passing people and the lanes to my right were empty, then I agree that I shouldn't be sitting in the left lane.
 

doublediamond

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I had this happen to me the other day. Here's an ethics quandary... what do you guys suggest?

* I was going ~75 in the right lane of a 2 lane 65-mph highway
* Pickup truck in front of me was going about ~65 and towing a mini camper
* Car coming up quickly at about ~85 is left lane-hogger, the type describe above that'd pass you on the right while cutting off the person you just passed.
* Based on speeds and locations, all 3 of us will be at the same spot at the same time.

Do I:
* Pass the slower car, forcing the fast guy to slow down, or
* Brake down to the speed limit to let the fast guy through and then accelerate and pass the slower car?

Either way forces one of us to brake. (I did the latter for reference).
 

tree_skier

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As a sometimes truck driver the issue that gets the rage going is the car going speed limit or under in the middle (or 2nd from right) lane on 3 lane highways. so picture this, I am making good time at 70 in a 65 in my truck and i come up upon the smuck driving 60 in the middle lane, can i pass on the left, it is empty, nope trucks are prohibited from left lane, the right lane is full travelling along at what you would expect 63-65, arrgh. It gets worse on the jersey pike (and some others) where there are 6 lanes of cars only, 2 lanes for trucks and the #@!%$ going 50 in one of the 2 truck lanes
 

bdfreetuna

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keep the faith
If someone is cruising at 85mph in the left lane and there is a car going 65mph ahead of you (going 75mph), which causes you to decide if you will brake or cut off the faster vehicle in the left lane to avoid braking yourself..

You need to be the one braking. It's never kosher to cut someone off causing them to brake. It's also not safe; while you are evaluating the situation in advance, your move may well be a surprise to them. This especially applies on roads that could have snow/ice/winter conditions. Take responsibility for your own position and be more alert of circumstances.

If you want to avoid braking you need to accelerate to match the speed of the approaching vehicle to make the pass. This is what I usually do assuming there's time/space.

You did the right thing.
 
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doublediamond

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I think trucks can be a source of road rage with their crappy attempts to pass. Whether it be a 2 or 3 lane highway, when a truck going 65.5 is passing a truck going 65, the passing truck causes a massive unneeded jam.
 
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doublediamond

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It's never kosher to cut someone off causing them to brake.

I should have said I could see him coming for a bit and it wouldn't have been a cutoff... If I passed initially when I would have gotten over to pass with no other traffic, he/she should have time and distance to slowdown without touching the brakes. I should also point out no one within 20 miles was going above 75. But as I processed the situation, by the time I chose I was forced to brake.
 

doublediamond

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It's never kosher to cut someone off causing them to brake.

I should have said I could see him coming for a bit and it wouldn't have been a cutoff... If I passed initially when I would have gotten over to pass with no other traffic, he/she should have time and distance to slowdown without touching the brakes. I should also point out no one within 20 miles was going above 75. But as I processed the situation, by the time I chose I was forced to brake.
 

bdfreetuna

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I should have said I could see him coming for a bit and it wouldn't have been a cutoff... If I passed initially when I would have gotten over to pass with no other traffic, he/she should have time and distance to slowdown without touching the brakes. I should also point out no one within 20 miles was going above 75. But as I processed the situation, by the time I chose I was forced to brake.

I would accelerate to approx 85 to quickly pass the car, so nobody has to brake. If you're worried about getting a ticket just wait for the guy to go by.

If somebody is going an absurd speed like 90+ and they are coming up on me from a 1/4 mile behind, I tend to ignore them and go about my passing business normally (usually I pass around 80-85 anyway). I tend to be of the opinion on the road that 85 is a reasonable maximum speed and above 90 you shouldn't do around other cars.

Edit: I also think cruise control is dangerous and lazy for the most part, never use it, and people should have their cruise controls disengaged when there is traffic around so they aren't forced to stomp their brakes to avoid accidents.
 

Jully

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I think trucks can be a source of road rage with their crappy attempts to pass. Whether it be a 2 or 3 lane highway, when a truck going 65.5 is passing a truck going 65, the passing truck causes a massive unneeded jam.

I've been trapped on a 2 lane highway with two trucks going 60 and 60.1 MPH for > 15 minutes in a 65 zone. I swear the drivers were having a conversation through their respective windows.
 

Scruffy

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Completely agree with this as well. If I'm passing people, I shouldn't have to go faster just because the person behind me wants to go faster. Calm down and once I'm done passing I will move over. It isn't like I'm going slow either as I'm probably at least going 5-10 over the speed limit anyway when I'm in the left lane passing others. If that isn't fast enough for people, too bad. Now if I wasn't passing people and the lanes to my right were empty, then I agree that I shouldn't be sitting in the left lane.

I got a speeding ticket on the mass-pike because I was passing a long line of traffic ( I was in left lane passing traffic in the right lane - two lanes in this spot ), the right line was doing about 70-75 ( speed limit is mostly 65 on mass pike ) I was doing 80 in passing lane. Some douchenozzle in a steroid induced, jacked to the hilt, pickup was just about pushing me with his front bumper- at 80 he was a foot from my rear bumber!!- I had another 4-5 cars I needed to pass before there was a large enough opening for me to move over into the right lane. This fine gentleman was getting all agitated behind me to the point I thought he'd really ram my car. So I hit the gas to get around those last few cars so I could move over. Wouldn't you know it, a state trooper was right there with a radar/laser gun, and zap, he got the both of us. The trooper knew that that bastard behind me was about to run me over, but he gave me a ticket anyway. The guy behind me got two tickets.

My question is this: is it really that hard to use your brain and apply speed, space, and time perception to the situation and realize that the car in front is actually passing the other cars on the road, and at a pretty good pace, so just relax and wait a moment.
 

cdskier

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My question is this: is it really that hard to use your brain and apply speed, space, and time perception to the situation and realize that the car in front is actually passing the other cars on the road, and at a pretty good pace, so just relax and wait a moment.

It shouldn't be...but then again it also shouldn't be hard for a tractor trailer to realize going up a hill in rush hour traffic is the wrong time to move from the right lane to the middle lane while only putting his blinker on after he initiates the lane change (which he didn't even have full clearance to make as I had to hit my brakes and back off so he could finish cutting me off). He then proceeded to go about 35 the rest of the way up the hill in the middle lane (in a 55 zone).

Sorry...I think I digressed a bit there about something that happened on the way home from work today. 8) And I'm not someone that's a jackass around trucks. I give them plenty of room and often will slow down a bit to let them in front of me if they give fair warning with a blinker ahead of time that they want to change lanes.
 
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