Tag: road rage

First off, wow, been a while since I posted anything!  And second, told you there would be another post about road rage (see previous post).

Just for the record, I’m not a perfect driver, sometimes I do *ahem* stupid things.  Having said that, I feel it’s fair to comment on other drives and what stupid things they do.

It all started out rather fun, my brother and I was taking a motorcycle trip to see an Aunt and then we were going to put a few more miles and states on the bike (so far I’m ahead with 11 states under my “motorcycle” belt, at some point I hope to have all 50).  The first day’s itinerary was to get to my Aunt’s and I would like to say it was without incident, but that would be a lie.  It’s also a story for another day because what I’m talking about today happened on day 2 of our 3 day trip.

We were in Illinois on Route 1 when it happened.  Route 1 for the most part is a two lane highway with sections that are four lanes.  The particular stretch at the start was a four lane highway through a town with a speed limit of 35.  My brother and I were traveling at about 50MPH and keeping up with the flow of traffic.  That’s when I noticed a guy coming up behind pretty fast in an burnt orange mustang.  The lane to the right was clear but he stayed right behind my brother and I.  I decided to be nice and moved over to the right lane at which point he sped up to right behind my brother and started honking the horn.  When my brother moved over I heard the engine rev and he took off like a speed racer only to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the car that we were following.  I immediately thought to myself “what a jackass”.

As we traveled through several smaller towns the guy was never more than two or three cars ahead.  We eventually got to a stretch of two lane road and ended up behind the same Mustang.  It seemed like it was hundreds of miles, but it was probably only 20 or 30 that we followed this guy.  The whole time he was weaving left and right, speeding up and slowing down while following the Chevy truck that was in front of him.  At one point, he even had his right hand turn signal on for probably five miles.  I told my brother at one point (probably at one of the crossroads with a stop sign) that the guy was just looking for someone to race because there were plenty of opportunities for this guy to pass, but he stayed behind the truck and continued to drive erratically.

Finally I told my brother “we have to stop and let this guy get away or pass him, I can’t stand this much longer”.  So, the next good clearing where my brother could see clearly (it was very hot day and the heat from the road was creating an hazy heat wave affect) my brother pulls and passes.  He then pulls back in between the Mustang and the truck because he sees a car coming towards us (his original intention was to pass both).  I follow my brother’s lead and pull out, as I get even with the Mustang, I hear him kick it down and speed up.  (Did I mention the word jackass before?)  Well, that just sets me off because it proved I was right about this guy just wanting to race.  He probably bought the Mustang to compensate.  At any rate, Mustang or no, my brother’s in front of him and my bike is no wimp.  As I kick it down a gear I flip the guy off passing him and my brother and pull back in line behind the truck.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next right?  Yeah, he’s revving the engine and good to go so he pulls out and guns past us.  I see him coming and flip him the bird the whole way past.  As he’s going past he’s staring at me and flipping me off as well.  So he goes past us (remember the car?) and goes past the truck diving back into the right lane almost clipping the front of the truck and I’m sure giving the folks in the oncoming car a fright.

Regardless, he’s gone and I’m happy to sit behind the truck cruising at 55 because now I don’t have to deal with an unstable erratic driver in front of me.  It made the rest of the trip seem so peaceful!

The amazing thing about this is that I usually feel guilty about doing “stupid” things, like flipping off that guy in the car.  Really, it wasn’t necessary and I’m sure it didn’t help the situation any.  However, this time I didn’t feel the least bit of guilt.  This guy was an idiot at best and how he was driving was creating a hazardous situation.

Stay safe, stay sane and keep the rubber side down.

–ServerGoon

Also known as “how to get yourself on a hit list by not knowing how to drive”

So, I found out something interesting today. Traffic lights, or at least the one I was at, will cycle whether or not someone is over the trigger (you know that space that will activate the light, usually a weight or magnetic sensor). I also found out that if said someone is not over the trigger the light will automatically change (cycle) because the sensor senses that there are no vehicles waiting to go through said light.

And just how do I know that? No, it wasn’t me, I wasn’t screwing with the person behind me, it was the person in front of me that decided it would be a good idea to stop a *FULL* car length back from the light. Last I checked, you were supposed to pull up so that the front bumper was at the line, not stop so you could still *see* the line out of your windshield.

And, to make matters worse the *idiot* that was in the other lane must have thought there was an invisible car in front of them as well because they pulled up even with the car in front of me, not up to the line, even, bumper to bumper. I mean, come on, what were they gonna do “drag race”?

So anyhow, the light changes and as the person in front of me moves forward (at least they did know that green means *GO*) the light is already changing to yellow and then back to red.  I have to admit, I’m actually surprised they didn’t slam on the brakes to stop at the yellow light.  They would have been surprised and dumb founded as to why it took two or three tries to get through a light.  And of course, *idiot* 2 would have had to stop with them, because heaven forbid you should pull past the car in the lane next to you.  I wonder what they would do at a light where they had a green light and the lane next to them was waiting for an arrow?  Probably sit there waiting ’cause they wouldn’t want to risk going past the car in the next lane!

Ok, I’m done now, end of rant, but if you see some guy sitting behind you shaking uncontrollably as you site *ONE FULL CAR LENGTH* away from the light, just save everyone the trouble of wanting to kill you and move forward.  That or *STOP DRIVING*, return your Drivers License to the BMV and take a cab.  At least you’ll be providing someone with a means of living.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, it’s part 1 because I am quite certain there will be others out there.  In fact I know it because I’ve seen it.  Maybe next time I’ll post it with a picture so you’ll know who to keep an eye out for.

–server goon