Do other drivers ever get pissed off at you?

[cfg83]

Peakster -

Originally Posted by Peakster

Holy cow cfg83, that is one of the craziest driving stories I've ever read ! Did you get in trouble with the company too?

No, I didn't get in trouble with anyone. I never met the lady, I was already on public streets, and the Police never bothered me after that. Just a "You Dumb Kid" look and that was it. The lady definitely had some guts to chase after me and get my license plate, so she deserves some credit for making the story interesting.

This was on the cusp of the new law that made it illegal to have anything that so much as looked like a gun in your car, so I think the cops gave me some leeway. Today the story would probably have a different ending.

CarloSW2

[basjoos]

I haven't had any problems with rude drivers since I gave my car the full aero treatment. Other drivers are too busy staring at my car to be thinking of behaving badly. My biggest problem is with people slowing down and pacing me in the passing lane while scoping out my car. In the meanwhile, traffic begins to pile up behind them. And the occasional driving who can't drive in a straight line while they are looking at something to their right who starts to drift into my lane while they are staring at my car. Fortunately my car is narrow and I tend to drive in the right portion of my lane.

[Silveredwings]

Several states have strict laws against 'brandishing' but more importantly, as said before, there are folks out there with the real thing. I wouldn't want to get a firefight started especially against hot steel when all I had was a paint gun.

There are people out there who are nucking-futs. Be carefull.

[The Toecutter]

She was chasing me!!!! I drove my getaway car, a Datsun B210 Honeybee, as fast as I could, which isn't very fast at all, and she caught up to me.

Didn't those do 0-60 mph in like 18 seconds? Unless the Honeybee was a name for the hatchback, in which case many sources claim 23 seconds. Ouch.

[cfg83]

Toecutter -

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

Didn't those do 0-60 mph in like 18 seconds? Unless the Honeybee was a name for the hatchback, in which case many sources claim 23 seconds. Ouch.

Yeah, I did all these shenanigans to get away, turning corners left and right and I thought I was super cool. Then I look in my rear view, and there she is. Sad. The Honeybee was fun, though, because I didn't give a damn about it. Eventually it really was running on 3 out of 4 cylinders. I couldn't tell because it was so slow to begin with.

EDIT : The B210 was a notchback. It's nickname was Buzzbomb, after the Dead Kennedy's song.

CarloSW2

[caprice]

The solution for road rage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBI0hmwISdA

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by zpiloto

I think the size of the car has a lot to do with it. Since I started driving the Daewoo I think people just expect it to be slow, even thought it's overpowered with 105 hp under the hood. The responses have been noticeably different. That's in a good way.

this si true, when im driving my vette peopel tent to stay alot further back than they do when im in my truck... that and they pass slow and i always catch them lookin at it

but about the concrete in thier car, ever see a construction workers truck? u cna slide opne the back window and grab anythign back there... one of my friends got beamed in the backl of the head by a soda can that decided to rampage its way from the bed thru the cab windo into his head. hilariou to watch tho

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by zpiloto

I think the size of the car has a lot to do with it. Since I started driving the Daewoo I think people just expect it to be slow, even thought it's overpowered with 105 hp under the hood. The responses have been noticeably different. That's in a good way.

Definitely. I can go 45-50mph in my poor little beater pickup on CA freeways with no worries, but I do (rarely) get isht for going 55mph in a V6. I bet I coulda gone 35mph in the VW...

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by 90CivicStandard

Do you guys have problems with other drivers getting pissed off at you for driving conservatively?

Occasionally.

However, the drivers that get pissed off, are usually a-holes to begin with (that would be pissed at anyone not driving like a maniac).

A recent example comes to mind. We were in fairly heavy traffic on a 2 lanes each direction highway (so both lanes were in use). I happened to be in the left lane, because there wasn't a spot in the right lane to actually drive.

Guess what? This a-hole starts riding my bumper at highway speeds (i.e. this jerk was illegally, and dangerously, tailgating me). I look down at my speedometer, and I'm already going 3 miles over the speed limit. I would happily have switched lanes to let this jerk pass (and get him off my bumper), but (as I said) the other lane wasn't clear, so I had nowhere I could go.

Naturally, my failure to considerably speed up more, infuriated this jerk, and he started making rude hand gestures at me (I saw them in my rear view mirror). Eventually I was able to pass enough of the traffic on the right to be safe to pull into the right lane, so I signaled my intent to switch lanes, and pulled over. And just before I started my signal, I saw this idiot (in my mirror) swerve (no signal at all) in a manor that seems (to me) to indicate that he was going to pull into the right lane BEFORE it was safe to do so (again without a signal) and only stopped after my signal.

Of course, once I was able to pull into the right lane, this idiot speeded up considerably (remember we were both already going slightly OVER the speed limit), and then swerved in and out between cars in front of us. It's hard to tell exact speeds, but by the way he passed me, I suspect he was likely going 15+ miles over the speed limit, in addition to tailgating other cars, and darting in and out between cars moving slower than him. Gee, where's a cop when you need them? I really would have laughed, if this IMHO "reckless driver" had been caught and given a stiff fine...

[GasSavers_jkandell]

I wear both hats. Usually I'm the guy coasting half a mile to the light, with people passing me. (I try to be courteous and use the right lane and speed up if there's someone behind me.) Once a guy honked at me for going slow in a turn lane when he was on the main road, so you can't win sometimes.

Other times I'm late for work and looking for every second advantage: weaving, racing to red lights just to be safe, and terribly frustrated at the cars creeping along at the speed limit blocking my way. Hey, with the Honda Fit's "vtec" kicking in at 3400 rpm, you have drive it both ways!