Do other drivers ever get pissed off at you?
 

It seems like ever since I started focusing on increasing my FE I have had a number of other drivers get angry with me.

I don't even accelerate that slowly, but I keep having people tail gate me then speed around me at the first chance they get.

Also, coming up the hill from work the speed limit is 55 and I maintain a constant speed of 60 AND I make sure I'm in the right hand lane. Yet still every once in a while other drivers will speed around me and cut me off.

Yesterday I had a guy in a huge Ford truck nearly run me off the road, and I was going 5 mph over the limit! He also gave me the finger as he sped by me. I don't think I am driving slow, I could be accelerating much faster, but I never drive under the speed limit, and I accelerate at a pretty good pace when there are other drivers behind me.

Do you guys have problems with other drivers getting pissed off at you for driving conservatively? Or am I the only one? Maybe I'm driving too slow?

Haha, I drive 55 on the interstate (65) and at speed limit everywhere else, accelerating quite slowly, never had an issue.

Once I had someone honk at me but I dunno what it was related to, *shrug*

It's amazing how many people THINK you will be going slow, or are going slow, just because of the car you drive. I believe people speed up, after I pass them, just because it MUST be an insult that an econobox is going faster than their luxury sedan.

All the time. I could be doing the speed limit and they still pass me.

OO yeah, get the finger, lip service, tail gated all sorts of stuff.

Okay, I don't feel so bad then.

It kind of makes me laugh as these people in big trucks or SUVs go speeding by me, all pissed off. I wonder how much gas they are using while they mash the gas to get their 6000lb death trap to speed by me.

I'd be pissed off to if I was locked into a huge loan on a gass guzzler. lol

Wow, I'm lucky I guess. People pass the hell out of me on the interstate but I never get any crap for it. I guess NJ is just mellow like that.

I haven't noticed anybody giving me the finger and I've only had one person honk at me recently (apparently because I came to a complete stop at a red light while I was turning right :confused: ).

People do pull out, pass, and pull back into the lane ahead of me all the time. I really don't understand this behavior when a red light is 100 yds ahead and obviously isn't going to change in the next 5 seconds.

I keep thinking I should have a bumper sticker that says: Stay behind me, you'll save fuel.

don't give them the satisfaction of letting them see your face, let them see your finger instead.

I think that was my honk, stopping at a red light, and then turning right. Crazy fools!

Anyway, I've thought of a similar bumper sticker, or at least like, some FE related so people don't think I'm stoned when my engine goes off, :p

Ya that too. At least once a day I get the "ole Stinkeye" from some that had to go around me as I EOC at 55-60 in a 65 MPH zone on the interstate.

Sometimes I get the "one finger salute" But hey just ignore them and save gas.

I won't go too far into how I feel due to what I started on another group, Jangeo knows the one,:p but I ignore everyone if I'm at or above the limit. I feel that until they buy my gas I'll drive the way I want; even then I probably still wouldn't do it. Matt, maybe it's time to bring back the link to that book about changing your driving habits?

The idiots that piss me off are those who cut into my lane as I coast towards a stop light. They get maybe one or two car lengths ahead of the others.

I usually crawl right up their bumper. They usually twitch a little from the sight of a mighty F350 looming large in their mirror.

Now there's the benefit to owning a big vehicle! :cool:

How about this one:

Want to save gas?

The Speed Limit: It's not just a good idea. It's the LAW.

It's funny to me too how scruffed some people get when you are diving the speed limit. I mean, you could be going slower - its not THE REQUIRED SPEED, but its UPPER LIMIT.

My manager at work was telling me about something humorous that he did last night. He lives in a neighborhood where the speed limit is 30 mph. People average about 60 mph through there. He needed to check out his daughters car (trying to fix an overheating problem), so he thought, "I think I'll have fun with this." Well, he drove this stretch of road at 20mph. Needless to say, he had a stack of cars behind him in either direction. Well, he sees a police officer patrolling and he gets passed by someone. Also worth noting is that there's no passing allowed. Well, he sees the police officer again and thinks that maybe he is going to go after the guy that passed him. WRONG. Follows him into his driveway and gives him the 3rd degree - seems a neighbor had seen him and thought he looked "suspecious" tooling about like he was. He informed the officer about what he was doing, and he was fine with it. When questioned about all the speeders, he gave some kind of excuse about not having a place to setup without impeeding traffic. My manager offered him his driveway, so we'll see what happens.

This was kind of my position when I stirred up so much trouble on that other forum. I even went so far as to say that I thought it was OK to go the speed limit in ANY lane. After all, I'm obeying the limit. I had one person go so far as to threaten my life for that comment. What does anyone else think? Now generally, I try to stay in the far right lane but sometimes you may have to get over for someone who ACTUALLY is going slow or merging into traffic. In those cases I don't feel obligated to to go over the limit while I'm getting around them.

civicminded: Sounds similar to what a couple of guys in Toronto tried a number of years ago. The 401 is Toronto's major freeway. The speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph), but traffic flow is anywhere from 130 - 140 km/h (81-87 mph).

So, these guys put signs on the back of their vehicles saying that they are going to test the 100 km/h speed limit and see how bad traffic gets (I can't remember what they were trying to prove exactly). They take up all the lanes and drive nose to nose at 100 km/h. The traffic is backed up for miles. Eventually they pull off the road and watch all the traffic speed up and sail by.

Anyway, a cop eventually showed up and actually arrested them all for "stunting". I'm certain they got off in court since they were actually obeying the lawful speed limit, but I never actually heard. Maybe I can find an archive...

EDIT: HA! I found it! I can't believe they actually charged them! Stupid, frigin, Canadian, anti-justice system...!!!!!
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/678348/posts

diamondlarry: Someone threatened you over that? That's pathetic! I totally agree with you. I've done my fair-share of speeding in my life and done some really stupid stunts as a teenager, but no more. I go the speed limit in town on main roads, but under the speed limit on the highway and in residential zones.

Why are people like that? I seriously would like to know from a psychological standpoint what makes people speed and then get angry at others who don't.

One time while driving through Utah I had a guy in a truck get so close to my bumper that I though he was going to hit me. I was going 70 in a 65. He started honking and flashing his brights at me, then sped around me and cut me off, sending me into onto the shoulder of the road. I was going 70 mph and had my wife and son with me at the time. I seriously was so angry I called the police and told them he tried to kill us.

That's funny about the thing in Canada though. lol I can't believe they got charged for following the law. That just doesn't make sense.

I agree totally with you. Just gos to show how ignorant people can be.

News did a report about driving the speed limit to save gas a while back. They drove down the interstate at the speed limit and had the cameras rolling and every one was blowing by them about 20 MPH or more. It looked just as everyone discribed with people whipping around um. Did not see any one finger salutes on the video though.:)

Yeah the person that got so bent out of shape about it said I should be taken out and shot. They were talking about how my attitude could cause accidents and all kinds of evil things and I said that I wouldn't/couldn't be the cause of such evil things if I was obeying the law and it would be thier fault be cause it was thier choice to speed. So, in order to keep people from killing others, I was supposed to break the law. WRONG ANSWER!:mad: Sorry for the rant. I hate being the bad guy for being the one in the right.:mad:
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the moderator of the group apologized to me and deleted all of the threatening posts from the thread.

No, it makes no sense at all. It's just one more injustice among so many.

diamondlarry: Yeah, that kind of attitude is a complete mystery to me. Slower is safer and legal. Unfortunately, according to what happened in the article I linked to, the justice system may just turn and bite you in the *** for being a law-abiding citizen. There is no justice anymore. :mad:

diamondlarry

I belive that was the vtec thread. :) I weighted in on that knowing it was going to be a hot one.

Just the other day I was doing about 60 (maybe 62) in the slow lane, going UP hill mind you, and this lady in an older Jeep SUV comes up on my butt. Well instead of using either of the 2 other OPEN lanes, she tailgates me for a good minute, only to whip over one lane, floor it and yell "65!!!" out the window and show my 65 with her fingers (now completely off the steering wheel). I just happened to have my digital camera sitting in the seat next to me, so I took a quick shot of her plate, just in case. Well about 3 miles up the road, I come up on her again, and now shes sitting behind a semi, both the middle and fast lanes open.

I move over into the middle lane, and as I pass her, I hold the camera up, and sure enough, she flips me the bird! The darn camera was too slow and I missed the shot... oh well.

Thats about the worst I've gotten so far, but I've been trying to go at least 65. I tried 55 for a few minutes and that was dangerous!!!

I try to go 65mph on the freeway. If I'm in 3rd I'm doing about 55mph. If i go 65 in 3rd it will waste gas like crazy. People just usually go around me.

This one time I was driving about 60mph and this lady tailgated me and flashed her lights. She then went around me and cut me off. I returned the favor and tailgated her and flashed my lights at her and ran her off the freeway. I'm all about saving gas but when somebody cuts me off severly I will make them suffer.

Remind me never to drive around compaq...

I've taken a habit to going about 50 on the highway. People get really pissed! The traffic flow around here is roughly 75 mph, speed limit is 55.

But my step mom's piece of **** Suzuki Sidekick guzzles. The only way I can get the EPA rating is by going slow in it. The more I spend on gas, the less I have available to put into the EV. So that's motivation to go slow...

Once the EV is on the road, I won't care about gonig slow. Electricity and batteries are cheap. The car will be able to go 140+ when completely finished. I damn well will make use of it.

95metro:

Thanks for the link to that about the law abiding citizens that were punished for obeying the law. It really disgusts me.

Something else that I find interesting: with so many breaking the law, the idea was just to make the law more acceptable to the general public. No reason other than people were breaking it, so we might as well raise it. OK - so if the murder rate skyrockets, do we just stop punishing it and make it legal?

Rediculous.

If there was a REASON for setting the speed at a level and the reason is still valid, it needs to be enforced, not changed.

Before anyone jumps my case, let me say that I was on the other side at one time too. I've even gotten a ticket for 1 mph over the speed limit also - and that infuriates me, just like the guys in that article. Who decides what tolerance and when? If it's written down and enforced, that's fine. If it's at the whim of any particular police officer or judge on any particular day, then it's just not right.

Sorry for the rant, but I just had to do it.

Hahahaha...

I love it when that happens! Someone speeds by me and then gets stuck behind some other traffic or gets boxed in. Then I casually pass them, still maintaining my same speed.

I love it how people think that we are in the wrong and feel the need to flip us off etc. Damn you law abiding citizens!!! *finger*

I liked the murder analogy. Just because people choose not to follow the speed limit signs doesn't mean that we should change them.

Don't apologize for the rant, civicminded, because you are right. The entire situation is absolutely stupid. If the system wants to punish someone it will. If it's not in the mood to uphold the existing law on another day it won't. It's apathy at it's worst.

As for your "making murder legal" example, I quite agree. However I actually worry that it could happen one of these days. With the "do what you want, it's not my business" attitude of so many today it seems like anarchy may not be far in the future.

That's just me being pessimistic again though...:rolleyes:

I drive at or below the speed limit. Other drivers being pissed off is not my problem. Our lives are as stressed as they need to be anyway, so I drive slow and enjoy it. It's really quite relaxing to drive slow, not have to watch for cops, constantly evaluate if your going too fast for the conditions, or fight for the next gap in traffic to gain another 50 feet on everyone else.
I say screw em! Enjoy the drive, it's my life dammit!

Very well said! I like that!

Yeah beatr911, it is really relaxing driving at/below speed limit. I even find I enjoy seeing Police officers instead of trying to avoid them. lol I wave, and they just look suspiciously at me. :)

I consider my driving style and extension of my *shrug* kinda of attitude. Just being mellow, it's not like I have anywhere to be, and when I do, I'm early, because I'm not trying to cram a bunch of crap in and make myself go nuts.

One gripe I have, as well, is the folk's who feel it's their duty to honk at you, at a light, because the light changed 1 second ago and your blocking the way. Sometime's I'd like to just sit their and wait for the next light!

Speed limits aren't even an issue if you follow the rule of the Autobahn - "stay right except to pass"

On the express way, I drive whatever speed I want to in the far right lane (usually 55-60 mph) and only venture leftward if a lane becomes exit only or if I need to pass someone.

same here

Speed limits are in issue environmentally, though, :p

Not if we were driving EVs, powered by wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass electricity. :p

Personally, I dislike speed limits. America's interstate highways were originally enginered for ~80 mph, and that is what the flow of traffic will roughly be, regardless of the limit. Lowering the speed limit simply acts as a means to allow law enforcement to generate revenue for their municipality. That revenue comes from you and I, the taxpayer. It allows the insurance industry an excuse to jack up rates if you get stopped. Naturally, it is the government bureacrats and insurance industry that lobby to keep speed limits down. more money goes from you to them. Even those that decide to follow the limit then have a higher accident rate than if they went with the traffic flow, also helping to generate revenue(even if they may not be at fault for the accident, since speeders run into them!).

But given that these limits exist, I'm not afraid to take advantage of them when I need to. When I get a car that doesn't need gas anymore, I will go back to my old lead-foot driving habits(unless I'm trying to go long distances in it, and need all the range I can get). That means 90+ mph in the left lane. But I also have a respect for those who drive slow. I'm not impatient, and if somehow all the traffic in front of me were neck and neck going 50-55, I wouldn't mind. Those who are going slow are saving gas, and have a lower risk of death from the set of collisions not involving other vehicles.

Perhaps, but most idiots out there can't drive 80 mph without being a danger to themselves and everyone else around them.

Another fact is that if people are going to drive this fast then they MUST maintain their vehicles better than they do.

Most used vehicles (10+ years old) will shimmy and shake at 75+ mph simply because suspension, steering, alignment, wheels, and bearings haven't been serviced enough. Going fast is fun, but for most people it is dangerous.