Agressive drivers on 42?

I hate being tailgated so much in my car. =\ Its almost always by an SUV/pickup truck too (not to mention the dudes driving the soccer mom vans.) something with not nearly the brakes i have. If an emergency situation pops up and i have an h2 climbing my bumper i get to choose between nose damage and tail damage. plain and simple. I can't go faster, because my car is cop bait. +7MPH is my max on a 2 lane road.

The worst part of all is that these people have no balls either. They just want you to go faster. They don't want to do anything about it. If a passing zone pops up they refuse to go by... but they'll keep on climbing your bumper.


My anti-tailgating maneuver: drop to 2nd gear (shaves off 5 MPH through compression braking which makes them brake check if they're paying attention and doesn't put me at risk if they're not because they wont gain that much before step 2) and then open the throttle when i'm in the sweet spot. You'll have to accelerate to get that close to me again. Even if it doesn't fix the problem, it shows whether they're doing it intentionally, or they just didn't realize how close they were.

 

Hey, well I was an aggressive driver on the 42 because it was life or death to get my spouse to the new Emergency room, so don't think all people are on you arse for the fun of it. I thought he had one thing that needed immediate care and when we got there he has something else that would have killed him in Hours. So sorry if I was on your arse. Wasn't intentional. PS. Spouse still in hospital but will be ok.

 

Let me preface the post with: I sympathize with your situation, and i wish your spouse a speedy recovery.

That said, let me get into the most insensitive post I've made in recent months: Getting there in a ball of fire, or pretending a tree is the emergency room won't help the situation either. You can't go 70 on 42. The laws of physics are against it (primarily the one about objects occupying the same space at the same time) and endangering someone who's already in danger is just stupid. Aside from that, even if you had gone 70 on 42 (yes, that number is arbitrary) without anything stopping you you would have saved a whopping 4.68 minutes over 20 miles. How much time does that add up to when the cop pulls you over, and you have to explain why you were speeding, provided he believes you and wants to escort you. How much time is it worth for waiting for an ambulance with much more dire injuries? Nobody on this forum said "HEY ROBBIE! WHY WERE YOU CLIMBING MY BUMPER!?" so why are you taking it personally? I'm sure you're just trying to provide perspective on why it might be ok to endanger a line of traffic and yourself because you think you have the reaction time to handle < 3 seconds of following distance at 55MPH+. You failed at that, and it reads as nothing more than "Tailgating is OK because of this guilt trip. don't be mad at people who might destroy your car and those around because they're late for work! they might be out going way too fast for an emotional situation like i was! that's way better!"

Tailgating has no viable defense. Ambulances are there for a reason. The drivers are not emotionally involved in your situation and can actually drive like they were trained to. The vehicle is covered in lights, and loud noise makers which cause the people you were tailgating to get out of the way.

 

I like to just think that they are driving something that big to compensate for a lack of something, smile and if I can slow down a little more.

 

I hope he'll be okay. To be honest, I can only imagine how small the percentage is of people that have true emergencies that are tailgating others. It's 99.99999999999999999999% of people that don't have emergencies that are the real problem.

 

:hurray:

 

Not always!! I drive our truck sometimes and I am simply amazed at how few folks pull out in front of me in it versus when I am in the mini-van. There are a huge number of clueless folks out there driving everything. My personal pet peeve is those in "expensive" cars, you know, the ones over $40,000 that think the lanes should clear just for them. Happened to us today in Goldsboro. Moron in a Mercedes flying through the parking lot at Sam's club across the parking spots, not in the lanes and nearly hit us. Then had the nerve to be rude to us!! This was after a lady in an SUV nearly sideswipped us in the same parking lot. She was on the phone and never even looked before she pulled out. She never looked when DH layed on the horn either. Freaking idiots everywhere. Good thing DH has calmed down in his later years, LOL.

 

I don't consider myself an aggressive driver, but you do have to be assertive at times in areas like on 40 from the NC 42 interchange anywhere western into Raleigh or out to RTP or Durham. Plus, act timid on Capital Boulevard and you won't be able to change lanes. That said, however. I try to avoid tailgating because most people overdrive their brakes and/or their reflexes assuming that they can stop or making the assumption that somebody will not make a hard, sudden stop in front of them. I was rear-ended one time by a old eighties Lincoln Town Car with about five passengers in it. Let me tell you, those cars pack quite a punch! He was driving about 72 in a 55 and overtaking me. The light turned green and I couldn't make it through. His car didn't have anti-lock and he skidded into me doing about 30 mph. Tore up my beloved Mustang pretty bad.

If a motorists is in front of me and they're driving the speed limit constantly, I try to respect them by backing off. Most of the time, I'm comfortable enough to just go with the flow. If I'm in a hurry I appreciate those who will let me pass them instead of acting as if they own the road.

Now the only situation where I get ticked off is someone on the cell phone that speeds up and slows down and speeds up and slows down and...well, you get the point. Or those you pass only for them to take a notion to "pass you back."

 

Well I can assure you that it isn't me, my 4 vehicles together probably ain't worth $20,000 :jester:

 

people should not be allowed to drive vehicles whose capabilities exceed their skillz

 

:iagree:

 

Someone tailgating my car is my biggest pet peeve. It used to imtimidate me and make me go a little faster but not anymore. I'm not a slow poke driver whatsoever, however, I do obey the rules of the road. If someone is that stupid to be willing to get in an accident by riding my bumper so they can arrive somewhere just minutes before I do, then the driver deserves what they get. However, the passengers of the tailgating car and the other drivers and passengers of the road are being put at a terrible risk also and that is just totally disgusting.

 

:iagree:

 

Amen to that!! Drives me crazy to watch someone in one of those mega SUV's that can't park the dern thing. Or parks it on top of the next car. Go to the end of the parking lot. Get some exercise!

 

Well, I will say one thing on parking lots. Most parking spaces are too small for even medium sized cars when their doors are fully open, let alone SUVs or pickup trucks. Retail centers should make their spots a bit wider since only but a few times a year are their parking lots completely full anyway. I drive a full-size truck most of the time and I generally do not park up close because of how careless many people are about opening their doors.

 

Well most drivers can tell the difference between someone having to get somewhere fast, and someone who just flys up their bumper. My pet peeve is so many people are so goody two shoes and go under the speed limit, that is when I ride their butts to get them up to the speed limit. If I am riding the exact speed limit with my cruise control on and I get on your butt, then you better pick up your speed and stop being a Sunday driver.

 

or what?

 

Sorry but I try to be a "Legal" at all times, especially after hearing folks on 4042 talking about all those "Illegals".

Hope you don't have a heart attack behind me, but it sounds like you have issues.

 

Seriously! I don't care what speed I'm doing, if you start riding my bumper, I WILL slow down.

 

Using your car to annoy other drivers who are annoying you seems like a recipe for disaster. It doesn't matter if you are tailgating someone because you are annoyed they aren't going fast enough or going slow on purpose because someone is annoying you by tailgating. The minute you start operating your vehicle for a purpose other than trying to safely get you from point a to point b I think it's going to increase the chances of an accident.