Why do people do this, highway driving edition
October 18, 2021 5:28 PM Subscribe
I was driving home this evening and not in a terrific mood for a variety of reasons. I was on a three-lane highway, in the middle lane. The pickup truck in front of me, also in the middle lane, was going 70 (in a 65); I wanted to go 72. No traffic in the left lane, the entire freeway was relatively clear. I got over to the left lane and the pickup truck immediately sped up. I could literally hear their engine roar as they floored it. OK, I thought, and went a little faster. They kept going faster. This continued until we were both going over 80 mph, at which point I realized what an idiot I was being and gave up. Got back behind them, they dropped back down to 70.
What is the psychology of this maneuver? It's happened to me a few other times this year, this just happened the most dramatic instance of it. I drive a small, fuel-efficient car, but I have obvious political allegiance beyond that (no bumper stickers). The truck this time was clearly a well-maintained work truck of some sort. Because of the sun glare, I doubt they could see much about me, the driver, ie that I'm female, a certain type of person they hate, etc. Is it someone just taking out their idle sociopathy on the road?
This definitely seems to be happening to me more in the last couple of years. Before that, it was a very rare occurrence. Does anyone else experience this regularly, or ever?
And more importantly, any tips for not getting sucked into the idiot game the next time this happens?
What is the psychology of this maneuver? It's happened to me a few other times this year, this just happened the most dramatic instance of it. I drive a small, fuel-efficient car, but I have obvious political allegiance beyond that (no bumper stickers). The truck this time was clearly a well-maintained work truck of some sort. Because of the sun glare, I doubt they could see much about me, the driver, ie that I'm female, a certain type of person they hate, etc. Is it someone just taking out their idle sociopathy on the road?
This definitely seems to be happening to me more in the last couple of years. Before that, it was a very rare occurrence. Does anyone else experience this regularly, or ever?
And more importantly, any tips for not getting sucked into the idiot game the next time this happens?
Yeah, all the time and no, no tips. No cares about actual speed as long as they’re first, it’s just competitiveness/dominance display.
posted by rodlymight at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by rodlymight at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
They don't want someone passing them. I've had it done to me and I've done it. When I did it to someone else, I was thinking,"You've been on my ass for 5 miles and now you want to pass? No." In that case, I eventually did slow down and let the car pass because I knew the area and that we were flying into a speed trap.
Most people turn into sociopaths behind the wheel of a car--this is why driving is the worst, and in general, people are behaving poorly in public right now because they are stressed and cranky.
Next time, if you live in a state that allows left lane driving, stick to the left and ignore whatever the aspiring racer is doing. If you don't, drop back, put on a soothing audiobook, and resign yourself to going 70.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
Most people turn into sociopaths behind the wheel of a car--this is why driving is the worst, and in general, people are behaving poorly in public right now because they are stressed and cranky.
Next time, if you live in a state that allows left lane driving, stick to the left and ignore whatever the aspiring racer is doing. If you don't, drop back, put on a soothing audiobook, and resign yourself to going 70.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
This kind of thing happens to me all the time -- I try in good faith to pass a slower driver, who then takes it as a challenge/personal insult and won't be passed. But I am very mindful of not getting caught up in it.
Definitely happens much more now, which I attribute to the stress and anger soup we all live in.
But I sometimes remember an incident from many years ago, before one could blame anything on the collective stress of the world, when I was cut off dangerously by a guy who was obviously incensed that I had tried to pass him on the highway. He zoomed to not let me pass, then swerved right in front of me, cutting me off as I tried to take the exit. Then it turned out that we were both going into the same parking lot, which I noticed because he was ahead of me, but he didn't notice or care where my car had gone once he's "won." We both parked. We both walked up to the building. And he graciously opened the building door for me (a woman ), intentionally showing that he was a gentleman, and gave me a courteous smile, with the kind of expression looking for thanks and acknowledgment of his wonderful gentlemanliness -- in other words, letting me go first. Out of his car, he wasn't running to cut me off and go in the building first. And I said, "You don't act like that when you're in your car. That was me a few minutes ago." He looked not mad but chagrined. I realized then that he and probably others like him don't even think of the other car as containing a human. It's all just a video game kind of thing. Which makes it even more dangerous. And which is why I never get caught up in their game.
posted by nantucket at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2021 [49 favorites]
Definitely happens much more now, which I attribute to the stress and anger soup we all live in.
But I sometimes remember an incident from many years ago, before one could blame anything on the collective stress of the world, when I was cut off dangerously by a guy who was obviously incensed that I had tried to pass him on the highway. He zoomed to not let me pass, then swerved right in front of me, cutting me off as I tried to take the exit. Then it turned out that we were both going into the same parking lot, which I noticed because he was ahead of me, but he didn't notice or care where my car had gone once he's "won." We both parked. We both walked up to the building. And he graciously opened the building door for me (a woman ), intentionally showing that he was a gentleman, and gave me a courteous smile, with the kind of expression looking for thanks and acknowledgment of his wonderful gentlemanliness -- in other words, letting me go first. Out of his car, he wasn't running to cut me off and go in the building first. And I said, "You don't act like that when you're in your car. That was me a few minutes ago." He looked not mad but chagrined. I realized then that he and probably others like him don't even think of the other car as containing a human. It's all just a video game kind of thing. Which makes it even more dangerous. And which is why I never get caught up in their game.
posted by nantucket at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2021 [49 favorites]
I vote idle sociopathy with a touch of distorted fascistic impulse... the driver feels like they are going the "right speed", a bit over the legal limit, and you are breaking the law.
You, though, are exceeding whatever they decided is the "right" speed (70 in a 65, in this case), so they are vigilante punishing you for "illegally" trying to pass.
posted by RajahKing at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
You, though, are exceeding whatever they decided is the "right" speed (70 in a 65, in this case), so they are vigilante punishing you for "illegally" trying to pass.
posted by RajahKing at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I live in Utah, where this is weirdly common. Basically, it’s the bizarre intersection of dick-measuring machismo and petulant passive-aggression. It’s also just dangerously bad driving on the part of the instigator.
Suggestions above to just concede are on-target. I recommend having anti-road-rage audio within reach — comedy or guilty-pleasure music*, whatever makes it impossible to take yourself seriously because you can’t keep a straight face.
I’m also not above taking a detour when time allows. Yes, it seems counterintuitive to add time to my commute because some guy won’t let me pass him, but it’ll be a more pleasant drive if I don’t have to spend it wondering what other stupid stunts he might pull.
*I endorse the Riverdance soundtrack. It’s too ridiculous; it is utterly incompatible with righteous indignation.
posted by armeowda at 6:08 PM on October 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
Suggestions above to just concede are on-target. I recommend having anti-road-rage audio within reach — comedy or guilty-pleasure music*, whatever makes it impossible to take yourself seriously because you can’t keep a straight face.
I’m also not above taking a detour when time allows. Yes, it seems counterintuitive to add time to my commute because some guy won’t let me pass him, but it’ll be a more pleasant drive if I don’t have to spend it wondering what other stupid stunts he might pull.
*I endorse the Riverdance soundtrack. It’s too ridiculous; it is utterly incompatible with righteous indignation.
posted by armeowda at 6:08 PM on October 18, 2021 [12 favorites]
People do it because people are emotional, competitive, combative, and at worst downright bullying in the way they drive. So are you, probably; you started your story by saying you weren't in a terrific mood. Neither was the other guy. I do the same thing--I revert directly back to childhood, when I got picked on, and I can't abide the least perceived slight. It's dangerous and stupid, and I deal with it by just not passing people anymore. Just get in the right lane and sit behind whoever and forget about it; honest to God it makes not the least damn difference to the time it takes to get where you're going.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 6:15 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 6:15 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
From your description outright asshole seems morel likely than automatic tendency to match speeds but both are possible.
I know freeway etiquette (and law) varies by state, but in this situation in California with a clear freeway I'd get in the left lane, go the speed I want to go, and will eventually pass, or not, the person on my right. Only if someone is closing behind me in the left lane is forcing a "resolution" important.
posted by mark k at 6:18 PM on October 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
I know freeway etiquette (and law) varies by state, but in this situation in California with a clear freeway I'd get in the left lane, go the speed I want to go, and will eventually pass, or not, the person on my right. Only if someone is closing behind me in the left lane is forcing a "resolution" important.
posted by mark k at 6:18 PM on October 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
I think behavior like this often comes from inattention. The other driver isn’t paying attention to their speed; you’re a nearby car so they’re just matching you. They maybe on the phone or listening to an audiobook or whatever, they just step on the gas reflexively to keep the view in their mirrors the same.
And maybe they do have a macho competition thing going on too. Once they notice you’re trying to pass, they notice their own speed and they decide they need to speed up. Then they lose attention again and their speed drifts down.
I attribute a lot of the behavior I see on the road to other drivers not paying attention.
posted by mr_roboto at 6:27 PM on October 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
And maybe they do have a macho competition thing going on too. Once they notice you’re trying to pass, they notice their own speed and they decide they need to speed up. Then they lose attention again and their speed drifts down.
I attribute a lot of the behavior I see on the road to other drivers not paying attention.
posted by mr_roboto at 6:27 PM on October 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
The most charitable interpretation I can put on this behavior is: sometimes I’m driving along in the slow lane, as I do. Someone goes to pass me and I snap partly out of my road trance and think hey, that guy’s trying to pass me, I must be going too slow. So without thinking about it I speed up. And sometimes it takes me a moment to realize that the guy who was trying to pass me, well now he’s speeding up too, and depending on what the rest of the traffic is doing when I clue in it sometimes takes me a bit to get out of the other guy’s way.
I mean, yeah, sometimes the other guy is clearly just an asshole who needs to be First In Line. But I try to use the charitable interpretation because I know I’ve caught myself doing it unintentionally and it feels better to pretend we’re all in this together and not just participating in the slow motion generational battle royale that is modern culture
posted by ook at 7:18 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
I mean, yeah, sometimes the other guy is clearly just an asshole who needs to be First In Line. But I try to use the charitable interpretation because I know I’ve caught myself doing it unintentionally and it feels better to pretend we’re all in this together and not just participating in the slow motion generational battle royale that is modern culture
posted by ook at 7:18 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
You passed wrong. Come up fast from far enough behind so you zoom by like somebody in a hurry. This is also from sort of two-lane (both ways) or one-lane (with occasional dotted line passing zones). You're on three lanes (one way) and both hanging out in the middle (the goldilocks zone of not-slow/not-fast) so when you ease on around it's more of a "plenty of space" and a bit of "I'm not going as fast fast as is reasonable" because somebody who's been tailing me for a while is now just easing around me like I'm a granny.
Ideally when passing on the left one wants to minimize the time when there two cars side by side and close to eacho other. One signals then heads left and smashes the pedal to pass then merges back right and slows down to their higher than the passed desired speed. and then you follow along for the next hundred miles with the car behind you slowly but surely receding in the distance.
Unless there is like traffic and such (question sounds like open-road) slowly easing by only triggers two responses: go faster and get away or slow down. Because why the hell is this car just creeping up beside me and hanging out when there's all this space all around.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:22 PM on October 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
Ideally when passing on the left one wants to minimize the time when there two cars side by side and close to eacho other. One signals then heads left and smashes the pedal to pass then merges back right and slows down to their higher than the passed desired speed. and then you follow along for the next hundred miles with the car behind you slowly but surely receding in the distance.
Unless there is like traffic and such (question sounds like open-road) slowly easing by only triggers two responses: go faster and get away or slow down. Because why the hell is this car just creeping up beside me and hanging out when there's all this space all around.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:22 PM on October 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
People do this to me a lot and I only really noticed it once I started driving a subcompact cheap/cheap-looking Chevy Spark EV. Now I obviously can't be sure but it feels like people can't stand to have what looks like it should be a pokey slow car zip right past them with ease. Now this is no Tesla or whatever, but this thing is pretty fast with a ton of instant torque, especially compared to its more numerous gas version. People literally will be cruising at 60, I'll zip by going uphill at 65 or 70 and suddenly they have to be going 80, which ... whatever. It's just really weird and it's only ever happened to me in this car. *shrug*
posted by flamk at 8:23 PM on October 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by flamk at 8:23 PM on October 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
Woman in a small car? Yup. You're at fault. You dared to pass the big manly man in his big manly truck. You're not allowed to do that. That makes him look bad to all the other manly men on the road in their manly trucks, and we just can't have that. Learn your place and never do it again.
Seriously, your gender and car have a lot more to do with it than male MeFites think. I've spent hours and miles driving behind guys who will let other guys in big trucks pass them but whenever I tried, they practically ran me off the road. Oh, and then there was that truck driver who actually did run me off the road. (Thank heavens I'm an attentive driver with good reflexes who just happened to be on the portion of the highway with enough shoulder room to allow me to avoid sideswiping the guardrail.)
posted by sardonyx at 8:25 PM on October 18, 2021 [17 favorites]
Seriously, your gender and car have a lot more to do with it than male MeFites think. I've spent hours and miles driving behind guys who will let other guys in big trucks pass them but whenever I tried, they practically ran me off the road. Oh, and then there was that truck driver who actually did run me off the road. (Thank heavens I'm an attentive driver with good reflexes who just happened to be on the portion of the highway with enough shoulder room to allow me to avoid sideswiping the guardrail.)
posted by sardonyx at 8:25 PM on October 18, 2021 [17 favorites]
And yes, they know I'm a woman. I can see that they're fine with being passed, even by a car, until the look down from their crew cab, notice that I'm not a guy, and you can see the way their face changes. Then the asshole road hogging starts.
posted by sardonyx at 8:26 PM on October 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by sardonyx at 8:26 PM on October 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
I can't speak to the gender aspect as I'm male, but I definitely agree with sardonyx that the type of car you drive has a significant impact on how other drivers treat you.
posted by flamk at 8:27 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by flamk at 8:27 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
Maybe it would make a difference if I looked like Christie Brinkley. Then they could "chase" me and live out their National Lampoon's fantasies, but sadly I don't. And that seems to annoy them.
posted by sardonyx at 8:29 PM on October 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sardonyx at 8:29 PM on October 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Couple of things: there was traffic in the slow lane. And the moment I moved to the left lane, before I even began my acceleration to go around them, is when they hit the gas.
posted by whistle pig at 8:45 PM on October 18, 2021
posted by whistle pig at 8:45 PM on October 18, 2021
Response by poster: (I think it's a sign of how obnoxiously stressful commuting by car is when just reading a low stakes metafilter thread about it makes me feel cranky and defensive)
posted by whistle pig at 8:48 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by whistle pig at 8:48 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
One of the most valuable things they taught me in taxi driver training was to remind myself, when encountering arsehole behaviour from passengers and/or other drivers, that it's overwhelmingly likely that I will never interact with this particular arsehole again in my entire life, which makes getting in a stew about them totally pointless.
It's a lesson that's since served me well on the roads many many times.
posted by flabdablet at 8:55 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
It's a lesson that's since served me well on the roads many many times.
posted by flabdablet at 8:55 PM on October 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
I think there is a lot being read into both your question ("I have obvious political allegiance beyond that...") and in the answers (most people turn into sociopaths behind the wheel of a car..."). The first answer, Floydd is the most logical answer. This phenomena of the person who is being passed speeding up happens to me all the time. I am a fast driver. 72 in the left (or right depending on your country) in a 65 would be slowing me down. To want to pass him 2 miles faster would take a while. A slight digression, and I am not implying this is you, but some people do not even think about speed and distance. I totally get that in your case not wanting to ride behind the person. To go 72 instead of 70 means that over an hour of driving, you would go 2 miles further than them. The time difference, assuming every other circumstance remains the same, is miniscule.
Whenever I pass someone now, moving over from the center lane to the passing lane, I speed up way faster than they are going, pass them cleanly, and then move back over. I want to pass the person BEFORE they have a chance to start speeding up. IF you pull into the left lane and give it the accelerator with a little umph, get up to a passing speed before they have a chance to either subconsciously or consciously speed up. Get a few car lengths ahead of them then move back over. Going slightly faster will almost have the same effect as pulling them along with you in their wake.
As I was taught to drive back in the 70s, the reason they call it the passing lane is because you are supposed to pass in that lane, not drive slightly faster and cruise in it until you have happened to have passed them. Speed up to pass. Who cares why they speed up to match your speed? Make it so they can't or can't easily without having to think about it and try.
Fwiw, I drive a pickup truck. I have never once considered making a judgement about a person's say Prius, determining or guessing really at their political leanings and then decide that because they do not have the same leanings as me, I will speed up and not let them pass.
Along the lines of what flabdablet wrote, it helps me to not get so frustrated when I remember that half the people who took driver's ed (or the equivalent) finished in the bottom half of their class. Or, as my mother used to troll me as a teenage driver, "not everyone is as good a driver as you. Learn to drive defensively."
posted by AugustWest at 11:15 PM on October 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
Whenever I pass someone now, moving over from the center lane to the passing lane, I speed up way faster than they are going, pass them cleanly, and then move back over. I want to pass the person BEFORE they have a chance to start speeding up. IF you pull into the left lane and give it the accelerator with a little umph, get up to a passing speed before they have a chance to either subconsciously or consciously speed up. Get a few car lengths ahead of them then move back over. Going slightly faster will almost have the same effect as pulling them along with you in their wake.
As I was taught to drive back in the 70s, the reason they call it the passing lane is because you are supposed to pass in that lane, not drive slightly faster and cruise in it until you have happened to have passed them. Speed up to pass. Who cares why they speed up to match your speed? Make it so they can't or can't easily without having to think about it and try.
Fwiw, I drive a pickup truck. I have never once considered making a judgement about a person's say Prius, determining or guessing really at their political leanings and then decide that because they do not have the same leanings as me, I will speed up and not let them pass.
Along the lines of what flabdablet wrote, it helps me to not get so frustrated when I remember that half the people who took driver's ed (or the equivalent) finished in the bottom half of their class. Or, as my mother used to troll me as a teenage driver, "not everyone is as good a driver as you. Learn to drive defensively."
posted by AugustWest at 11:15 PM on October 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
Mod note: A couple deleted. Please stick to answering the question.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:21 PM on October 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:21 PM on October 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
as my mother used to troll me as a teenage driver, "not everyone is as good a driver as you. Learn to drive defensively."
My own mother's version of essentially the same advice was to assume that every other driver is a homicidal maniac and that every cyclist and pedestrian is a suicidal one. So the general answer to "why do people drive in obviously dangerous ways" is because they're homicidal maniacs. Works for me.
I also find that conscientiously sticking to a policy of driving at or under the posted speed limit, and letting all the homicidal maniacs go past as fast as they like, turns driving into a pleasant and relaxing activity that actually lowers my initial stress levels.
posted by flabdablet at 12:04 AM on October 19, 2021 [7 favorites]
My own mother's version of essentially the same advice was to assume that every other driver is a homicidal maniac and that every cyclist and pedestrian is a suicidal one. So the general answer to "why do people drive in obviously dangerous ways" is because they're homicidal maniacs. Works for me.
I also find that conscientiously sticking to a policy of driving at or under the posted speed limit, and letting all the homicidal maniacs go past as fast as they like, turns driving into a pleasant and relaxing activity that actually lowers my initial stress levels.
posted by flabdablet at 12:04 AM on October 19, 2021 [7 favorites]
traffic in the slow lane. And the moment I moved to the left lane, before I even began my acceleration to go around them, is when they hit the gas.
Did you consider that there was a slow car in front of them that finally went into the right lane that coincidentally happened at the exact same time you decided to pass. They were more patient.... when the road ahead cleared they sped up. Maybe they didn't even know you were trailing behind them.
lol, flabdablet... my uncle told me to bear in mind that everybody else on the road was trying to kill me.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:39 AM on October 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
Did you consider that there was a slow car in front of them that finally went into the right lane that coincidentally happened at the exact same time you decided to pass. They were more patient.... when the road ahead cleared they sped up. Maybe they didn't even know you were trailing behind them.
lol, flabdablet... my uncle told me to bear in mind that everybody else on the road was trying to kill me.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:39 AM on October 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
In my experience, the best thing to do is just let them match speed for a little while, then wait and maybe very slowly edge up speed. This seems to trigger the "match speed" instinct without triggering the "it's a RACE" instinct in people, but usually they get bored and end up back to their usual speed or have to slow down because they have traffic and I don't and the problem soon resolves itself. Some people must be competitive jerks though and just speed up far ahead. So I jut go in whatever lane seems to give me enough room in front of me and then it's a matter of just shifting lanes to slowly pass them when I start catching up with them again until they get bored with it.
Though I guess a lot of the highway driving I do is long road trips where I just want to set my speed to a safe speed and go and pretty much everyone else is going to get off the road and not be my problem before me anyway.
posted by Zalzidrax at 5:42 AM on October 19, 2021
Though I guess a lot of the highway driving I do is long road trips where I just want to set my speed to a safe speed and go and pretty much everyone else is going to get off the road and not be my problem before me anyway.
posted by Zalzidrax at 5:42 AM on October 19, 2021
I've never had an instinct to match someone's speed that is driving beside me, so I don't think that is real. My advice is to pick your speed and drive that speed. If it's 72 then go 72 and don't worry about what someone else wants to do. In most states, you are never going to get a ticket for driving in the left lane without passing. If middle lane speeds up to 80, let him.
I will say I'm generally annoyed by people who want to pass me at 1-2 mph faster because I don't want to drive beside someone for 30 minutes. You have to concentrate so much more when someone is right beside you. So pass or follow, but don't drive in the passing lane beside me if there is no traffic.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:28 AM on October 19, 2021
I will say I'm generally annoyed by people who want to pass me at 1-2 mph faster because I don't want to drive beside someone for 30 minutes. You have to concentrate so much more when someone is right beside you. So pass or follow, but don't drive in the passing lane beside me if there is no traffic.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:28 AM on October 19, 2021
I've noticed myself doing this (which is the only time I could realistically guess at motivations).
Cars (and trucks etc) are always just cars in my mind - I think of them as different entities than humans because humans just act oddly when driving. I make lots of eye contact when cycling, but almost never when driving.
I always catch myself mid-speed-matching, and it has always been purely unintentional. Just a 'keep up with the flow' kind of thing? It's one of the reasons I enjoy cruise control on the highways (in the summer).
posted by Acari at 10:27 AM on October 19, 2021
Cars (and trucks etc) are always just cars in my mind - I think of them as different entities than humans because humans just act oddly when driving. I make lots of eye contact when cycling, but almost never when driving.
I always catch myself mid-speed-matching, and it has always been purely unintentional. Just a 'keep up with the flow' kind of thing? It's one of the reasons I enjoy cruise control on the highways (in the summer).
posted by Acari at 10:27 AM on October 19, 2021
I've always heard this behavior referred to as "lead-horse syndrome", i.e. they want to be the one in front and can't bear to let anyone get past them. (I thought this was a common phrase, but Googling it brings up nothing relevant)
I agree with the above commenters that it's a macho/toxic-masculinity thing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:27 AM on October 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
I agree with the above commenters that it's a macho/toxic-masculinity thing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:27 AM on October 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have caught myself unconciously speeding up to match, though I don't think to the extent of flooring it.
But the other thing is, having a car sitting in my blind spot is very annoying, and if they seem to just be sitting there (which slowly creeping by could seem like), and the road is otherwise clear, I will take evasive action preemptively just to avoid a situation where I forget they're over there. Mostly the evasive action would be slowing down or changing lanes, but speeding up is also a possibility.
posted by joeyh at 4:23 PM on October 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
But the other thing is, having a car sitting in my blind spot is very annoying, and if they seem to just be sitting there (which slowly creeping by could seem like), and the road is otherwise clear, I will take evasive action preemptively just to avoid a situation where I forget they're over there. Mostly the evasive action would be slowing down or changing lanes, but speeding up is also a possibility.
posted by joeyh at 4:23 PM on October 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
I speed up to not let others overtake me because fuck them and the Commodore they rode in on. I assume others are doing the same when it happens to me.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2021
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2021
I'm dismayed at the people in this thread who blithely admit to the exact same confrontational behavior that the OP described. Fortunately it's just a few, but some of them I'd previously respected as intelligent and sensible individuals and I can only hope that their comments were intended as a joke. I'm an unrepentant motor-head, I enjoy driving and I'll admit that I often treat speed limits as more suggestions than rules. But even I think there's no excuse for that sort of outright combative behavior. Given the context the poster lays out, what's the big deal about dropping down to 68 for - let's be frank, less than a minute should be quite adequate - to let the person pass so I can resume my former speed, maintain my Fahrvergnügen, and keep a happy distance between our bumpers?
Until drivers can manage to separate the act of driving from a personal sense of entitlement or affront - or open invitation to duel - traffic deaths aren't going to decrease. Setting speed limits won't change that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:01 PM on October 19, 2021 [6 favorites]
Until drivers can manage to separate the act of driving from a personal sense of entitlement or affront - or open invitation to duel - traffic deaths aren't going to decrease. Setting speed limits won't change that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:01 PM on October 19, 2021 [6 favorites]
Not going into why people do this. But the way to avoid it is not to attempt to overtake for marginal speed differences. In addition try not to get so close to the person you’re trying to overtake that you can’t accelerate before you change lanes. I was taught to accelerate and then change lane so as not to find myself going slow in the fast lane with much faster people coming up behind me - admittedly I learned to drive in Germany and people do drive very fast in the fast lane. But the advice has stood the test of time irrespective of what country I have since driven in. By picking up enough speed to overtake before you are parallel with the other car they are a lot less likely to be able to match you with ease and thus unlikely to try.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:16 PM on October 19, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:16 PM on October 19, 2021 [4 favorites]
Nthing that most people leave their logic behind on the road, and unfortunately you'll never know why they do the mystifying things they do.
Focus on what you can control instead. Avoid getting angry at people, as remaining calm will allow you to better handle emerging traffic situations. Give people that drive irrationally extra space, even if that means you're not going as fast as you'd like. It's not a race, it won't matter if you're going 65 or 70 or 75 by more than a few minutes for most commutes, and trading those few minutes for a less stressful and overall safer experience will be worth it in the long run. You don't even have to take my word for it; a 10 mile commute will be just over a minute longer going 65 instead of 75 mph.
posted by Aleyn at 11:23 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Focus on what you can control instead. Avoid getting angry at people, as remaining calm will allow you to better handle emerging traffic situations. Give people that drive irrationally extra space, even if that means you're not going as fast as you'd like. It's not a race, it won't matter if you're going 65 or 70 or 75 by more than a few minutes for most commutes, and trading those few minutes for a less stressful and overall safer experience will be worth it in the long run. You don't even have to take my word for it; a 10 mile commute will be just over a minute longer going 65 instead of 75 mph.
posted by Aleyn at 11:23 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Besides, it's better to think "That's just instinctual behavior from a fellow human, I sometimes do it too." than "That guy's an asshole!"
This framing has served me well.
posted by Floydd at 5:50 PM on October 18, 2021 [42 favorites]