Have you ever had another driver lay on his horn just because you dared to pass him? This is interesting behavior, worth some psychoanalysis as it bears on the seemingly unrelated phenomenon of people who wear “masks” getting up in arms over the sight of people who don’t.
Now, to lay out some predicates.
We will assume that all you did was pass the other car – that you didn’t ride his bumper first or obnoxiously swerve back in front of him. Assuming that – assuming all you did was make your way around him – why would he lay on the horn? Why would a psychologically balanced person become angry at being passed?
I myself certainly don’t mind, much less get angry. In fact, I will make every effort to assist the person attempting to pass by easing over to the right and even waving him by. I’d much rather have him pass than ride my ass and even if he didn’t – and good drivers don’t, as doing so is not only obnoxious, it will guarantee a bumper sandwich for which you’ll be liable if the car ahead brake checks you – it’s obnoxious to use your car as a pace car.
And that gets at part of the psychological deconstruction – the reason for the horn-honking. These people get angry when you pass because you are operating at a pace they disapprove of. You may be “speeding” – the gaslighting term used to characterize driving any faster than the secular totem pole worshipped by some people with the same religious deference given by savages to the mumblings of their tribal medicine man.
But not necessarily.
What triggers the horn-honker is your driving faster than they are driving – which is often below the speed limit.
This just happened to me, shortly before the video embedded with this article commences. I was driving “down the mountain” – as locals call heading into town from my rural county in SW Virginia – when I came upon a truck driving around 46 MPH on a road with a 55 MPH totem pole and most cars usually driving faster, at least a little bit. I saw no reason to spend the next 15 miles driving at the pace of this truck’s driver and so I broke left, into the opposing lane, accelerated to get past the truck and then eased back into the travel lane, leaving plenty of room between my car and his.
I didn’t ride his bumper or do anything obnoxious – to the sensibilities of a psychologically normal person.
Nonetheless, my passing, as such, was provocation enough to trigger the fist-pounding horn fusillade. Perhaps because it had been raining and this truck’s driver considered my driving faster than he deemed “safe” to be cause for horn censure. Probably that.
Mark that.
The horn-honkers consider their standard the universal standard. They cannot stand the assertion of someone else’s standard, even when it affects them not at all. Do you begin to see a psychological connection between the horn-honker and the face-effacer?
The common denominator or rather, common co-morbidity, is precisely the same. But the etiology of the horn-honker is the predicate for the face-effacer’s related pathology. The former believes one speed (his) fits all. Anyone who drives faster than he believes to be “safe” is obviously an idiot and a homicidal maniac whose actions must be castigated (as via the horn, often accompanied by the furious flashing of high beams) and – sometimes – actively thwarted, as by speeding up to prevent the overtaking car from successfully passing.
I once had a guy I was trying to pass who was doing about 32 MPH on the Blue Ridge Parkway – which has a speed limit of 45 MPH – kick it up to more than 70 in an effort to prevent me from passing (which I of course did, as a matter of principle). Sometimes, these people, after you’ve passed them, will increase their speed to as fast as you are are going – no matter how fast you go – proving that what really mattered to them wasn’t that you drove faster than they were driving but that you passed them.
How dare you!
Now consider the face-effaced variant of the same psychological type. Many of these quiver with anger when they see a not-effaced face. They are not content to simply efface their faces – and leave it at that.
At the height of face-effacing “mandates,” some of these deranged people would get in the faces of those not effaced and even accost them, physically.
They could not stand the idea that other people might have a different standard than their own. These are the same people who now demand that everyone roll up their sleeves. It is not enough that they have chosen to do so. Their choice must be everyone’s “choice.”
This is the real disease we’re fighting – and for once, the royal (and presumptive) “we” applies, as we really are all in this together. No individual will be safe to just live his life again until other people are once again willing to mind their own business, again.
Horn-honking, left-lane obstructors were a symptom of an underlying sickness of what’s now become a pandemic, though not one involving a “virus.”
And the cure for what ails isn’t a “vaccine.”
. . .
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In the state where I live, almost NOBODY honks their horn. That includes maskers and anti-maskers: vaxxers and anti-vaxxers.
It’s just not a good idea.
Hey, I recognize that road leading “down off the mountain.” It is steep and the curves are sharp. Since I lived on the west side of the county in question, I always took the road going north to the interstate when I needed to visit the city to the east. And yes, horn honkers and mask wearers are a lot alike, everyone has to conform to their view of reality. Oh, since it looks like you lived on the east side of the county, did you know Old Man Jason by any chance?
What is so great about driving in Mexico is there is a Keep Right Except To Pass rule on all 4 Lane highways. People who are driving in the left lane because of the sometimes bad condition of the right lane will move to that right lane if a faster driver comes up to them from behind. Almost exclusively, if a car is in the left lane and will not move over or is driving in the left lane for no reason, it is a North American with mostly California or Arizona plates.
Also, on two lane roads, there is nearly always a hard shoulder on both sides which allow a slower moving vehicle to half-way drive on so faster moving drivers can pass – even if there is oncoming traffic. Car also pass on two lane roads when it is safe and drivers seldom care whether the center line is double, broken or solid.
Conflict on highways and conflict over covid both should be blamed on the evil state.
Governments have made all sorts of stupid, unnecessary and nonsensical rules over covid. Can you think of anything dumber than wearing a filthy rag over your face with holes in it six times the size of the virus? But people obey anyway. And they get pissed at anybody who doesn’t.
Governments have made all sorts of stupid, unnecessary and nonsensical rules for the roads. Can you think of anything dumber than stopping out in the middle of nowhere when there’s not another vehicle for miles just because the red sign says so? But people obey anyway. And they get pissed at anybody who doesn’t.
Whether it’s the virus madness or the madness on the road, don’t lose sight of the fact that the state is to blame. When it makes stupid rules, it creates conflict where there otherwise would not have been any, or at least not nearly as much. The whole concept of right-of-way is an invention of the state. It creates chaos and fighting where otherwise there would be order and cooperation.
The state always makes things worse. Always.
I seem to attract all the assholes when i’m trying to merge onto a highway. Last 3 times i did it, left lane completely empty, car in right lane. Common courtesy would be for the car to move to the left lane so i can complete my merge, but courtesy appears to have disappeared. Twice recently i had cars after they realized i would get ahead of them before i ran out of acceleration lane speed up to try and block me from merging. I had to hit almost triple digits on the gsp to get around one of these asshats last week. 2 days ago i was in my Tacoma and a Prius decided to block me from merging, ok, i wasn’t in a rush and it was dark so i proceeded to sit behind the asshole for a couple of miles and blind him with my lights. I even put the fog lights on for added effect. Finally the idiot had enough and slowed down so i would pass him. I’m normally a calm guy and do my part to allow cars to merge and to move right when i have a faster car coming up on my rear, but driving in this state can sometimes bring out the worst in me.
State would be nj. Btw lot of people in my area are about to need new cars and many of the dealerships by me also lost all of their car inventory to ida.
‘State would be nj’ — Antilles
I lit out — after screwing the state out of its exit tax by declaring my next [overnight] residence as Denville, NJ on the Gitrep form — and didn’t stop driving till I reached Ponderosa pines, junipers, manzanita, saguaros and purple mountain majesties.
Hope you’ll join us some day.
In the meantime, try this:
Practice positive self-tweeting
Lin-Manual Miranda published a book about the tweets he sends out at the beginning and end of each day. In it, he shares what are essentially upbeat little messages that are funny, singsongy and generally delightful. — CNBC
All of us can derive unexpected impromptu joy from the braindead bleatings of the Lügenpresse.
It’s o-dark-thirty, and all is well. 🙂
Jim,
Congratulations on your escape. I’m stuck here till i can convince the wife it’s time to go. If it had been only up to me i would have been somewhere in the south long ago.
I am not sure if this rule varies from state-to-state, Antilles. But in my neck of the woods, if a car is driving down from an on/off ramp, I am in no way obligated to “move over” and “let them in”. If there is an idiot, left-lane lugger next to me (such as on a two lane highway) who refuses to pass me, and I cannot “let you in” (out of courtesy), then get the hell out of the way if you cannot speed up and merge with the flow of traffic. I had to look up the rules, because drivers up here have no concept of speeding up with the flow of traffic when it comes to merging with everyone else. I am usually courteous when it comes to merging, but that driver (in these parts) need to figure out where their gas pedal is. Nothing is worst than an oncoming driver treating the merge lane like a Sunday Stroll Lane.
Hi Shadow,
I’m pretty sure you’re right about that – i.e., it is the obligation of merging traffic to yield and not the other way around. The merging car should accelerate to match or even exceed the speed of the traffic being merged with, so as to smoothly slot into the flow. This business of slowly creeping up the on-ramp, signal on, expecting traffic to slow for you and “make a hole” is just one of several examples of poor driving practices.
This! The on ramp concept came from airport runways, a place to get up to speed so you can merge with the flow of traffic. If you are entering the pattern, you yield to the vehicle already on the road. Yes, the traffic already on the highway should allow you on as a courtesy, but they’re under no obligation to do so.
When I am appointed President I promise to take the time allocated to the State of the Union speech and use it to teach everyone how to merge into traffic. Every morning I see people who really aren’t getting the concept. Either they run out the entrance ramp at 40 MPH trying to get on a 75 MPH highway, or they barrel in expecting everyone to get out of their way at whatever speed they think is correct. Worse still are the slow entrants who, after you move over to let them in, stomp on the gas and match your speed, so now you’re the a**hole in the passing lane not able to pass because the jerk in the lifted F-150 figured out how to move.
This is one of the best articles I have read in my 62 years. And we are of the very same mind. Our indoctrination system has been effectively and efficiently incubating a strong culture of authoritarianism for well over 100 years. This the product of collectivist, nationalist exceptionalism. It is the opposite of, and mutually exclusive with, liberty, libertarianism and just plain old individualism.
Thank you for the kind words, Joe!
Like you, I’ve watched authoritarianism spread throughout the course of my life. There were always symptoms, but the disease wasn’t yet so severe as to manifest throughout not just the body politic but also society and culture. When I was a kid in the ’70s and ’80s, America still had a strong anti-authority (or at least, suspicion of authority) streak. One could see this even in popular media such as TV shows (e.g., MASH) and cartoons (Bugs Bunny).
Part of what’s happened is that the Left is now the Establishment – and exposes its situational ethics, having acquired power. It was never truly for free speech – much less freedom of association – and didn’t despise authority, per se. It just despised not being in authority. Now that it is, the Left shows us what it really wants and intended all along.
I got some stories, similar to those already posted. Haven’t vented on the shitty state of driving in a while.
These types take pleasure in making others submit to their will. Be that driving or the new religion.
Someone cut me off. They would not reach my speed before I had to brake. Instead of submitting like they wanted, I just went around them in the middle turning lane. They responded by flooring it to catch up, and then passed me, blaring the horn as they did so. I lost no time, which was the problem. They weren’t slow to pull out because they were slow drivers, they were slow because they take pleasure in someone submitting to them. Control. They take pleasure in destroying energy and finite time. Much like the mask religion. Certainly like the vax cult.
I was driving in the middle of nowhere. No cars for miles in either direction. Cruise set to 80. Every once in a while, I would pass a slower driver. Every once in a while a faster driver would pass me. I eventually came upon a 7 car convoy in the right lane. I stayed in the left to pass. After I was half-way through the convoy, car #2 or 3 cuts me off. He decided to pass the blockade only at the time when it would interfere with me. Who knows how long he was in it. Then we passed the lead car. Car moves right. I speed up to 85 to pass this guy. He goes 85. 90, 90. So I somehow catch up to this guy at 80, now can’t pass him at 90. He decides NOW is the time to go faster than he was his whole trip. After shadowing him in the left lane for a while, I get behind him in the right lane. As expected, he slows down to 80. I go left quickly and get to 95 before he gives up the rolling blockade/chase.
I’ve dealt with various versions of the duckling too. Usually when there is slow truck traffic approaching ahead of me in the right lane.
I’ve been in a convoy of cars where I couldn’t pass. The guy 10 cars ahead of me is driving slow, but the person behind me rides my ass like I’m the problem. I guess because I’m not riding the ass of the guy in front of me. When I turn off, they floor it as if I was the slow asshole, only to have to hit the brakes again.
Oh, and then there was the time a guy ran a stop sign, when I had right of way. He hit the brakes, I proceeded after a pause. He of course rode my ass, then when we came to the light, he drove up beside me and started screaming at me. I pretended I didn’t hear him and turned right. Just another psychopath I’m trapped in this world with.
Colorado sucks big time and you thought this was a free country. Laughable, downright hysterical.
“This event was previously scheduled for a different date. Any tickets previously purchased for this event will be honored on this date. To assure fans’ safety during these uncertain times, all tickets are subject to restrictions and requirements put in place by venues, teams, or government authorities as it pertains to proof of COVID-19 vaccination, proof of negative COVID-19 test, social distancing, wearing personal protective equipment, age restrictions, or similar measures (see venue/team website for more details). If the event is held without fans, you will receive a refund as if the event were cancelled.”
https://www.eventticketscenter.com/jimmy-buffett-and-the-coral-reefer-band-morrison-09-07-2021/4417885/t
What kind of stupid fool is going to attend a concert at Red Rocks in Colorado? Someone with rocks in their head.
We’re from the government and we are going to fuck it up royally. Translation, you don’t have any freedom at all.
Who does shit like this? Stick it right up your ass, asshole.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Scratching my head on “If the event is held without fans…”.
18-20’ish years ago my 20 something self passed safely on the freeway at night a exact speed limit(I assume) Toyota Echo…No other cars around just us.
I changed lanes about 1/8th of a mile behind him and I was doing about 15 over..We had roughly another 1/4 mile to the next exit..I passed him he immediately flashed his lights like a madman/I left about 100 car lengths before I changed lanes in front of him…I thought thats odd,maybe his lights are messed up etc…
We both turned off the exit and he raced up beside me in town where I always do the speed limit because of cops in that town,he was doing probably 60plus in a 30 zone lol…He got beside me at a light and yelled at me that I was unsafe for passing him on the freeway,I not so politely yelled back he was unsafe for speeding in town..
Me being a 20 something somewhat hot head jumped out of my car and he sped off like a coward and gave the one finger salute lol..
Sadly to say I was a hot head and I raced up to him at speed(30 mph)and gave him a hard bumper tap with my 1984 GMC 3/4 ton truck I had lol he had some major dents,his trunk was crushed in as his rear 1/4 panel on the drivers side(couldnt see the passenger side)!!I hit him at speed he sort of slid sideways and I sped off in another direction,thankfully that was the age of no dash cams or cellphone camera’s..He NEVER got my plate number either..I was worried the cops would come but after the 2nd day I knew they had nothing/most likely still worried..week later I laughed,month laughed more,year after no worries and still laughed 20 years after I can safely tell the story! Oh I parked that truck at my parents house for 1 year and drove another car I had lol..Was that attempted murder then not 7 years uh oh!
I sold the truck to a buddy and he knew the story and repainted it factory colors (truck was my fixer upper ran perfect flew too rebuild high performance 454 far form stock two tone burnt orange(sort of) and tan..with a red box,blue drivers fender and door,primer tailgate..to say it stood out was an understatement!!
He deserved it..He was a typical pencil neck goofy looking guy with a democrat smug face..Maybe I finished him off? The airbag could have popped and let him meet his maker? Hope not/doubt it but funny nonetheless! His car was done for sure,his new Echo lol
Back in the ancient times when Car and Driver really was worth reading for the quality wordsmithing, they had a hysterical title for a feature that had the then new Echo…
“Something new from Toyota….. A mistake”
I have found there is nothing faster than a slow driver being passed.
I probably told this story before, but one night many years ago on the Edens expressway there is a left lane blocker, a middle lane squatter and one person doing like he should in the right hand lane resulting a slow moving blockade. I end up positioning myself in the right lane having worked my way up through the mass built up behind this dam. The right lane motorist exits, I get a gap. I accelerate. The left lane blocker gets up to 90+ maybe 100mph to try and get up to the traffic in the distance before me in order to keep the blockade going. Just insane. I can’t remember all the details perfectly any longer but I got past him, maybe finding a gap between the center and right lane drivers. Can’t remember. Anyway as the old fart receded in my mirrors he had reestablished the block.
It’s a control freak thing mostly. Like the rituals. But there is one exception, resentment that other people can go faster without fear of being enforced upon but if you did it paying paper would be issued. That’s never caused me to block someone doing 30 over in their Camry though.
Forget about the jerks on government roads for a minute, turn up the speakers, and take a few open-practice laps around Road America with Mike Spear at 15,000 rpm. Boy this brings back memories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akDYydrszic
good stuff
don’t care for the sound though – kind of an agry mosquito…
Yeah Bob, it’s definitely a matter of personal taste. To me, a high-RPM shriek is the sound of a real racing engine. Never been a fan of the NASCAR “roar.” They sound like cheap, overweight hotrods. But to each his own.
I can’t imagine trying to keep other drivers from passing you.
Makes me think of one time, I was driving on a two lane highway in central Mississippi and this guy was riding my tail (I was going about 60 in a 55). We came to a straight away and I slowed down to about 50, hoping he would pass. He didn’t.
Next straight away, I slowed to 30 mph, hoping he would get the hint. He still wouldn’t pass. We were the only two cars on the road.
I finally pulled off the road into a parking lot just to let the guy go on down the road. I was sick of being tailgated.
I have no clue why he didn’t pass.
Some people on two lane roads simply won’t pass. These are also I believe the people who become angry if you pass them on a two lane road.
Please wear your mask at all times and report to the vaccination station when summoned. Always do what you are told until the day you die.
I was driving down an avenue one evening on an errand, pulled up to an intersection in the right hand turning lane to enter onto a four lane highway. In front of me was a car waiting for a green light, the light turned green, the car didn’t move, sat there through the green light, another red light, the light turned green again, the car didn’t move. I honked, then got frustrated, moved into the through lane to cross the highway to get where I’m going.
The person in the car in the turning lane was so high/drunk, he couldn’t function, couldn’t drive the car, was in full retread mode.
One of my daughters called the cops, had to move on. Kind of scary stuff out there at times.
There are people on the road who shouldn’t be there at all. They’re too high, can’t even drive.
Don’t drive drunk and/or high, it is dangerous, you are a hazard and a threat to others to the point that it becomes a crime.
Don’t use dangerous drugs such as Ritalin, Prozac, Oxycodone. Drugs you have to say ‘no’ to.
On I-80 crossing Iowa, every single trucker drives the speed limit and the interstate has a heavy highway patrol presence. Getting stopped is going to consume road time. You can get fired for causing problems on the road.
Obey the rules of the road.
When you run a red light and get mowed down by a big truck, you’re going to pay a heavy price. Darwin Award time.
The un-vaccinated are pirates on the high seas, keelhaul all of them. You can’t have natural humans anywhere, the un-vaccinated can’t be tolerated. har
Escape to Baffin Island and live like an Eskimo.
Earlier this year I was driving in the right lane of a three lane boulevard. Girl in a car in front of me and a guy in a pickup in the leftmost lane. Both attempted to switch to the middle lane at the same time. The guy in the truck doesn’t see her but she sees him. So she swerves back into the right lane. He gets incensed and swerves into the right lane between me and the girl so hard he slams into the curb. He accelerates and gets on her bumper. She slows down and he slams into the back of her. I stopped, allowing plenty of distance. She gets out and starts walking back to him. He throws it into reverse, stomps on the throttle, and slams into the front of me. He throws it back into drive, stomps the throttle, swerves into the middle lane, nearly hits her, and speeds away.
He clearly was hopped up on something. There’s a time and a place for that. Behind the wheel at rush hour isn’t one of them.
Hey Drumpish
Now that Ive been to Alaska Eskimo life sounds better by the day.
If only it weren’t for the cold, Norman –
That is why I am “hesitant” to leave VA for say Montana or some other population-diffuse place. I can’t abide having to dress like an Eskimo for seven months out of every twelve…
I being a desert rat by birth, and choice agree with you Eric. My son tells me nearly a third of the people who move to Alaska leave after one winter. I imagine its the same for Montana.
The only upside to the long harsh winters are the eternal gleaming summers. I was floored at how much different I felt after just a week of 22 hour sunlight. In a way it beats the 330 days of annual sunshine we get here in AZ. Even if it is only for three months.
I’ve noticed a lot of their indignance comes from their willful self-handicap of religiously following da rules as laid out by the State under the goofy assumption that everyone else must comply like they do.
Witnessing free humans in the act drives them up the wall.
Life is full of choices and they don’t desire to have any left to make.
That’s it Moose. Thanks
I think many have discovered that by driving the speed limit in the left lane, they can get away with not watching the traffic in front of them, most of the time, and so can text to their hearts content.
Montana tested anarchy in 1995. It eliminated daytime speed limits in any form on 4 lane Interstate and rural federal-aid primary two lane highways (outside of city limits). Motorists were expected to drive at ‘Reasonable and Prudent’ speeds considered safe for prevailing conditions.
For 4 years of no numerical or posted daytime speed limits on these highways, Montana recorded its lowest number of fatal accidents on the affected roadways.
Eric’s readers can guess who put a stop to this. Yep, FedGov’s Supremes in 1999. KYPD.
“I myself certainly don’t mind, much less get angry. In fact, I will make every effort to assist the person attempting to pass by easing over to the right and even waving him by.” – Eric the Peters
Exactly Eric! Courtesy goes a long way, I think. For some reason, so many people make it a point of their existence to try and piss other people off. Not because they were actually wronged, but because it validates them in some sick way.
Also, in other news, I hear “The Cases!” are positively AMOK in Israel, with the current day’s count over 16,000, blowing their previous records out of the water completely. This, after many of their population having received their 3RD dose.
I may be a meany for this. Sometimes if a left lane trundler on a multi-lane won’t move over I will go around on the right and seemingly almost pit myself on his front bumper as I am getting back over to the left lane as I go around him. Now, I am not getting that close, but it usually sends a message to the tards. I can tell it does because they like to flash lights, honk, and flip me off.
It feels good getting that off my chest. It may be a dick move, but please consider my victims first!
I do the same thing, seems like 4+ times a trip these days, but I do try and get close.
I used to get around them, then slow down till they move over to pass me. Then i gun it and allow all the cars the left lane dick was holding up get by them
When did passing become such an ordeal? On any given day I will be in the work truck, cruising at PSL. Vehicle comes up in the passing lane 1-3 MPH faster than me. No problem, I’m in the slow lane just doing my thing. But the vehicle gets to my quarter panel and… slows down. They’re not on the phone, they’re not otherwise distracted but they just match my speed. I’ve sometimes let this happen for miles. They don’t pass. I maintain my speed. Nothing. Sometimes I’ll speed up a bit, they’ll speed up a bit to match. I slow down, and again, they match my speed. Why? Now we go on for a few miles and come up on a semi or otherwise speed-limited vehicle traveling under the PSL. I cannot pass this vehicle until after the non-passer unless go through vehicular gymnastics to avoid the non-passer. Again, why? Just to screw me over? Do they even realize what they’re doing? Lately, if there’s no other traffic around I’ve begun hard breaking to slow down to 40 mph until they get the hint. This seems to work but once in a while a non-passer will eventually drift back to ride too close again.
For me when this happens, it’s a 99% chance it’s a woman doing it. I stare them down and it’s like they don’t even know they are doing anything wrong!
I asked one of my coworkers about this a long time ago and he laughed and said it’s because women need companionship.
Those are what were called “ducklings” in a driving group I participated in long ago. And yes, the only way to shake a duckling is to brake hard so they end up far enough ahead of you the only thing they can do is speed up to latch on to someone else up ahead.
Rapid acceleration only gives momentary relief because as soon as you level off or slow back to space normal speed the duckling will start catching up and eventually latch on again.
I figure it’s got something to do with herd mentality. I see clumps of vehicles together on otherwise open highway (often tailgating) and wonder why? There’s lots of room on the roads out here in the way out west, no need to clump. Unless they figure the wolves won’t get them.
It sure doesn’t help when the road is under speed limited too (an example 35 when it could be 55 easy enough). So you aren’t even going the too slow speed limit to begin with, like 30 when you should be doing 60 all day…… So half the speed it should be……
Reminds me of this one time in my old home town, had a twat going 30 in a 35, who’d hit the brakes and try to block me as I attempted to pass her after I flashed and honked at her to move. Got a chance to get around and she was a woman possessed, right on my bumper as I went 15 over at that point to shake the shank off.
She eventually tried to throw her drink at me (lol), clearly didn’t pay attention in school as the second she let go it flew backwards, and eventually she pulled a uturn, realizing she had to get to wherever she was going. ONLY time a car ever got ballsy with me, as I’m in a Ram, she’s lucky I didn’t tap the brakes, she’d be screwed if I did.
“…after I flashed and honked at her to move.”
Really Zane? Why? What did you expect her to do?
How long was your trip? Were you facing the prospect of going 30 for six hours and therefore missing the brain surgery you were scheduled to perform?
20 mins. Most people see my truck and move. I wasn’t expecting much, just get the fuck outta my way, not get all enraged and try to swerve and brake check me cause I ruined her mobile text session
If I recall, Zane is from NJ. Have you ever been there? I spent the first 35 years of my life there and can attest that driving there is a blood sport. It varies a bit from area to area throughout the state but many places/roads are insanely densely crowded and that brings something out in people. As evidenced by Zane’s anecdotes and similar ones in the past from fellow NJ guy Antilles, people there don’t just get mad and gesture, sometimes they confront you, follow you, accost you for slights of driving real and imagined. I may be wrong but I think the term “road rage” was coined in NJ. I once saw an enraged guy stop short at an intersection, get out and literally pull another guy out of the car behind him who offended him and severely beat him in front of my eyes. And no, I didn’t get involved. I was in an unfamiliar kinda rough area in a line of traffic detoured off Rt. 78 somewhere near Newark. Even within the state there are levels of crazy. I was a South Jersey guy (aggressive enough at the time, though I’m a cruiser now) and I thought the North Jersey guys were crazy. Bergen county being the worst.
Hi Hatt,
Long ago I drove trucks almost everywhere else, but not much in the northeast, and as far as I can remember never in NJ. I believe you. All the more reason not to honk and flash your lights at somebody because she’s going 30 in a 35.
‘Bergen county being the worst.’ — Hatteraszek
Once, entering Route 208 right where it splits from Route 4, I had a lane conflict with another driver.
It didn’t seem like that big a deal — just the usual background noise of hostile, yield-to-no-one driving in NJ.
Exited to a local street, stopped at the first red light, and there’s a knock on my window. Swivel my head, here’s this same goofball, leering through the window from six inches away and making obscene gestures.
Welcome to New Jersey … baby, we were born to run.
Hatter,
I can attest to this, and i swear its only because the state has essentially disarmed the population. People feel emboldened when they don’t think they’ll be staring down the barrel of a colt if you offend them for any particular reason and they decide to teach you a lesson.
It’s gotten worse since convid because us normies that didn’t hide away got used to the roads being empty and being able to move at essentially any speed we want. Now all the idiots are back out on the roads clogging up traffic again.
I remember the one time I wish I had a gun
Some Puerto Rican in a crown vic cut me off ages ago when I had my TT, so I returned the favor and gave him the bird as well. Before I get to the light, he barrels forward and SLAMS his brakes, gets out at the Red and goes apeshit on me, telling me I cant cut him off, blah blah blah, total nutjob!
If I had my 357 then as I do now, crazy eyes would of backed down. Had to be 7yrs ago, reading all this reminded me of that story
The flip side of the slowpoke thing is equally baffling. Nobody seems to understand that going a few miles per hour faster on a short trip makes no difference. I used to take our daughter to school 12 miles away (coincidentally, a quick search just showed that this is about the average commute in the US). I usually drove about 60 on the winding country roads to town, and it took about 20 minutes. Much of that time was consumed going up our long, winding driveway, and through stop signs and residential streets once we got to town. One day I got behind a farm truck loaded with shelled corn right away. With no opportunities to pass, we crawled along at 40 all the way to the grain elevator on the outskirts of town. That trip took… about 20 minutes.
So relax: you can’t save an hour on a 12-mile trip by going 70 instead of 60. You can literally save more time in your day by skipping the “repeat” part when you wash your hair. If you can’t do the math yourself I can send you a spreadsheet.
Hi Roland,
Yes, but there are the intangibles; it is much more fun to drive than to be stuck driving behind someone who can’t. It is easy to become bored when the drive is boring, which it becomes when you’re stuck doing 51 in a 55. Which is why I am generally doing 70-plus!
I find myself much more easily distracted and less focused on my driving when following someone at an unreasonably slow speed. Say 45 in a 55. Things are a bit less critical, so the mind wanders.
True Eric, but having driven real racecars I’m sure you know well that what most people consider “fast” driving is not even in the ballpark, and that after a few minutes 70-plus is just as boring as 51 if you’re not turning. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to drive that crooked stretch from home to school in my roadracing kart. I might have to breathe it a few times, but I’m pretty sure most of it would be flat-out turn in and hang on. I can’t afford anything street-legal that would come close. On one 2.5-mile roadcourse where I used to race, the SCCA showroom stock Corvettes were a good five seconds a lap slower than us.
I’ve dealt with this myth before. Seems being the key word.
When no slow pokes impede me my trips are significantly shorter. Why? Because I can hit all the timing and position marks to minimize my travel time. The reason it ‘seems’ the same to a slow poke is that in the time the slow poke cost me I missed my marks or was out of position. The result is a greater delay. The slow poke will then catch up to me at the next light. But at least I am in front of the slow poke.
When there is a driver faster than me, I rarely catch back up to them. I didn’t impede them and they hit the marks for their chosen speed.
Also another thing slow pokes do, on my trip home from work there is a left and then right. A brisk acceleration to the speed limit will trip the sensor on the right turn arrow for the next light and keep it lit. And by brisk, I mean I’ve seen it successfully done with a UPS truck. The slow pokes will take several seconds to notice the green left arrow has come on. Take forever to get up to 25mph in a 45mph zone then run the fresh red signal to make the right. I get to be stuck at an additional red signal. Then this throws off my timing for the next three-four lights and I get reds instead of greens so it cascades. This is just an example of typical slow driver behavior. They have ways of making up time, like running signals by not stopping on red.
So many people think traffic signals are random. They are not random at all. they are programmed machines. On my regular travels I can even pick up the drift in their timing, that is the error adding up over weeks. Eventually someone or some thing resets most of them.
Meanwhile slow pokes historically are the number one group to get angry with me when I am bicycling. Why? Often because I passed them. And homicidal angry in a few instances. Slow pokes are more about slowing others down, that is control over others like most virtue signaling.
BTW 12mi / 60mph = 0.2h = 12min 12mi / 40mph = 0.3h = 18min. So it takes 50% longer. The only way it could be about the same is if 60mph causes you to get red signals while 40mph gets you greens or some other timing issue.
Hi Brent!
As I explained, only part of the trip was at 40 as opposed to 60, so no, it did not take 50 percent longer. The difference was not noticeable. There were many other variables (not including electric signals; there were none) that could have more effect on my time than the speed I drove on those country roads.
In roadracing I used to live by the stopwatch. In government-road driving, there’s no prize for getting there a few seconds ahead of somebody else, so why not relax and be nice? I’m not inclined to fret about having to go a boring speed instead of the slightly less boring speed that I might prefer. Compared to racing, everything on government roads is boring.
I have to admit I do get peeved when people fail to get going in front of me at a light that I know is only going to stay green for a few seconds and then be red again for what seems like 10 minutes. Now that wastes a lot of time.
Found this gold nugget over at LRC. Should be a bumper sticker.
“For the first time in history, we can transmit a disease we don’t have to those who are immunized against it.”
We love this statement, knowing it speaks of an impossibility thus exposing the criminal tyranny. But the diapered will see it as a statement of fact in support of their fear and diapering.
They will not learn. While we’re vainly trying to help them grasp the truth, they’ll be falling for the next criminal hoax, and the next one after that.
We who know what’s going on must fix it without waiting for the sheeple to “wake up” because sheeple do not wake up.
Just like the mindless morons that ride the hammer lane at 60mph on I 81. Also on Rt 11. In between Edinburg Va And Woodstock Va Rt 11 is 2 lanes it has 4 lanes and is divided near passage Creek.These clovers will ride down the left lane at 55 like someone taught the to drive like that. Its getting worse sense the JAB……
I have also noticed the bad becoming worse after the needling began. Slow, indecisive, no confidence, no forward thinking ability, and inconsiderate. I am cool and don’t get too worked up about it, but sometimes can kinda sorta a little bit see how people can go Falling Down on these pharma-laden troglodites with a ball bat or similar..
The worst ones are those that going ten under decide to race you as you pass. Its the behavior of a crazy person. Most of the face effacers I see driving now are by themselves, going slow, sometimes having a hard time staying in their lane. The other day I was behind one at a red light, when the light turned he just sat there. I made a brief honk and he still didn’t move, just looked back in his rearview at me. After three or four seconds I layed on the horn until he moved, Almost missed the turn signal. As I passed he flipped me off. I’m really starting to hope these shots work their magic soon.
I had a Tesla in front of me in a four lane 45mph zone. They were probably going 40 and slow taking off at lights. I had enough and wanted to pass in my ’08 non-turbo Impreza. This Tesla was being driven by a young woman, and her bf or husband was riding passenger, kid in backseat. EVERY time I went to the right lane to get over she went up to 50-55. Would not let me pass.
Then of course there was construction and my right lane was ending. I got about a car length ahead and this woman just wasn’t having it. I had to settle in behind her. I don’t know if she was ‘testing’ the electric acceleration on me or being told to do it by the dude. I just couldn’t figure it out.
I didn’t show any signs of frustration or honks/fingers/flashes to indicate I was even the slightest bit annoyed. But I REALLY wanted to PIT maneuver that battery off the road and watch it burn…
I don’t see many teslas around here Andrew, Went through California last spring and was shocked at how many are on the road. And yes most were Driven (or auto piloted?) by complete effing morons.
Second that Norman, was on I90/Mass.Pike recently late at night; 3 lanes each way, 65 speed limit. I’m coming up on this guy poking along at 55 so pull over to pass and as I come abreast he starts to speed up. Nobody else on the road but this a*hole wants to play games so I had to punch it up to about 85 to get past and I really wanted to pull in front a brake check the douchebag but wisdom prevailed and I kept it at 80 until I couldn’t see him in the rearview. Who ARE these people 😖
“Who ARE these people?”
I don’t know and I don’t get it. Some might call it a character flaw, but I usually try to make people happy, not pissed off.
Hey Mike its crazy. When it happens to me in my work van its worse, loaded with tools and parts it doesn’t get up and go like my little T-bird. Thing is if they speed up and you don’t have enough room to pass then your right back behind them then they go right back to driving ten under. As I get older I get less and less angry. Console myself with the thought of what it must be like to be such a control freak, and how much does their life suck, being such a-holes.
Speaking of co-morbidities. This CEO guy had the nerve to suggest obesity was a major factor in the plandemic and maybe healthy eating was a better idea than diapers & vaxxes. Of course the CDC agrees obesity is a factor but, ya know, fat shaming, so mandates for diapers and vaxxes are needed because reasons.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sweetgreen-ceo-criticized-after-connecting-the-pandemic-to-unhealthy-eating-incredibly-fat-phobic/ar-AAO1p1S
The guy also suggested a healthy eating “mandate” and taxes on unhealthy food. I wouldn’t be given them any ideas at this point.
It continues to bewilder me that so many CEOs and such can’t just keep their mouths shut about this stuff and concentrate on earning a profit.
They didn’t get their jobs because they don’t love power.
I’m shocked the Washington Post article you referenced put in the sub-headline: “Vaccines and masks won’t save us from the pandemic…” This is the first time I’ve seen the MSM allow anyone to make such a statement.
You might say they jumped the shark with that line.
Great comparison, Eric. As I understand it, this is the essence of cloverism: brainless adherence to government rules no matter how nonsensical they are, and rage at anybody who dares to defy them.
Despite my previous “by the book” attitude that came from driving over-the-road trucks in my early 20s, I no longer use turn signals when there’s nobody around. I got to thinking one day: This is stupid. I’m turning into my own driveway on a county road that carries maybe three cars per hour, plus a tractor or two. The nearest vehicle is probably at least two miles away, so even if he did everything in his power to intentionally crash into me, he wouldn’t be able to do it.
Only thing I would disagree on is the “waving him by.” I learned as a teenager that nobody appointed me to direct traffic, and doing so can have unintended consequences. My waving might be misinterpreted. I can’t know what the other guy is thinking or how he will react. He might carry out his passing maneuver in such a pokey way that an oncoming vehicle becomes a hazard when it shouldn’t have. I know of one incident locally where somebody waved another driver through at a 4-way stop as a matter of courtesy and a pedestrian that the waver didn’t see got run over.
I drive my vehicle. You drive yours. Period.
“I drive my vehicle. You drive yours. Period.”
Amen and Ramen!
Sometimes my mind wanders into the realm of absurdity. One day I was sitting at a crossroad stop sign in the middle of farmlands with my turn signal on and the thought popped into my mind, “If nobody is around to see my turn signal, have I actually indicated anything?” So like you, I don’t use turn signals if nobody is around to see it.
Also, I second your sentiment on “waving him by”. Once upon a time I drove OTR as well and remember my instructor teaching me that directing traffic could set you up for legal problems.
Dat Greta pic tho.
Damn.
I’ve had that happen to me before. Some elderly man was moving at the speed of cold syrup and I promptly passed him (a legal pass) and he was laying into the horn and shaking his fist. So i promptly put my arm out the window and gave him the “number one” sign and pulled away.
“We’re all in this together.” As in the mob. Now advertised as the preferred social construct. Individuals are a danger to the mob, since members of the mob might quit the mob, seeing the advantage of NOT being in the mob. Mobs seek an equilibrium in their common denominator, which is never very high, and often quite low. Which explains their acquiescence to diapers and vaxxes. Thinking people aren’t interested in either, since they don’t work, and are in fact dangerous. But the mob sees them as an opportunity to expand the mob, by force.
I actually had a driver change lanes to keep me from passing on a two lane black top. I had plenty of room, but I needed to get on with it, so I did. And nearly drove up their tailpipe. Me driving about 60 by then, and them still driving 40.
John,
As Norm McDonald said once: “This Mob blows.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2LgedbTGDk
Yes these are psychotic people for sure. The bigger problem/issue is that it is getting exponentially worse. So much so that it is effecting my psychology. It is absolutely a numbers game, as I don’t have these issues in very rural places, even though most drivers still mostly do the speed limit too.
My biggest issue in the past couple years is left lane bandits on the interstate in urban/suburban areas. Seems every mile there’s one now. Used to be one a trip, now they are forever. I can’t take it anymore.
My wife and I are planning our exit from urban/suburban life as even she (not the best driver) is noticing not just driving issues but complete snowflake/psychotic issues in normal daily life.
As she says best “the created and self-inflicted drama is hard to take anymore”
There is also the corollary of the 18 wheeler, driving in the right lane of a 3 lane highway, on the rear end of a driver going 65, flashing his high beams while furiously pounding his klaxon.
Far too often, this type of hazardous, puerile, and self-centered behavior transpires on highways across the land. One is not entitled to operate at a speed of one’s choosing, at any time, under any circumstances consistent with respect of the rights of others to travel free of such juvenile harassment and recklessness.
My point is that Eric’s principle applies to those who think that everybody else must conform to their temporal schedule. If you are in the right lane and there is a car in front of you going the speed limit, you do not have the right to play the impatient snowflake. Just because A is running late or is apprehensive about being punctual or just is in a hurry does not mean B has to accelerate in order to make A feel better.
Can’t understand the ones who pass & immediately slow down to a speed that’s slower than what I was going in the first place. As a young buck I’d show my ass but now I have the gray hair / don’t care mentality. If it’s open road, either pass them or move to another lane. If it’s near an exit, let it slide.
I think the common denominator is narcissism, which has been poisoning the well of humanity for a long time.
It’s definitely NOT about safety.
‘I think the common denominator is narcissism’ — Anonymous
I honk, therefore I am. — Descartes
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/001/296/morans.jpg
I think you’re assuming that the driver in question was actually paying attention to their driving (no, not the horn honker, but the moron who speeds up to ride your ass even though they were going slow, which caused you to pass them). I drive an awful lot as I do Instacart and deliver groceries all over town, so I get to see a lot of drivers. I also used to drive a semi, same. Many, many people don’t really pay attention to their driving, and it has nothing to do with Elon Musk’s misnamed Autopilot. Often, they’re too wrapped up in their sail fawns. I almost got t-boned the other day after I got a green light in downtown Lexington, when a minivan just about ran their red light and almost smashed me from the driver’s side. He braked hard to avoid the collision, and I had just cleared the intersection when I could see him blowing through the intersection behind me, sail fawn in hand. Once in Baltimore, when I was a trucker, I was sitting in heavy traffic on I-95 and looked down into the car next to me. A guy wearing business attire flipping through news articles on his sail fawn.
Why do they go slow? Too busy talking or texting on their pacifier. Why do they speed up and ride your bumper when you pass them? Something kicks them in the head and they realize that they were going too slow (bet their phone conversation suffers at that point, too). That, and they’re quietly begging to be led, and you’re now the leader.
Hi Jim,
I think there’s much to what you’ve written. I just wish these people would (a) pay attention and (b) not ride anyone’s ass. The latter is inexcusably dangerous and totally unnecessary. Any driver who does it is prima facie reckless or incompetent and ought not to be driving.
I travel from NE Ohio to NE Indiana frequently in a ‘4 wheeler’ to you truckers (of which my dad is one, and I went to truck driving school once- something I think everyone would benefit from). US Route 30 almost all the way. Not too much traffic and lots and lots of flat and boring road. I always notice the ‘sail fawn’ drivers immediately. I usually drive 69-71mph in the 70 ‘speed limit’ to save money on gas mostly but also because Rt 30 is referred to as Bacon Highway in Ohio… by myself anyway.
I notice the only car in existence coming up behind me at around 75 mph or so, then they will get right up my ass and won’t pass. So I play a game with them… I put cruise control on so I can slowly lower my speed 1mph at a time until they are doing 55mph or so. I always make sure no one else is around of course. Sometimes I’ll go up to near 80mph, then slowly back down. Some of these people STILL don’t pass. Then I’ll get over into the left lane and *zoom* they go. It’s absolutely amazing. I should get a dash cam, front and back, record this and post it online…
Anybody going faster than me is an idiot and anybody going slower is an asshole.
Meanwhile we all end up waiting in the same line seconds apart at the next stoplight.