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While I try not to hate people, I dislike the following type of person intensely, which is why this originally hit my facebook page a few years ago.
For those who know Spokane and the south hill, I was on 57th where Hatch Road comes up the hill and merges with it. A woman in a Subaru Outback came up the hill like a bat from Hades and got right on my backdoor.
I'm not someone who tolerates tailgaters well, so I flashed my brake lights at her. This induced her to hang her hand out of her window and show me 4 fingers, then 5, while shouting "It's 45 here!"
I like backseat driving just as much as I like tailgating, and the car behind me giving instructions that I hadn't asked for is taking it to the extreme. I did the only thing I could, and let off on the accelerator.
This didn't improve her mood any, and strangely, I believe it may have made her mad. 
I did look around at the neighborhood, and came to the conclusion that I was not about to drive in a residential area at 45 MPH in the morning when kids are on their way to school. Not only that, but if by some strange circumstance, the speed limit WAS 45, the person who determined that was an idiot. About that time, I passed a speed limit sign for the other direction, and looked at it in my left mirror.
I realize that the possibility exists that the speed limits on each side of the street are different, (as I was driving home tonight, I verified that they are the same) but I figured they wouldn't be. You know, she was right. I wasn't going the speed limit. It was with a certain amount of malicious glee that I hit my brake and slowed the 5 MPH to the speed limit (30mph). A moment later, she shot by me in the left turn lane and got caught at a red turn arrow as I sailed by her (at the speed limit -- my light was still green).
I decided to let bygones be bygones and gave her a cheery wave of good morning as I went by. I'm probably glad I didn't see her face at this point.
Comments
Don't cha
Don't cha just love those highly impatient people that pass you, sometimes in the worst place, and then you catch them at the next traffic signal. And once in a while karma strikes them, they are pulled over by the police and you roll on past them at your normal speed. I know I get a laugh out of it when it happens.
Indeed
Those numpties are often driving a small low powered car with a big and loud exhaust that screams out 'Hey Look at Me. Ain't I cool!'
They are most certainly not that.
Samantha
Extreme case
A number of years ago, I was on my way to work one morning. I lived in one town and worked in a nearby town, so my route to work was over some rural roads. For those who know the Portland Oregon area, my route took me over Cooper Mountain. Coming down the south side of the hill, there was a set of S curves that were rated at 15 MPH. As I was coming out of them, where the road goes through a big dip, the speed goes up to 35, I accelerated rather quickly, but not quick enough for the guy behind me. He jumped out to pass at a high rate of speed. The hill on the other side of the dip totally obscured oncoming traffic, yet he had to stay in the left lane nearly to the top to get by me. When I crested the hill, he had already made the turn at Scholls Ferry Rd. I came to the stop and looked left and right. He was no where in sight.
I made my turn to the left, then turned onto Roy Rogers Rd. It is at least two miles from there to the signal light at Hwy 99 in Sherwood. The road is fairly straight with only one low hill and two curves that you can't see around between Scholls Ferry and Hwy 99. I didn't see the yahoo who passed, that is until I came up to the light at Hwy 99. There he was stopped at the light. I had been driving at the speed limit. God only knows how fast he was driving to have stayed out of sight all that time. And yet for all that reckless driving he only gained one car length over where he'd have been had he stayed behind me.
I did have to smile about that.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Tail gaiting
Most jurisdictions have laws against dangerous or reckless driving. Since it is dangerous to drive at high speeds while someone is tailgating you I will slow down to reduce the danger. And, of course, if they switch to the other lane then they are no longer tail gating me so I will speed up again.
Snerk.
Being polite? Breaking the law?
From the sounds of it you were unsure of the correct speed limit and doing what you thought would be a correct speed for the area you were in. Deducing from your story that speed was 35mph, a good assumption as many residential areas do have posted speeds that low and lower. You didn't mention more than the one car tailgating you in the story, so I will assume there wasn't any other cars behind you. So you were not impeding the flow of heavy traffic, just one person in a hurry.
As for your new found friend behind you, giving you the one finger salute is not only impolite, it's not a great way to get your attention before informing you about your mistake (had it been a mistake on your part). And of course tailgating is also a ticketable offense normally called something akin to, 'following at an unsafe distance'.
Now as for slowing down to the real speed limit of 30mph while satisfying, I would have slowed down further and pulled over, slowing her further, wasting more of her time, while making it appear as if I was trying to be nice and get out of their way :)
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Yes. I have to say that was
Yes. I have to say that was tempting, but the road there had do shoulders to get onto, so I contented myself with slowing just to the speed limit. LOL.
Hugs!
Rosemary
Another approach...
Especially on an overcast day, my friend would wait until they were very close and put his lights on. Often the tailgater would confuse the tail lights for BRAKE lights and slam on his own brakes to avoid the mythical rear-ender. Then again. road rage wasn't even an after thought in the 70s.
Love, Andrea Lena
When I drove truck and people
When I drove truck and people cut me off in stop and go traffic, I made sure all they saw in their rearview mirror was the grill of a Perterbilt for the next few stops.
Hugs!
Rosemary
Differnt times...
Back in the area I first learned to drive, slamming on your brakes and causing an accident would not only get the tailgater a ticket, but one for you for having no good reason to slam on your brakes while he was so close and causing the accident.
One of my uncles, who drove a pickup,and also hated tailgaters. Would toss his hat out the window right before slamming on his brakes. He said it did that for two reasons, first it gave him an excuse to hit the brakes, secondly it distracted the tailgater so they didn't see his brake light until it was too late to avoid hitting him the the rear.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Being on the opposite side of this...
I'm sure most of us have also found ourselves on the opposite side of this, being behind a driver that is going slow? I have a cute story about that myself.
I retired from one of the local fire departments over a decade ago. Little fact most don't know, over 90% of the fire departments in the US are all volunteer. One Sunday early afternoon my radio went off. I jumped in my car put my rotating light up on the dash and headed for the fire station a mile down the road from my house.
Leaving the driveway, with the very bright emergency light flashing on my dash, I found myself behind a car traveling 30mph in a 40mph zone. The car ahead of me acted as if I wasn't there at all. I did blow the horn a couple times attempting to get the driver's attention, it is a law to pull over for emergency vehicles. The oncoming traffic was pulling over so when I saw it was safe to use the opposite lane I passed the car.
Monday afternoon the Mayor gave me a call, asked me over to his office. He the police chief and the woman driving the car were there. Apparently the woman had called the Mayor complaining and had concocted this story of this insanely reckless driver who had ran up behind her, blowing the horn, cursing out the window, etc behind her, and of course never seen any emergency flashing lights.
The police chief sat there listening to her story without saying a word, then when she was finished ask her if she had any witnesses, which she didn't. He then told her that he had a witness that would say that was not what happened. That his witness saw the very bright flashing lights and that she had failed to pull over for them. She said his witness was lying!
The police chief then wrote her a ticket for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
You see the police chief was my neighbor, he had been out moving the grass and he was the witness.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Hilarious!
I used to be a volunteer firefighter as well. I have two wonderful stories of red and whites in my POV.
I pulled out onto the highway from my driveway with my red and whites flashing, right behind a police officer who wasn't running with his, and he yielded to me. I was hitting 65 in a 55 zone by the time I was around him. Strange feeling, I can say.
The other time, I got behind three guys who were just chatting in the pickup, going the required 55, but apparently, none of them noticed my red and whites, and they just continued chatting. There was no way I could get around them, because of oncoming traffic, and I really didn't want to cause an accident. I was in a full size 1978 pickup, and oncoming traffic might have been a problem. I followed him for 2 miles with my lights flashing, and he nevered noticed. LOL I can't remember if I had my snow blade on at the time. Maybe I could have just given him a nudge.
Hugs!
Rosemary
I had another incident
I was driving our equipment truck. We had gotten the call to assist the neighboring town in a fire. Pulling out onto the interstate, lights and siren going right behind a police car with its lights and siren on. About a mile down the interstate some genius in his car passed both me and the cop ahead of me.
Needless to say I ended up passing him on the side of the road as the cop was writing him several tickets
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
One of those busy doing
One of those busy doing something else while God was passing out brains?
Hugs!
Rosemary
woops Erin please delete double post
I was driving our equipment truck. We had gotten the call to assist the neighboring town in a fire. Pulling out onto the interstate, lights and siren going right behind a police car with its lights and siren on. About a mile down the interstate some genius in his car passed both me and the cop ahead of me.
Needless to say I ended up passing him on the side of the road as the cop was writing him several tickets
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.