We ran an errand into town, Far Guy needed to go to Fed X to get a box. I have been trying to get a parking spot outside of Ben Franklin for weeks. ( Cause I needed some yarn...yes I really did!) So anyways Far Guy dropped me off and picked me up...stopping traffic both times..oh well we could have been tourists. (There is center parking and street parking, so traffic often stops for people crossing the street. )
Now I have a question for all my readers. ???
If you were driving 5 miles over the speed limit 60 in a 55 zone and a car was following you close and wanting to pass so bad that they passed you in a no passing zone...double yellow lines because it was a hill you could not see over the other side to see if anything was coming...what would you do except hold your breath and say a quick prayer that nothing was coming??? AND say you just happened to speed up enough to see the License Plate number...because you see during the Detour we have had all Summer traffic is heavy and there were many cars in front of me. Then perhaps I followed the car part way home because they just happened to be going past our driveway...but headed further on down to the lake..and I am very curious to go and look at all the license plate numbers.
What would you do? Would you go look..out of curiosity...out of delayed road rage...you so want to write a note and leave it with the date and time just incase it was a teen driver...maybe it would save a life someday???
Far Side
Good question. For years I drove in Chicago Rush hour traffic and idiots played games all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI've watched people do stupid things the interstate and wipe out down snow banks, run into light poles, and cut others off.
Now I've driven for 30 years on country roads and when someone does something like you describe, I slow down and let them pass and make sure that I have enough distance between them and me to let them do their stupid things and not involve me.
I pretty much don't care or even get upset.
My road rage consists of a Tsk, tsk and a prayer that I don't come up on a wreck.
There is a solution to that sort of thing for protecting yourself. My son has a dash cam and he said it is unbelievable what he records while driving to work.
Mom, let it go.
ReplyDeleteWell, you also were breaking the law and driving over the limit. I would look for a pull-off spot and get out of the way. If traffic has been bad all summer, why make it even worse? This summer there have been horrific crashes in northern Minnesota probably partly due to the road construction everywhere.
ReplyDeleteCool your jets.
I would let it go. Nothing good can come of a confrontation. Maybe they were in a hurry for some emergency reason. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you want to be like Barney Fife and shout, "Citizen's Arrest, Citizen's Arrest!" It happens a LOT on our city's by-pass, interstate, and country roads. A person can be creeping upwards of ten miles an hour over the speed limit and they still fly by - - unsafely and too fast to get the license plate number. It makes me want to call it in for the law enforcement to send them a letter. I actually want a digital sign on my bumper that says I am doing the speed limit or am just above it so they need to quit tail-gating. I am always thankful they don't hit me when I have to stop for someone ahead of me. Yes, I do pray that they don't cause an accident because people often pass unlawfully and unsafely.
ReplyDeleteThese days I probably would just grumble about it, and that would be it. But years ago I had a guy nearly run me off the road when he ran a stop sign and turned onto the hwy right in front of me. I followed him home and turned out he lived a block away from me. A retired farmer out driving around looking at crops and livestock. Who needs a stop sign on a state highway? I actually got out of my car and yelled at him in his driveway.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world? Let it go.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I suspect this individual is unlikely to change his/her ways until there is an accident. A note would have no impact on their behaviour. Nor, with dashcam evidence, do I believe that the local police would do anything as it would just a ticketable offence.
ReplyDeleteAs others have suggested, you can will need to let go of it. And keep an eye out for aggressive drivers.
I would have slowed way down as they passed and prayed I wasn't going to see a car come over that hill and watch a car crash happen before my eyes...because then I would have to check and see if everyone was okay and call 911 if need be and all the rest. Awk! Once in a great while people have a good reason for speeding, but most of the time they don't. I just know you cannot reason with a person who does not understand the logic of not passing on a hill.
ReplyDeleteI would slow down and let the scofflaw pass me. And grumble about bad drivers.
ReplyDeleteI woul do nothing just go on home.
ReplyDeletethese days don't know who is dangerous or not, so many have guns...thank god you are safe and let it go, count yourself blessed...
ReplyDeleteI'd try very hard to contain my anger and keep my blood pressure down. Which means I wouldn't do anything ( but I sure would be tempted to).
ReplyDeleteI agree with the general consensus. You can't fix stupid, only pray that their stupidity doesn't cause anyone including themselves any major harm. If they had caused an accident you could give your info to the police, but mostly police will do nothing with the info you recorded.
ReplyDeleteSatisfy your curiosity if you want by seeing who they are, but I don't recommentd any kind of confrontation. Just make your face smile and move on.
ReplyDeleteWe have crazy drivers like that here too. I just let them go and, as Val comments above, try to stay well out of their way. Stay safe, yourself.
ReplyDeleteThese days with road rage being a thing, I would just let it go.
ReplyDeleteOnce when I was a lot younger, I encountered a person on my way to work who would come to a redlight intersection, put on their right turn signal and start to turn right but then part way into the turn, turned left so they could continue on straight through the intersection which was still showing a red light. After witnessing them doing this dozens of times over several weeks (it was always at dark thirty in the morning with no traffic), I followed them, pulling the same maneuver, to a parking lot at a large company and parked nearby. I guess because they saw me following them, whomever it was stayed in their car for the next ten minutes until I grew bored and left. But I never saw them pull that move again the rest of the year I lived there.
I would call them some names, hope they don't end up dead, wish there was a cop around, take a breath and carry on about my business
ReplyDeleteDrivers such as you saw make it dangerous for all.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be wiser to do nothing...even though I understand the temptation. You never know what people will do nowdays and it's better to be safe than sorry.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and hugs,
Betsy
I chant the number until I can safely write it down. I once was behind someone driving crazy and next thing we know, he crashes into the car in front of him. I was able to stop, started chanting the number and the guy backed up and took off. The vehicle he struck was a work van and I knew they would need an accident report. I pulled into a parking lot when he did and got out of my car chanting ABC123 until he wrote it down. And gave him my name and number. I got a call from local police later who interviewed me and visited the driver who confessed. I don't know makes and models but I can chant til the cows come home.
ReplyDeleteThere are some kinda crazy people out there so I would probably do nothing.
ReplyDeleteI would want to do something, but would probably let it go. Around here, it is not as apt to be a teen ager riding my bumper as it is someone in their late 20's, and on. If someone gets right on my tail, I first tap my brakes to try to get them to back off. One time we were coming over here for a dr's appt. We were the second car behind this one car, and they were all over the road. I could not see her license plates, and of course I cannot drive and talk on the phone at all. Besides the fact that I don't do it, I cannot even in a case like that. And since his stroke Roger is incapable of making a call. She ran someone completely off the road. And they were blessed that they were where they were cause a lot of the time there was no room to pull over.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is the people that will not leave their phone alone...set through a green light because they are on the phone, I almost got sideswiped just a couple weeks ago. Not six inches between us...and I was in my lane..they came well over the center line.