I agree I don't know how many this I would have had a close calls avoided if the other driver just checked there mirrors

 

well what about non ricer competition?? i was revved on by a e46 330 bout a month ago... someone has a sticker on their mini "i eat 330's for breakfast"

oh and on the road rage topic..i've been followed by stupid people before in my last mini, i just drive to the police station..i've since avoided confrontation

 

Okay "ricer" may have been the wrong word, it's just frustrating when you got a friend in the car and your being extra well behaved for them and then you hit a stop light and all of the sudden the guy next to you thinks its a race, because I have a sense of humor. I've seen it happen w/ everything from an M5 to a minivan. I really ought to just make a sign telling them where the nearest race track is

 

thats awesome, i bet you could get a decal.

 

first of all lets talk about the fast lane. the BMW CCA keeps us posted on the effort of many congressmen trying to pass a law against "left laners". the proposed law states that no matter your speed you should be in the right lane of traffic at all times unless you are passing. i will send money to any congressman that can get that law passed. even more money if they can double the fine if they prove your on the phone at the time of the violation.

now, back to the RR. on the way home one day a grown man in a very nascar emblazened chevy lost his mind and tried to kill me.

we were going from a double to a single lane. i passed him at less then 10 miles over the speed limit to get in front of him before the single lane. he was having none of that. he pulled up beside me in the grass and tried to cut me off. i was both amazed and frightened. i dropped into third and remained in front of scary man. he really didn't like that. i tried to fake an exit but he stuck on my tail yelling and screaming the whole time. the next exit i did take in hopes to elude him. didn't work! i went throught the intersection at the bottom of the ramp after stopping for the sign. i of course waited so that only i'd be able to go through the intersection with impending traffic closing in. he really didn't like that. i thought i'd lost scary man only to see him in my mirror very soon. i was on a service road that i hoped would put me back on the main road. he was on my tail again and yelling and screaming in my rearview mirror. i was fast approaching a slower car in my lane. this is where my story will get deleated. i speed up so i could pass the slow car very fast. with the scary man close behind i passed the slow car got in my lane and nailed the brakes. scary man didn't see this coming and flew past me. i pulled off the road to not upset slow car. i then whipped it around and headed back for the highway never to see scary man again.

i have no idea why he was so irrate with me and/or my car. if your ever between greensboro, nc and danville, va watch out for a yellow tazmanian devil car.

i did try to call 911 during this but was told i needed to call *HP. i didin't have time to do that.

 

Now, that is one crazy driver.. Glad it didn't become any more serious..

 

On the way to my house from town, the roads go from two lanes each direction to one, and it stays one lane the entire ride home... which lasts about 15 minutes. It's a LONG drive, though, if someone doesn't know the speed limit, or jsut doesn't know how to drive it.

I know where all the passing zones are, and i know exactly which instant to look ahead and make sure no one else is coming. When the road drops to one lane, there's a highway entrance/exit, and a wide open curve. I usually pick up my speed there and head to the front of the pack. In my experience, the people that go the fastest before the lanes turn to one, usually go the slowest the rest fo the ride home. Go figure. But there are many times they push to get in front of me, in which case i gun it, then they ride my tail the rest of the way home. Otherwise, i let them go first, then they drop their speed and i end up having to pass them later on. The other night when i was following my b/f home, he was able to pass a couple cars, but i got stuck behind one guy going 42 in a 55... now THAT hurts. Everytime there's a passing zone, he floors it. >: ( grrr. When we catch up to more cars, they're doing 32 in a 45.

I was starting to get really aggravated, because it hurts to go 45 in the country, much less 32... so i pulled into the gas station, got a drink and a snack, calmed down, and then drove back home after the cars had enough time to move on a bit.

And i hate when i'm on the highway going a pretty high speed in the fast lane trying to get back in the middle lane, and there's someone in the middle lane doing about the same, and a huge vehicle comes up behind me riding my tail, flashing lights for me to move out of their way, but i can't get over because someone is pacing me beside me.

 

1. They HATE that!
2. I do that, and maybe talk real quick on the phone. So am I getting stupid?
Re: pacing of others. A horse guy told me that's like leading a horse. I had one shadow me for a while in the #1 for awhile, I forgot, started to change lanes, turned to look and TA DA! Like magic, there they were in my blind spot. That's when I start playing "keep away" from me!

 

Want to get rid of tailgaters? SLOW DOWN, straight from the National Safety Council Advanced Defensive Driving class. IT really WORKS. I am a past alumni from decades ago of every non-DUI class offered.

 

Road Rage will continue until they start enforcing laws such as driving slow in the left lane, and people who can't merge properly. If everyone could just stay out of the way then problem solved. Unfortunatly the opposite is true.

Short Bus, I know exactly what you mean, they all go fast to be the one in front then slow down so nobody can pass. Its a power trip. Have you noticed when it goes from one lane to two lanes the slow guy in front speeds up again, the guy behind him will pull out to pass but ends up driving right next to the first guy, now nobody can pass. People just don't get lane usage.

 

CDMini, In some cases I agree with you but first you must look at why their tailgating. If your blocking the left lane or driving below the speed limit then I suggest you get out of the way or speed up.

 

Happens so many times that people will fight me to be the first in line (as stated before) riding on the grass to pull ahead. What is the point when i know i'm going to be going faster... mainly because they're a tub of lard that slows down for curves, and i'm going to eat all the curves up.

 

Well, I'd say its better to get over/away from them - slowing down much may enrage someone into road rage and you might be facing an even more dangerous situation...

 

Now this is RR. Most of the stuff has been about bad drivers ... not the point of the thread.

Lets hear about these kind of stories ... MINI or not doesnt matter. What matters is getting these nuts off the road.

Take the ROAD RAGE QUIZ. Check your score http://www.healthylife.net/body/roadRageTest.html

Here is an example of what RR can do:

In the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in April of 1996, Narkey Keval Terry and Billy Canipe, both 26, began dueling in their cars as they drove up the George Washington Parkway. Traveling at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour, the cars crossed the median of the parkway and hit two oncoming vehicles. Only one of the four drivers involved in the crash survived; Narkey Terry was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the incident.

http://www.aaafoundation.org/resourc...utton=agdrtext

 

Out of all the large cities including Tokyo, DFW has to be the worst for bad drivers and road rage. Turn your blinker on in rush hour here and see what that gets you. Not too mention all the losers that can't wait two minutes and start driving through ditches to access the frontage roads, just to get back on the freeway at the next entrance. I leave them alone since a large majority seem to drive around with guns in their glove boxes. You folks in the smaller communities don't realize how good you got it.

 

Here's my RR/bad driver story. I was driving back from VT to NY on the Taconic Parkway in my old Bronco late one afternoon. For those who don't know the road, it is quite a windy and hilly road with very few on ramps (but a few cross roads that intersect at 90 degrees to the parkway). Definitely much more fun to drive now in my MINI .

As I merged onto the parkway, I sped up to 65mph and set the cruise control. There were no other cars on the road. A few minutes later, I'm passed by a car. After passing me, he imediately moves into my lane and starts slowing down. I cancel the cruise and chill behind him for a few minutes. When I realize he is not going to maintain 65, I pull out and pass him. I wait till I'm a good 1/4 mile ahead and then pull back into the right lane and resume 65 on the cruise control. He then proceeds to pass me again and immediately pull into my lane and slow down forcing me to hit the brakes. This went on 3 more times - astonishing. Normally I would just pull off at a rest area and let the guy move on, but as stated before, this road didn't have any (at least not for about another hour). The only place to pull off would have been some remote area and I didn't think that was wise with an unstable person like that around.

So in a final attempt to loose the guy, I accelerated the truck up to almost 80 and kept it there until I couldn't see him in my mirrors any more. (I could almost see the fuel guage dropping as the Holley 4bbl fed that big 351 V8.) This did the trick and I never saw him again.

 

dchez, that sort of thing is becomming more popular. Everybody wants to be the leader but doesn't have the ***** to do the job. Gee, I wonder who started that trend????

 

So I assume YOU are tailgating not because you are some kind of crazy, blatantly unsafe and generally reckless driver, BUT that you are communicating a message to the car in front that they HAVE to move over. I do not obstruct traffic and am very courteous about yielding to the higher speed vehicles. I am not sure I EVER have driven BELOW the speed limit. BUT IF they still want to recklessly tailgate me, then it may be time to have some FUN...I know lots of ways...drove motcycles for 20 years and I definitely can CURE tailgaters...

 

By driving slow I assume you mean driving below the speed limit. Although all states are different, I think some have speed limit signs that show the "minimum" speed for the road (e.g., minimum speed 40 mph). However, Where is there a law that driving slow is a law other than what I just mentioned?

The Road Ragers are those on the bumbers of people doing 55 in a 55 zone IN the left lane because THEY THINK they have the RIGHT to driver faster, when, IN FACT, they do not.

 

CHOWS, remember it's not the speed that kills, it's the rapid LOSS of speed...it wouldn't be the first time I woke up the offender with a sharp deceleration...

 

Ouch

 

If you drive the speed limit in the left lane, you're going to have PO'd people riding your bumper all day long. It's that simple. There's the letter of the law, and there's reality.

 

In reality we aren't left lane lemmings sitting there doing the speed limit. We are moving right along with the traffic at the prevailing speed usually above the limit, and moving aside to let the folks pass on by into the speed trap waiting for them up ahead. And keeping a safe following distance. The reckless aggressive drivers believe they SHOULD be able to push everyone aside at will by riding a foot or two off your bumper at 85mph, a nice stiff jab on the brakes HARD usually takes care of the most aggressive ones...Saved for when I am alone in the car, or on my moto, that really freaks them out, then they KNOW I am just a bit more insane than they are reckless.

 

I know. I see ppl get in the left lane because their left exit is a mile down the road and refuse to move. It really irritates people. "they" really don't care. Not one bit

Legally, they have every right to do that. Realistically, even if it caused RR, the other driver would get nailed, not person doing the speed limit. Then again, there is something about "impeding the flow of traffic" but not sure if that means Above the speed limit.

 

I can accept the generic road stupidity that existed before I owned my MINI....people driving 15 under the speed limit (I truly believe I am the ONLY person in Holland, MI to have ever driven at least the speed limit or faster), people who don't use turn signals, people who talk on cell phones or organize purses or do anything while behind the wheel except drive. I can accept it because it's random; if it wasn't me stuck behind them it would be someone else.

What I can't accept are those drivers who deliberately mess with me just because I'm in a MINI. I'm not talking about teenagers looking to race or grandparents slowing down to gawk; those I can ignore. I'm talking about those drivers who swerve directly at me, or tailgate so close that I can smell their breath, or get in front of me and play brake games by constantly slamming on the brakes for no reason. None of those things happened when I owned a Hyundai, and I object to being a target based on my car choice.

I usually do defensive things like taking a different street or heading for the police station. But the day that I have an accident because someone wants to dink with my MINI is the day I re-define road rage.