Unfortunately, ignorance is no excuse. It is indeed a good thing that the MINI is so maneuverable (and you had space available in which to avoid the potential accident).

The episode reminds me of another experience I had with the Denali - I was making a u-turn at an intersection and a car was trying to cut in ahead of me. They didn't get going soon enough and I was already in the lane. Their choice was to T-bone my right rear quarter panel (and get impaled by the bumper on the Denali), stop as fast and as hard as they could, or plow into a car that was parallel parked on the right hand side of the road. Guess which option they chose? Swerved and plowed into the parked car.... Go figure.... I wonder what their excuse was as to why they hit the parked car....

 

There is nothing to be done with rude drivers. It is all about them, so there is no reason to take offense. They seem to have no awarness that there are physical consequences to driving, although I suspect that they end up with a few accident experiences over the course of their lives.

I subscribe to the motorcycle theory too . . . of course, with my motorcycle it was to stay alive, with my MINI it is to avoid paint chips.

 

I do my own share of mean things. So, it's not all bad, I'm just getting what I deserve.

Although, I have been trying to do more nice things lately. Maybe if we all do more nice things it'll spread?

Yeah, I don't think so either...

dan

 

Ditto on the motorcycle theory. If possible, I do not box myself into dangerous areas, like being surrounded by Semi-trucks (same goes for any of giant SUV's). At least with Semi's, the drivers are professional and usually very competant drivers.

Occasionally I experience drivers next to me who begin to merge into my lane, halfway there, they finally look to see if it's clear and find that they're only 14" from smacking my passenger mirror. They flinch and with faces that look like this , they swerve back into their original lane.

One thing for certain, all the big SUV's (redundant?) have HUGE blind spots. As you pull up to a traffic light when there's an Excursion, Tahoe, full size 4x4 pickup, etc., in front of you, pay attention to how close you are when you can no longer see their eyes in their rear view mirror. You are not close at all! There's a pretty big gap that could easily hide an entire Mini, motorcycle, half the children living on your block!

It's one thing to watch out for and respect the UPS and FedEx trucks, but when 50% of the American drivers are in vehicles with only marginally better peripheral sight lines than a dump truck-- drive like you're on a motorcycle and stay safe.

 

Wow, same boat here. Little over a month. Had a Sentra for 6 1/2 years.


Creepy....

 

Mean ? That's debatable. But here's a warning for EVERYONE who is tempted to slam on the breaks because you're being tailed:

You could be determined to be "at fault" in the accident. I never knew that until I recently switched jobs and started training as a Claim Rep. I used to think that *no matter what*, if you were struck in the rear, it was the other driver's fault.

If it can be determined you hit the breaks for no other reason than to send a message to the tailgater behind you, then you may be held responsible. So... if you're going to do that and you get struck in the rear, do NOT say anything to the other driver like... "you shouldn't have been on my ***", or "that'll teach you", or anything of that nature.

Besides, who wants their MINI to get in an accident, just to teach a lesson ?

 

More than "could". You will be. You caused the accident. Hitting the brakes for no valid reason than to warn the driver behind you is probably contributary negligance or something like that.

And your right. You will pay for the aggravation when they do hit you.

 

No, Chows... you COULD be, like I said. Most people won't say "I hit my brakes for no other reason than to make that idiot pay for tailgaiting". They're going to lie and say, "I saw a cute little squirrel and didn't want to hit it". If that's your story, you have every right to hit your brakes and there is no contributory negligence. And don't forget, some states are comparative negligence states, unlike Maryland.

It's all a matter of what you say. If you admit to the real reason your hit the brakes, yes, you WILL be at fault. If you lie, you won't be at fault.

 

Why do so many NAMers use those gray letters that are so hard to see?

Zip

 

Had the same problem with my motorcycle, since the MINI is only a hair bigger then the bike I get the same reaction from people with more endowed vehicles.

 

What bike are you riding? A Boss Hoss?

Zip

 

Huh? What grey letters

You don't know?

Think silent whisper .... in the wind

 

Its a society issue. People are getting rude. To many people on the road and they think their frustartion is more than yours.

 

Hmmm. Now we are advocating illegal activity, are we???? Wonder if it is time to lock the thread?

 

Don't be ridiculous. I'm not ADVOCATING anything. Perhaps you should read my posts a little more carefully to fully understand what I'm saying.

 

Well, perhaps you could explain how the sentance: "If you lie, you won't be at fault." should be interpreted?

 

How is that "advocating" ? Where does it say you "should" lie ? People have choices in life. That's one of them. I'm not telling them TO lie. I'm telling them what happens if they tell the insurance company they intentionally made someone hit them in the rear or if they tell the insurance company they hit their brakes for some other reason.

How is that advocating ? You really do need to read more carefully. :impatient

You know... if you go back to the top of this page and read all my posts, maybe you'll understand that statement a little better.

 

Anyone else amused with the irony going on here?

 

I am !!

Of course, those words "If" and "Should" are tough ones !

 

But I expect to get MUCH more respect from all the bad drivers out there now, because I have RED BRAKE CALIPERS!!!!



Yeah, right. My wife even laughed at me for painting my calipers...

 

Nope, you'll just get more kids in primer-colored Hondas trying to race you.

 

It's like night and day, isn't it?

Personally, I'm a fan of the flamethrowers and missiles that someone posted in the other thread way back when.

 

Silly me, I was assuming when going to court the driver would NOT perjure themselves, risking 20 years in the pokey, over a simple traffic accident

Of course its "could" but I guess, if your going to
teach somoene a lesson, you might as well commit a felony along with it.

 

RED? RED went out 5 years ago. YELLOW is in. Carbon fiber. ... everybody has red

 

Are you an auto insurance professional, Chows ?

Do you know how many cases go to court ? Less than one percent.

Again, I'm not advocating lying. I was explaining to YOU the difference between "WILL" be at fault and "COULD" be at fault.

I don't advocate playing the game of trying to make the tailgater hit you in the rear in the first place, as I said in my first post on this page.