Last night on a well lit road while I was at a stoplight in the middle lane with 2 cars on each side of me the light turns green and we all go when all of a sudden the car in the left lane starts moving into my lane nearly running me into the car to my right!! I hit the horn but he kept moving over forcing me to hit the brakes as he continued into my lane and kept driving like nothing happened. As he was in front of me I hit the high beams and the horn simultaneously but zero response from the driver so I got in front of him and hit my brakes and he slowed and I gave him the one finger salute.

The friggin moron could have been either drunk,chatting on a cell phone,elderly,or a drunk elderly chatting on a cell phone.

Fortunately Scrappy #2 was okay.

 

i hate when that happens. for me its almost always an "about to die" old guy in a buick or something similar.

 

Should have called the cops... reporting drunk drivers is the best you could have done. I hate drunks... I've seen more accidents thanks to them that shouldn't have happened.

 

honking the horn and fingering only makes people like this more upset and some people carry guns. Just let the fool proceed onwards.

 

Hmmm, Define "old guy".... some of us drive our MCS, unless of course we are driving our M Z4 Coupe....

 

MORON Drivers come in all shapes and sized from "Stupidly Young", "RaceCar Driver Young", "Make-up Artist Wanna' Be", "Cell Phone attachement Stupid & Young or Old",...the list goes on. Feel free to add others.

Just keeping one step ahead of them makes me feel a little better..."Foot to the Floor Better!!"

 

yeah there's some morons out there....someone in a van pulled across a 3 lane road to enter a gas station RIGHT in front of me going 45+mph...it took all 3 lanes to dodge em, ridiculous....

 

I agree, even though it was his fault, the roads are full of crazies with guns. You getting in front of him and hitting the brakes was pretty foolish too. Glad you and Scrappy lived for another day of motoring!

 

+1 when he first moved over I can see laying on the horn to announce you're there don't hit me, but after that, the road rage is something that's just likely to get you shot at, and it's not an uncommon occurrence in FL.

FYI this happens to me on an average of 5 or six times daily, usually cell phones is the culprit, but there's also been people blocking their windshield entirely so the sun wont bother them, and well those that are just plain to challenged to color inside the lines.

 

Bad story.

A couple of years ago (ok - 6 years ago) my ex and I were on one of my motorcycles (2001 Kaw ZRX). We were on a freeway here in SoCal in the fast lane doing about 80ish and staying in front of/with traffic. After passing an on ramp, I noticed in my periferal vision a Toy 4runner merging at high speed from the right. The freeway, because of the merging fway, was about 8 lanes wide at this point. The 4runner had merged to the lane inside of me and was travelling beside me matching my speed. This went on for at least a couple of miles. All of a sudden, he starts to merge into my lane. No signal. I hit my horn (feeble - typical on a Japanese bike) and started to move to my left, thinking that he would hear the horn and stop merging. Instead he jerked the wheel hard left contacting with the front of the bike. My ex and I were immediatly thrown to the center medien and impacted the concrete barrier. The driver did not stop. Fortunatly, the driver behind me stopped to help us and the one behind him sped off to tail the 4runner and called 911 on his cel. The CHP pulled him over 15 (!) miles further down the road. It turns out he was, of course, hammered. And, of course, not insured. And, of course, driving with a suspened license. And, being SoCal, an IA.

I sustained a broken arm (2 places) a broken leg (4 places).

My ex sustained a borken pelvis.

Moral. My years of riding had fine tuned my road perception. I generally was able to read what was happening around me. I was tired that day and not paying attention to my spidy senses. In the mini (my first small car in many moons) I find my self doing the same way. I I love it, but I find my self driving very defensivly as if I were on a bike.

 

There are plenty of reckless/drunk drivers on the road, don't get too excited

 

Instead of inciting the other driver, why didn't you call the police so the other driver wouldn't continue with his impaired driving. I don't think you really should be bragging about your behavior there.

 

Yep lots of poor drivers out there. Glad you didn't get run into.

Pulling in front & brake checking was pretty poor driving too.

 

God bless disk brakes...

 

Road rage... however justified it may be, only causes unnecessary stress on yourself, and potential worry that the object of your anger may in fact, retaliate in some physical manner.

There are some crazy people out there. Please be safe. Take a couple of deep breaths, chalk it up to crummy human nature, and drive away.

Just two cents from another guy named Drew

 

A buddy and I stopped at a 7/11 one afternoon to get some gas. This lady looked to be in her 40's drove up , and got out of her vehicle heading into the store stumbling badly. We thought maybe she had a medical problem until we smelled a strong odor of booze. The car was still running with the windows down. My buddy took the keys from the vehicle and called 911 explaining what he did. She came out and began looking for her keys thinking maybe she had lost them while holding beer she had just purchased. The police arrived very soon and gave her the ol booze test which she failed of course. I couldn't believe no one else even made the slightest attempt in alerting the police or even the one selling the beer to her. No she didn't sideswipe anyone but it could have been much worse.

 

First thank you all for your comments,advice and sharing your experiences too.

Honestly I was going to call the cops on my cell phone but when this happened and I had to hit the brakes to avoid the idiot from sideswiping me my cell phone which was on the passenger seat at the time ended up on the passenger footwell.Unfortunately I couldn't even snap a pic of the license plate with my camera phone because it was now out of reach.

If I could have remembered at least the make and model of the vehicle or even the license plate number I would have called the police when I got home.

Yes I do realize that brake checking the driver was very foolish on my part.

 

Don't risk getting hurt, just take down the license plate and call the cops!!

 

^^I certainly will should there be a next time,thanks.

I probably should have originally mentioned this in my first post that the only car accident that I was ever involved in was 15 years ago this month.From what I was told I was run off the road and totaled my car.I was in the hospital for 3 months with a severe head and back injury and was also in a coma.I was told that I died on the operating table but they brought me back (obviously).I lost sight in my right eye and lost all sense of smell too.I had to relearn everything because I suffered from short term memory loss which I still suffer from to this day and have to keep notes all the time.I also do crossword puzzles to help strengthen my memory too.

I tried to go back to work which I loved doing but wasn't capable of doing that anymore because of the car accident.I lost my house,my wife filed for divorced and also took my daughter from me.So that one car accident back then completely affected my entire life.

I am physically disabled and receive disability every month.

I have learned to be a very defensive driver after that car accident back then but this near sideswipe just scared the crap out of me and explains my foolish reaction.

 

haha sorry i missed this post! my definition is basically the 'old guys' who cant even walk on thier own, but drive a car.... not the best combo in my opinion

 

Florida has more frequent testing for the older drivers and don't assume that a "walk disabled person" could not be a very good driver.

A Naples, Florida Resident ran over some children with his TownCar because he couldn't see them,
he was blind and could never have kept a Florida Driver License.

Florida only requires local license & tag when you have school children or local employment.

He had an Ohio Driver License & Tag that he had been renewing for decades
and I think that the uproar brought Ohio to now require re-testing.
__________________________________________________ __________

I enjoy the speeding necessary to drive the same speed as most of the other traffic and when no traffic is around
I try not to exceed speed limit + 5MPH.

Whenever I see someone in a hurry (or distracted),
I will brake to allow them past and will be happy that they are no longer behind me.

MINI's have nice horns, but if they're distracted or blind, they're probably deaf too.

 

You need a bigger horn! :D

http://video.google.com/videosearch?...per&emb=1&aq=f#

 

JCR1960, I understand your reaction, but I would caution you to be careful that one of these irate drivers doesn't pull a gun on you. It's not worth your safety! I was robbed many years ago and ever since that time I have never liked anyone walking behind me, So don't go with your first reaction, unless it is to write down their license plate!!

 

What he said. . . .

 

Yes very good advice.

And I am sorry to hear about you getting robbed years ago as that must have been scary and traumatic for you as it would be for anyone.