My Poor Trac

[Thomas Rogers]

No I didn't miss that point, Paul.



You missed things as I said: "So you stopped the practice because..." in my first post, and then I followed in another post by saying "I am glad you no longer do this practice..."



I still applaud Darin for stopping this practice, and I wasn't so much speaking singularly to Darin, as I was to everyone. Many people do this brake tapping and think it is okay to do so, as if the person behind them "has it coming". Darin stopped not because of worry about the other person, but himself.



My point wasn't to ride Darin, and if it came across that way Darin, I am sorry.



The point is that it is a dangerous, unjustified, and CHILDISH behavior.



TJR

 

[Deleted deleted]

TJR: no apologies necessary... my reply to yours was to restate that I was already in the slow lane and do not see the need to move over into the passing lane to allow a tailgater to pass me on the right.



Back to the OP... sorry about your Trac, but you must have been following too close to the car in front of you for that to happen. Good luck with your upcoming insurance premium bill

 

[John Mastrocco]

Honking the horn will do no good if you are in front of someone. S/he will never hear the horn. And if youa re doing the speed limit and they come up on your butt, they are obviously speeding as well. If the driver of the car is "half asleep" or "has some other issue" s/he shouldn't be behind the wheel of a vehicle to begin with.



Driving requires your full attention, obedince to traffic laws and also something called courtesy toward the other drivers on the road. While brake checking may not be a good idea, neither is tailgating, speeding or driving with less than your full attention. In fact, of the four I'd say the last three are worse practices than the first. If everyone would slow down and keep a safe distance, none of this would happen anyway.



While I don't brake check, I will turn on my headlights (if daytime) which turns on my tail lights. That usually gets the point accross without causing a slow down.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Road rage is caused by both the people who tailgate, <B>AND</B> those that do something to "Get the point accross" to someone.



I had a guy in a Civic play that game with me saturday night. I was driving home from some fireworks and this little moron berms me. Mind you I am in the right lane going 5 over the limit. As soon as he gets in front of me, he slams on his brakes. No biggie.



Sure enough, he finds his way behind me by trying to pass someone else. He gets behind me and puts his high beams on. Like a little Civic's headlights are going to iritate me. We get to area where he can pass, he still feels the need to sit on my rear. OK, buddy, here goes. I stand on my brakes. He comes within inches of hitting me. He actually dissappeared behind my Trac. Finally he goes around me, gets in front of me and tries standing on his brakes. Whatever. I pull the highbeams on and after a mile or two, he gets tired of the light in his eyes, he speeds up and dissappears over the hill.



Sure enough I get off at my exit, guess who is in the front of me. He flips me the bird and squeals his tires as he is taking off.



I know I should not have played with him like that. The problem was he was trying to bully me. Tailgating me while I am in the right lane and two other lanes are open?



If I am in the left lane and I am going 10 over the limit, I will get over to let the guy pass. As I have said before, you don't know where he is in a hurry to. For all we know, his daughter might be on her death bed and he is on his way to say goodbye.





Tom

 

[Dreman]

Q,



You don't live in Houston, so I understand that you don't know the sheer volume of traffic we have to face everyday. If I were to slow down to maintain space every time someone cut in front of me, I would literally have hundreds of cars pass me before too long. I've had cars cut in when I didn't know if they would even fit between me and the car in front of me. I had a Mustang cut in front of me just this morning that was so close I couldn't see his taillights for a moment.



There are four million people in the Greater Houston area. My normal commute is 45 miles each way, and takes about 45 minutes if there aren't any problems. On occasion it has taken over two hours. In my entire 45 mile trip, which is mostly on 3 lanes wide highways, I doubt if there is a one minute period of time that I am not totally surrounded by cars. And every one of them is looking for a faster lane at all times.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Rocco says:

While brake checking may not be a good idea, neither is tailgating, speeding or driving with less than your full attention. In fact, of the four I'd say the last three are worse practices than the first.

How can you say that Rocco? Speeding, tailgating and driving with less than full attention are all things that you CAN be doing without really recognizing it. In other words, you can unconciously be doing them. Break checking is a concious, deliberate aggressive action.



Sure, people can and more than often DO deliberately speed, and tailgate, and even deliberately distract themselves. But, there are times where those things are being done by the driver that is just zoning...I am not excusing that, just stating it can and does happen.



And, if everyone were to take an attitude that it is time to play chicken with the "bad drivers", what does that solve?



And, yes it was said that "Road Rage" is caused by both parties, but at the same time, Road Rage can be AVOIDED by ONE party.



TJR

 

[Boxer Boys]

Sheesh; didn't realize I'd open up such a can of worms. To clear things up; yes I will be held responsible in the state of MA, and yes I can accept that responsibility; no excuses.



Still waiting for word from the Insurance company.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Good for you boxerboys....good for you.

 

[John Mastrocco]

TJ,



The reason I said that is, of the four, the last three, whether done consciously or unconsciously, are more dangerous and cause a hell of a lot more accidents than brake checking does or ever will.



And I'll even add tailgating to the list. The act of tailgating causes more accidents than any of the five.



Simple, really.

 

[TRACket Paul]

boxerboys,



Not to worry, it wasn't your can. It's the nature of this beast. :wacko:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Dreman, I had two similar commutes in my life, one in the NYC suburban area of Westchester County on the Taconic Parkway, and another on the Penn Tpk into Valley Forge exit....both about 30 miles, both could take 35 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on what is going on.



I found that those commutes were taking years off my life in the form of stress. I quit one job because of it, and my current commute is 8 miles, all on back roads.



Life is TOO SHORT to spend it sticking your "manhood" into a light socket for an hour each end of the day, but for many, that sensation describes their commute to a tee.



TJR

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Sure, Rocco, from a dangerous standpoint, they are worse, but from an excusability standpoint, deliberate reckless actions are inexcusable.

 

[John Mastrocco]

Which is why I agreed brake checking isn't a good idea.



And pulling off the road when someone is tailgating you isn't a good idea either. Who knows, that may be exactly what they want you to do. I would NEVER tell my wife to pull on to a shoulder to let a tail gater pass her.



In short, is there really a good solution to the bozos that tailgate on purpose? I can't really think of one.

 

[TomT]

I know what Dreman is talking about with Houston Traffic. The rule for the freeway is simple. Keep up with the cars in front of you or move to a right lane. If your already in the right lane and can't keep up with the cars in front of you then you probably have no business being on the freeway. Slow drivers cause as many accidents as fast drivers, if not more. The 2 second rule is probably wise, it just doesn't work here in H town.

 

[John Mastrocco]

Slow drivers don't cause accidents. The impatient drivers behind the slow drivers cause the accidents - and then blame it on the slow guys.







The last time I checked the minimum speed on most Interstates was either 40 or 50mph (depending on maximum speed.) And the minimum on most state highways is between 35 and 40 (once again, depending on maximum speed.) As long as you are above the minimum, you are legal.

 

[TomT]

Slow drivers in fast traffic (ie: freeways) do cause many accidents. Trust me.

 

[John Mastrocco]

And trust me - it's the impatient people trying to get around them that are actually responsible for the accidents.



Can you give me one example where a slower driver has actually caused an accident? Or is it the person trying to get around them or running into them after topping a blind hill? And I'm not talking about people going below the minimum, but those driving a legal speed.



Saying a slow driver caused an accident is no different than saying the guy braking caused me to run into his rear end.

 

[Fred]

In short, is there really a good solution to the bozos that tailgate on purpose? I can't really think of one.

Hand grenades. KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't resist. :lol:

 

[Deleted deleted]

Slow drivers in the PASSING lane cause many accidents. Some yahoo in a Tahoe on the turnpike was doing 60mph in a 70mph zone in the LEFT lane. Talk about a bunch of angry folks buzzing around him!

 

[John Mastrocco]

And exactly how does that cause an accident?



The person driving slow might cause someone to do something stupid/dangerous/inopportune that will result in an accident, but if that person had shown some restraint or patience rather than buzz around the slowpoke there would be no accident.