Do you get offended when someone passes you?

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I ran into a perplexing road rage incident tonight driving home from work. It's pretty amusing looking back on it, but I can't really figure out what set it off, or what lesson I was supposed to learn.

I made a right on to a major five lane road in downtown where the center is a shared turn lane for whichever direction of traffic needs it. In the left lane in the direction I was traveling there was a cop, and in the right lane a current model Jetta. They were already stopped at a light, so I pulled up behind the Jetta since I'd be making a right turn in a mile or two anyway. When the light turned green, the cop took off at a normal pace, but the Jetta just kind of sat there for a second, then slowly idled into the intersection, truly at a crawl. I figured "okay, they're drunk and trying to avoid the cop, whatever, I'll just get over." I merged into the left lane, and mind you I haven't even entered the intersection yet because the Jetta is going so slow, and continue on my way. There was nothing aggressive about how I passed him...no horn, no hi beam flashing, no flipping the bird, no flooring it. There was a cop in front of me after all, and apparently he or she didn't see anything wrong with what I did.

At the next light the cop gets into the center turn lane to make a left, I am in the left travel lane, and the Jetta is still in the right lane beside me. When the light turns green, the cop goes left, I start going straight, again at a totally normal/non-aggressive speed, and the next thing I know there is a noise coming from my right that sounds like rocks in a blender. Sure enough, it's the Jetta. As the Jetta wheezes and detonates past me, I know what's coming next. Yep, he tries to cut me off. I simply got over into the right lane again and carried on. By this point we are approaching a solid red light, which the Jetta driver totally ignores. They didn't even tap the brakes as they drove through it. Obviously, I stopped, and watched as the Jetta huffed and wheezed its way on to a highway.

It was kind of funny in retrospect, but totally confusing. If you want to drive slow, why would you care if someone passes you? Surely they don't expect everyone else to move at a crawl down a major road? Frankly, I don't care what speed other people drive as long as they don't hit me and don't obstruct traffic. Want to drive slow? That's great, I'll pass you and forget about it. Want to drive fast? By all means, do so, I'll even move over for you if I can, just don't decide to go way under the speed limit once you get in front of me. I don't understand getting offended over someone passing you...if you are going slower than they want to go, what's the problem?
 
Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
"Huffed and wheezed"?


Typical of weak 4 cylinder engines (think yaris or civic). I laugh whenever I see one trying to outgun me in my V8 truck.
 
Yeah, I think something was up with it. Had to have been the I4 as much as it seemed to be struggling, and I could hear detonation from it with my windows up. It was not a happy camper...rocks in a blender is the best description I could come up with.

We don't have state inspections here, so if it can move under its own power and you didn't steal it, AL doesn't care. There are cars here (non-diesel) with black bumpers because they are running so rich.

Luckily this incident didn't require a firearm, but before they blew through the red light I was wondering if I would be encountering a nut case.
 
One time I was on the the interstate going back to school after spending the weekend at home. They're 100 miles apart. I was just starting my drive and I was on the left lane with traffic behind me and there was this lady in a late 90s-early 00s Accord in front who wasn't even touching speed limit even though there was a lot of space in front of her. This is Florida, almost everyone does 75-80 on the interstate unless they're old and infirmed. I normally keep 70-75, but I follow the flow of traffic when I have to, which wasn't under 70 that day.

I'm admittedly a rather aggressive driver sometimes (especially when I'm crabby in the morning and in a hurry). So I tailgate her a little to see if she would speed up. She ends up brake checking me even though it's 8 AM and I have a whole line of cars behind me with about a car length between me and the car behind me. I try to pass her on the right lane because there was no one there and she immediately punches the gas. Every time I tried to pass her, she would try to block me or brake check me when I ended up behind her even though I stopped tailgating her. This happened for the whole 100 miles until I got off the interstate. Initially I was peeved, but then I thought to myself that she must be a petty person if that one thing managed to irk her for over 1.5 hours and probably ruined her day, which I later found funny because I was over it by the time I reached my destination.
 
^^^ That's exactly the kind of thing I am talking about. If you're going slow anyway, wouldn't you be happy if people just passed you instead of riding your [censored]? I don't get why some people want to turn it into an issue...it isn't. I'm glad when someone passes me and is out of my sight in a matter of seconds. That is just fine with me. The only thing that bothers me is when someone passes me because "OMG TXTING IN MY CUTE UTE" then slows down to something below the speed limit because they forget they are driving if there isn't a car in front of them to tailgate.

And I never even got directly in front of the Jetta. I simply kept moving to whichever lane they weren't in.
 
I don't get offended.

But I've seen drivers like the Jetta driver...even worse in one case in North Carolina...driver of a new Tundra. He's going under the speed limit (55) when I try to pass on a state road (4 lane, divided). He floors it and speeds up from 45 to 75. I pull in behind him. He slows to 45. I move to pass. He speeds up to match...now we're going 75. I pull in behind him. This repeats a few times. Then, as we approach a slow-moving pick-up with a trailer, he brakes to position himself next to the trailer going 35 MPH (speed limit is still 55). Very clear that he is not interested in getting somewhere quickly, only interested in not letting me by him...

As the trailer turns off on a side road, another car pulls up behind our Tundra and tries to pass. I watch the same shenanigans with the other car. At one point, the other car tries to pass on the right, Tundra changes lanes and forces him on to the shoulder, aggressive, NASCAR-style swerve as the two of them were doing 80+ MPH.

At this point, the other driver gives up and follows, but he's honking, gesturing, flashing lights (with good reason, I might add). I was carrying at the time. I decide that it's time to get a nice cup of coffee and spend a few minutes enjoying the North Carolina sunshine and let this problem child $#%@#$%@ go on his merry way. If I had continued trying to share the road with him, no good would result...
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
I don't get offended.

But I've seen drivers like the Jetta driver...even worse in one case in North Carolina...driver of a new Tundra. He's going under the speed limit (55) when I try to pass on a state road (4 lane, divided). He floors it and speeds up from 45 to 75. I pull in behind him. He slows to 45. I move to pass. He speeds up to match...now we're going 75. I pull in behind him. This repeats a few times. Then, as we approach a slow-moving pick-up with a trailer, he brakes to position himself next to the trailer going 35 MPH (speed limit is still 55). Very clear that he is not interested in getting somewhere quickly, only interested in not letting me by him...

As the trailer turns off on a side road, another car pulls up behind our Tundra and tries to pass. I watch the same shenanigans with the other car. At one point, the other car tries to pass on the right, Tundra changes lanes and forces him on to the shoulder, aggressive, NASCAR-style swerve as the two of them were doing 80+ MPH.

At this point, the other driver gives up and follows, but he's honking, gesturing, flashing lights (with good reason, I might add). I was carrying at the time. I decide that it's time to get a nice cup of coffee and spend a few minutes enjoying the North Carolina sunshine and let this problem child $#%@#$%@ go on his merry way. If I had continued trying to share the road with him, no good would result...


I see that here quite a bit in the "Minnesota Nice" Passive-Agressive mentality we have here.

It's almost daily, drives me up the wall and makes me wanna retire early so I don't have to deal with it!
 
People are crazy. Don't be one in engage in it or brandish a weapon like idiots do sometimes whether right or wrong. Weapons go no where fast especially in the eyes of law enforcement.

The easiest thing is to take a deep breath, not make eye contact, and let them go.
 
When people start to try and block my passes,I get really [censored]. I also get [censored] when I'm doing 80 on the interstae and someone trys to pass me. Then its balls to the wall.
 
Short answer is no. I don't get offended when someone passes me and goes on his or her merry way. There are a few exceptions however:

1. There is heavy traffic, and the person is basically just swerving from one lane to the other as he/she were driving a slalom course.

2. I'm in the left lane, passing some slower cars and someone behind me doesn't give me a chance to move into the right lane before speeding around me, thus passing me on the right.

3. In any situation, any time of day, any mood I'm in, when the $#*@*!% jerk doesn't use a @%*!%^# turn signal!
 
I had somebody try to chase me after I passed them the other day. They were doing about 35 in a 55 when I passed them. First they tried to out-race me. Then after I passed a work truck doing about 45 in a 55, I see this car whip around them like their tail's on fire to try to catch up with me. I'm not waiting around to see what sort of yahoo this is, so I stepped on it and made it into town before this yahoo to take a "random" turn to throw the guy. It is still scary looking back on it.

I try not to get offended when somebody passes me or I see a pas, except when they do a dangerous pass. Like if I need to maneuver to avoid a collision, I get irritated. Otherwise, I tell myself that maybe they have a sick kid/relative at home, and let it be.
 
Go ahead and pass me I don't care. That way they find the cop and not me.the clowns that speed up if I try to pass better have some hp under the hood if they want to turn my passing onto a drag race. Funny as it sounds a 4.0l wrangler with a 5 speed,3.73 gears and stock sized tires will accelerate at a much faster rate than most anticipate. It wont take a northstar or ford lighting but the average dodo isn't driving one of those. I did have an encounter with a northstar once while in my old scout and that 345 hung with it!
 
Pass me. Go ahead - no issues here.
I tend to drive about 5 MPH over the speed limit on our 2-lane highways. I find quite often I catch up to people on the highway, I pass them on what we call passing lanes and then they tailgate me for quite a while. I don't get closer than the 2 second rule when I catch up to them. Strange. ...
 
When were you appointed Arbiter of Everyone Else's Speed?

No one is allowed to impede you.
No one is allowed to pass you.
No one can drive slower than you.
No one can try to drive faster than you.

That seems a pretty lofty expectation for a public road.
 
It baffles me when I see this.

Not sure if the OP's friend would constitute aggression or just another of the millions of completely unaware clueless drivers out there. I have a feeling a lot of things are taken as intentional when they are really and truly just caused by stupidity.
 
It doesn't bother me and you're more than welcome to pass me. Now if i'm in the slow lane and you're riding my [censored] for 3 miles and then you get [censored] off and cut me off just to ride in front of me it's a different story.
 
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