Morning commute, truck thinks it's a sports car.

[CivicFan]

Sometimes you come across truck drivers who think they are driving a sports car. Usually they do not have a load.

Today I came across one that had a load. Weaving between lanes, passing cars, testing the limits of physics while trying to occupy space where cars already exist...

I passed the area to not become collateral damage if something goes wrong but was soon tailgated by that same truck. In a little roadster, this is really unnerving.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Brake check

 

[CivicFan]

It had brakes.

 

[earlyre]

no, no, they meant to flash your brakes while they are tailgating you. to make him poop himself a little..

Hundreds of those trucks around here, nearly all lifted, belching diesel exhaust from 5 inch vertical stacks, and with parking passes from the local auto/diesel/high performance motorsports college.
redneck kids(with way too much disposable income) away from home for the first time.

 

[Astro14]

earlye - I dont' think that kind of driver would care at all if you brake flashed him...it would likely anger him even more and he would "punish" you for getting in his sefl-righteous way by driving even closer. You're in a roadster...he's in a truck...you have everything to lose if there's a collision and he knows it, and he knows that you know it...so, he figures he's the bigger man and can push you around.

I would avoid antagonizing him.

But I would call the police non-emergency line and report his behavior...

The only time I have ever been able to sucessfully engage a complete jerk like this was when I saw the DOD sticker on his truck, followed him onto his base, watched him park, and then got out of my car and we had a simple conversation, O-5 to E-4...about behaviour, risk-taking, setting the example, our relationship with the community as military members, and his future prospects if the behaviour continued.

But while behind the wheel, this kind of driver thinks that the bigger vehicle makes them the bigger man, and because there are no usual social mechanisms (communication, feedback) to restrain their actions, they become absolute cave-men. I was only successful in this instance because, once out of the car, I had a completely different structure in which we both existed, and I used that structure (military heirarchy) to my advantage...

 

[JHZR2]

If he was driving and passing that fast, not sure why you didnt get back and let him go on his merry way. Not worth it to be in front when someone like this has the same intent.

You wont be collateral damage if far enough back, and will have a better view of the situation than to try to outrun him while he is trying to outrun everyone.

 

[NHGUY]

Sometimes people forget what they are driving (like those who tow a small trailer at 80mph),sorta get tunnel vision,and then there are those who a 300hp pickup truck/SUV makes them feel like its the 1960s again and they are at the wheel of a tri Power GTO,or Hemi Road Runner or the like.Not realizing how dangerous it is to drive ANYTHING that way,let alone a crude truck thats about as advanced as a 1960s musclecar (and everybody forgets what the fatality rate in high power rigs like that is/was).

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
If he was driving and passing that fast, not sure why you didnt get back and let him go on his merry way. Not worth it to be in front when someone like this has the same intent.

You wont be collateral damage if far enough back, and will have a better view of the situation than to try to outrun him while he is trying to outrun everyone.


That's what I did after the tailgating episode... he changed two lanes to the right side and barreled forward.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

It's always the ones in the trucks that came from the factory with 22'' wheels - the F150 Platninums and the Dodge 1500s ... the truck that were never meant to see a load.

I see this all the time in a particularly dangerous section of 81 - these guys are driving their pickups 75-80 through a section of teh city where traffic is only going 45 or so.

Then at the gas pump, they complain about how the truck gets 8mpg

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
no, no, they meant to flash your brakes while they are tailgating you. to make him poop himself a little..

Hundreds of those trucks around here, nearly all lifted, belching diesel exhaust from 5 inch vertical stacks, and with parking passes from the local auto/diesel/high performance motorsports college.
redneck kids(with way too much disposable income) away from home for the first time.


That could have made things worse. If he swerved to another lane while there was a car there and something happened (an 18 wheeler can squash a car without noticing it), I would feel very bad for the rest of my life.

 

[Falcon_LS]

That sort of stuff happens here quite often. People driving "smaller" vehicles, stereotypically a Tahoe/Yukon or Silverado/Sierra, display exactly the same behavior.

I've done a couple of brake checks myself, only for a self centered moron to have a conversation with me at a traffic light. They typically brag about the size of their truck, and my response is that I'm driving a full frame sedan and could care less.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Brake check


That's completely insane.

When you're driving a little roadster, you don't brake check anything bigger than a bicycle.

With people the way they are these days, brake checking anything probably has about a 1 in 3 or 4 chance of a really bad outcome for the brake checker.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Only a real idiot ever tries to cause an accident, ie "brake checking. My advice as a driver with over one million miles on the books is never tap your brakes imagining you are somehow teaching someone a lesson. You are then at least as dumb as the tailgater.

They may have just dropped their joint and aren't even looking!

Just slow down and get out of their way if possible.

The ultimate goal is to avoid contact.

 

[dave1251]

Best advice yet. Now I am the one in the pickup that is driving within 5 MPH of the speed limit attempting to get 19-20MPG on a 4x4 5500LB+ pickup. Believe it or not I am driving like the slow grandpa around here. The best thing you can do it drive like you normally do and if you can slow down and put as much distance as you can from an "genius" like this. I hate people like this because someone like this is cutting me off when I am rolling to a stop light or sign attempting to increase my fuel economy and brake life only to do neither because I have to slam on my breaks to avoid rear-ending a "genius" like this.

 

[CivicFan]

I think there was a confusion about the "truck". It was a an 18 wheeler -- I think you can legitimately call them "trucks" but I should have specified it in the original post.

 

[bigmike]

Teaching someone a lesson doesn't work on roadways. But, yet, I encounter someone consistently trying to do just this to so me all the time usually because they think my driving style doesn't suit their needs.

You know the style I'm talking about - the kind that exhibits the following behaviour:

1. Driving the speed limit.
2. Easing off before coming to a red light in hopes that hitting the brake isn't necessary.
3. Using turn signals and actually turning the correct direction.
4. Being nice and respectful.

Yeah, those kinds of traits aren't necessarily favored on our roads and I need to be taught a lesson when using them.

My advice is never tangle with a professional driver (AKA a truck driver). The police will be more inclined to believe his story over yours. I had a truck driver throw a beer bottle and hit my vehicle, putting a dent in it because he was upset and was teaching me a lesson. On I-95, in fear of being struck by his truck and after he had already committed the felonious act of "launching a deadly missile" at my vehicle, I brandished a handgun at him and he drove off the road to avoid me using it. I was cleared of any wrongdoing, but he was also set free and I was not allowed to press charges because the police officer on the scene said it was mutual. It still took me 2 years and alot of grief to get one of my guns back from evidence lockup.

I learned a lesson from that experience alright. I learned to "don't bother." It isn't worth the headache. Move over and try to forget it. Even get off the road if necessary.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Good advice Mike.

Emotions unchecked can really escalate a very minor incident into something really bad!

 

[earlyre]

Astro14, to clarify, I wasn't advocating a break check, just clarifying what asiancivicmaniac had said, as he had said "break check", to which civic fan responded " it had breaks"

 

[Shannow]

When an overloaded coal truck is tailgating you, he can't even see your lights, so brake check means "squashed flat"...and they bully you out of their way one way or the other...they are paid per tonne delivered.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
Astro14, to clarify, I wasn't advocating a break check, just clarifying what asiancivicmaniac had said, as he had said "break check", to which civic fan responded " it had breaks"


Yeah, I didn't understand what asiancivicmaniac meant by "brake check'. I never do things like that.