Angry Van Man

[Caractacus_Potts]

It's a beautiful summer Saturday and I am cruising along on a two lane back road in no hurry when I come up to a van doing 25 MPH. The speed limit is 45 MPH but as I said, I'm not in a hurry and I'm in an unusually chipper mood so I maintain a few car lengths between us and pace the van as he drifts between 25 to 30 MPH.

After about ten minutes we come to a straight section of road, the solid lines turn to dashed lines on my side of the road and a sign states, "LEGAL PASSING ZONE".

I'm in no hurry but as there is no oncoming traffic and I don't feel the need to drive 20MPH below the speed limit I go to pass the van...except...he speeds up staying parallel with me.

30MPH and he is parallel to my car. 40MPH, still staying right next to me. 45MPH, the speed limit, something this guy never came close to the entire time I was pacing him and he is still parallel to me. I may have a weak 4 cylinder engine but I have a 5 speed manual transmission so I hit the clutch, drop gears and hit the gas. As I pull in front of the van I am doing 60 MPH (15 MPH OVER the speed limit) but I can't slow down because this jackass is also now doing 60 MPH and is inches from my rear bumper.

I have to angle my head so I can see up into his windshield through my mirror and I see a very angry middle aged guy clutching the steering wheel with his right hand and a giant cup of coffee with his left. He appears to actually be leaning forward and looking down so as to be able to maintain as small a gap between his car and mine as possible.

Without taking my foot off the gas I press on the brake pedal; not enough to actually slow me down but enough so my brake lights suddenly come on. Of course he has no idea I'm not slamming on my brakes so he slams on his brakes. As I slow back down to the speed limit the last I see of him is his van pulling over to the side of the road and the inside of his windshield covered with coffee (extra cream from the color).

Mean? Yes, probably, but I honestly have no idea what his problem was. If I had been beeping, flashing my lights, giving him the finger or at the very least tailgating him while he drove 20 MPH under the speed limit I could at least understand the motivation but in all honesty I did not one thing that could have in any way been construed is aggressive or even frustrated. IDK, maybe that's what pissed him off.

[Draper Mel]

You were trying to get in front of him. That's all it takes for some people. I especially love that attitude in busy traffic where there's already somebody in front of them.

Also, the coffee all over the windshield was priceless! Pwned!

[Jay 2K Winger]

You were trying to get in front of him. That's all it takes for some people.

This is what I call the Clarkson Effect. As Jeremy Clarkson put it, "I don't like being overtaken! It's a sign of weakness!"

Sorry about your coffee, Angry Van Man, have some PWNADE(TM)! instead!

[bhskittykatt]

I think I met this guy once. Except he wasn't holding coffee so I didn't have that pleasure. But it was the same situation, with roughly the same speeds too. I think some people just can't stand the thought of there being other cars in front of them.

[wolfie]

I've encountered that sort of person many times. With my cruise set on 55 MPH in a 65 MPH zone, I'm closing the gap on the car ahead. When the left lane is clear, I pull out to pass, but even with hitting the accelerator I can't pass them - into the limiter (set at 65 MPH) and still not gaining. Eventually I give up and drop in behind them again - and they slow down to below 55 MPH again.

In my car, on my way to a friend's wedding, the speed limit was 80 km/h. There was a LONG line of cars behind a certain inDUHvidual (TM Dilbert) who was doing no more than 60 km/h in no-passing zones, but would accelerate as soon as it was safe and legal to pass. People took extreme measures to pass, and eventually I was the next person behind him. Cue a dotted line with no oncoming traffic. I pull out to pass, he accelerates, I accelerate. Eventually I get past him, and pull back into the proper lane. Once I'm back, I take a glance at my speedometer - 130 km/h and dropping.

[Jay 2K Winger]

In my car, on my way to a friend's wedding, the speed limit was 80 km/h. There was a LONG line of cars behind a certain inDUHvidual (TM Dilbert) who was doing no more than 60 km/h in no-passing zones, but would accelerate as soon as it was safe and legal to pass. People took extreme measures to pass, and eventually I was the next person behind him. Cue a dotted line with no oncoming traffic. I pull out to pass, he accelerates, I accelerate. Eventually I get past him, and pull back into the proper lane. Once I'm back, I take a glance at my speedometer - 130 km/h and dropping.

I see you met Jerk-Face.

[Sakka]

the speed limit was 80 km/h. There was a LONG line of cars behind a certain inDUHvidual (TM Dilbert) who was doing no more than 60 km/h in no-passing zones, but would accelerate as soon as it was safe and legal to pass. People took extreme measures to pass, and eventually I was the next person behind him. Cue a dotted line with no oncoming traffic. I pull out to pass, he accelerates, I accelerate. Eventually I get past him, and pull back into the proper lane. Once I'm back, I take a glance at my speedometer - 130 km/h and dropping.

I had a driver like that, going 50 or so in a 90 zone. Eventually we get to where the lane has a passing lane. I move into the left side passing lane, jerk driver starts trying to weave between the two lanes. No one was coming in the other lane so I pulled into it and stepped on the gas to pass. ... Look over to my left to check jerks position, and see him trying to keep pace with me and his eyes are as big as plates.
Me, being the annoyed that I was, smiled, waved, pushed the petal to the floor, eyes darting between jerk in my mirrors(still trying to keep up until admitting defeat), the upcoming sharp left turn in the road, and my speedometer.
My speed before he finally stopped trying to pace me? 145 km/h

Just as I hit the corner (made it without squealing tires and speed dropping rapidly), saw pretty blue and red lights a few cars behind jerk.

Did the rest of my drive at the legal speed and when I got to a pullover spot, pulled over and got out to stretch my legs and give my heart a chance to calm down. While waiting, saw a tow truck go past heading to town, towing jerks vehicle. A few minutes later, comes the cop car, with someone in the back (Couldn't see who). Gave a wave to car as it went past.

Where I was parked, I was very easy to see and the cop ignored me as he drove past.


It was because of that driver and a couple others that I finally got a dashcam.

[bunrotha]

Dashcams rock. Good for you.

I nearly bought one after meeting too many entitled idiots, sports cars, minibuses and courier vans mostly, doing full blast down single-track country lanes. What finally tipped it was when I bent my car (mea culpa, no damage to people, just metal and my ego) and find the dashcam serves a second purpose in that I tend not to speed/drive like a jerk because I know it's recording me.

I went with Roadhawk, because it has a nifty GPS /sensor feature, so playback includes camera view, map overlay, 3-axis force graph, and estimated speed. I'm sure lots of better/smaller/cheaper ones are out there now, but in 2009, that was the nuts.

Have you had to actually use the footage from the camera in anger yet?

[mathnerd]

I've encountered that sort of person many times. With my cruise set on 55 MPH in a 65 MPH zone, I'm closing the gap on the car ahead. When the left lane is clear, I pull out to pass, but even with hitting the accelerator I can't pass them - into the limiter (set at 65 MPH) and still not gaining. Eventually I give up and drop in behind them again - and they slow down to below 55 MPH again.

In my car, on my way to a friend's wedding, the speed limit was 80 km/h. There was a LONG line of cars behind a certain inDUHvidual (TM Dilbert) who was doing no more than 60 km/h in no-passing zones, but would accelerate as soon as it was safe and legal to pass. People took extreme measures to pass, and eventually I was the next person behind him. Cue a dotted line with no oncoming traffic. I pull out to pass, he accelerates, I accelerate. Eventually I get past him, and pull back into the proper lane. Once I'm back, I take a glance at my speedometer - 130 km/h and dropping.

I live close enough to the Florida Keys that I frequently make a day trip down there. My county has banned dogs from beaches, and my big dog just adores the beach, and there are a few beaches in the Keys that allow them, so I head down there. US1 getting into the Keys is primarily a two lane road with occasional passing zones, where they add a second lane for a mile or so in one direction so people can pass slower traffic. Unfortunately, a certain breed of tourist thinks that since there's a passing zone, it must mean that there isn't anything to see, so they speed up, preventing you from passing, then drop back down to well below the speed limit once the passing zone ends. It's annoying as all get out, and the cause of many, many accidents. Really they need to 4 lane the whole road, but that's never going to happen.

[PepperElf]

I've encountered a few people like that... where if you go to pass them they speed up to not let you.


I usually just slow down then and get in behind them. As long as they maintain proper speed after that, is all I care about. I'm not going to get myself a speeding ticket just cos the guy next to me wants to race.

Plus... sometimes racing other drivers ends up in worse than a ticket - bad accidents or road rage incidents. Especially if either driver starts getting aggressive, brake-checking, or any such action that could cause harm to the others on the road.

[Sakka]

Have you had to actually use the footage from the camera in anger yet?

I'm not sure what you're asking here.
I have, however, used dashcam footage to show some damage to my car, and why the scuff damage on the bottom was so interesting.

Someone had left a ladder on a local highway, just over the crest of a hill, lots of oncoming traffic, and setting sun. Visibility left a lot to be desired. The ladder was positioned so there was no way to avoid it and stay in my lane. ... On the plus side, minimal damage, just a $20 underside protective cover was cracked, and the over sized pickup truck that was trying to ignore the existence of my back bumper backed way off when my car bounced as it hit the ladder.

The camera saw the ladder on the road approx a second or so before I did. There was a really loud 'oh ' in the recording when I saw it.

[PepperElf]

I nearly bought one after meeting too many entitled idiots, sports cars, minibuses and courier vans mostly, doing full blast down single-track country lanes. What finally tipped it was when I bent my car (mea culpa, no damage to people, just metal and my ego) and find the dashcam serves a second purpose in that I tend not to speed/drive like a jerk because I know it's recording me.

That's a good point - it records both other drivers and yourself. Does it show the inside of the car at all, like the speedometer? Or is it just showing what's visible through the windshield.


And personally I think it's a lot better - and safer - than say holding up a cell phone to record someone.

One one of my other message boards a poster used his cell phone video to show why another driver was such a jerk. ...while expecting everyone to ignore his own traffic violations. They didn't.

[EricKei]

a poster used his cell phone video to show why another driver was such a jerk.

The jerk is always the other guy. ALWAYS.

[PepperElf]

The jerk is always the other guy. ALWAYS.

yep. people always forget their own transgressions while bitching about someone else's driving.

in the case of that story the other driver (od) was hogging the left lane, controlling the speed limit. the bitching driver (bd) finally got to a spot where he could go around everyone else & get in the left lane. OD went around him and got back in the left lane and slowed down to control the speed again... and BD rear ended him. Then OD drove off.

what BD was guilty of however was... a little bit of road rage in my opinion (I think both where raging), speeding, tailgating, and ... driving while holding up his cell phone as a camera. I somewhat wonder if he hadn't been so gunho to record OD would he have been in the accident at all?