Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 13:02:26 +0000 From: bill mitchell <billnopsamm.demon.co.uk> Subject: Re: Reverse road rage saga
What a fascinating thread this has been, providing an insight into a problem that so far as I know just doesn't happen in the UK - in my experience, most folks are only to happy to let faster traffic past. Sometimes you want do drive fast-ish so you have to pass other cars, other times you don't, so you accept that other cars will pass you. I have however had one experience that might be described as "Reverse road rage"... I was driving to work behind two slow cars. The second car had shown no interest in passing the front one, despite a couple of clear opportunities. In my mirror, a powerful-looking motorcycle had recently appeared - driving close enough to mist my window with his breath. I know the road well, and I was approaching the one remaining stretch in the next 5 miles that's long enough to safely overtake both cars. There was some oncoming traffic, so as the last one went by I signalled to pull out and then dropped to 2nd gear and quickly passed both cars, making sure I pulled back over leaving plenty of room for the bike (still on my tail) to pass me if he wanted, assuming his bike was up to it. The bike roared past as expected with an impressive burst of speed, but amazed me by swerving across in front and slamming on his brakes, making me brake so hard my ABS cut in. The biker then speeded up again and proceeded to drive just below the speed limit, presumably challenging me to some kind of duel. Needless to say I just stayed 200 yards behind and drove at his speed til my turning came up. About a week later, I was being severely tailgated on a later stretch of the same road by a small Japanese-style car. I was in a village at this point, driving at exactly the 30mph speed limit. I try hard never to speed in built up areas so I held to the speed limit through the village and he made no attempt to pass, but when we got into a 60 limit, since I knew there was nowhere else for him to pass in the next two miles, I speeded up sharply - hoping the tailgater might back off. Instead, I looked in the mirror and saw him pull out to pass on a totally blind bend. I slowed up as he went by of course, but still an oncoming car appeared as he was alongside, forcing me to brake hard (testing the ABS again!) to let him complete his manouver. The guy who'd just passed then stopped in front of me, got out of his car and came storming over. "That's the second time you've carved me up!", he ranted. I pondered this one, trying to figure out how he perceived me to to have "carved him up". He could see I looked perplexed. He then identified himself as the motorcyclist from the previous week and scowled at me in a way that suggested I should now understand what I'd done "wrong". He then got back in his car and, you've guessed it, drove just below the speed limit all the way to the next junction. I've spent a long time trying to figure out how that guy's mind works.
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