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From: Alexander Rogge on 12 Jul 2010 19:34
Have you often noticed that the Road Ragers are also the worst violators
of the traffic laws and the most incompetent drivers on the road? Some
of these drivers will scream at you to slow down when they were doing
the speeding and almost crashed into you. Some others will run a red
light and scream at you for not noticing them violating your
right-of-way. Here are some examples for this month of Sloth and Rage.

I was in the right lane of a street at night and passed a driver going
about 10 under the posted speed limit. I entered a right-turn lane and
stopped at the intersection line for the red signal. The Sloth went
from the left lane into the right-turn lane and stopped behind me. As
the traffic was crossing the intersection, the Sloth started flashing me
with the high-beams while drifting closer to my rear, suggesting that it
wanted me to run the red light and cut off the approaching traffic. The
Sloth was so close that I could only see the reflection of the
high-beams from my bumper.

The signal turned green, and I turned immediately, expecting that the
Road Rager would speed past me. I looked in my rear-view after five
seconds and noticed that the Sloth had not yet turned. I reached the
next intersection by the time that the Sloth had finished turning. The
Sloth then continued Slotherating down the street while driving down the
middle of both lanes.

The next day, I had an incident with an MFFY Sloth Road Rager. The SUV
driver cut me off while making a right-turn, and forced me to brake or
pass in the opposing lane of the two-lane street. I braked, but
apparently too closely for the Road Rager, and it didn't like that. The
Road Rager continued Slotherating and then stopped abruptly in front of
me. I honked, and the Road Rager then started screaming at me through
an open window. The summary of this screaming was that I was expected
to stop for her SUV, that my single honking was bad, and that I should
wait behind her until she decided to move again. I disagreed, which
resulted in more screaming as I passed the SUV. I could have done
worse, but regardless, not five minutes later...

I was in the right lane of the street and heard honking from somewhere
ahead. I ascertained that it was coming from a driver that was
attempting to make a left-turn and had stopped in the middle of the
street because nobody going in my direction was stopping for him. This
driver honked at most of the cars that were passing in front of him. I
was one of the last cars in the traffic flow, and as I passed and he
honked again, I saw him finish the left-turn and then Slotherate.

A few minutes later, I was reminded of why I always want to sound the
horn when passing anybody on the right. I neglected to do so this time,
and a truck driver going 20 under the posted speed limit almost crashed
into me. It was apparently trying to make an unexpected right-turn, but
it had been in the left lane for at least ten seconds and had a
sufficient opportunity to move into the right lane before I eventually
began to pass it. As I was passing the front wheels of the truck, the
truck driver attempted to drift into me. The speed differential meant
that it failed to hit me, and I watched in my rear-view as the truck
driver began driving down the middle of the street. Apparently, a
right-turn was not the intention. Then this driver accelerated and
honked at me, and then started tailgating me! No, no, no! Wrong!

I was riding on a bus when the LLB that had been micropassing next to
the rear of the bus suddenly decided that it wanted to make a
right-turn. Instead of changing lanes behind the bus, the LLB abruptly
accelerated, swerved in front of the bus, stopped, and made an illegal
right-turn from the straight-lane.

I was driving on a two-lane road when I noticed an SUV driver
approaching from behind me. I was going 5 under the posted speed limit
for my leisurely drive, so I accelerated in order to "accommodate" the
SUV driver until I saw a passing zone ahead. I reduced speed and moved
towards the right shoulder, expecting that the SUV driver would speed
past me in the empty passing lane. Instead, the SUV driver started
tailgating me. So, I maintained my original speed, since going faster
was obviously not what the SUV driver wanted. The SUV driver began
slowing down and speeding up to tailgate me again several times over the
10 km that I was in front, despite having no fewer than four
opportunities to use the passing zones.

While riding on another bus that had been stopped at a bus stop, a
driver passed the bus on the wrong side of the road, cut in front of the
bus, and then Slotherated as the bus was moving away from the bus stop.

I was following a Toyota and I noticed that the Toyota driver appeared
to be stepping on the brake pedal and accelerating at the same time.
This behaviour continued for about 200 m. Suddenly, the Toyota driver
slammed on the brakes and parked in front of me, about 10 m from an
intersection with a green signal. After I swerved around the
obstruction, the driver made an illegal left-turn from the straight-lane.

The last incident is about Texting. I went into the passing lane to
pass some slower cars, only to become stuck behind an LLB that then
braked and as I approached and matched speeds with the cars in the right
lane. What was this driver doing? He appeared to be Texting on his
mobile! He had the phone held in his right hand and was holding it
upwards at an angle so that he could see the screen. He continued
braking sporadically, while doing what looked like typing on the keypad.
No, no, no! I honked, but the Texting and LLBing continued. I moved
closer and finally awakened this distracted driver; but while the
Texting stopped and the Sloth finally accelerated to a passing speed,
the LLBing continued and this driver was still trying to look down at
the phone that he had dropped into his lap.


After considering the deliberate causes and effects of such incidents,
it should be no significant mystery why there are so many "accidents" on
the roads.
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