Are You An Aggressive Driver?

[arwalden]

Poll question: Are You An Aggressive Driver?

Do you flip other drivers the bird? Do you refuse to allow "shoulder-cheaters" to merge? Do you try to cut-off someone who cut you off? Do you ever use the word "asshole" or "fucker" or "jerk" to refer to other drivers when driving?

Do you tailgate and flash your lights to make the "slowpokes" get the hell out of the FAST LANE?

Do you go SLOWER when some asshole jerk flashes his lights at YOU??(That would be passive-aggressive.)

[terrya]

1. I don't own a car, so I don't drive. And here in Chicago, that's a plus.

These drivers here are CRAZY.

[BiggJawn]

15. I should let you talk to my daughter....

All she does is bitch about how much it SUX to not have a car (she totalled her mom's, and isn't allowed NEAR the new 'un... Go Figure...)and I tell her "What??? you have the ELL, the Blue line, Brown Line, Red Line, METRA, and if you REALLY get bored, you can pop over to South Bend on the South Shore? Would you rather be living back here in 20-miles-to-nowhere-and-not-even-a-taxi-land again?"

Me? oh, sorry...I drive fast because I'm always late to somewhere, but I don't "abuse" my fellow babies....

[terrya]

21. The CTA is the best.

You can go anywhere in the city on the CTA. And if you want to go to the burbs, there's Metra.

I'd mention to your daughter how damned EXPENSIVE it is to own a car in the city...exhorbant insurance costs, the price of gas, buying those city stickers every year. And if you have parking...good for you. Most people in the city have to park their cars on the street. When I owned my car, I didn't feel like driving...if I had a great parking spot on the street.

[GOPisEvil]

26. The CTA rules!

If XNASA adopts me, and I move to Chicago, I'll get the monthly pass thingie. I still have a CTA card from my last trip. It expires in February. It might have 3 or 4 bucks left one it. :D

[terrya]

30. Good idea!

The monthly pass is $88, though.

BTW...the CTA is going to raise its one way fares to $1.75 from $1.50 now. Good bargain, says I. :-)

[phaseolus]

2. Before all the agressive drivers start whining about slow people...

...in the left lane, let me just point out that on city freeways with fairly heavy traffic and lots of merging traffic, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FAST LANE.

When things are fairly open I'm very happy to be considerate and drive in the right lane, using the left lane to pass. Situations like that I *always* get out of the way of faster traffic.

But in cities, especially at busy times, the safe thing to do is to let traffic onto the freeway by getting out of the lane they're going to merge in. Or, perhaps, hanging back behind a semi so *he* can move over to avoid running the merging vehicles off the road. (I've discovered they appreciate flashing light signals to let them know it's safe to move.)

So I think safe merging is more important than some people's need to be in front of everybody else. And use your brains -- if all lanes are full, and we're both in the fastest-moving lane, the fact that there are 2-3 car lengths between my car and the car in front of me does not mean that I'm driving slow. Resume driving like a dickhead when you're out in the country, and I'll be more than happy to get out of your way.

I do a fair amount of freeway driving. And I'm typically fast enough that I pass more cars than pass me. I'm guessing I'm at the 70th percentile for freeway speeds. Nevertheless I almost never encounter people driving 60 mph or slower in the left lane, and I'm soon past them. No big deal... but I constantly see drivers who think they're in an old 'Pole Position' video game where you get five points for every car you pass.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[slackmaster]

3. Aggressive driving kills

It leads to accidents and road rage.

With all the crazy people out there you never know when someone is going to pull a gun on you or worse, use their vehicle as a weapon.

[Sir_Shrek]

4. My biggest pet peeves...

...are shoulder cheaters. They're the whole reason there's a delay in the first place. If they'd stay in their lane, no one would have to slow down up front to let them in and traffic would keep moving to a somewhat better degree. I never let them in, and I don't mind making eye contact with someone and shaking my head "no" to let them know I won't let them in.

[silverlib]

5. I'm not agressive,

but for those who are, I am a poster girl for gun control.

[adriennel]

6. of course, this is Michigan!

best drivers in the US haha

seriously, on the freeway if you're doing 70 miles an hour (the speed limit in many places) you will be be the slowest driver on the road.

I take pride in observing proper driving ettiquette. Get your ass out of the left lane unless you are actively passing someone! Use your turn signals, they're wonderfully helpful!

I don't flip people off or tailgate or slam on the brakes anymore, because frankly this kind of behavior is damn dangerous now. I do still swear at morons under my breath.

other random observations:
why do drivers from Illinois not use the left lane for passing?
driving in Pennsylvania is the slowest I have ever seen.

[Bunny]

7. I never flip anyone off. Ever.

That is a scary thing. I don't "horn" people either, unless they're about to pull out in front of me or something.

I do swear at people, but I don't make eye contact, and I don't do it when my kids are in the car. I don't cut people off (not knowingly, anyway).

I don't tailgate intentionally, but at times I do find myself a little too close to the car in front of me. So I back off right away.

I don't flash my lights, and when someone flashes their lights at me, I don't go slower, but I don't speed up or move over either (at least not right away.)

I refuse to let a "shoulder cheater" merge, unless they're creating a clear hazard to everyone else.

I don't like being pushed around by people who think that they and their time are more important than me and my time. And that's what I see aggressive drivers as being: self-absorbed, egotistical, a-holes.

[everythingsxen]

8. I consider myself..

extrememly aggresive, I usually never need to do any of the above otions though, because I drive like a frigging maniac and whip through traffic at at minimum of 10 above the speed limit.

Just like everyone else. :P

[buddhamama]

9. Not at all

i'm not an aggressive person :shrug:

[slackmaster]

11. I am an aggressive person

Just not when heavy machinery, power tools, or weapons are involved.

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. I am the total opposite of an agressive driver

I can pass people and cut them off - but I'm much more likely to let someone merge and stay within normal traffic ettiquite.

I can speed though, I once went 103 mph in my old Toyota Camry. Whoo hoo!

:D

[cade]

12. depends on what I'm driving

my motorcycle I'm not agressive,
my Ltd station wagon, watch it asshole
my small Chrysler new yorker, careful buddy
my 54 Ford 600 wrecker ( weighing 8300 lbs, standing 7'11'' at the red light, with duals and a push bumper ) you are street grease.

[arwalden]

13. Hey You With The "Bush/Cheney" Sticker... Want To Merge? FORGET IT!!

I'm not friendly to obvious Republicans or flag worshippers.

-- Allen

[Bertha Venation]

14. Not since my 4-yr-old nephew said:

Mommy, when Auntie Kim drives, she says "shit" a lot!

That was 15 years ago. Cured me of many ills. The drivers of the DC metro area should thank the young man from California with long red hair.

[uberotto]

16. Used to be, until...

I traded my Camaro for a Civic Hybrid. Now the only thing that I worry about is how good is my gas milage.

I'm still sometimes an angry driver, when people drive in such a way as to hinder my gas milage, but I'm no longer agressive.

[underpants]

17. Not if this GOD Damned f**king idiot would get out of the God Damned way!!

:bounce:

[Whitacre D_WI]

18. No, I am an assertive driver.

I don't flip people off. Don't wanna face the business end of a gun.

I only honk to get people's attention, not as a replacement for the bird.

I am not a super-fast driver; if I go above the limit, it is usually within 5-10 MPH, and with the flow of traffic.

I don't give "brake jobs."

I don't tailgate (for more than a second or two before I realize I'm tailgating, anyway).

BUT...

I swear a lot.

I don't let jerks merge (nice people who use their turn signal, they get in; jackasses who ride on the shoulder -- or have */Cheney bumper stickers ;) -- do not).

[TXlib]

19. GET OUTTA MY WAY, DICKHEAD!!!

In other words, yes.

[Xithras]

20. I am a very aggessive driver.

I never cut people off, but other than that...

I have no probem showing off my proud birdie to idiots who shouldn't be driving in the first place.

I once drove two miles down the freeway about three feet off of someones back bumper, with my high beams on AND my horn blaring, because the bluehair was in the FAST lane doing 40MPH on an otherwise deserted freeway (yes, I could have gone around her, but passing on the right isn't legal and she was creating a safety hazard).

My mouth is so foul against other drivers that my wife has threatened to ban my kids from my car. Strangely, I NEVER use foul language outside of my car...not even when I'm arguing with someone. My wife pointed that out once and I've never figured out why that is.

I don't slow down when a tailgater flashes their lights at me...I usually jam on the brakes (once sent a guy fishtailing into the median by doing that, so I don't do it often anymore).

I NEVER yield the right of way. If it's my turn to go, I go. If the other driver doesn't yield and causes an accident...well...that's what lawyers are for. Nobody steps on my rights...ever!

Shoulder cheaters should just hit their brakes and wait for me to pass, because I qualify that as an attempt to take my right-of-way. I would rather hit the person and teach them the evils of shoulder merging (at low speed of course) than allow them to merge and promote their behavior. I have insurance, I have lawyers, and I'm not exactly poor, so I'm not too worried about the ramifications of that mindset.

Despite all of that, I haven't had an accident in nine years. In my experience the bad drivers ALWAYS back down once they realize that they're facing a genuinely aggressive driver.

[arwalden]

22. So The Fellow Zooms Up Behind Me And Flashes His Lights...

... I let him pass and he zips ahead... over the horizon... gone!

Fifteen minutes later, I see that he's been pulled over by a highway patrol officer.

I smiled.

-- Allen

[Bertha Venation]

25. On the road in Tennessee...

...a little red sports car with two bottle-blondes in it roared up my tailpipe. I was doing 70, and they came came outta nowhere. They zipped around me, nearly taking off my bumper & scaring the bejeebers outta me.

Twenty minutes later, there was the little red sports car on the shoulder, sitting in front of a big, bad TN state trooper-mobile.

We laughed all the way to Knoxville. :bounce:

[Kolesar]

23. I guessed "Boston, Massachusetts" before I looked on your profile

& was wrong. Happy Holidays.

[Bertha Venation]

24. Thanks for the warning.

What's your license plate #, so I can be forewarned on visits home? ;) (Kidding. Don't want your plate #.)

[Character Assassin]

28. I'd have pulled your sorry ass over and arrested you for that.

I once drove two miles down the freeway about three feet off of someones back bumper, with my high beams on AND my horn blaring, because the bluehair was in the FAST lane doing 40MPH on an otherwise deserted freeway (yes, I could have gone around her, but passing on the right isn't legal and she was creating a safety hazard).

Oh, sure, I get it. Uh-huh.

I don't slow down when a tailgater flashes their lights at me...I usually jam on the brakes (once sent a guy fishtailing into the median by doing that, so I don't do it often anymore).


Let's all play the 'see why the two paragraphs don't match' game.

I don't even work traffic, but if I saw someone doing what you say you did, it'd be nighty-night in the pokey.

[Xithras]

33. I don't know...I think I did the right thing by the old lady

Oh, sure, I get it. Uh-huh.

I realize that sounds evil, but I never felt that it was. Hey, this lady looked like she was about 85, and by doing 40MPH in the fast lane of a section of freeway marked at 70MPH, AT NIGHT, with the freeway clear, she was just asking for someone to rearend her. It may have taken two miles, but she did finally yield and move to the right, which could have very well saved her life.

As for the brake jamming...

Hey, I'm not a slow driver, so people who want to pass me are just being stupidly dangerous. As to the guy who ran into the median, well, I can't really take any responsibility for that one. I was doing nearly 90MPH in a 65MPH zone and this guy ran up on my back bumper like I was standing still. I couldn't yield to the right because of other traffic WITHOUT slowing down. If he was unprepared for my braking, that was his own fault...he shouldn't have been following so close. When my brake lights came on, he panicked and jumped on his brakes (truth be told, my car never even slowed down, so there was no reason for him to do that), which caused him to lose traction. If he didn't know how to handle his car at those speeds, he shouldn't have been driving that fast.

Oh, and I never tailgate without cause. As a general rule, because I'm always a fast driver, I try to maintain a LOT of seperation between my car and those in front of me. I ONLY tailgate when people are driving well below traffic speeds and are creating a traffic bottleneck or hazard.

[geniph]

27. I really try not to be

I really do...I never honk, I don't flip people off anymore - hell, I don't even stick my tongue out at them anymore, not since some shithead followed me for 10 miles after I did that the last time. A car is not a toy, and it isn't safe to play games in it.

But, goddammit, why do some people persist in driving when it obviously terrifies them? Random braking due to unresolved psychological issues, going 10 under the speed limit, being too timid to pass a truck on the freeway, self-appointed traffic cops who stop without warning to let people who don't have the right of way (and who aren't expecting it) in, thus delaying everyone else while the waved-at driver figures out what they're doing...aaaghhh...I do a lot of swearing in the car. A LOT. I also do a lot of one particularly vulgar hand symbol (no, not the bird, it's something onanistic) when I think someone is BEING one of what I'm indicating.

[EmmaP]

29. Bicycle Commuting

has made me much more aware of what complete jackasses most drivers are.

"Learn the law" has become my mantra when motorists honk at me or tell me to get off the road.

[sasquatch]

31. I once called a semi driver's company because he made a illegal....

left hand turn. I was at a two lane intersection in the left turn lane when this guy in a XVIII wheeler in the stright away lane, turned left in front of me and cut me off.:grr: I called his company and cussed like a SOB. They said they'd deal with him when he got back.

[Kenneth ken]

32. that's a lot of questions!

I don't think of myself as aggressive. I rarely speed, don't weave in and out of traffic, or try to beat yellow lights.

I think I do refuse to allow "shoulder-cheaters" to merge, though. I'm not quite sure of the term. I loathe when a lane is closed, and signs advising the closure have been posted for (what a mile?) before it closes, but people think they should drive right up to the dang traffic cones before they make any effort to get out of that lane. They are a$$hole-f@(king-jerks in my opinion.

I tend to stay out of the fast lane.

edit:typos