(no subject)
I experienced the worst case of road rage I have ever witnessed on my way back down to SD today. Ok, so first off, yes, I was guilty of being a rude driver. I'm not denying that. I was following pretty closely because the person in the fast lane was not going as quickly as I wanted to be and I had no alternative lane open to me (and there was no one in front of them). But, I was not RIGHT on their ass, I was not flashing my high beams, or creeping ever more closely. And even if I had done all of that, and honked and shouted, too, it would not have justified the vendetta that ensued.
So, we've established that I was following more closely than would have been polite. The car in front of me pulls a brake-check and I increase the distance slightly, then jump into the next lane when the car next to me moves over almost immediately following. The Blue Car that was in front of me promptly pulls the "Oh no you don't, jackass! You're not getting in front of me, now!" and speeds off to prevent me from getting in front of them, as I had intended to do.
At this point the carpool lane opens up, so I slide behind Blue Car and over into the carpool lane. Blue Car then proceeds to match my speed exactly for the next two minutes, undoubtedly trying to catch my eye in order to express their livid apoplexy. Not wanting to inflame them any more than I had clearly already done, I conspicuously sing along and groove to the radio, pretending not to notice their terribly mature attempts at vengeance. (It was either that, or smile and wave. But I wasn't sure that would help to diffuse the situation... ;)
Eventually traffic separates us and I go on my merry way, figuring they had to get it out of their system. I hop out of the car pool lane a little later and soon I spot an opening to fill in the middle lane. I signal to merge, when all of a sudden out of the far right, Blue Car comes racing up and jumps in (after I had already begun to merge, mind you). I let them have it and tried to separate myself again, but traffic was pretty tight. We did our dance of separating and catching up for probably a good twenty minutes. They cut me off like this at least three times. It's astounding that they did not cause an accident.
I was beginning to grow concerned, recalling stories I had heard of road rage inciting people to follow, rape, and murder offending motorists. I was actually contemplating calling the cops, but I figured since the incident had occurred at 10:00 pm in San Clemente, the odds of them following me all the way down to SD were slim, at best. Eventually I managed to get BEHIND Blue Car and lost them just north of Oceanside. I was slightly paranoid at this point, though, (they had disappeared on multiple occasions, only to reemerge a few moments later to try to cut me off) and took a very round-about detour to my house. =/
So, we've established that I was following more closely than would have been polite. The car in front of me pulls a brake-check and I increase the distance slightly, then jump into the next lane when the car next to me moves over almost immediately following. The Blue Car that was in front of me promptly pulls the "Oh no you don't, jackass! You're not getting in front of me, now!" and speeds off to prevent me from getting in front of them, as I had intended to do.
At this point the carpool lane opens up, so I slide behind Blue Car and over into the carpool lane. Blue Car then proceeds to match my speed exactly for the next two minutes, undoubtedly trying to catch my eye in order to express their livid apoplexy. Not wanting to inflame them any more than I had clearly already done, I conspicuously sing along and groove to the radio, pretending not to notice their terribly mature attempts at vengeance. (It was either that, or smile and wave. But I wasn't sure that would help to diffuse the situation... ;)
Eventually traffic separates us and I go on my merry way, figuring they had to get it out of their system. I hop out of the car pool lane a little later and soon I spot an opening to fill in the middle lane. I signal to merge, when all of a sudden out of the far right, Blue Car comes racing up and jumps in (after I had already begun to merge, mind you). I let them have it and tried to separate myself again, but traffic was pretty tight. We did our dance of separating and catching up for probably a good twenty minutes. They cut me off like this at least three times. It's astounding that they did not cause an accident.
I was beginning to grow concerned, recalling stories I had heard of road rage inciting people to follow, rape, and murder offending motorists. I was actually contemplating calling the cops, but I figured since the incident had occurred at 10:00 pm in San Clemente, the odds of them following me all the way down to SD were slim, at best. Eventually I managed to get BEHIND Blue Car and lost them just north of Oceanside. I was slightly paranoid at this point, though, (they had disappeared on multiple occasions, only to reemerge a few moments later to try to cut me off) and took a very round-about detour to my house. =/