Road Rage - Near Miss

[Archimedes]

Frankly I'm surprised at the posts defending driving in the centre lane and perhaps that's permitted in some states but a quick google search of Arizona Driver License Manual states this is not acceptable in this instance (late Sunday afternoon):

Lane Use
On all roadways with two or more lanes, drive on the right half of the roadway except when passing or when signs indicate otherwise. On highways with three or more travel lanes in the same direction, the right lane is typically used for entering and exiting and so traffic in this lane may be traveling either slower or faster than traffic in other lanes. During rush hours, drivers not intending to exit may want to avoid these lanes during these times. This will leave room for vehicles entering and exiting. Be alert for other vehicles attempting to merge into your lane, and use proper signals to let other Arizona Driver License Manual and Customer Service Guide 26 drivers know if you are changing lanes. Do not exceed the posted speed limits. Avoid “tailgating” (following the car ahead of you too closely).

Drive however you wish but you can't be too surprised if your idea of driving in the 'correct lane' causes an equal and opposite reaction to other road users. Glad the road-rager got bored quickly, drove off and you're fine but you'd be a trigger for me too, not a red mist moment but definitely a hand gesture on the way past.

Sorry, but what you posted doesn't support your argument. Aside from the fact that what you quoted isn't actually the law in Arizona, even under that guidance, if there are three lanes of traffic in your direction, you are directed to stay on the right half (i.e., not the left lane) and it further recommends not to use the right lane, as it is best left for cars, entering or exiting the roadway.

My guess as to what happened here is either the rager didn't know the passing lane was open or the OP was driving in a section with a solid white line and doesn't realize that the driver behind can't legally cross it to get into the HOV lane. If that's the case, he should have moved over one lane to the right.

Sponsored

 

[Bigben]

Wherever you live, if other drivers are passing you on both sides, you’re most likely doing something wrong ?

 

[Fish Fingers]

Sometimes I reflect on my own driving when other drivers annoy me.

I often get stuck behind slow drivers dawdling along, as I don't generally hang about.

Sadly I can be that guy in the mirror getting irate shouting away 'for f***s sake speed up you stupid c***', I haven't got all day'.

Then one day I was taking our injured cat to the vet. He was in pain and I was driving slowly, to try and keep the car steady.
Then someone behind me blew his horn and was swearing away in my mirror.
I was furious and If I could have got hold of him I really would have been beyond any self control.

And I then realised that he just did what I do all the time. He was me.

I learned something that day and try and behave a bit differently now.

 

[WattTurbo]

Sometimes I reflect on my own driving when other drivers annoy me.

I often get stuck behind slow drivers dawdling along, as I don't generally hang about.

Sadly I can be that guy in the mirror getting irate shouting away 'for f***s sake speed up you stupid c***', I haven't got all day'.

Then one day I was taking our injured cat to the vet. He was in pain and I was driving slowly, to try and keep the car steady.
Then someone behind me blew his horn and was swearing away in my mirror.
I was furious and If I could have got hold of him I really would have been beyond any self control.

And I then realised that he just did what I do all the time. He was me.

I learned something that day and try and behave a bit differently now.

I have no beef with slow drivers as long as they're not doing it in the passing lane, and there are other lanes available to them.

 

[TDinDC]

Sometimes I reflect on my own driving when other drivers annoy me.

I often get stuck behind slow drivers dawdling along, as I don't generally hang about.

Sadly I can be that guy in the mirror getting irate shouting away 'for f***s sake speed up you stupid c***', I haven't got all day'.

Then one day I was taking our injured cat to the vet. He was in pain and I was driving slowly, to try and keep the car steady.
Then someone behind me blew his horn and was swearing away in my mirror.
I was furious and If I could have got hold of him I really would have been beyond any self control.

And I then realised that he just did what I do all the time. He was me.

I learned something that day and try and behave a bit differently now.

Same. Over the years, I am also gaining a better appreciation of how speed differentials rattle some drivers. I NEVER intentionally harass or annoy other drivers or pedestrians. But, I realize that driving fast when you are in control may not bother you, but it can really bother other drivers who are driving at a much slower speed. So now, if I don't have at least one lane of separation, I try to cool it a bit before passing when there is a high speed differential.

I detest drivers who do not get over to the right (perhaps a hold-over from living in Europe), but I will not tailgate or flash lights any more. It usually doesn't do any good because the people who do that don't care anyway or are such bad drivers that you do not want to scare them.

 

[AngloCan]

Sorry, but what you posted doesn't support your argument. Aside from the fact that what you quoted isn't actually the law in Arizona, even under that guidance, if there are three lanes of traffic in your direction, you are directed to stay on the right half (i.e., not the left lane) and it further recommends not to use the right lane, as it is best left for cars, entering or exiting the roadway.

My guess as to what happened here is either the rager didn't know the passing lane was open or the OP was driving in a section with a solid white line and doesn't realize that the driver behind can't legally cross it to get into the HOV lane. If that's the case, he should have moved over one lane to the right.

Never said it was the law. If more drivers were more considerate of their fellow road users, perhaps these instances would lessen. I see all too often here merging traffic crossing the driving lane, the middle overtaking lane to then sit in the left hand lane when there’s barely another sole on the roads.

OP stated they were out late on a Sunday PM and assuming AZ doesn’t see a rush hour during this time, I’d assume this part of the code: During rush hours, drivers not intending to exit may want to avoid these lanes during these times. still applies. OP shouldn’t have been in that lane at that time and by their own admission was causing other road users to over & undertake. Common sense should‘ve prevailed and moving to the left lane should have been a no-brainer.

 

[Marcad80]

So I’ve had many issues like this in the past.

1) as long as the left lane is open he shouldn’t have an issue. It was probably something else you did that pissed him off.

2) dash cams are like aircraft black boxes. They are great to find out why everyone is dead, but they don’t do anything to stop the situation.

so answer to this situation is:

hold a cellphone up in the horizontal position. Make sure he sees it. Keep holding it up. It doesn’t even need to be recording. The aggressor will be immediately informed that he is being recorded and will be the next viral video on you tube. He will instantly realize that his face, car and plates have been and are being recorded.

Ive used this technique multiple times. The aggressor gets pissed more than ever, but now drives like a cop is behind them…. Because they realize one is.

I’ve even passed one on the left when they slowed down to 10mph under the speed limit. I held the camera up through the passenger window as I passed him. I’ve never seen so many fingers and mouth cursing, but stayed in his lane at 10 under as I passed. 3 min ago he was trying to run me off the road on the freeway and stopped all traffic to a halt behind us…

this really works great.

if your wondering where I got the idea from. I used to live in Tennessee, and whenever my roomate would get in a road rage incident he’d pull a 9mm Glock out of his glove box and hold it up to the aggressor. Thing calmed down immediately.

I find the cell phone works as good as the Glock….

 

[nickmdp]

The important piece in my mind that it sounds like hasn't really been talked about much is whether this is a 3/4/5 lane road. Assuming that this is 4+ lanes (pretty sure it is if there's a specific HOV lane), there's no good reason for using the lanes on the left side of the road if you're not passing traffic. If that's what you're doing, you're absolutely annoying other drivers on the road. It's not that other drivers don't have an opportunity to pass you, it's that you're forcing others to do something they're uncomfortable with (passing you on the right).

You could move over a lane or two and improve the overall safety and speed of the interstate, but you choose not too, presumably so that you don't need to change lanes yourself because you encounter slower traffic in the right lanes. Sorry, but that's just selfish in my opinion. This isn't complex driving theory either, it is practically the foundation of how to drive on a highway. Keep right unless actively passing, and give way to faster moving traffic.

 

[simcity]

Sometimes I reflect on my own driving when other drivers annoy me.

I often get stuck behind slow drivers dawdling along, as I don't generally hang about.

Sadly I can be that guy in the mirror getting irate shouting away 'for f***s sake speed up you stupid c***', I haven't got all day'.

Then one day I was taking our injured cat to the vet. He was in pain and I was driving slowly, to try and keep the car steady.
Then someone behind me blew his horn and was swearing away in my mirror.
I was furious and If I could have got hold of him I really would have been beyond any self control.

And I then realised that he just did what I do all the time. He was me.

I learned something that day and try and behave a bit differently now.

Helps also to regularly drive / ride vehicles of different capabilities on the road. When I take my 8.5 ton tractor down the road at tops 50kph it’s a completely different mental calibration to jumping on one of my Italian crotch rockets which will pull that in first.

Makes you far more cognisecent of what’s going on around you, other drivers/riders and what their imperatives are or aren’t. We share the road. It’s not ours in exclusion.

 

[f1eng]

Having spent my life travelling the world and driving in many different countries.
What is legal, and what is considered “polite” varies greatly from country to country.
Try Brazil, Argentina and China for “interesting” driving experiences.

Here in the UK “undertaking”, that is passing a car whilst driving in a slower lane, is illegal unless in crawling traffic in a traffic jam. If a policeman sees it you will be stopped and fined.

Here in the UK I tend to drive at the speed limit in the slowest clear lane and just change lane to overtake a slower car then move back.

The difficulty of this strategy nowadays is the adaptive cruise control zombies inattentively cruising down the middle lane. It is not unusual when wanting to overtake a slower car for a long stream of almost nose to tail traffic preventing moving out, and it is equally irritating when this string of cars slows en mass and you have to pull right over to the overtaking lane to maintain speed only to find the string re-accelerate when another car pulls in.
I really hate this zombie driving habit that has grown out of the adaptive cruise controls - spectacularly annoying for me

Anyway I realise the best thing to do is avoid conflict but how one needs to behave to achieve this is very different in different countries and, in the US it varies across the country IME so no easy advice on what is considered “correct” wherever you are.

 

[DCYL725]

Having spent my life travelling the world and driving in many different countries.
What is legal, and what is considered “polite” varies greatly from country to country.
Try Brazil, Argentina and China for “interesting” driving experiences.

Here in the UK “undertaking”, that is passing a car whilst driving in a slower lane, is illegal unless in crawling traffic in a traffic jam. If a policeman sees it you will be stopped and fined.

Here in the UK I tend to drive at the speed limit in the slowest clear lane and just change lane to overtake a slower car then move back.

The difficulty of this strategy nowadays is the adaptive cruise control zombies inattentively cruising down the middle lane. It is not unusual when wanting to overtake a slower car for a long stream of almost nose to tail traffic preventing moving out, and it is equally irritating when this string of cars slows en mass and you have to pull right over to the overtaking lane to maintain speed only to find the string re-accelerate when another car pulls in.
I really hate this zombie driving habit that has grown out of the adaptive cruise controls - spectacularly annoying for me

Anyway I realise the best thing to do is avoid conflict but how one needs to behave to achieve this is very different in different countries and, in the US it varies across the country IME so no easy advice on what is considered “correct” wherever you are.

Glad you mentioned China.
I haven’t had a single day commuting and not being annoyed by how reckless and inconsiderate drivers, pedestrians, scooters and bikes are here. Granny and grandpa bicycles that ride into traffic and expect cars to give them right of way is common and frightening.

Going to stop here before going overboard with the venting. Maybe another day.

 

[CarbonTax]

if your wondering where I got the idea from. I used to live in Tennessee, and whenever my roomate would get in a road rage incident he’d pull a 9mm Glock out of his glove box and hold it up to the aggressor. Thing calmed down immediately.

I find the cell phone works as good as the Glock….

There's too many guns in the US. Bullsh*t Wild West clusterfuc&
Happy I just got dual citizenship (EU Schengen)

 

[Teufel Hund]

What do you do when you are forced to contend with road rage?

I’ve seen a couple of those ‘Idiots in Cars’ videos on YouTube, and I thought something like that could never happen to me. But it nearly happened yesterday as I was driving eastbound on Interstate 10 towards downtown Phoenix Arizona USA.

Me, my wife, and another couple were in my 2022 RWD on the way to a restaurant late Sunday afternoon to meet friends for dinner. The restaurant was in Mesa AZ, and I live west of Phoenix, so we would be driving on I-10 for over 15 miles. I merged onto the freeway, got in Lane 2 (Lane 1 is the leftmost fast / passing lane), and set my adaptive cruise control (ACC) to 73 mph. Lane 1 is the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane during the week, but on the weekends it’s open to all vehicles. The speed limit for all lanes is 65 mph, and Lane 1 is simply separated from Lane 2 by solid white lines painted on the asphalt.

Cars were passing me left and right as usual while I was driving in Lane 2 for the first eight miles. As yet another pack of traffic animals was working its way around me, there was a Lexus SUV that stayed behind and tailgated me. The rest of the pack passed me and Lanes 1 and 3 were open, but the Lexus inched closer to ride my bumper. I said Hey, we’ve got a tailgater to my passengers while keeping the cruise control steady at 73 mph. Then the Lexus leaned on his horn and inched even closer while Lanes 1 and 3 were still open.

I was bewildered. I’ve been driving in the same lane at the same speed for ten minutes without doing anything unexpected. I stayed calm.

Suddenly the Lexus swerved left to get in Lane 1. I heard the Lexus accelerate because it sounded like the exhaust was modified. As the Lexus was passing me, I waited until the driver was past my rear wheels so he couldn’t see me brake. I braked firmly, and sure enough he swerved into my lane so quickly that I had to veer halfway into Lane 3. The car behind me in Lane 3 veered halfway into an empty Lane 4.

Now the Lexus is in front of me. The ACC kept us separated. I could see its partially-blocked Georgia license plate. The Lexus was slightly bubbafied, e.g., it had a lifted cab and loud exhaust. But it didn’t have the extra-wide tires associated with my unconscious bias.

After about 15 seconds, the Lexus moved into Lane 3 at the same time I moved into Lane 1. My passengers saw that the driver, a bearded white male about 35 years old, was yelling at me. But I couldn’t hear him because my car has the noise and thermal insulated glass. Anyway, I eased my cruise control down to 68 mph. He matched my speed for about 30 seconds and then sped ahead. By this time cars were stacking up behind me in Lane 1, so I moved to Lane 2 to let them pass.

I should have waited longer. The Lexus moved to Lane 2 and slammed his brakes. But I was ready for him and braked in time. By then he had enough because he sped off and I never saw him again.

How do y’all think I handled it? I was calm throughout. At the first sign of trouble, should I have quickly but safely pulled off to the shoulder? The freeway was busy and I had three passengers, so trying to outrun him in my RWD wasn’t worth the risk to me or to other innocent vehicles IMO. Could I have done anything differently (install dashcams, ask a passenger to videotape the driver, call 911 while driving, etc.)? I appreciate your thoughts as they’ll help me and hopefully will help others.

Drive safely, y'all!

Lots said already so I’ll just add that I truly detest tailgaters. It makes my blood boil because I’ve been rear ended 3 times over the years in various scenarios by drivers not keeping distance or distracted driving. 2 of those occurrences I was at a full stop on a road or freeway. Having said that I think it’s a courteous thing to use the right lanes if you’re not outpacing the flow of traffic. I’m still guilty of getting heated when drivers are behaving like the scenario you laid out but instead of flipping the bird or have choice words back I’ve adopted blowing kisses ? lol. The guys just literally don’t know what to do with it and basically disengage. I even had one go from red faced yelling to red faced laughing. ?
Overall I’d say try to be a respectful and courteous driver where possible and don’t engage with anger or pull over to fight etc because at the end of the day it’s just not worth it. It’s just traffic we’re talking about.

 

[TDinDC]

I grew up with guns. I owned my first gun at the age of 8. We used them for hunting. The idea that you would even dream of drawing a gun on a human was unthinkable. It would be far better to get a good beat down than to pull a gun on someone and be known as a coward for the rest of your life.

I would never, ever advise that you flash a gun to anybody on the road. In fact, since I am not hunting on a regular basis, I would never have a gun in my car. What would be the point? Want to point a gun at me or even shoot at me, I'll choose evasion over a firefight. Want to carjack me? Take the car.

I'm not even a fan of showing a phone unless it is a last resort because some of the Clint Eastwood wannabes might mistake it for a gun.

I want to deescalate and avoid. I once had someone chase me but I fortunately used my driving skills to easily escape (pulled next to me and looked like was going to cut me off, so I slammed on brakes (thank you Brembo) and did a 180 and fled quickly).

If you see someone with a gun on the streets, for God's sake do whatever you can do to deescalate and avoid rather than meet force with force.

Sponsored