Dad's car doesn't get driven much lately with his medical condition. To keep the battery charged and fluids circulating, I'll take his '08 Corolla for short runs. I drive it pretty conservatively because it is an unfamiliar car. I keep my lane and do what other drivers are doing speedwise. On the freeway I allow the 3-4 second distance, signal when making turns...etc.

I encounter no shortage of other drivers who don't signal, cut me off (And there is plenty of distance but the allow me very little room for their lane merge.) Or drive so close that I can't see the headlights in the rearview mirror.

Not sure what to make of it. Could be due to the season where many motorists are just plain impatient-selfish trying to get to the mall for their last minute gift buying. Driving the Lex has encounters as well but I feel that more drivers seem to react with much more rudeness when I choose the Corolla.

(I would almost want to find out how others are if I were driving a mono tone Crown Vic with steel wheels and a few antennas on top.)

Thoughts?

 

People drive like idiots everywhere for some reason. I like to mess with people who drive like that. I continually slow down when people tailgate me (I get angry when people drive like ****).

When I was in high school my father had rented a crown vic on vacation. It was crazy annoying, anytime we got behind somebody they would slow down to like 5 below the speed limit.

 

No driver is the exactly the same as the next. Sometimes I'm an aggressive driver and sometimes I'm calm, just depends how much of a hurry I'm in.

Do your thing.

 

They probably thought the Lexus is expensive and cost more to repair lol

I used to drive a Civic, and I really don't notice much difference. There are always people tailgate you when you're going slower than they think you should go.

I don't really mess with people that tailgate me, but I just go the speed limit when I notice they're tailgating me esp. when there are 2 other lanes they can go to.

 

Unless it's a real emergency (wife in labor, someone having a heart attack, etc...), simply being in a hurry (and not having any paitience) is not an excuse for aggressive driving. If you're stopped by a cop, you'll have to come up with a lot better explanation than that.

 

There's your answer right there. I can bet you are going under the speed limit by some so no wonder. But then think about you live in US, where people don't need to go to driving school to get their license. So why surprised. http://top5ofanything.com/index.php?h=40a39d59

 

This is how I see it driving in New York City, motorist see my minivan, let me cut this person off or flash them if i'm not going fast enough even on a local street, driving the SUV let me move over to the other lane especially when I had a Pathfinder some motorist always seem to move over more often.

 

Before I bought my Lexus SC300, I had been driving a "BIG" Cadillac for the previous 5 years(a 1991 Brougham, then a 1995 Fleetwood). Both of them had the windows blacked out at 20%. The 91 had 15" wires with whitewalls, it was such a dark navy most people thought it was black. The 95 was bright red metallic, no vinyl roof, lowered a couple of inches with 17" Impala SS wheels/tires.

I noticed people gave me a much wider birth driving those land yatchs. I drove like a normal person on surface streets, but on the highway, it was the usual 80-85mph in the left lane. I don't know if they thought I was an incompetent old man or some drug dealing hood, but both of those cars could sway either way as to who was behind the wheel. Nobody tended to cut me off driving those cars.

 

Not sure what part of CA you're in but here in NorCal 580/680 increase dramatically with bad drivers and more of them. A typical 15 minute commute turns to 45 minutes

 

People give my S4 a lot more respect than my IS350. I think people (and of course they do, everyone stereotypes) do project an expectation of your behavior based upon what you're driving.

 

I drive "spiritedly" almost everywhere I go(if you can't enjoy the drive, why drive?), and since I'm just outside of Dallas everything involves a highway or tollway. I primarily drive off hours so there is little to no traffic except Saturdays, so...

In the S2K somehow people just don't "see" my bright-*** yellow car, but the second they do they want to race. Really annoying.

In the SC4 people would ALWAYS try to keep up with me, never trying to instigate a race like when I'm in the S2K, but tailgating the ever loving crap out of me or riding in my blind spot to try and pace me. Most of the time I would just ignore them, but sometimes I'd get annoyed and decide to let them know their cojones weren't as big as they thought they were... never had one stay with me.

 

You're not alone. The vast majority of people are absolutely stupid or of below average intelligence, and it shows on the road. Tailgating, speeding, lane changes without signaling, always being "that guy" who tries to "get ahead" in heavy traffic by constantly changing lanes. I see it all, and I see it on a daily basis.

I pretty much assume that most people driving around me are of room temperature IQ and it's served me well. I drive with the flow of traffic up to 10 MPH over the speed limit on major highways or freeways, making sure to keep a 2-3 second distance between my car and the car in front of me. If someone tailgates me, I'll gladly get out of their way if possible. If that's not possible, then I'll increase the distance between my car and the car in front of me from 2-3 seconds to 4-5 seconds.

I generally try to drive as though everyone around me is drunk driver. I'm always alert and I'm always trying to keep a safety cushion around my vehicle. I've never gotten into an accident, although I've had to avoid a handful over my lifetime.

 

Anyone who drives aggressively as a form of frustration in response to someone driving below the speed limit is an idiot, plain and simple.

I see this all the time as well. Some guy is driving 55 MPH in a 60 MPH zone and "hogging" up the left lane on a freeway. Some moron will inevitably come up behind and start tailgating. The tailgater is an idiot because he's significantly increasing the probability of getting into a crash in an effort to save 2 minutes on his commute. It's mind-blowingly stupid. He's either an idiot, or he's psychopathic (because he doesn't value the lives of others), or both.

The correct response is to maintain a proper 2-3 second distance from the car going 55 MPH until he or she moves. If he speeds up to the speed limit, great. Increase your speed to keep pace with the flow of traffic, always making sure that you never tailgate.

Safe driving is a mindless exercise of common sense but far too many people are either too impatient, too stupid, or some combination of the above to do it properly.

 

Honestly overall maybe 5 or 10% of the population would qualify as what I would consider safe drivers. These are people who always leave with plenty of time to spare so they're not rushed to get to wherever they need to go. They always drive with the flow of traffic while being scrupulously careful not to tailgate. Frankly speaking they're "too cool" to blast ahead at 65 MPH in a 45 MPH zone when everyone else is doing 50.

These are people who are always even keel on the road. Nothing rattles them, and they don't ever have revenge on their mind when they're "wronged" by someone else on the road. Some idiot swerves dangerously in front of them and cuts them off? They slow down to re-establish that 2-3 second cushion like nothing even happened. Some moron tailgates them aggressively? They calmly change lanes and allow the moron tailgater to pass.

I have tremendous respect for people who don't drive like *******s, but they're a rare breed.

 

And I hate to say this but 90% of the time whenever someone mentions "spirited driving" it's usually a euphemism for "driving like an *******."