My vent for the day...

[stroker sahara]

What is with the jacka$$ drivers out there.

Yesterday I was driving into Okotoks. the posted limit was 80kph. I know I was bad for doing 100, but this guy in a late model Honda Prelude comes from outta nowhere behind me, gets right on my back bumper, suddenly juts out to pass me, and then cuts me off. He must have been doing at least 100 MPH. Then I see him do the same thing to the car infront of me, only there was oncoming traffic, so he had to ride the guys bumper for a couple K's before he could pass. The car infront of me turned off at the red light on the edge of town, so this put me behind him. A lot of good it did him to drive that fast, as I got to the same spot as him, without putting lives in danger. Anyways, still fuming mad from his driving style, I stopped inches from his back end. I don't know, 'cause I don't drive a "Rice Rocket", but I am pretty sure that the Warn sitting atop a beefy winch bumper on a lifted Jeep which is almost parked on top of his back window must be pretty intimidating. He didn't seem to be all that impressed with me as he sped off when the light went green.

Then today, I was driving on Deerfoot at +/- 120 kph in the left lane, with the flow of traffic I might add. The lanes to my left were travelling slightly slower. There was a truck infront of me going the same speed, and this guy comes flying up behind me riding my bumper trying to get me to move over so he could get by. I didn't as I didn't want to go slower than I was, which I think really upset him . He pulls into the center lane to pass me, only there is a car now infront of him that I am about to pass, so he has to pull back in behind me. I could see him flailing his arms around like an idiot. This is starting to amuse me . Finally after a long while he gets by me at a high rate of speed. He had his wife and kids in the car! What kind of a fool drives like that with family in the vehicle!   He carries on weaving through traffic, dodging cars in all lanes at a much higher speed than traffic is moving, cutting of numerous others. We continue south. I am still going the same speed. Both of us head out of town, but when he got out of Calgary, he slowed down to 110! and I now passed him, still going the same speed. I just don't understand why people have to be morons and risk peoples lives. Life is already too short.

Anyway, that is my beef for the day.

PS: If either of the drivers mentioned above are reading this, I apologize if I offended you, NOT!

[Vinman]

When I get bored I travel Deerfoot in the left lane at about 5 km/hr slower than the flow of traffic.
The way I see it, if you can't beat-em , join-em

[Rubi03 jef]

i used to own a little sports car and yes i did weave in and out of trafic .. i never tail gated anyone

 some people might say it was wreckless . now that i own my jeep it seems like theres so many horible drivers out there .

the worse is when theres someone on your tail and then when he/she finally passes you they slow down and are doing the same speed as you were .thats pisses me off .
and for those who dont even do the speed limit like 90 in a 100 please move to the FAR right and stay there

[i_go_commando]

dont get me started. i drive truck in town for a living. how many times ive been passed and cutoff so someone can take the next turn or exit astounds me.

I get a real chuckle out of when peple tailgate me. im 75 feet long. i can usualy just see a mirror or on a pickup both mirrors. why tailgate me. i dont care, and most times i cant go faster even if i wanted to. i can haul 25000 kg and usualy do. i have to shift through 10 gears. i hit top gear at around 55 km/h. these trucks do go fast

another thing to is my truck at speed will take 2-3 vehicle lenths to safely stop. i can try to stop faster but usualy only the wheels lockup. remeber i am 75 feet long. even more on wet or snowy hilly roads. give us space.

oh and one more thing, you should never match your speed with the vehicle beside you. alwaysa go a little faster or slower. this will get you clear of any blinds spots. And i have yet to see a vehicle without blindspots. But just a thought. there are spots down the side of my truck where i can hide a fullsize truck right behind the cab and not see it.

Food for thought. If you are driving down a multi lane road and are finding poeple are haveing to change lanes to go around you maybe you should move further right into the slow lanes as you are impeding traffic and pissing people off. Blocking traffic make you a hazzard on the road andin my eyes is just as bad as speeding or tailgating. If you cant drive at the speed of traffic, then take a differnt route. In my truck there are a lot of roads i cant or wont take because of my size.

Sorry you touched a sore nerve. ill go sit quietly in my corner and gently shake some more.

please please if you see a truck tring to change lanes using his signal, back off and give me space. you can safely go around me later. In calgary there are a lot of places where i turn on then immedialtly need to get over to the far lane to turn. Rember a profesional courtious driver will return the favor. I always let a car or to in. But if you try to bully my freightliner with your honda ( it happens quite often) dont be surprised if i get grouchy ( also i can see much on the passenger side so i may not see you till i feel the bump. your tinfoil honda will not hurt my steel truck, but it may kill you.

Please give us space. be courtious. i try to wave or flash lights to say thanks when i can. always use signals in traffic. im big enough that i try and plan ahead for turns. even a car back several legths can affect me as i have to shift several gears before i even turn. I could walk faster than my truck in first gear.

also start watching past the end of the hood. you should be seeing several cars ahead. I cant get over how many times people almost hit me and dont even see me when i have to swing wide for a corner or am turning.

Remeber just my tracto with know trailr is 5000 k. as a comparison my pt cruser weighs 1500k and its a heavier car. Just think about what my weapon can do to you or your car if something goes wrong. Most heavy truck accidents involving other vehicles are not caused by the person in the big rig but some ricer in a honda.

And if you have other poeple in the car or god forbid kids or family members, then you realy should have all the rasons to drive even safer

[i_go_commando]

oh and the top speed of my truck is about 95 km/h and it takes me a week to get there. i cant go much fast as im approaching redline at 2400 rpm

remaber that big space in front of me is my safty zone. you put your car there, and you just became my crumple zone and i wont feel sorry for you i will feel sorry for you family.
 :'(

[Immortal]

98% of the time I give you big boys plenty of room. I have nothing but respect for you guys driving those big buggers though town. Must be hell some days.

[dubbleJs]

What's with all the direct hate towards hondas!? There's thousands of other ricers out there in toyotas Nissans and even PT cruisers too
Nice rant though,keep up the safe and respectful driving!

[JackstandJohnny]

commando, agree 100%. few years ago i remember a jackA$$ (who i guess did not know better) crusing at the same speed as a big rig on the highway 9of course the car was in the left lane holding up traffic too)  he was there for 15 minutes.  big rig ends up changing lanes, with car right in blind spot; so, car gets run off the road. i felt bad as i laughed at the car but bloody hell.  i will always hang back of a rig, then blow by you when passing, so i' not in your blind spot....

since we're ranting too, i got one;

leaving work the other day, sitting at the lights by Chinook, a couple people turning on an advanced turn signal decide to run it after it turns red. i know some people chance it, but by how much and what cost?  i was in pole posiiton, and my light turns green, so i hit the gas.  two cars continue to turn, well, we narrowly miss a head on, but me being a jackass, i keep going, so does the guy behind me, so there are two cars stuck in teh middle of the intersection, becuase no joke, they ran a red by at least 3 seconds......... eventually someone stop to let them through. kicker was guy that turned left was the one that looked fumed off.

two morals of the story: 1, you can't possibly be in that great of a hurry in rush hour traffic to get T-boned and
2.  If i have my YJ and you pull that crap, i WILL introduce my warn winch into your passengers side fender, or drive right over your ricer.......... honda, toyota, nissan, chevy, even a lowered jeep

sorry, but it seems that more and more people in this city are running reds. not yellows, full blown reds

[Immortal]

LOL!!! Just ask Aaron.... he had a ity bity Honda (not picking on them here) cut him off, and slowed down too quickly. He put his big-arse winch bumper through the back window.... right beside a cop.... might be why the Honda jumped on the binders.

[w squared]

This is one of many reasons that I'm looking forward to getting some steel mounted up front on my JK. I'll never deliberately hit someone because they're being stupid (the PITA factor to me is way too high for the momentary satisfaction that I would get), but knowing that I've got lots of 3/16" plate up front to protect my rad is a nice feeling.

[stroker sahara]

Here is another scenario that irks me. In a construction zone that has a lane ending and plenty of signage about it, it really bothers me when some prick goes right to the end of the lane to get into traffic as far up as possible instead of just merging in asap . More than that, I really hate when some butthead lets them in ! Make 'em wait! Maybe they will get the hint.

[i_go_commando]

i agree, when i see the lane ending or i know that i have to get over a lane to turn, i do so as soon as there is a gap for me and well before it is neccesary. in a way i guess sometimes i might end up impeding traffic, but id rather change lanes when i can rather than wait for someone to let me in.

I hate it when you are patiently waiting in traffic to turn and some kia( or honda) or some suv decides to drive up the shoulder. i now play a game to see how far off the pavement they will go to get around me. 84 and 17 was realy bad for it. i wanted to turn too, but i was willing to wait ( ido get paid by the hour). but it irks me when everyone else is going around you. and in reality if the bleeding hearts would stop letting them in trafic would flow much better

[WhiteOut]

Coming home tonight I had some guy in an Escape try to merge into a space too small in front of me and the guy that was there who was driving a big F350 as the end of the merge lane is coming up.  Guess who HAD to slam on their brakes to avoid the barriers, it wasn't me.

This morning was nuts, all the way from Bridlewood to Airdrie I never got over 60, I think the fatest speed on my GPs was 58KPH and that was flow fo traffic, but no near misses or accidents.  Who says M/T's are crap in snow, slush and ice.

[dunl]

I'm bothered by the fact that when there is an obstruction on the opposite lane, that it has to be ME who moves over, in order to keep my vehicle from being hit by people who come into my lane by going around the obstruction.

Nutz!

[Hi Lo Silver]

Here is another scenario that irks me. In a construction zone that has a lane ending and plenty of signage about it, it really bothers me when some prick goes right to the end of the lane to get into traffic as far up as possible instead of just merging in asap . More than that, I really hate when some butthead lets them in ! Make 'em wait! Maybe they will get the hint.

Bugs me even more when people bud in for the continous length of the merge lane instead of going to the very end where both drivers have equal rights. Nothing slows that middle lane down more than people who allow others to bud in the entire time instead of going one for one at the end. 

I've gotten into the habit now, with all these yahoo drivers, of not even shoulder checking at the end of my merging lane. I have the single on the entire time and at the end of my merge lane I'll be coming over and take my chances in court. If you hit me from the middle of my vehicle to the back then  you should have made room for me to merge. If I hit you from middle to back then I should have slowed down to merge.

People need to use the full length of that merge lane to bring it up to the speed and blend in.

Same goes for a construction area. Go to the end and blend.