Ducati Monster Forum

So last night I'm driving my 1990 Golf home from work and it's foul and nasty out. Suddenly all I can see in my rearview is crappy 8000k Autozone headlight bulbs shaped like a Civic hatch. He's riding my ass so close that I can't see his headlights in a Golf so low that it scrapes on high speed bumps.

I'm in no rush, I'm tired from a day of work, so I'm in no mood to put up with his shenanigans.

So I chug under the speed limit, it's a one lane at this point so he is weaving back and forth behind me unable to do anything. The next light has a right hand turn lane though, so as I stop he rips around me and gets in the turn lane... but doesn't turn. So obviously as soon as the light turns green he intends on smoking me off the light and whipping in front of me before the line of parked cars in the lane ahead of him.

I've spent a fair amount of time at the drag strip in my day, this punk was not going to beat me on RT.

So I jump him off the light and prevent the pass. Now he's REALLY pissed, honking and flashing his lights. The lane opens up into a two lane, but there is a car in the second lane so I set up a rolling roadblock with the unwitting other driver. I gas it a little to get out in front, he whips behind me and hops on my ass. I slow down to let the other car slightly ahead and he whips into the other lane, so I speed up again. I'm torturing this poor impatient bastard.

Here's where the master stroke comes into play. I gas it, HARD (well, 79whp worth of hard). He tears it up behind me and I finally give him room to pass me. He blows by me with his finger out the window on the horn and I gas it a little to keep with him. We're probably doing 60 or so in a 30.

I pound the brakes. I slow down to about 25. I let out my best evil villain cackle as he blows through the next intersection at 70.

The flash of the speed camera illuminates my maniacal grin.

 [clap]

as funny as it sounds in text...... a family was killed here in town last year because of two guys who did the exact same thing.


I know..... I'm the buzz killer this morning.

You drank my milkshake...  :-[

...Why... you... you... absolute BASTARD, Artful  [laugh]

Look, I'm all for this and I hate assholes like that but I would say you took it to far.

Good way to get shot if you ask me.

Were you texting at the same time?

Meh, I don't live in fear. I'm more likely to be the guy sneering "get off my lawn" over an M1 carbine than the cowering asian family next door. I live in Baltimore. That in itself is a good way to get shot.

And obviously I was tweeting and posting to Facebook at the same time, isn't that what you're supposed to do while you're driving?

Sooooooo . . . . this guy was driving like an asshole and your brilliant plan to deal with that is to . . . drive like an asshole?


[thumbsdown]


sac

 :-\  Second that.
Sorry, it's so much easier, safer, and less stressful for all concerned just to wave them on by. In emergencies, I've had to drive like a dick.  Could you be certain they just weren't trying to get to a hospital or something?  Even if that's not the case, what if someone was walking across the intersection at the moment of your triumph.

Two wrongs make a right, don't they...?

Honestly though other than making sure I started rolling the split second the light turned green and accelerating a 20 year old anemic car up to 60 on an open stretch of straight two lane road I was going under the speed limit the whole time. I didn't peel off the light or anything, there was parked traffic immediately after the light in his lane so it wasn't a drag race in terms of speed, just making sure I got off the light first, not fastest. When I hit the brakes there was no one behind me. If I had driven the way I did without him driving like an idiot behind me, a casual observer would not have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

I find that the best way to frustrate the hell out of a road raging driver is to just drive smooth like you barely even know they are back there.

Most of us, on occasion, fall into the same trap as you did.  Usually it works out OK.  In your case it worked out rather good.  What if a minivan transporting a family was struck by the other vehicle?

ya know...to the opinions of dissent...it does take 2 to tango...

What if a fire-breathing two headed monster escaped from government captivity and rampaged on the city burninating the thatched roof cottages and the local orphanage because the guy behind me was the only man in the city with the key card made of unobtanium that could reactivate the electric gate that contained said monster?

What if a minivan full of children was going through the intersection seconds BEFORE we came down the road slightly above the 40mph limit? I could have saved their lives by inconveniencing the guy driving like a maniac that came up behind me at easily 70 initially by taking innocent lives into my hands and going 30 in front of him...

Phew, I could be a friggin' theoretical hero!  ;D I demand my key to the city.

remember what you did the next time you go riding.

a LOT of people like to "teach someone a lesson" on a motorcycle by potentially running them off the road or such for no reason except that we are on their road and annoying and taking up too much room that could be taken up by a car.  stupid thinking by them but way too many people think exactly that "want to teach someone a lesson"

Remember its not our jobs to teach someone a lesson about how to drive better or such, that is the job of the  [leo] when on duty.

anyway this is all neither here nor there.  do what you like to do.

Well done.

Hopefully he gets a license suspension.

That's painting with a pretty broad brush to go from slowing someone down *to just below the speed limit*, then giving them just enough rope to hang themselves with to actively trying to run someone off the road... no?

Any chance he was on his way to an emergency?


...I guess something only he would have know...

Honestly would have been less dangerous for him to pass me on the left if it was an emergency situation, the road was empty except for us and the one other car. Or just kindly roll down his window while we were stopped at the light side by side for about a minute, with him in a turn lane about to go straight illegally and say "hey man, I'm John McClain and if I don't get to the <insert important local building here> in less than three minutes the terrorists will win and Justin Long will get another role in an action movie."

Because honestly, if my actions allowed "the Mac vs. PC" guy to land another gig, I don't know if I could live with myself.

Don't take this as a personal attack cause its not my intent.  I agree with what most everybody said.  Its not your job to teach this guy a lesson.  We all understand he was tailgating you, get over it.  My best friend shares the mentality that he needs to school everyone else on how to drive.  He always has a finger on the horn and will blast somebody for creeping close to his lane even if they don't come into it.  Ive been waiting for him to piss off the wrong guy.  You may do the same thing.  Get over it before someone teaches you a lesson.  

Your friend Jon

[laugh] Nice!  [thumbsup]

I agree with this, buuuuuuuuuuuuuut who hasn't been witness to a jackass on the road and not wanted to "hold the line" as it were against their stupidity?!

No harm, now foul.

What if your the guy on the Monster who's trying to pass the Harley?

I don't take things personally, so no hurt feelings here. I choose not to be bullied on the road by Type A folks that feel entitled to push others around. I messed with this guy by following the law to the letter and making subtle speed and lane choice changes. No reckless driving other than a quick burst of speed (hint: old VWs don't really have 'bursts' of speed as much as they have 'hiccups of quick') which merely allowed him to continue his asshattery. I simply timed it for maximum effect.

Then you wait for a safe place in the road while giving him plenty of following distance.

Ive been in the situation where a Harley has tried to block me from passing on one of my favorite stretches of road. Everytime an opportunity came to pass he would hug or cross the yellow. My guess is he was trying to "teach" me a lesson.  I was riding respectfully but he was starting to piss me off. I finally passed him in an unsafe manner.

 [clap] [laugh]

Eh, keep the cooler head. If it's your favorite stretch of road pull over and give him distance. We ride Deal's Gap every year and you always have cruisers and cagers blocking up the road. Instead of unsafe passing and harassing folks to pull over we just plan our trip to avoid as much traffic as possible. I'd rather get my blood pressure up carving turns than looking for spots to pass in traffic.

TROGDOR.....


burninating...

+1

I wouldn't have taken it that far, but I really do appreciate a good Block Pass.

I don't play the What-If game.

If you start that, you end up afraid to leave the house.

OP didn't do anything wrong or break a law.

Put him on a Monster and the civic guy on a harley and somebody probably would have posted "hooligan."

Personally I had a good time imagining the maniacal laughter. I will state no opinion as to what occurred, but I still laughed at the end when he wrote about the camera. Regardless of whetehr it was right our wrong, or dangerous or not, I still laughed because it was funny (at least for a second or two) at the end.

I don't see much wrong with what you did, the guy drives like that whether you're there or not.  If it's not you messing with him it's some blue hair unknowingly pissing him off causing him to floor it around them.  Same result.

I thought the camera part at the end was great! [laugh] In Dallas that shit will get you shot. But I admit I still do a little of that same thing. The rolling road block is very effective. Give them the slim hope they can stick the pass then chop the gas and tighten it back up. ;D I've learned to stop telling my wife about that stuff or when I get pissed at some complete asshole and honk or flip them off. She thinks I'm going to get killed by some nutcase... and in this hell hole of a town that is possible. [bang]

I have a habit of blasting by slower bikes in front of me at sometimes 100 mph plus .

Often times they are groups of H-D riders and I have passed 1-4 and once on a straight a way on my 1098 R passed more than a dozen of them and probably hit 125 mph in just seconds.

On that bike going 60 mph and then 125 mph is just a down shift and a flash.

I recently read a story in Motorcyclist Magazine where a rider came upon a group of riders wearing leather vests all saying the same thing.

He decided to gradually make his way through them as some of them motioned to him to pass .

He avoided the temptation to pass on the double yellow line.

Finally he came to the lead bike and noticed the guy constantly checking him out in his mirrors and moving his bike back and forth in front of the author of the story.

The lead rider moved over to the right and the author took this to mean it was alright to pass and he started so he gave the lead rider the thumbs up.......but as he did the lead rider gave him the middle finger, moved to the left and grabbed a handful of throttle...... which since it was as they were entering a corner , the author jumped on the brakes, skidded and went off the road and crashed.

Not one bike stopped to help him. Some riders flipped him off. Were they punishing him for trying to politely pass through them. They definitely taught him a lesson. If he ever comes across a group like that again give them a wide berth !

He suffered 4 broken ribs, a T-7 spinal compression fracture, a bruised lung , and multiple bumps and bruises.

His bike was also totaled.

My philosophy is pass them as fast as I can ....even if it means on a double yellow line if there is clear road ahead.

On a bike as fast as a 1098 R I can be past them so fast they won't know they've been passed.

Slower bikes beware.

You might want to pull over and let them get way ahead of you..

Dolph

Artful,
I like that story and find it quite humorous.  Through the years, I have been played the role of you and the other driver.  And I suspect that many here have as well.  Good to know that noone was hurt.  There are risks everytime we ride/drive.  Now I choose to minimize the risks and would let aggressive drivers pass.  My thinking is to let them crash far ahead of me, not into me.  Still, well played.  [thumbsup]
Ciao!

I thought this thread was about cars. ?

Dolph,

I read that story too. What a bunch of jerks. Hope the lead rider went over a cliff down the road. :P