Quote:
Originally Posted by edmscan
I try to stay in the right lane most of the time ... but this time I had to turn left and this loser was trying to accelerate to prevent me from changing lanes. But ha ha .. the yaris can go if it wants to. But I do agree .. it is best just trying to ignore those losers. Of course he had to honk at me as he went by ...
On a better note ... I have been able to get somewhat better gas mileage as of late. Probably another 10 days or so to see if my efforts are paying off.
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I have driven quite a few miles in my life and only once had 'my feathers ruffled'/was really upset by anything. Usually if someone cuts me off it is a 'weaving in and out idiot' who is only cutting it a slight bit close or a 'didn't prepare properly but now I have to cut over to the closely upcoming exit (because my time is so valuable) cutting multiple people off idiot', or finally a large vehicle (non commercial) whose driver isn't looking properly or at all. Around half the time with the latter, the person is embarrassed and slows down to change lanes behind you. The other half of the time the person is being insensitive or slightly aggressive and completes the lane change, but it isn't so blatant as to nearly cause an accident. The one time that was different for me happened a couple of months ago. I was driving south on I-75 between Bradenton, FL and Naples, FL. I was in the slow lane and a Suburban abruptly started to cut me off. I honked, and instead of backing off he forced me off onto the shoulder. I attempted to catch up to him to give him the bird , but was unable to because another car sped up to prevent me from changing lanes...and it was a conservative sedan being driven by a nondescript young girl with a conservative haircut. Edmscan's experience made me think of this incident. I soon realized that this conservative girl with a lead foot was a blessing in disguise. What if the idiot in the Suburban had had a gun? Later in this same trip I was driving from Kissimmee to Naples via the old interior route (Highway 17 -- Winter Haven to SR 80 near Fort Myers) and was coming around a sweeping corner on a 1 lane in each direction stretch with a lot of traffic going North and a lot less going South. As I finished the curve I could finally see in front of me on a long straightaway. A Mini Cooper was attempting to pass about 10 cars, wasn't going to quite make it and was coming at me head on at what I would guess was 80+. My life flashed before me. Because of the angle of the bend of the curve and the amount of traffic coming from his direction nether of us could see the other coming....but he had run out of broken line on the pavement in his direction and shouldn't have attempted the pass in the first place. I already could tell (by observation just minutes before this) that the shoulder was less than a car length wide. What came next was fortunately the best piece of defensive driving I have ever mustered. I instinctively adjusted the wheel to navigate as close to the outer edge of the shoulder as possible and sat on my horn. The remaining drivers that the Mini Cooper hadn't passed were extremely alert and happened to do the same thing I did at just the right moment and the Mini Cooper squeezed between me and these 'remaining to be passed' drivers while stradling the painted double line in the middle of the road. While in Miami during this trip I saw an alarming number of drivers driving South on Biscayne Blvd and floating out of their lanes as if DUI. When I passed each one and looked over, each one was NOT LOOKING AT THE ROAD AT ALL with head looking down riveted toward his/her phone, texting away (no specific laws against this, to my understanding, in Florida). Some of these texters were young, and some were old. These three scenarios, all on different roads in different parts of the southern half of the Florida mainland have cemented (along with previously more benign experiences) my SMH when it comes to many of the drivers in that area.
06-23-2012, 10:56 PM
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