Dealing with morons on the road

It's very, very hard. You have to allow yourself to balance the stress of it all with the small pleasures of slowing down in front of the tailgaters and blocking the people who try to cut you off super close. Try and focus on how frustrated they are at you and just eat it up instead of taking their bait and getting upset in return. The best revenge is living well.

 

The real trick is to live in a better part of the world; one with a LOT fewer people.

Tom

 

There are idiots everywhere. Ignore them as best you can. Leave plenty of space around them. Escalation can lead to unpleasant results if they turn out to be better armed than you.

 

I just do the speed limit, or 55 tbh (on the highway). If they get on me I drive more carefully LOL. As long as they don't smash into me, I'm good.

 

i dont care if they dont like they should have left a few mins earlier --- Conceal and carry is big in MO so you never know who has a gun and who doesnt

 

it's a nighmare out there. i do the speed limit and try not to pay any attention to them. that what driving mellow is all about! put on some good music. ommmmmmmmmmm

 

Utah?
Really????
I used to knock holes in the Atlantic in submarines.
Ten patrols worth.
You know what that taught me more than anything else???
Don't sweat the small stuff.

OK. Well, I have an observation and two possible fixes.

I'll do the fixes first.
Get a motorcycle endorsement and take an MSF course. Rent a bike for a few weekends and drive around SLC. If after that, you're still worried about other drivers and your rear bumper, then drive to LA. No....not lower Alabama, but the City of Angels.
Drive there for a few weeks. Rent a bike there if you're still not convinced.
After all of this, driving there in "The Crossroads of the West" will probably seem to be a bit easier to handle for you. After all....you're rolling around with a proper windscreen and a ton and a half of airbag equipped plastic and sheet metal around you. Driving in a small city thusly equipped ought not be that bad.
Otherwise you may REALLY want to consider mass transit.

If you're driving around wanting to smash people's windows out and flinging gestures at your fellow drivers, then look at the top of your windshield. See that oblong mirror? Tilt it down and take a goooood long look. I mean, it's not like you can really see that well out of the back of a Prius anyway---at least not in my G3.
Keep looking.
No matter where you drive, be it in SOCAL or BFE, you're going to find a moron. Common sense.....isn't. Neither is Common courtesy.

Deal with it.
Whether you like it or not, you have to share the roads. People are going to piss you off. Bitching and whining about it is fine. I always told my people that you have two inalienable rights. The right to bitch, and the right to BS.
Let's face it. The stereotypical Prius driver is something of a rolling roadblock, and a bellyacher.
Yeah...I know.
Most really aren't much of either, but you know what they say about stereotypes.

Bottom line: If you can't deal with morons, then be careful that you don't become that which you most despise.

 

The following is my trick and it works for me quite good: when I see a stupid moron coming fast at my *** while other lanes are empty I just make a signal to change to the next lane, let them past and then move back to the right. Just make them feel that they're kings of the road and continue enjoying your PC.

 

Patience my friend. I know it's difficult on the highway sometimes. Here are my rules of thumb:

1. Always keep up with the flow of traffic for the lane you are in.
2. Don't tail gate. One car length for each 10 mph is a safe gap. Most habitual tailgaters behind you will, eventually, figure it out, as long as you follow rule #1.
3. If you are not going faster than the cars in the lanes to your right, you are going too slow for the lane you are in. Increase your speed, or get into the lane that is driving the speed you prefer.
4. Get over to the right (or left as the case may be) well in advance of your exit, while still observing rules 1-3.

Tailgating is a very hard habit to break. I did it for many years with no thought at all to the possible consequences. It's fascinating to watch them follow behind me as it slowly dawns on most of them that they they don't actually need to drive that way, and after a while, back off to a safer distance.

 

I mostly ride to work, and to me, all drivers are idiots but mind you, I don't hate them, that is the "mind set" I kept in mind every time I ride, it's about the only way to be safe on a motorcycle. Motorcycle are easily dismissed by car drivers, when they don't know, they don't care, and they don't even bother to care. If you don't know something, and not willing to learn it, and not even care about it, then you are an idiot, so drivers = idiot, and by thinking this way, made me always a bit suspicious and untrusting towards all drivers, hence making me more cautious and always think of my own safety before making any move involving a 3rd party on the road (getting into intersections, overtaking and so on). But yeah, I don't hate drivers in a personal way, more in a general way for my own safety.

 

^ I've made the comment before quite a few times, but it bears repeating.

If I'm on my bike and I see an automobile, they immediately and always fall into one of 2 categories:
1. They don't see me or know I'm anywhere around them.
2. They do see me and they're trying to kill me.

I ride accordingly.

 

New Zealand?

 

This is what I do as well. I have heard it referred to as 'reverse passing'. It works wonders.

 

That would be a good choice.

Tom

 

I do the wrong thing.. when someone starts tailgating me.. I tap my brakes really hard to scare them into backing off. As I said, I realize it is the wrong thing but it makes me feel better to see the look of panic and then immediate back off I need to just try the reverse passing thing.

 

There are only two kinds of drivers I don't like: Those in front of me, and those behind me.

Drive like you wish, but be kind to the other drivers as much as practical.

Moving tailgaters see the rear end of the next car like a bull sees a red flag. They should have gone around you as soon as they saw you would be an impediment, but they become temporarily distracted by the car attached to that rear end and forget they are in a hurry.

My way around them (pardon the pun) is to simply slow down a mph or so. This will kick in their (greater) habit to get around and be fast again. They will not remember you after they go around, and serenity will again be yours.

If you are subtle enough they will not even see what you did - side order of peacefulness to go with that serenity.