Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Some of you will immediately recognize that as Acts 10:34-35. The rest of you are heathens who have no business in a civilized society. I’m just kidding, of course; in the future, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
The phrase “respecter of persons” won’t be immediately obvious to people without a classical education so allow me to elaborate. To pay respect to someone’s person was to give them the courtesy due their rank. It’s odd to think that once upon a time children were exhaustively drilled in proper titles and modes of address and whatnot, but that’s just the way it was. Woe betide the poor prole who referred to someone as “Your Grace” instead of “Your Highness” or something like that.
We’re now seeing a bit of that old stratified society return nowadays, in the endless permutations of luxury services and in Manhattanite children who tell their parents, “Next time we fly private like everyone else.” It will only get worse from here. And the more it becomes blatantly obvious that there are different classes of people in this world, the stronger the appeal will be of a politician, or a God, who is immune to the blandishments and caresses of rank but instead judges people for their righteous works.
The American freeway, of course, has a ranking system of its own, and that’s where today’s question comes in.
Tom asks,
During my daily urban freeway commutes to work and home, I see a lot of bad driving that sometimes gets uncomfortably close to my car. I’m pretty good at situational awareness (I’m also a licensed motorcyclist), so I’ve learned to keep myself out of harm’s way and to protect my space through lane position and by adjusting my speed and following distances. I’m also aware of my responsibility to cooperate with other drivers by keeping traffic moving and getting out of the way if needed. And yet, I still get cut-off, tail-gated, and screwed-with way too much.
I realize that a portion of my frustration has to do with the fact that some people simply don’t give a flip. However for the remainder, does vehicle type influence the behavior of traffic around you? In your experience having driven sedans, coupes, sporty cars, luxury cars, trucks and SUVs, does one type yield greater respect in traffic than the others?
What a fascinating and insightful question! And all the more so because it gets to an odd fundamental truth of road behavior. When it comes to interactions between vehicles, there is truth and there is perception. Some people judge the surrounding vehicles according to the truth of what is likely to happen. Here’s an example: If you are on a freeway passing through downtown Detroit and you see a beat-up Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight swerving through traffic behind you at 100 mph, then you should strongly consider the fact that the driver probably has very little to lose by colliding with you, and you should act accordingly.
Others judge based on perception: I’d better let that F-350 in because otherwise he’ll just swerve over and crush my car. The truth of the matter is that anybody with $75,000 in a light-duty pickup truck also probably has a license, registration, assets, insurance, and other things that he could lose if he actually hits you while driving aggressively. A few weeks ago I was driving back to Ohio from New York and I saw someone in a pearl-white Lexus LX570 acting the absolute 110-mph fool in traffic. The cars around him parted like the Red Sea (sorry, second Bible reference today!) but when he got up to me I cheerfully ignored his aggressive attempts to get me to move over. If you have a new LX570 with Connecticut tags then chances are you have plenty to lose by actually bumping another car.
I spend most of my commuting mileage on a motorcycle nowadays which means that, like Tom, I have become very sensitive to dangerous behavior around me on the road. Except, that is, when I get into my Hecho-en-Mexico Silverado Pimp Truck(tm) and wander worry-free down the freeway. When I need to change lanes, I have but to signal and someone in a Camry or CR-V will immediately let me in. If I have traffic ahead of me, it tends to move out of my way. If there is traffic behind me, I don’t really care. I know that everybody around me is driving based on perception and that the perception of a white Chevy work truck is “will hit your car and then countersue you through his plumbing LLC for emotional damage.”
Like it or not, there is a hierarchy of courtesy on the American road. Middle-class people yield to the very poor and the very rich, because they understand the unequal impact of a traffic accident on their finances and time. Small cars yield to large SUVs and trucks because they have learned the hard way just how little attention the drivers of three-ton road whales pay to the traffic around them. Nearly everybody has to move for the so-called “bro-dozer” lifted trucks, whose occupants are seen as testosterone-drunk road-ragers who will ram you and then start shooting.
The most affordable way to get a little courtesy from your fellow drivers would be to buy an old F-250 crew-cab work truck. Hit it with a hammer until it looks mean. Put on a trucker cap and a bright-yellow construction-worker’s shirt. Then head out on the highway, looking for adventure. You will not need to be a respecter of persons. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of your law. Everybody out there will give you what Aretha wanted: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Popping popcorn; waiting for the “outrage”.
“The most affordable way to get a little courtesy from your fellow drivers”
Buy a white or black or dark blue version of whatever your local PD or highway patrol uses. Then put on steel rims or modest alloys.
A chrome spot light on the driver A pillar does the trick, too. And throw on about 4 big antennas mounted on the deck lid.
Maybe that one depends on your area, around my neck of the woods it doesn’t get you respect, just fear and all of a sudden people are driving annoyingly slow all around the supposed cop car.
A white Ford Explorer Sport with black rims does the trick.
My wife had an internship (law student) with her home state of KY. She got to drive a good old blue Crown Vic with a massive KY emblem that included a state supreme court judge. At first she hated the mass of the car, but she constantly got state troopers and local police helping her with lights flashing. She also noticed everybody slow down, or were very deferential to her. In the end I think in the end she enjoyed the “respec”- Ali G
On Cali highways, a white (or just light colored) BMW RT, bumps even brodozers out of the fast lane in a hurry. And has the added advantage of being darned near invisible to those it’s rider is impersonating.
George Carlin nailed it “Forget the Volvo, she’s listening to public radio, and drives the way she lives – with fear and caution. You’ll want to avoid that Toyota with the fish symbol; Christians drive as though Jesus himself was a traffic cop. And, by all means, ignore the Lexus with the heavily made-up, bejeweled pig woman. She has the reflexes of an aging panda.
Ahhhhh! Here’s the correct machine to get behind: a Camaro with four different shades of primer paint and a bumper sticker that says “I date my sister.” This guy’s a real risk-taker; full of crank, and on his way to an AC/DC concert. You’ll be home before you know it.”
Hey Jack, only somewhat tangentially related: can you or your little bro try to get your hands on a rental Armada SV (the kind with the quilted velour seats)? Would love to hear some real world impressions of the SV. All pressers apparently were the Platinums with 20 inch wheels and the rear captains chairs+console combo.
I figure an Armada is big enough to get some respect on the road :)
To the topic at hand, my brother said he was really impressed when he took my mud spattered ’96 4Runner into NYC to pick up our father from the airport a few years ago. Everyone gave him a wide berth.
It will have to be a rental; I don’t get press cars through TTAC any more. Let me see what I can do.
Appreciate it. Yeah that’s the specific reason I ask, I know the SVs have been showing up in rental fleets. And I’m now seeing 1 year old ex-fleet Armada SVs show up for sale in the $34-35k range. A hell of a value if you ask me. The standard review sites that all got presser Platinums trotted out pretty generic and expected “hur dur gas guzzler dinosaur” tripe.
A creamy-smooth NA V8 with almost 400hp that propels a quilted-velour (not the scratchy fire retardant crap) shod 5500lb pleasure boat to 60 in 6.2 seconds. Consider me intrigued.
Spent the evening binge-reading the RG site in between bouts of handing out candy to small children (for Halloween), love the content and the commentariat, it’s like TTAC “unrated.”
I’ll work on that. I’m renting in Miami on Sunday. Let me see what they’ve got when I show up.
Awesome, thanks!
New 2017s are not much more, either. Seems like a $10k discount off MSRP.
My favorite highway vehicles were a Buick Roadmaster. It’s size was enough that I never felt pushed around. Negatives: people assumed you were 80 years old – perhaps the brown paint didn’t help – and would try to pass as soon as they could. Lots of fun back in the days when the LT1 was a potent mill.
Second was a white Grand Marquis. From a distance lots of drivers thought it was a cop car. I had some incidences of people slamming on brakes or suddenly diving in the right lane and acting like sane drivers again. Negatives: old man image; also some drivers would get miffy once they found out it was just a Marquis, not a cop Crown Vic.
Oy. How ’bout this: just be courteous, for chrissakes. If it’s feasible to let someone in, let him in. If it isn’t, don’t.
Stop making sense!
Next you’ll tell us to not stay in the left lane doing 5 mph under the speed limit with our high beams on in broad daylight! Or not to swerve across 3 lanes with no signal in a panicked fright to make the same exit we’ve been getting off at for 20 years! Soon, someone will chime in that its not proper to fly past someone at 80 and then swerve in front of them and drop to 60 for no reason.
Agreed.
With road manners, I’ve found that those who live by the sword shall also die by the sword.
Aggressive road behavior is often countered with an aggressive response. Courteous behavior doesn’t tend to invite trouble.
It doesn’t matter how courteous you are on a bike, someone is still going to try and kill you (accidentally)
…a bad situation made worse by the fact that a lot of bike riders don’t seem to give a flying f**k about traffic laws…
If I’m doing a handstand on my bike at 80 mph, you’re responsible if something goes wrong.
I usually am not for speed traps, but I love my city where they catch grown men on expensive bicycles running through stop signs. Men in spandex is the equivalent of vinyl siding.
@everybodyhatesscott – a senior paramedic told me to drive like you are invisible to 99% of the motoring public and the 1% that can see you is actively trying to kill you. That was in relation to a bright white one ton van covered in flashing lights. I literally live by that saying when on a bike. It is great advise for any vehicle.
Noone, or at least very, very few, are trying to kill you. The ones to worry about, are the ones who don’t see you.
When a young asshat, I, along with seemingly every other rider of my age group, proved that conclusively. Day in, day out. By riding like, uh, asshats. Punching cars with gloved hands, leaning in to “take some paint” with hard panniers…… From guys we self righteously deemed to be “assholes” for one reason or another.
Once drivers know you are there, no matter how much of a d%^& you have been, they won’t hit you on purpose. I’m sure there are exceptions, but the ones who will run a rider down on purpose, are the same ones who will also open fire on him. IOW, a very, very small minority of genuine psychopaths.
OTOH, the drivers who kill riders, are tho ones who don’t see them. One of my above asshat friends were killed while sitting politely in a left turn lane. By an old guy, unlikely to be wishing him any harm, in a pickup, cutting his left turn tight, mowing my friend down and not even noticing he had a bike and a soon-to-be corpse against his front axle, before being 100 feet down the road. Same thing with drivers on the freeway mindlessly swerving across double yellows between carpool/bike and regular lanes. Etc., etc.
Other drivers are fairly deferential to me when I’m towing my 16k# Shadow horse trailer with my 18-y/o F-350. I stay centered in my lane, give signals for lane changes/turns well in advance, will pull off to let traffic lined up behind me pass on narrow two-lanes when possible, etc. I don’t tow on I-70 or I-65 at the limit – the trucks 235hp will do it but, at age 18 going on 19, I ain’t pushin’ it and those around me seem to be okay with that even when pulling through Indy on that mess I-465. The drivers that are not so reasonable and un-influenced by my 22k# rig seem to be, in order of impatience, driving BMW’s, Cadillacs, and Japanese-manufacturer SUV’s. Great writing (as always), Jack.
Living around a number of horse- and harness-racing tracks and seeing a number of 350/3500-series diesel dualies on the roads, I can concur with that. It seems to be a mix of those who understand the size of the rig and therefore the dynamics, and those who would never wish to cause harm to the animals in a collision.
(and yes, the typical offenders don’t care if it’s an M1A2 SEPV3 with Seabiscuit and Mr. Ed out back, they have to get to the office *now*).
I’ve found the stock/horse trailer crowd to be very good drivers. The people who shouldn’t be trusted with diesel pickups are usually towing either RV trailers or boats. With the power available from the big diesels these days, it’s pretty common to see them doing 90+, trailer shimmying, and wonder just what would happen if a trailer tire gave up the ghost.
“The people who shouldn’t be trusted with diesel pickups are usually towing either RV trailers or boats. ”
The worst drivers with diesel pick-ups are the guys with snowmobile trailers hooked to the back heading west. Not boats or RV’s.
Years ago, when I was driving a dark blue Chevy Caprice,(back when cops had Chevys) I never noticed any aggressive driving, or even excessive speeding, outside of my own. I thought my wife was exaggerating some when she told me tales. But then 1 day I drove her green Cougar to work. It was like a different world out there.
I think the safest car today would be a dark blue Crown Vic, like the Michigan State Police use. 2nd safest would be a dark blue Chevy Tahoe.
I didn’t realize how bad it is out there until I began driving for Uber. Such bad, discourteous driving EVERYWHERE. It doesn’t really matter what people are driving. I’ve even seen city busses and school busses run red lights and cut people off. Turning right on red from the LEFT lane seems to be the new popular thing to do.
Aggressive drivers get hung up on “I’m in the lane, so I don’t have to let anyone merge” mentality. Driving is really like a team sport. Everyone needs to do their part so everyone can get where they are going, and that includes ceding lane position to let someone merge, waiting your turn at lights, etc.
I guess vehicular assault must be more common in the u.s. – around Toronto I don’t really think about it. My behaviour is only influenced by the actual behaviour of others – if they are driving courtiously I will go out of my way to accommodate them. If they are driving like a jack*ass, I will perhaps get in their way to slow down their jack*ssery.
There’s virtually no aggression around Toronto (except for the odd driver who’ll refuse to let you in until you just force your way in), but there’s massive amounts of passive inattention. Dozens of times a day I’ll have someone gradually creep into my lane (not trying to get in, they just can’t colour within the lines), the people who can’t even merge on a highway at 100, those who can’t plan for their exit and figure their only option is to slam on the brakes until there’s a spot, or the people that don’t comprehend that pacing a bendy-bus is an obstruction.
As I incessantly tell anyone who has not escaped after I tell them about crossfit and veganism, Canada is so much better than the US. Please educate us simpletons below the 49th parallel.
Depends on the area of the country.
I was mildly amazed that several years ago while trying to haul ass across the desert on I-10 in a fleet/law-enforcement-white Suburban, so few of my fellow drivers gave a flying F. I might as well have been driving a Yugo when I tried to intimate them into getting their plodding behinds out of the passing lane.
So, intimacy didn’t work for you?
Nice Eddy :)
As a driver of a rusty puke green 78 Econoline back in high school I have to agree Jack’s theory seems accurate.
“Hecho-en-Mexico Silverado Pimp Truck(tm)”..
Does you have the ironic ‘Trump/Pence 2016’ bumper sticker or MAGA rear or front window decal?
I got a big sticker that says “Designed in California”
Lol, good one, Jack.
“Designed in…” means “Made somewhere else”.
Also, the Federal Trade Commission’s rules combined with the reality that a lot of basic materials like screws and hardware are imported make it very difficult to label goods as “Made in USA” without having to add the disclaimer “From imported and domestic parts”
definitely depends on how others drive, not what they drive. Respect given is returned, disrespect is likewise returned.
I’d have to disagree that the F250 XL crew cab in white is the cheapest way to buy respect on the road although I have found it very effective. Fact is it cost me more than 5 times what I payed for my equally effective Crown Victoria Police interceptor.
One of the reasons I keep the old P71 is that commute to downtown that I do some of the year. Not only does it garner similar respect on the road as the F250 it costs less to feed and the smaller size makes it much easier to navigate through the tight streets where I go.
I have seen horrible driving in ALL kinds of vehicles. I respect every other driver until they do something to change my mind – inconsistent behavior, high beams in broad daylight, left lane blocking, dicking around on their phone, etc. In those cases I steer clear and back off. Very rarely is any situation worth escalating.
My biggest fear in traffic lately isn’t actively bad or aggressive drivers, it’s passively disengaged drivers wandering out of their lanes while engrossed in their cellphones or whatever else they may be doing besides actually driving their damn cars. I’ve never been sideswiped by one of these dolts but the close calls keep getting closer and more frequent, and since they aren’t paying the least bit of attention to what’s going on around them it probably wouldn’t matter if I was in a Yugo or an M1 Abrams.
^ this. I feel safer with the guy zooming by at 90-100MPH+. At least they are paying attention unlike the fool on the smartphone!
I, too, agree with jimble and the bigger problem being not of disrespect, overt rudeness and/or aggression, but of distracted driving. Invariably, when you see a vehicle in traffic that isn’t blending in properly (usually driving slower and/or slowly drifting out of their lane), when you eventually catch up and see the driver, they’ve almost universally doing something with their smartphone. Occasionally, it will be someone who is actually oblivious to their surroundings, but the norm is smartphone-distraction.
With the aggressive drivers, I admit that if I can safely and passively interfere with their dodging and weaving, I’ll do it. If not, I just let them by. It’s a battle not worth waging, considering the ramifications.
This is so true. And the really frustrating thing is that it’s true whether the person is driving a 15-year old car, or a brand new car. Thing is, I know that the new car has some kind of hands-free bluetooth functionality built into it. People (mostly women in my experience) will spend a fortune every month to be seen in the newest Mercedes, but won’t spend 5 damn minutes to pair their phone to their car.
I miss my 66 Buick LeSabre. It was silver but I had replaced the front fenders from a black one (due to rust). Driving it I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea and everyone let me in their lane no matter what the situation. It was wonderful.
‘The Drunken Driver Has the Right Of Way’
ETHAN COEN
The loudest have the final say,
The wanton win, the rash hold sway,
The realist’s rules of order say
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The Kubla Khan can butt in line;
The biggest brute can take what’s mine;
When heavyweights break wind, that’s fine;
No matter what a judge might say,
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The guiltiest feel free of guilt;
Who care not, bloom; who worry, wilt;
Plans better laid are rarely built
For forethought seldom wins the day;
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The most attentive and unfailing
Carefulness is unavailing
Wheresoever fools are flailing;
Wisdom there is held at bay;,
The drunken driver has the right of way.
De jure is de facto’s slave;
The most foolhardy beat the brave;
Brass routs restraint; low lies high’s grave;
When conscience leads you, it’s astray;
The drunken driver has the right of way.
It’s only the naivest who’ll
Deny this, that the reckless rule;
When facing an oncoming fool
The practiced and sagacious say
Watch out — one side — look sharp — gang way.
However much you plan and pray,
Alas, alack, tant pis, oy vey,
Now — heretofore — til Judgment Day,
The drunken driver has the right of way.
A few years back, I was still driving the 1971 Ford LTD that had been in our family since 1970, and it had both LF and LR accident damage (that I straightened enough by myself to be legal and safe) which screamed “nothing to lose.” Let me tell you, when I merged onto the freeway in that car, it opened up a huge hole in traffic like Moses parting the Red Sea!
It also got me almost continuous police car tailgating every time I drove around in my own city (a fairly wealthy suburb where everybody drives a 0-5 year-old vehicle), which was extremely annoying (oh how I wanted to slam on the brakes hard but you and I both know how that would have turned out) so I cut the emotional ties and traded it for some tools.
And I currently own a 1990 F350 crew cab long box 4×4, but people will still cut in front of me when driving it, even when I am towing something.
These days most of my bad-driving ire is focused on city driving rather than freeway driving. Worst offenders are typically either (1) self-important 55-65 late-career professionals (C-suite/managing partner types) behind the wheel of luxury cars or (2) testosterone-addled 20something dudes driving brodozers, G37s, or Mustangs. These are the offenses that drive me crazy:
1) Running red lights. It’s epidemic at all kinds of intersections. Just wait the damn 70 seconds or whatever, instead of endangering everyone else in the intersection.
2) Not yielding to pedestrians. Every side of every intersection, whether it has crosswalk markings or not, is a legal crosswalk. If someone’s crossing in it (except against a light), you’re required to yield to them. Is stepping on the brake for a couple of seconds really that hard?
3) Turning out of the second lane. No one (pedestrians or vehicles) is expecting it, you’re blocking the people trying to go straight, and you’re being a dick to the people who waited in line to turn.
4) Stopping in the middle of the crosswalk instead of behind the stop line. You’re making all the pedestrians walk out into cross traffic.
5) Driving in bus lanes. Good for you for saving a few seconds. Too bad you held up 300 other people in those three packed buses behind you.
#3 is actually a specific example of the general “Not paying attention to turn lane signage.” Recently, I almost got “Y-boned” (to coin a term) when turning left from a second lane that was clearly marked with straight AND left arrows. A car in the first lane, which was clearly marked with a left-only arrow, went straight and almost hit me. Naturally, the idiot in question took great umbrage and blasted on the horn at me. The average American: He’s not too bright, but he doesn’t lack in self-confidence.
And I’ll add a 1A to your list: Turning right on red without stopping first. I’d say 50% or more of Americans now effect a right on red as if they have a yield sign or, worse, a green light. Terrelle Pryor demonstrates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYaxZOK8L2o
“1) Running red lights. It’s epidemic at all kinds of intersections. Just wait the damn 70 seconds or whatever, instead of endangering everyone else in the intersection.”
Then there’s the supposed ‘solution’ of photo enforcement of red-light running. Yeah, it cuts down on T-bone collisions, but that’s offset by an increase in rear-end collisions when people slam on the brakes the moment the light changes from green to yellow, not to mention the dramatic increase in traffic congestion as drivers slow down and focus their attention not on driving, but when the light is going to change.
The irony is that the actual solution is far simpler and easier by simply lengthening the time of the yellow light (with an accompanying shortening of the green). From what I can gather, where this step has been taken, red-light running and collisions (of any type) have decreased far more than the revenue-generating red-light cameras.
I’m fine with red light cameras, as long as they are operated in an above-board manner (in particular, no shortening of yellows ever). The collisions they increase (usually minor rear-enders) are far less dangerous than the high-speed T-bone and pedestrian collisions they decrease. If you’re not paying attention to “when the light is going to change,” you’re not paying attention to driving; not running red lights is a fundamental rule of driving.
Lengthening yellows helps with red-light running in the very short term, but drivers quickly figure it out and begin pushing the longer yellow exactly the way the pushed the previous shorter yellow. It also increases congestion as cycle and transition times get longer.
Having gone from one of the biggest baddest vehicles on the road, 4WD GMC Sierra 2500HD CC PU as my DD to my little Chevy Volt I can tell you I don’t see much difference in how people drive around me. My biggest pet peeve is people that try to park their vehicle on the back of mine when following me. But I haven’t noticed an increase in that w/Volt.
Wait…this is a thing?
Back in the day, the answer was a Checker Marathon. Even in NYC, no one would contest right of way with a Checker. Today of course, the biggest problem would be people slowing down to look at your cool antique car.
Did nobody else notice Jack’s mention of his assuming one of the most disreputable roles on the road, the self-appointed speed limit warden? “When he got up to me I cheerfully ignored his aggressive attempts to get me to move over.” So did Jack suddenly become the dreaded left lane hog?
Also Jack’s sudden interest in the growing income/social disparity and diminishing middle class in the USA appears to be something I was previously unaware of.
Otherwise a good article and quite true in many aspects.
However I would add that in Toronto the spread of uncivil, self-righteous, discourteous, rude, unaware bicycle commuters has become a plague.
Denver isn’t far behind.
In this case, I was in the far right lane doing 90 in a 65. That’s how messed up the situation was. The speed limit has no meaning between New York City and the Pennsylvania border.
With regards to the other stuff, I’ve been writing about income inequality since the bicycle-press days back in 1991.
Twenty years ago, before my retirement, I remember running 80+ on the interstates around Detroit just to keep up with traffic. It was fun. Those people drove like they meant it.
Those were the days. After gas went up over $3 for the first time, it slowed everyone down. You used to go 95+ in the left two lanes on I-696 just to keep up with traffic.
@Arthur….You nailed it…There is virtually no accountability for cyclists. The rules of the road are written for vehicles only.
The Force is strong in this one.
Very much agreed. Darwin needs to take over.
These days I usually slow down for cyclist and give them wide berth and will give them plenty of time to either turn or find some place to pull off.
9/10 most cyclist I’ve experienced if you don’t try and peel a layer of skin off will give you the pass when opportunity gives them a chance on a divided two lane road or whatever except… for this one time me and my fellow Mustang buddies went on a cruise through Pungo VA to Sandbridge.
Luckily we were in the opposite lane but there were two cyclist creating a good 2 or 3 mile back up that was steadily growing. Just taking it easy and riding I-on the road. It was on the weekend before the 4th of July as I recall so traffic that day was a bit heavy since most people were on a four day weekend.
I don’t know if they were doing it out of spite, just didn’t care or were unaware but they had plenty of chances to turn off and let the backing traffic up by.
Most motorists are just flat out assholes around cyclists so it just seems probable that the cyclist were creating a jam out of spite which is a pity since it just exacerbates the animosity that already exists.
Arthur – Jack nailed you a couple of months ago on his site. No need to have brought income inequality into this unrelated issue.
@MIike978L Jack has claimed to have ‘nailed’ many people but never me. And if you take the time to read his article and his response above, then you would realize that he did address income inequality.
So what you wrote, should be classified as ‘fake news’.
He had an article on his site taking apart one of your arguments. That is a fact, not fake news.
Not everything is or should be about politics. Even if as an aside someone puts it in an article but the main point is about road manners don’t mean you have to go on about the political aspect.
@mike978: Are you now claiming that JB wrote an entire article trying to refute a comment I posted here on TTAC??????
If so, then I would be flattered, so please post a link to it.
And if he did, I am sure that I would have also posted a rebuttal.
But as JB wrote in the above article; “And the more it becomes blatantly obvious that there are different classes of people in this world” and “like it or not, there is a hierarchy of courtesy on the American road. Middle-class people yield to the very poor and the very rich.” Your accusing me of introducing political comment into this thread appears to demonstrate a lack of accuracy on your part.
I use a simple rule: vehicles that are bigger or faster then me are the ones I yield to.
I just wish other people would follow this rule especially when I’m towing my boat. You can see it their eyes – they don’t want to get stuck behind the slow-guy-with-a-trailer so they pull right in front of me. Guess they don’t understand the braking dynamics of trailer towing… I’ve got NO hope of scrubbing off enough speed to not rear end them, yet they do it over and over. I also tend to avoid any vehicles that already have some kind of damage, it basically tells me they screwed up before and thus are likely to do it again. Others to avoid anyone with a cell phone in their hand which is sadly about 1 in 3 these days.
I yield the ‘fast’ lane when there’s no one in front of me and someone behind wants to go faster–I figure I’ll let them find the speed trap (note, traffic permitting I’ll do 80MPH all day long).
This reminds me of the ‘flash-to-pass’ that happens occasionally. Depending on how it’s employed, it either works, or has the complete opposite affect of the slower driver obstinately remaining in the left lane. Most (like me) won’t flash their headlights but will wait for a few moments (at a reasonable distance) to see if the slower driver notices the faster driver and moves over. If not, then the faster driver simply passes on the right when the opportunity presents itself.
It’s intriguing in one aspect of the difference between highway driving in the US versus Germany. In the latter country, if a slower driver fails to yield (especially if flash-to-pass has been employed), the faster driver will not only not pass on the right (strictly forbidden in Germany) but will, instead, quickly ride up to within inches of the slower driver’s rear bumper, and stay there until the slower driver moves over. I read it’s one of the main reasons that German cars come equipped with very good brakes.
rudiger,
two years ago i discovered what i think is a better alternative to ‘flash-to-pass.’ it is put on your left signal when you are matching someone’s speed on the left lane, but stay two car lengths behind. never gotten blowback, fairly effective, added bonus is traffic behind me also ‘follows’ what’s happening and waits patiently.
I drive a pedestrian E90 with dowdy DRLs lacking the xenon halos and whatnot.
Not just in Allemange. When I was touring Europe in a Renault 25 I was lit up by Flemish cops on the Belgian Autoroute. I started to slow down but they pulled alongside and gestured at me to speed up. I’d been obeying the 120 Km/h speed signs – in the slow lane! – but that wasn’t good enough. Or safe enough, really, considering the tour busses and octogenarian motorcycle gangs that were passing me at otherworldly speeds. Once I got my rental car up to 145 Km/h they waved and left me in the dust. That 25 happily carried us through Belgium in 28 minutes at 4500 RPM. In addition we saw two cops in fire suits get out of a police Porsche 911 wearing mirror-visored crash helmets at Schiphol.
@JMII – my dad talked about the “right of weigh”. He’d explain, ” You might have the legal right of way” but if it can kill you, the law isn’t going to matter when you are dead.”
I see it enough around here (Bay Area) that I coined a new term: Priuchebag.
They only thing that bothers me is that few people seem to remember the #1 of the road. If there is > 1 lane, SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT. There are 2 types of people who disobey this rule.
1) immigrants. Now before everyone breaks out the pitchforks, I give them a pass(to the right, pun intended) because the may or may not know better unless they grew up in Germany. Secondly Im not calling out any race, color or creed here, they are all equally bad.
2) Traffic Justice Warriors. These people just suck. Passive Aggressively blocking the fast lane to prove that you have the moral high ground because you are obeying the speed limit is shit behavior. Just get over and let the faster traffic pass.
I will add that there are other rules of the road that Jack does not mention. Here in Tejas, cops love to target, err ticket folks in cars of german origin. I recently switched from an Audi to a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and can tell you that my hardly recognizable as a hot rod JGC goes unnoticed by the boys in blue despite its deep cherry pearl arrest me red exterior. Ive blown past a constable doing upper 70s in a 65 mph zone and did not get so much as a blip of the lights to have me slow down. I couldnt go 5 mph over the speed limit without getting a ticket in the Audi. It may be that there are radar cloaking properties in this specific vehicle…
Similar experience with multiple Mustangs and exceeding speed limits in TX. Couldn’t get a break with various BMW’s in the past.
Love the writing Jack.
My experience: the oblivious are the worst risk and are unaware of what as well as where you are driving. On a 2 lane, closing at a modest differential, the taller the vehicle the more likely the car will pull right into an empty lane. Fancy aggressive predator style grills, color of paint, luxury brand; they can’t seem to tell much thru the mirror … if they’re beside you don’t merge there. If a car is insanely expensive it gets a better following distance … sometimes.
I’ve found that middle-aged guy’s piloting an empty minivan are the most dangerous. They simply have nothing left to lose…
LOL
“The cars around him parted like the Red Sea”
A Dodge Charger (in the left lane on NY’s FDR drive) roared past me. I figured I could follow in his wake and beat traffic. The stratagem worked briefly, until a yellow cab with the same idea cut me off. Jeez (another common Biblical reference), can’t a 2010 Mazda3 get any respect??
Where you in BTSR’s slipstream?
I love my brother very much. He’s a stable, sensible guy and a good family man. However, put him behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and he’s a total ***hole. Flip-offs, yelling, retribution cut-offs, denied merging, brake checks. Just ridiculous. I refuse to get in a car with him and fear some day I’m going to find out that his family has cashed it in. What is it that takes a sane and sober person and turns him into this?
Anonymity behind the wheel. I guarantee you that if your brother knew he would have to look the people he’s flipping off/cutting off/brake checking in the eye at the end of his drive, he’d behave differently.
It’s the same reason we have sh!tty internet trolls.
I like to think that I make every effort to show respect to all drivers. I see poor driving from all facets and great courteous driving from all facets as well. I typically steer clear when possible of the following: Subaru drivers seem to just suck most of the time here in CO, not sure why. This one is bad, but here it goes, I **ALWAYS** get as far away as possible from coeds of a specific ethnic group if I notice they are driving near me. It is not a stereotype, they don’t drive well. Ever.
Lastly, I group the Prius and Lexus RX together in the ‘avoid’ group. Along with Subaru owners, they drive 5 under the limit instead of my usual 5 over the limit and love to be stereotypical and drive in the left lane too slow.
Used to stay away from Volvo drivers for the same reason. People who purchased a vehicle because it claimed that it would protect the in an accident, were by definition scared to drive, and therefore were more than likely poor drivers.
From the other side, when my old beat-to-crap 740 Turbo wagon wasn’t running well, that didn’t mean I wasn’t still in a hurry. I once, late returning from my lunch break, lost to a Mazda3 whose driver didn’t appear to know we were in a stoplight drag.
Painting red handprints on the bumper only helped a bit.
https://i.imgur.com/pYkMY.jpg
Low-compression turbo engine + zero pounds of boost? A tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Over several old Volvos, though, I can confirm that people will go out of their way to pass you early and often, even if you’re cheerfully toodling along at or above the flow of traffic in your lane. Statistically, I don’t blame ’em – like the old-Subaru demographic, a few of us are gravel-road madmen, but most are happy to cruise along and pass a suspicious-looking cigarette around.
Great minds think alike Jack.
When I cant take it anymore. I m getting a 10 yr old F 250.
Railroad ties front and rear for bumpers.
Bring it bitch.
What about the hydrogen cars with the 10k psi tanks? Oh yeah, you’re probably more likely to get hit by a meteor than encounter one of those.
We have 2 vehicles. A last generation white Ford Mustang convertible and a new-ish Kia Soul.
There is a 4-Way stop on my way to work, with just enough traffic that there are frequently cars stopped at all 4 corners.
When I am driving the Mustang I ALWAYS get to go first, even if I am the last one to roll up. In fact, if I don’t go first it irritates the other drivers, because I have broken the unwritten rules of the road.
On the other hand, if I am driving the Kia Soul to work, I have to wait and go LAST.
In that case the sequence is:
1) Audi/BMW/Mercedes
2) Newish sedan – Fusion/Camry
3) SUV/older sedan
4) Kia Soul
I am the same guy, going to the same job, through the same 4-Way stop.
The vehicle I’m driving makes all the difference.
A nice three or four year old V-6 Mustang can be purchased for about 20k. But the drivers around you will defer to you as if you were driving a Shelby… it’s fascinating.
One thing I wonder about. Does it make a difference that I’m driving a convertible (with the top up) instead of the regular Mustang hardtop?
Maybe it’s the combination of Mustang + convertible that is so effective.
No vehicle on the road will make me change my driving behavior or intimidate me in any way. That said, there are three exceptions:
Motorcycles. I always always always give them more space. Only a true moron ever drives too closely behind a motorcycle.
Big rigs. I know they can’t stop in short distances and that they have a wide turning radius. I drive accordingly when around them.
Vehicles towing a trailer. Much for the same reason as big rigs, but with the added consideration of possibly a driver who is not experienced towing a trailer.
Other than that, I can’t think of any vehicle that would even make me think twice on the road.
I feel almost exactly the same White Shadow.
totally agree. I do run into plenty of pick up “white work truck” drivers who do apparently feel that traffic should yield to them, period. I’m in a Scion Xb, I know exactly where the edges of my car are. if you’re creeping into my lane from the right or left trying to push me out of the way just to advance your cause, good luck!
A white ’90s Corolla, a roof-rack with several gas tanks and few propane tanks, some leaning, tilting and getting ready to fall off.. That’s what I saw pulling into a shopping center in Colorado Springs.
Its driver was probably tired of getting zero respect, repeatedly cutoff, and what’s more “invisible”? That’s a drastic way of going about getting your “space” and trucks backing off, but god damn.
I immediately did an illegal U-turn to get pictures or video, but he vanished into a drive-thru or something.
I don’t move for brodozers. They are ubiquitous down here, and frankly need some lessons in humility. I don’t care what diameter your coal pipe is or how tall your lift kit is- at the end of the day you’re still the same unloved needle-dick who felt compelled to buy a manhood suit in a big truck.
I readily admit, I’m one of the dbags who drives well above the speed limit and cuts people off. I have no mercy for left lane campers. It’s a waste of time.
America needs to get with the program. I have spent a bit of time on European highways, and since then my patience for American nonsense has pretty much evaporated. Curb your frail id or wake the f up and relinquish the left lane(s) for faster traffic.
Where I live, the most the categories of vehicles which produce more than their share of erratic/aggressive drivers are:
* BMW drivers
* Coal Rollers
* Police
At one point I did an experiment where I started counting backwards from 30 when I saw a BMW going the same way I was, and I stopped counting when the BMW driver cut me off. I might have made it to 0 once out of a dozen trials.
It’s important to distinguish Coal Rollers and other penis-extention trucks from working farm / contractor trucks. I live in the Midwest, and these are distinct categories with little overlap, and the working trucks tend to be driven by people who have work to do and heavy objects to carry. They drive accordingly.
I’m picking up on something in this thread that confirms a suspicion I’ve had for a while. Pickup truck* drivers consider their grille looming in your rear-view mirror to be a big-dick-substitute.
[*Range Rovers too.]
The ones that I give the widest berth to are the gravel tandem truck drivers. They combine aggressive driving and huge mass all the while spewing rocks on the road. They are even worse when they are “empty” since they are faster and still have a few rocks to throw at your windshield.
I have also noticed that there is a minor correlation between the respect that pickup truck drivers of the same brand will give to each other and inversely giving it to the other brands. Also the Ford, Chevy and RAM drivers will tend to team up on the Toyota guys.
Mr. Crowley, what went wrong in your head?