Road Rage - first instance

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nzkiwiman

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#205335 9-Nov-2016 11:21

Had my first instance of road rage this morning

I took off from Mosgiel and joined State Highway 1 from the off ramp, immediately moved into the passing lane as the person in the non passing lane was going slow (for those who do not know the area, it is a rather steep hill)
Caught up with someone else in a passing lane (in a 6th Gen Honda Civic - I used to drive one of these) and slowed down to 80km/hr. At this stage the left hand lane was clear and I saw the driver of the Civic take a look, look at his rear vision mirror and then he moved right towards the barrier and then braked.

I slowed down and gave a toot of the horn.
At which point the driver of the continued to brake and then eventually stopped. At this point my simple toot of the horn became a full hard constant press of the horn.
The driver of the car was at this point just holding his hands in the air ...

Eventually the left hand lane became clear, so I took off around him and carried on my way to Dunedin
I did keep an eye on my rear view mirror and watched as the Civic stayed in the right hand lane all the way till it turned off from SH1 to Caversham ...

As I used to drive one of these 6th Gen Civics, I know they are very capable of making the journey up and over the hill where this incident took place; there was no reason for the driver to be in the passing lane going 80km.
I know based on his actions that the driver of the Civic made a decision to not move over to the left hand lane when able and then purposely "brake checked" me until we were stopped.

My "at fault" actions were a) not moving into the left hand lane when he first brake checked me, b) coming to a complete stop behind the Civic while on a state highway and c) keeping my hand on the horn for the entire duration of the slowing down and stopping part of the equation.

/rant over

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#1666375 9-Nov-2016 11:40

How close were you travelling to the civic after you "caught up" to them?

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timmmay

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#1666405 9-Nov-2016 12:05

Report a bad driver.

muppet

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#1666406 9-Nov-2016 12:07

Make sure you take a photo of his numberplate and then tweet it with a comment about it!

It's what all good Geekzoners do.

Well, I guess they still do. I unfollowed all the muppets that do it.

surfisup1000

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#1666456 9-Nov-2016 13:01

So the other driver was refusing to move out of the passing lane even though they were going slow and could have pulled over, and even worse, chose to completely stop in the passing lane?

However, was the other driver going faster than the traffic in the 'slow lane' and trying to pass someone further ahead before pulling into the slow lane?

Honestly I'm not sure why you bothered..... slow drivers frequently block the fast lane, I gave up getting too concerned as there are so many how just don't give a rats about being courteous.

Don't want to be 'fattist' either, but, I think there might be a correlation between being obese and a discourteous driving habits. Just my personal observations. I wonder if it is a physical thing where it is more difficult to move your head around so you are aware of your surroundings.

frankv

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#1666458 9-Nov-2016 13:02

nzkiwiman:

there was no reason for the driver to be in the passing lane going 80km.

Here's the reason...

My mother would have done something like this (Before anyone gets all judgmental... my mother no longer drives). She's not very confident, so drives well below the speed limit. She would get into the RH lane early to be sure she made that exit you mentioned (which doesn't quite make sense, since motorways don't have exits on the right). Motorways frighten her, as do people who zoom up behind her (which of course would happen often, because she drives slowly in the fast lane on motorways).

Not saying it's an adequate reason, just that it's a likely explanation.

Rikkitic

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#1666463 9-Nov-2016 13:11

On occasions when information has later become available to me, I find that there actually are reasons for people behaving in ways that seem inconsiderate and cause me to become impatient. Even when the reasons are wrong, or stupid, the intent of the other person isn't always to be aggressive or to annoy. Sometimes they just see things in a different way. I can't say if that is the case here, but patience and courtesy usually solve most problems.

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nzkiwiman

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#1666467 9-Nov-2016 13:14

As I closed in, my following distance decreased
As the left lane was clear, I would have expected the driver of the car I was catching up on to see that I was catching up on him and pull over - however he looked at the left lane, then me and then braked

The turn off (not a motorway exit, rather an intersection) that the driver took is approx 10km from where the incident happened - no reason to hog the right hand lane all the way (many do however)
Normally I will just follow these slow drivers and undertake where possible, but what got me annoyed was the driver braking (and then ultimately stopping)

Driver looked to be in his early 20's

networkn

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#1666471 9-Nov-2016 13:20

I don't get this thread.

You have no idea what was going on in the car in front of you, could have been having a medical event or something.

Surely it's not THAT important that you should sit on your horn. A horn is not an instrument for you to convey your frustration despite the strong desire to do it.

slingynz

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#1666472 9-Nov-2016 13:21

Why not pass him on the left once you saw he wasn't going to change lane?

freitasm

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#1666474 9-Nov-2016 13:22

It sounds more like the person in front stopped on purpose. Not a medical emergency, not a problem with the car. Stop finding excuses for some inconsiderate driver on the road folks.

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JaseNZ

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#1666475 9-Nov-2016 13:24

Wow very tame road rage, when you or people are getting out of your/their car that's when I would deem it to be more of a road rage style.

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networkn

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#1666478 9-Nov-2016 13:25

freitasm: It sounds more like the person in front stopped on purpose. Not a medical emergency, not a problem with the car. Stop finding excuses for some inconsiderate driver on the road folks.

There is no evidence to support either theory definitively, and surely it's worth considering giving the benefit of the doubt.

jonathan18

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#1666519 9-Nov-2016 13:39

networkn:

freitasm: It sounds more like the person in front stopped on purpose. Not a medical emergency, not a problem with the car. Stop finding excuses for some inconsiderate driver on the road folks.

There is no evidence to support either theory definitively, and surely it's worth considering giving the benefit of the doubt.

Or maybe the guy was just being a plonker?

Yep, there may be reasons other than those the OP assumed, but I'd also give him the benefit of the doubt in that he was actually there.

So often these type of threads now become an opportunity to simple pile scepticism, cynicism and criticism on with a trowel. This mirrors behaviour on the comments section on sites like Stuff - and that's probably the most-criticised site on this forum!

wazzageek

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#1667659 10-Nov-2016 22:14

nzkiwiman:

As I closed in, my following distance decreased
As the left lane was clear, I would have expected the driver of the car I was catching up on to see that I was catching up on him and pull over - however he looked at the left lane, then me and then braked

Unfortunately the majority of New Zealand drivers exist in their own world, where they are the center. As I've aged, I've come to realise that other drivers on the road are idiots and to treat them as such. Don't expect courtesy, but acknowledge it when it's shown.

The road code does state that you must kept left - something which is unfortunately not policed.

You can lodge a formal complaint - nothing much comes from it, however if a driver consistently has reports lodged against them, then these reports are used to determine whether the driver is someone that needs special attention.

I would say in the future, indicate, pull into the left lane and overtake (undertake!) them. You'll feel better when you get to where you are going - and even better you should get to where you are going.

FWIW, that's my contribution :-)

Dratsab

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#1667704 10-Nov-2016 23:01

networkn: You have no idea what was going on in the car in front of you, could have been having a medical event or something.

Or maybe the rematerialisation beam from the mother-ship wasn't working properly. Sounds more like he was just being an a-hole of the common garden variety.

wazzageek: Unfortunately the majority of New Zealand drivers exist in their own world, where they are the center. As I've aged, I've come to realise that other drivers on the road are idiots and to treat them as such. Don't expect courtesy, but acknowledge it when it's shown.

QFT.

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