The Highway Slalom

[Soviet Heavy]

Dip and dive and swerve and drive like a madman. Sometimes, traveling on a major highway like a Canadian 400 series or an Interstate can feel extremely hectic. And none of the usual stresses of highway driving are helped by the dangerous assholes who slalom.

I'm driving into Ottawa this morning, and I signal into the fast lane to get around some congestion. Next thing I know, there's a man tailgating me, and forcing me up to 150km/h (the 417 in Ottawa is 100km/h limit). Finally the guy passes me going another 20km faster, and he takes the time not to signal, but to open his window and start shouting at me. Then he drives off and starts weaving through traffic going 50 faster than anyone else and not signaling.

This isn't the first time I've dealt with road ragers, but I just got thinking about it, and just how dangerous that kind of driving is. I'm not afraid of passing the speed limit if it means moving with faster traffic, but passing through fifteen foot gaps between cars going twice and again as fast as the car next to you without signaling just seems suicidal. Who in their right mind thinks that is safe?

This is just a rant, I know, but it was bugging me. So tell me your stories of highway assholes if you want to have some conversation value.

 

[Frezzato]

Some drivers seem to have this "me first" attitude that makes them think they're going to lose something dear to them if they got to their destination a whole 20 seconds later. But all that matters, all that REALLY matters, is for you to stay safe while trying to obey the rules of the road. Next time, try and see if you can shift right; get out of the way when lunatics come speeding through. And I'm sure your recent situation didn't allow for that, so I understand that sometimes you're just trapped.

I used to ride a bike as my only means of transportation for, oh, about 20 years or so. I've spent time working as a bike courier in NYC, and I only had a bicycle when I lived in California for two years. Oh, and Boston. Five years in Boston on a bike, even through the winter snow. The time spent riding gave me both an appreciation for how dangerous driving can be and also imbued this strange "sixth sense" that tells me when a car next to me is about to do something stupid. I'll see someone from the corner of my eye, don't even have to turn to look, and I'll know that person wants to get into my lane--possibly with the intent to occupy the physical space of my car with their own car--in defiance of the laws of physics.

I put my near-flawless 20/12 vision to good use when driving. I'm constantly preparing for situations down the road by changing lanes, accounting for people in all directions, even the ones half a mile behind me, and giving idiots a wide berth. And the one bit of advice I could give to any driver, either new or experienced, is to be predictable, but you sound pretty confident so it's not directed towards you.

 

[Thaluikhain]

My dad once told me that he knew someone that said they'd drive 10km/hr faster than anyone else, put the car in cruise control, and weave through the traffic on highways.