Stupid is as Stupid does.

It never ceases to amaze me that some drivers think that every foot closer that they are to my back bumper is going to make their trip that much shorter.

And it amazes me even more when the stupid driver is in a little Toyota Camry and they are tailgating my 1972 Ford LTD.

 

 

 

 

I was driving down 3900 South and this Camry was riding my ass like we were best friends.  More than best friends.  And it’s not like I’m a slow driver, I was already going 40 in a 35MPH zone.

So I slow down.  I figure that if you are supposed to keep 1 car length between cars for each 10 MPH of speed, the closer they get the slower I go.

She didn’t get the hint.  Instead she gets closer, and starts mouthing things that I’m sure were not nice.

So I tap the brakes, a visual signal that most people take as saying “Uh, a little close, aren’t you.”

Instead this dumbass takes it as daring her to get even closer.  So I tap the brakes again.  Instead of taking it as meaning that I would just like her to follow at a safe distance, it becomes a challenge.

So I come to a complete stop in the middle of 39th South and then stomp on the gas and put a good distance between us even before she realizes I’m moving again.

She catches up to me as I’m going straight through the light at Highland Drive and flips me the bird as she turns right.  I just wave and keep going.

See, I know from experience that if I had needed to stop quickly and if she had rear ended me, her car would have been a lot worse off than mine.  Not to mention that, legally, it would have been her fault.

Dumbass could have simply left a reasonable amount of room between her car and mine.

Maximum Stupidity, Thursdays on your local Fox Network.

Stupidity reigns above all.  Especially for the moron in the white Honda 4 door behind me on 21st South today.  Now, considering the number of white Hondas on the road, this could be anyone, but soon you'll know if I mean you.

I was driving home around 5:00 tonight, coming up 2100 So between 11th and 13th East.  The light at 13th was out, so traffic was backed up all the way back to 11th.  It took me about 15 minutes to go the 2 blocks.  The whole time with this white Honda riding my back bumper.  I started by rolling back a little bit each time she rode up on my bumper.  Then I escalated to a roll back with flashing the backup lights.  Since she seems to have the right to follow as close as she damn well pleases, this just encouraged her to get even closer each time.  So close that all I could see out my back window was her windshield, and that was before I did any rolling back.  So I yell out the window, before even noticing her window was down also, "Do you have to ride my ass so close?"  No response except to continue following as close as before.  So I decided to limit the number of times she had to move so close to my bumper, figuring the fewer times we move the less likely she is to hit me (and maybe it'll tick her off also).  So I start letting the car in front of me get a full car length ahead, or more, before I would move up at all.  This did not agree with her plans.  She gets even closer.  So I yell out the window again "You're not going to get there any faster riding my ass!"  Still she does.  A couple moves forward and I yell it again.  Then she does something unexpected.  She pulls out her cell phone and points it at my back end as if to take a picture.  Ohhh, nooooo!  The police are gonna git me fer driving slower when tailgated.  So I pull out my camera and pretend to take a picture of her (all I got was the back seat).  Pull up a little further, she pulls up on my bumper again and then flashes her phone at me as if to say "Look, I got a picture of you!"  Again I think "and?"  I shrug my shoulder out the window to show exactly how much that concerns me, just as the car in front pulls up far enough for me to get into the left turn lane, and get my chance to turn left before she pulls up next to me so I can shrug my shoulders at her again.

I vent, therefore I am. (done with it, that is).

When did tailgating become a right?

I don't remember the Constitutional Amendment process, but it must have happened. I ran into another person, and I use that word lightly, that seems to believe he has a right to drive within inches of my back bumper. I was on 7th East about 80th South or so and this fairly new black Mustang gets whips into the lane behind me and thinks that driving close to my bumper will make the person in front of me go faster. So I do the usual, slow down in hopes it really annoys him and he'll change lanes, flash the brakes and at the next stoplight hit the back-up lights. To be honest, I don't know if he saw the brake lights flash or the back up lights, he was really close. It could have been that I stopped a full car lenght from the car in front of me, or maybe he did see the back up lights, but at the stop light he flipped me off. I didn't even flip the bird back at him, I just yelled "Then don't ride my ass". The light turned green, and I went on my merry way, the guy in the other lane was even slower that I was, so Mr. Mustang got around me, but he doesn't just gun it and get away from me. He has to swerve towards me as he passes. I don't even flinch because I'm sure he's a hell of a lot more concerned about wrecking his Mustang than I am of him wrecking my Subaru. But the question in my mind still remains "where do these people get the feeling they have the right to invade my vehicular personal space?"