Aggressive Tailgating for No Reason Whatsoever
Idiocy Meter
Asshole Meter
I thought it was only fitting to follow up yesterday’s post with this photo of this impatient lady yammering away on her cell phone on Riverside in North Hollywood. First of all, she started aggressively tailgating my vehicle despite the fact that I was going along with the flow of traffic. Traffic was light, and there is plenty of room on the road around these parts. There’s absolutely no reason why she had to drive bumper to bumper to my vehicle going 40 mph (which I will admit was 5 mph above the speed limit). She then chose to pass on my right and cut in front, only to find another vehicle in front of her (the one that was in front of me) that, again, clearly wasn’t traveling fast enough for her. She then cut right again and got stuck behind traffic that was merging onto the freeway, which is when I took this picture. Granted, she would probably still have her tailgating, lane-weaving tendencies with or without her hand glued to her cell phone that’s glued to her head. However, with a “free hand”, she will no longer have an excuse for not signaling. Unfortunately, tests have shown that hands-free devices don’t seem to curb the reduction of observation skills and decline in general awareness that drivers experience while talking on their cell phones, which would explain her inability to see traffic patterns more than 30 feet ahead of her at any given moment. End verdict? There’s probably no hope for this woman’s less than adequate driving skills.
Filed under: aggressive, cell phone, observation, tailgating
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I had one coming home on the 110 South at 1 am — gold Chevy SUT (7M99483). I’m doing 75 in the #1 lane (this is north of the 10 still, speed limit is 55) and keeping a respectful distance from the car ahead, and this asshole starts tailgating me. I check the right side mirror to see if there is anyone preventing him from going around, but there is not. I tap the brakes a few times to make a point, and flip the rear view to “night mode” (which I generally try not to do), and he starts flashing me continuously. I am now less than one second off the tail of the guy ahead, and apparently the asshole behind me is oblivious to the fact that there is someone ahead of me, even though he should be able to see right over the top of my car.
Finally I hit the brakes HARD for a split second, to no avail — he brakes just hard enough to avoid hitting me. By this time, the guy ahead of me has pulled parallel to someone in the #2 lane, so there is REALLY nowhere to go. But with the separation I just created, I slap it down into fourth gear, pop two lanes right, pass and get back in the left lane where I was, once again going 75.
Asshole starts flashing the two cars I just left behind. Finally he resorts to using the same maneuver he forced me into, and flies by me on the right, giving me the chance to note the license plate number. 7M99483. 7M99483. I chanted that all the way home just so I could tell the whole city that YOU FAIL IT.
Mal, at least you made it home safely. Next time, call the cops.