Unprovoked road rage

[Brent099]

Earlier this week, I was riding my Hurricane through southern Alabama on my way to meet some friends at a camp site in MS.  I was enjoying the early morning ride on a long, unpopulated two-lane county road.  Suddenly, the road ahead of me is entirely enveloped in a cloud of fine, white sand which was spewing out of an 18-wheeler's uncovered hopper, severely limiting visibility for at least a quarter mile behind it.  Needless to say, as soon as I could see that the oncoming lane was clear, I was passing the truck at about 90mph (it was a 55 zone and the truck was going about 70).

As I'm overtaking the truck I see that there is a large diesel pickup about 200 feet in front of the 18-wheeler.  Not wanting to pass both in one go, I do a quick head check to make sure I've left enough room between myself and the 18-wheeler and then swing back into the right lane.  As I look back up front I see that the pickup has slowed considerably, while I'm still doing about 85 or 90. I immediately get on the brakes, not entirely sure why he is slowing so quickly, thinking that perhaps he is making a sudden turn or pulling off onto the shoulder (looks like it's a county utility truck).  

Then I notice that he's really slowing down fast.  My front tire begins to howl, it seems loud, then I realize it's because his tires are also joining in the chorus. I'm running out of room between myself and the truck in front as I begin to wonder how quickly the 18-wheeler behind me can stop. This guy better have a good reason for making an all-out panic stop. Then I notice the middle finger prominently displayed outside the driver's side window.  Now it all makes sense.  He's just trying to kill me.  New information, new plan.  Drop down two gears, slip into the oncoming lane, and throttle past him before he has a chance to block my pass.

I contemplated pulling over and grabbing a handful of gravel, then trolling along until he caught up, but I decided I was having too much fun to let that asshat back into my world.  Besides, at that point he was already a mile or so behind me.

You guys might be used to this sort of thing, but it was a first for me.  I was mainly just surprised that he made a snap decision to try to run me off the road after only knowing of my existence for less than 2 seconds.  I've only been riding for a couple of years, and I've never had anyone intentionally and blatantly try to run me off the road for no other reason than being on a sport-bike.  Granted, I generally tend to ride in areas that are more accustomed to bike traffic, rather than the middle of South Bumpkinsville, AL, where the only other two bikes I saw for three hours were Harleys.

Anyway, that was a lot of text for a relatively minor incident.  What are your unprovoked road rage stories?

[evilted]

Pretty scary stuff.  Did you happen pass the truck on a double yellow?

If not it's kind of hard to understand why a 90 mph pass in a 55 would get someone so worked up.  But then there are plenty of people for whom the right amount of speeding is whatever amount over the posted limit they deem to be safe, and no faster.  This guy might be one of those competitive clowns for whom driving a beat-to-shit diesel pickup truck is a kind of penance he feels he doesn't deserve.  

You did the right thing in avoiding a confrontation.  

Nobody wants to go to jail because one of the worlds unlimited number of asshats decided to be an asshat.  And if you'd ended up dead on the road as a result of not making an egress from the situation your top priority, I'm sure the official story of what happened would have favored whatever bullshit story Bubba and his friend in the unsafe-load truck chose to make of it.

[Brent099]

Pretty scary stuff.  Did you happen pass the truck on a double yellow?

If not it's kind of hard to understand why a 90 mph pass in a 55 would get someone so worked up.  But then there are plenty of people for whom the right amount of speeding is whatever amount over the posted limit they deem to be safe, and no faster.  This guy might be one of those competitive clowns for whom driving a beat-to-shit diesel pickup truck is a kind of penance he feels he doesn't deserve.  

You did the right thing in avoiding a confrontation.  

Nobody wants to go to jail because one of the worlds unlimited number of asshats decided to be an asshat.  And if you'd ended up dead on the road as a result of not making an egress from the situation your top priority, I'm sure the official story of what happened would have favored whatever bullshit story Bubba and his friend in the unsafe-load truck chose to make of it.

Nope, didn't cross on the double-yellow, I waited for a good spot to legally pass.  

The scary thing was realizing how far out in the middle of nowhere I was.  It was a good 15 minutes before I saw another vehicle.  If anything had happened, those two could have come up with any story they wanted.
Anyway, one more reason to avoid lower Alabama.

[JIMLARCH]

I've had similar incidents occur when riding a bike in the U.S.  Most of them were  because I apparently  upset the driver ahead of me by crossing on double yellows (even though most were not at speed and done in perfect safety).  I find the further South in the U.S. you go the more prevalent this is.

Although, I was riding in the Adirondacks one time and a couple of red necks in a pick up truck decided that it would be fun to try to tail gate me at 90 mph.  That lasted the 2 gear changes it took to leave them behind.

I can't for the life of me understand why some people get so quickly upset at a motorcycle trying to pass them.

[et]

..... where the only other two bikes I saw for three hours were Harleys.

....

Maybe he was a recently layed off Harley Salesman.  

[KenH]

I've had problems on the Ozarks. Some people are just assholes.

[M.Brane]

 I had an asshole try to run me onto the opposite shoulder once while I was passing. This was in an area I know well so after I got past him I wicked it up, and found a spot to hide out. Followed him at a distance into town enough to see what neighborhood he lived in.

 When I went there later in different vehicle, and discovered where he lived I didn't have the heart to do anything more. Where he lived was punishment enough for him, and likely why he had such an attitude problem.

[Brent099]

I can't for the life of me understand why some people get so quickly upset at a motorcycle trying to pass them.

It just reinforces that nagging feeling they have in the back of their mind that life is passing them by.

One of my friends who spends a lot of time living abroad always notes when he gets back stateside how drivers here always seem to take being passed as some sort of personal offense.  Sensitive American ego at work, I guess.

[JIMLARCH]

 I had an asshole try to run me onto the opposite shoulder once while I was passing. This was in an area I know well so after I got past him I wicked it up, and found a spot to hide out. Followed him at a distance into town enough to see what neighborhood he lived in.

 When I went there later in different vehicle, and discovered where he lived I didn't have the heart to do anything more. Where he lived was punishment enough for him, and likely why he had such an attitude problem.

Why do I feel that if it had been the other way around and he found where you lived, that he would not have just let it pass?

[jfurf]

I wonder if it's a regional thing. I've been riding a lot in West Virginia this summer and it seems like people here (and in the North Georgia mountains) are WAY more bike-friendly than the "lowlanders" in the Atlanta area and more southern parts of Georgia.

Here in WV, as long as you can see far enough ahead, even car drivers will pass on the double yellow. No one wants to be stuck behind some old coal miner's 77 Chevy pickup, so passing seems to be accepted. Plus people here seem to always yield to the motorcyclist at stop signs, which is nice.

[atypical1]

I contemplated pulling over and grabbing a handful of gravel, then trolling along until he caught up, but I decided I was having too much fun to let that asshat back into my world.  Besides, at that point he was already a mile or so behind me.

Best decision you could have made. Water off a duck's back.

james

[JoeRider]

I really dont understand it.  

I have seen truckers swerve in gravel with bikes behind them.  


even worse:
(past post)
 Re: Who rode today?
« Reply #257 on: April 15, 2009, 12:42:58 pm »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rode today and had an incident where a cager that changed to a left lane decided to abruptly swing right back into the right lane and PUSH me into the shoulder.

I had to gun it ,while he was pushing the rear of my bike with his front bumper, 3-4 feet, and boy did I want to incapacitate him.  

I could simply not belive he could not see me or know I wa there after riding behiond me over a mile with headligght modulators.  I think it was intentional.

I didnt stop for fear of

[jamesgino]

Anyway, one more reason to avoid lower Alabama.

I hope it's not this bad down there. I have to move there later this year!

[DosEquis00]

If someone gives me the finger it is no big deal but if someone tries to physically harm me with their vehicle this is another story and I will and have followed them so I could get my point across.

[Zerosum]

Wow.  That's more vicious and sociopathic than anything I've seen here in Baltimore.  Yeah, people are idiots, aggressive drivers, innatentive, etc.  But I've never had someone try to KILL me before.

Isn't it funny that some people have this notion that "country folk" are all nice?  No, they can be animals too.  It's just the lower population density that makes it feel safer.  I think it all boils down to socioeconomics.  A west Baltimore ghetto, a shack in southern Alabama... people in both places will tend to be nasty, feral subhumans for whom life is worth exactly Jack and Shit.

[leveredge]

I had a guy not want me to pass him last Fall. Red SUV. East of the Hudson in NYS. I was passing on a dashed centerline on a down hill and he sped up while I was out in the on coming lane. I mean he floored it! No way that was by accident.
WTH. I got the hell out of there. He backed off when he had to take the right hander at the bottom of the hill. I could hear his tires squeal! I suppose it would have been my fault if he took to the ditch?
It really upset me after I was thinking about it. Then I was riding mentally upset. Made good time when I was pissed off but that's not a good way to ride. I try to let things go while on the roads but it's not easy sometimes.

[et]

I wonder if it's a regional thing. I've been riding a lot in West Virginia this summer and it seems like people here (and in the North Georgia mountains) are WAY more bike-friendly than the "lowlanders" in the Atlanta area and more southern parts of Georgia.

Here in WV, as long as you can see far enough ahead, even car drivers will pass on the double yellow. No one wants to be stuck behind some old coal miner's 77 Chevy pickup, so passing seems to be accepted. Plus people here seem to always yield to the motorcyclist at stop signs, which is nice.

It's not a regional thing. It's more of an urban vs. rural thing. I've been all over the lower 48 states and much of Canada.
And I've noticed people drive more aggressive the closer you get to a major city. Be it NY, Atlanta, LA, Calgary, etc ....

My two worst experiences were people deliberately trying to run me over.

Northern suburbs of Philadelphia on Rt 611 near the Naval Airbase, at a stop light, at the bottom of a long hill.
In the right lane are two small dump trucks towing trailers carrying backhoes. And in the left lane are a cellphone talking woman in a top-of-the-line fullsize SUV (Suburban ? Escalade ?) and then me on my motorcycle.  When the light turns green those dump trucks could only do 15mph. The cellphone talking woman in the SUV would not go any faster even though the speed limit was 45. Apparently she didn't like me being behind her; because several times she slammed on her brakes trying to get me to rearend her. And every time she did that I could see her shaking her fist at me and/or flipping me the bird.
Eventually she did get past those dump trucks. At which point I used the right lane to pass her. Where upon she swerved her SUV towards me trying to run me off the road. (And again she gave me the bird.). About 2 miles further along the road at another stop light she swerved her SUV across two lanes and the shoulder aiming her SUV directly at me. The only way I avoiding being run over was to run the red light.
She scidded her SUV to a stop half way into the intersection just missing opposing traffic.

Hackettestown, NJ in the parking lot of a shopping mall.
A guy in a Mercedes using his Blackberry pulls out from the side just as I'm going around him. We nearly collide. We stop only inches apart. I'm positioned with my right mirror next to his driver side mirror, motorcycle still in gear, my left hand holding in the clutch, and my left foot on the ground supporting the entire weight of the motorcycle.
From underneath my helmet I yell at him. He swears at me AND grabs my right arm. The next 20 seconds or so are spent with me trying to pull away from him and him still holding my arm and swearing at me. During this struggle my right arm/elbow eventually hits him in the face giving him a bloody lip. As he touches his lip; I get enough time to ride way. But as I get a few car lengths away he proceeds to chase me with his Mercedes. Actually he wasn't chasing me so much as trying to run me over ! I escaped by riding between the only two parked cars in the whole parking lot, hopping the curb, and riding away.

[PirateT7]

what I find interesting about Brent's incident is that it wasn't the driver of the truck that he had passed - it was the one in front of him that was so angry. What, so now you can get pissed about the oder of traffic behind you, too!?

[evilted]

This is one of the big reasons I finally opted to get an Autocom:  I want to be able to dial 911 while riding.  

Pulling over and calling 10 minutes after something has happened doesn't seem to capture the interest of 911 dispatchers, I've noticed.

And speaking of goons, I doubt Alabammy has a monopoly.  I thought Mikem9 started a thread in Region 5 some months back about a north Georgia loon in a red truck, but I can't find it.  Here's a corresponding thread he started on the same at ADVrider:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=428955&highlight=mikem9

Nope, didn't cross on the double-yellow, I waited for a good spot to legally pass.  

The scary thing was realizing how far out in the middle of nowhere I was.  It was a good 15 minutes before I saw another vehicle.  If anything had happened, those two could have come up with any story they wanted.
Anyway, one more reason to avoid lower Alabama.

[LoVel]

You should try passing the red necks where it aint legal.  They expect it in the legal areas.  You gotta pop em hard an fast or forget about it.  

I have noticed up in the rural areas of Vermont and New York people actually move over to let motorcycles pass.  Some people in the south feel it is a direct challenge to their manhood if someone manages to pass them.  Look out for the pick up trucks.  The larger and louder the truck the smaller the brain.

Nobody ever said driving in south Alabama would be easy.  They didn't just make up the crap in Easy Rider and Deliverance out of their heads. Yes I realize Easy Rider is Louisiana and Deliverance is the North East Georgia mountains but the people aren't  much different

[Zerosum]

This is one of the big reasons I finally opted to get an Autocom:  I want to be able to dial 911 while riding.  

Hell, a small video camera would be great, too.  With it, you could prove Attempted Vehicular Homicide.  I've often wished for a teeny-tiny helmet cam that's writing to a flash drive.  Whenever you pull the flash drive, you've got a video record of the last x hours.

[Brent099]

Hell, a small video camera would be great, too.  With it, you could prove Attempted Vehicular Homicide.  I've often wished for a teeny-tiny helmet cam that's writing to a flash drive.  Whenever you pull the flash drive, you've got a video record of the last x hours.

I'm kicking myself now, because I did have a helmet cam, I just didn't have it turned on at the time because the road was so boring and battery life is limited.  I wanted to turn it on just to capture the crazy amount of dust that the first truck was spraying everywhere, but I have to open the visor and take my attention off of the road for a second to start recording.  I didn't want to open my visor and let all that sand get in my eyes and on the camera lens.

I hope it's not this bad down there. I have to move there later this year!

It's not that bad.  Some of my favorite people in the world live in Mobile, AL, so there are some real quality people there to offset the psychos.  It is really hot and humid down there, though.  And I didn't see many curvy roads in that area...

[Zerosum]

I think I should create this helmet-cam product.  

It would be really small, cheap, and easy to use, with a power cord that connects to your bike via an SAE connector.  The camera doesn't need to be great, just high enough resolution to read a license plate.   And it needs to be SIMPLE, with a single start/stop button and a USB port.  It would normally be recording all the time, streaming an endless loop of video to a small flash drive.  When you have something you want to record, hit the button and go plug it into a computer to read it.

[OT rambling...]

I think that this is the future of "civility": everyone keeping everyone else in line with video cameras and the internet.   I was watching the news the other night... there's this website were women who are sexually harassed on NYC subways post pictures of the perverts flashing them.  They've actually gotten guys arrested, thanks to cell phone cameras.  It got me thinking... we all need cameras.  Everyone filming everything that everyone does.  Through modern technology, we'll return to the "small town", pre-industrial concept of everyone knowing what everyone else is doing.  Too much anonymity is a bad thing, IMO.

[Karmak]

You should try passing the red necks where it aint legal.  They expect it in the legal areas.  You gotta pop em hard an fast or forget about it.  

I have noticed up in the rural areas of Vermont and New York people actually move over to let motorcycles pass.  Some people in the south feel it is a direct challenge to their manhood if someone manages to pass them.  Look out for the pick up trucks.  The larger and louder the truck the smaller the brain.

Nobody ever said driving in south Alabama would be easy.  They didn't just make up the crap in Easy Rider and Deliverance out of their heads. Yes I realize Easy Rider is Louisiana and Deliverance is the North East Georgia mountains but the people aren't  much different

Had a redneck in a pickup trying to ram me from behind in the Catskills and in the Adirondacks only once (maybe twice) has anyone pulled over for me.  Must be my bad Karma.

[motomem]

Stuff blowing out of vehicles ranks up there with cell phones with me.

The only time I can remember getting road raged was at a 4 way stop a woman was on the cell phone. She just set there talking and it was her turn to go but she didn't. So I went. As soon as I pulled in the intersection she flipped me off and started cussing. I didn't think I had done anything wrong.

You did the right thing just going on about your business.

[freecatSV]

Wow.  That's more vicious and sociopathic than anything I've seen here in Baltimore.  Yeah, people are idiots, aggressive drivers, innatentive, etc.  But I've never had someone try to KILL me before.

Isn't it funny that some people have this notion that "country folk" are all nice?  No, they can be animals too.  It's just the lower population density that makes it feel safer.  I think it all boils down to socioeconomics.  A west Baltimore ghetto, a shack in southern Alabama... people in both places will tend to be nasty, feral subhumans for whom life is worth exactly Jack and Shit.

Interestingly, my worst experiences with unprovoked road rage are both in Central Maryland, one in Laurel, and one on the BW Parkway, maybe near Glen Burnie if I remember correctly. Anyway, in Laurel there's a stretch of 198 that's now 4 lanes the whole way, but several years ago it was 2 lanes, then expanded to four for a mile (because of a couple of interesections) then back to two, then back to four and eventually six lanes. So I was following a buddy on a bike and a pickup truck gets between us, more or less cutting me off to do so, but not maliciously, just in the usual thoughtless cager way. We're talking about a major surface road with stoplights and all. So the road expands to four lanes, he moves into the left lane, and I pass him on the right to catch up to my buddy. Well this guy freaks out, tailgates us a while when the road goes back to two lanes, then passes both of us as fast as he can when it goes back to four lanes, flipping the bird and yelling something I wouldn't have been able to hear even without a helmet on. He's really weaving and rocking that truck as he does this, then he slams on his brakes in front of us. We just went around him and filtered at the next light to get him behind us for good.

A few miles later we stop to turn left and I notice he's not far behind us now. As he goes through the intersection I flip him the bird, and I swear it was a miracle he didn't crash in his wild efforts to return the gesture and yell out the window. Maybe it's wrong, but I really wish he had crashed. I still have no idea what made him so mad. He cut me off, and I waited until I had my own lane to get ahead of him.

The worst injustice I usually have to endure here in the Smokies is that tourists won't use turnouts (I'm guessing they don't know what they're for, even though there are usually signs saying "Slow vehicle turnoff 500 ft"). The locals, mostly, pull off the road and wave me by as soon as they notice. I've heard stories everywhere, though. Some people just really hate bikes.

[02Tac]

I think that this is the future of "civility": everyone keeping everyone else in line with video cameras and the internet.  

We could just allow (as the Constitution permits) law abiding person to carry.  An armed society is a polite society.

[Brent099]

We could just allow (as the Constitution permits) law abiding person to carry.  An armed society is a polite society.

That very thought was one of the reasons I chose to just keep riding rather than retaliate.

[JoeRider]

I too often contemplate mounting a gun, turrets, maybe a few mini harpoons.  I guess the video cam would be enough for presecution, but I would like to be alive to do so.  I am appauled at what some people do.  Thers needs to be more commercials promoting cage safety and a side line of harsh p[rosecution iof you do harm or atemp to harm a motorcyclist.
Maybe that why the roads are like a war zone.   For us oldies, you may recall the arcade game paperboy-- obstacles, dogs, etc, now, the stakes are higher






We could just allow (as the Constitution permits) law abiding person to carry.  An armed society is a polite society.

[ragtoplvr]

This weekend in SE Kansas I came upon two cars running under the speed limit.  Each car had a teen age boy driver with Girlfriend, never a good combination!  

Pass the first car, lead car floors it.  On coming traffic.  stuck between, they they slow way down, turn around laughing.

Nice thing about quiet pipes, they will not hear when you down shift and get on it, that extra 1/2second of time is useful.

They got hung up in traffic, and I got far away.

I hope their girlfriends were not impressed.  If they were, well, they get what they deserve.

It is a small town, and I grew up there.  I might just drive around and look for the cars.  Will be really interesting if I happen know one of their dads.

Then Sunday in Arkansas, came up on a herd of HD that try to keep you from passing.

It did not work.

Seems the hotter it gets the worse people act.

Maybe that is why I like winter riding so much.

Rod

[evilted]

Yep, I agree -- this is another solution I've considered.  But it has the disadvantage of recording to local media, which means it's not going to do you any good if you end up dead or incapacitated after an incident and the recording is appropriated by the miscreants who precipitated the whole thing.

Now, if you could come up with a way to stream this data to a remote datastore, even in remote areas lacking cell phone coverage, that would be something.

I think I should create this helmet-cam product.  

It would be really small, cheap, and easy to use, with a power cord that connects to your bike via an SAE connector.  The camera doesn't need to be great, just high enough resolution to read a license plate.   And it needs to be SIMPLE, with a single start/stop button and a USB port.  It would normally be recording all the time, streaming an endless loop of video to a small flash drive.  When you have something you want to record, hit the button and go plug it into a computer to read it.

[OT rambling...]

I think that this is the future of "civility": everyone keeping everyone else in line with video cameras and the internet.   I was watching the news the other night... there's this website were women who are sexually harassed on NYC subways post pictures of the perverts flashing them.  They've actually gotten guys arrested, thanks to cell phone cameras.  It got me thinking... we all need cameras.  Everyone filming everything that everyone does.  Through modern technology, we'll return to the "small town", pre-industrial concept of everyone knowing what everyone else is doing.  Too much anonymity is a bad thing, IMO.

[evilted]

With respect to the sort of firearm a motorcyclist is likely to be packing while riding, I don't really see how this helps.

Brandishing a firearm while riding is an empty threat -- motorcycles in motion are not good gun platforms insofar as effective use means the rider is at least temporarily compromising his ability to maintain speed & direction or effect evasion in the not unlikely circumstance that the cager tries to effect a collision.

And, if you brandish, you've made a deadly threat, which an armed cager may view as an invitation to now use his own firearm against you in "self defense."  

We could just allow (as the Constitution permits) law abiding person to carry.  An armed society is a polite society.

[Jes_VFR]

 I had an asshole try to run me onto the opposite shoulder once while I was passing. This was in an area I know well so after I got past him I wicked it up, and found a spot to hide out. Followed him at a distance into town enough to see what neighborhood he lived in.

 When I went there later in different vehicle, and discovered where he lived I didn't have the heart to do anything more. Where he lived was punishment enough for him, and likely why he had such an attitude problem.

Hey, I look at it this way. Gesture at me all you want, Yell/Scream obsenities at me if it makes you feel better, but come over and try an harm me and You just earned the polished turd life award.
It would not have mattered how bad his home was, If he had tried to take me out and I found out where he lived, he would find out what a shit life really was.
Little really annoying shit would just suddenly find him, you know un-explained flat tires, mystery dead batteries, expanding/contracting engine oil, unexplained cracked windows, constantly shocking door handles, funny (as in bad) smells inside, Shorting horn button, Random no park windshield wipers, mystery coolant leaks, drifting transmission neutral switch, Self starting engine, Etc.......


I've had un-provoked road rage while on the bike.
Passing is something that a lot of people just can't stand.

If you think it is bad on a bike, try passing on of those left-lane hugger/blockades, while towing a trailer.
I can't tell you the number of people that got pissed when their sitting in the left lane of I-95 doing 65.xxxx mph and pull past them on a hill towing the VFR on the trailer.
Especially the VA and MA drivers.

GIVE UP and ask someone how to GET A LIFE!!!!.

[burnergold2B]

 Not to get into a Southern bashing thread but....in the middle of nowhere Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, etc., is where you will find A LOT of methamphetamine labs. It's not just an America thing. That being said...

  It takes all kinds. While most folks are as even keeled and sensible as the next regular joe, you are really probably lucky to have survived the incident with a couple of bonafide psychos. Screwing with other folks on the road like that is actually a sport for them to talk about @ the bar. One word;sidearm.    

It just reinforces that nagging feeling they have in the back of their mind that life is passing them by.

One of my friends who spends a lot of time living abroad always notes when he gets back stateside how drivers here always seem to take being passed as some sort of personal offense.  Sensitive American ego at work, I guess.

[Snowbird]

Seems the hotter it gets the worse people act.

Yeah, heat is a warning, as are holidays. July 4th is a real danger. People get pissy when it's hot, and people disappointed by high expectations of holiday merriment are dangerous. Those are the times I've had the most trouble.

But some people are asses and think causing a motorcycle to crash is like tripping someone walking. These people deserve killin' but in the end you're better off just letting them go. The cops are useless unless there's contact.

Most of these asshats will only pick on riders when they're alone. That's why bikers group ride.

[02Tac]

With respect to the sort of firearm a motorcyclist is likely to be packing while riding, I don't really see how this helps.

Brandishing a firearm while riding is an empty threat -- motorcycles in motion are not good gun platforms insofar as effective use means the rider is at least temporarily compromising his ability to maintain speed & direction or effect evasion in the not unlikely circumstance that the cager tries to effect a collision.

And, if you brandish, you've made a deadly threat, which an armed cager may view as an invitation to now use his own firearm against you in "self defense."  

 I meant the society as a whole.

[H.C.D.]

Was out riding yesterday and had a tractor-trailer do the speed-up-swerve manuvre on me as I was trying to pass him.  I've also noticed an uptick in seemingly unprovoked road rage around here the last two or three months.  Had an incident Sunday afternoon while driving to a local pizza parlor with my wife and kids in the car.  Apparently, Billy-Bob in the big Chevy pickup behind me didn't think 55 in a 45 was fast enough for him, but yet also didn't think that changing lanes and passing me was something he could do, either. (it was a 4 lane road) Was freakin 3 feet from my rear bumper.  When we came to the next light and I got into the left-turn lane he wound up next to me, and honked his horn and started yelling something.  I just went on about my business.  You can't fix stupid.

If that fuker had hit me and hurt my wife and/or kids, however, I would not have been responsible for what happened to his redneck, inbred adz shortly afterwards.....

[Rincewind]

As I'm overtaking the truck I see that there is a large diesel pickup about 200 feet in front of the 18-wheeler.  Not wanting to pass both in one go, I do a quick head check to make sure I've left enough room between myself and the 18-wheeler and then swing back into the right lane.  

I would have just passed both of them in one swoop.  I don't understand your reasoning to duck behind the pick-up truck.

[Brent099]

I would have just passed both of them in one swoop.  I don't understand your reasoning to duck behind the pick-up truck.

I just generally try to avoid passing multiple vehicles in one go when they're spread out.  My main priority was just to get ahead of that stupid truck and get the dust off my visor and out of my eyes.

Now if I had gone ahead and tried passing both at once, who knows if things would have gone any better.  We know billy-bob already had the intent to do something harmful.  I doubt he would have been more receptive to a me blasting past him as opposed to harmlessly passing the truck behind him.

[FredE]

I read through this thread earlier and thought I'd been lucky lately - no overtly dangerous maneuvers from the cagers for quite a while now.

Ah, but then this happened: I'd put a new set of Avon Distanzias on the Husky 610SM, and went out early to scrub them in.  As I was headed to some more appropriate roads for the task, I was doing a slow weave to start wearing off the release agent/build up some heat/start the scrub-in process.  I was moving at a leisurely, legal pace on a well-marked fairly wide and straight two-lane secondary road.  I was NOT crossing the center line - not even close to it.

A small beat-up import pickup approaches, and as the driver (white-haired old hillbilly looking codger) nears - he swerves completely across the double yellow, then back into his lane.  I hit the brakes and headed for the fog line.  I didn't know what he was doing - trying to scare me or trying to actually hit me.........or just reacting to something I was unaware of.  The new tires and the heavy braking (trying to scrub off speed in case I had to abandon the pavement) combined to produce a very scary two-wheel slide - I nearly went down.  

As Crazy Clampett passes, I can see his face contorted in anger - he's screaming at me.  Damn he was close to impacting me/my bike..............I was so shook up, I didn't even consider following him.  I just sat there on the side of the road, waiting for my hands and feet to stop shaking enough to continue on.

I was already thinking along these lines (after reading the first posts in this thread) before this happened: People do not need a good or valid reason to direct their rage at another motorcyclist/motorist.  It's all about them - they may be having the worst day of their lives (or just be a nut case), and you just happen to be in the line of fire when the cork pops off.  So BE CAREFUL at all times, and be aware of your surroundings and who's shaning the road with you.  That vigilance may give you the second you need to avoid one of these psychos.

[county]

Shoulda just passed both vehicles at once, absent that andabsent a left turn signal you shouldla been going around when he began slowing.Whenever possible a middle finger should be responded to with the throttle.

[sterling]

I thought it was just kids in sporty cars that hated being passed!

Was coming home from a weekend trip to the mountains on I-40 Monday, riding next to the fast lane in a 65MPH zone, bike was sitting at 75, the speedo being about 5MPH off makes it around 70, or 5 over. It's me and a friend of mine behind me, and this kid in a Mustang is in the lane to our right. I was leading, and as I got closer, he starts to speed up. Fine, no problem with me, I want to merge right anyway, a rest area is coming up around Burlington, and I want to stop. Wait, there is a car in front of him, so he slows, just as we were trying to merge. Great, this asshat now thinks we are playing with him, so he floors it, and cuts left in front of me. Problem is...there is a pickup in front of me, maybe 100ft. or so, and we were closing in. I slam on brakes, by buddy slams on brakes, the Mustang guy slams on brakes (I hope the cars behind me did too!), apparently checks his left, and speeds off around the truck into the fast lane, then turns back right in front of the truck, all the way into his original lane. Yah! He won! He beat a coupla guys on bikes trying to go take a piss! What a story!

We duck into the rest area. I really have no idea what to do in these situations, traffic wasn't really heavy, so there were outs for us, but it's so hard to guess what they will do, do we speed up, slow down, maintain speed? We tried maintaining speed and merging into his original lane, which apparently seemed to make him more aggressive. I guess we should start dropping a few gears and seeing if we can get these kids in over their heads, kind of a natural selection, but the ending might not always go as planned

[mept]

I don't know if this counts as road rage, but I had some meth-head redneck in Robbinsville,NC start acting alot like a road rager while stopped at the gas station in town.  My friend was on a HD, but I had the nerve to be riding a VTX.  So this nut-bag is mumbling shit like "jap crap" "POS Honda" etc etc.  So he is doing this all the while holding one hand on some kind of machette stuck in his pants.  Eventually his toothless alcoholic old-lady yells at him enough that he gets in his 1984 POS dodge minivan and drives off.  Being in the Army for almost 20 years at the time, I was not to worried since I always have a plan, but I was surprised when about 10 people poured out of the service station asking if they wanted me to call the cops, and started to tell me all about said loser nut bag.  Apparently he is well known in this area, and is quite the nut job.  Definately makes me consider getting my CC permit, just in case things might escalate further then words.

[sterling]

Well, you were riding a POS Jap bike, dammit! :P

All kidding aside, I found it strange that the locals poured out of the store after he left, sad

My dad was in the Army, and they taught him some wicked things. I only put my finger in his face once, for instance. I think with that sort of training, as long as you were not sucker punched, you could have held the upper hand during the entire scuffle, if there were one.

[servicerifle]

Shoulda just passed both vehicles at once, absent that and absent a left turn signal you shoulda been going around when he began slowing.Whenever possible a middle finger should be responded to with the throttle.

I had to quote County to see what he said,  (LMAO, ok I really didn't) but I cant' believe I actually agree with him.

I have NEVER had a serious problem with roadrage, and certainly not "unprovoked" road rage.  Perhaps it's because I have 0 problem with multiple vehicle double yellow passes, but I just don't wait around for someone to get upset.  Seriously, why are you waiting around inviting trouble?   You ARE on a 1000 I-4 aren't you?  Good grief, what'dya buy it for, to pose?  Twist that throttle and stop bitching to us.

[freecatSV]

Was out riding yesterday and had a tractor-trailer do the speed-up-swerve manuvre on me as I was trying to pass him.  I've also noticed an uptick in seemingly unprovoked road rage around here the last two or three months.  Had an incident Sunday afternoon while driving to a local pizza parlor with my wife and kids in the car.  Apparently, Billy-Bob in the big Chevy pickup behind me didn't think 55 in a 45 was fast enough for him, but yet also didn't think that changing lanes and passing me was something he could do, either. (it was a 4 lane road) Was freakin 3 feet from my rear bumper.  When we came to the next light and I got into the left-turn lane he wound up next to me, and honked his horn and started yelling something.  I just went on about my business.  You can't fix stupid.

If that fuker had hit me and hurt my wife and/or kids, however, I would not have been responsible for what happened to his redneck, inbred adz shortly afterwards.....

In my cage, with its seatbelts and airbags and all that, I tap the brakes just enough to make the lights come on, but not to slow down. On the bike, if I don't feel like going faster, I just slow way down. Then the aggressive driver's impatience, and his desire to go fast, trump his dickish desire to tailgate me, and he passes. The other option is to slow down a bit, then leave him in the dust. But you have to be fairly sure that there won't be a radar gun pointed at you for a while.

[Brent099]

I had to quote County to see what he said,  (LMAO, ok I really didn't) but I cant' believe I actually agree with him.

I have NEVER had a serious problem with roadrage, and certainly not "unprovoked" road rage.  Perhaps it's because I have 0 problem with multiple vehicle double yellow passes, but I just don't wait around for someone to get upset.  Seriously, why are you waiting around inviting trouble?   You ARE on a 1000 I-4 aren't you?  Good grief, what'dya buy it for, to pose?  Twist that throttle and stop bitching to us.

I've never had a problem with road rage either until this incident.

In retrospect, it's easy to say that I should have passed both at once, but under the circumstances at the time that was not the best option.  The road may have been clear, but my visibility was not.  Like I said, there was a huge cloud of thick dust coming from the first truck.  It took a while before I could actually see enough through the dust to make the pass.  I just wanted to get away from the first truck so that I could flip up my visor and see clearly.  The second truck was not close to the first one, if he hadn't slammed on his brakes there would have been way more than enough room for me to move back into my lane without affecting either one.

Yes, I could have passed both at once, but don't you think there is just as much, if not more of a chance for him to react aggressively to a multiple vehicle pass than to a polite and safe pass of the vehicle behind him?  I mean, I was consciously trying to NOT be the guy that upsets the locals by blasting around at 100+ speeds just because I'm on a fast bike.  It's always worked well for me except for this one time.

If I had known all of this beforehand of course I would have made the same decision you guys are offering, but I didn't, so I went with the series of options that seemed the safest as the situation unfolded.

Who knows, maybe I should just screw trying to be a courteous rider.

[TuffguyF4i]

My solution (if i can't pass the car in-front of me) for tailgaters, is to drop a gear and constantly speed up and slow down.  Tailgaters can only tailgate if their performance matches yours.  Clearly, you have to be careful doing this, but it really does work.  After about 10 attempts keeping up they are sick of punching the throttle and just back off.

[ragtoplvr]

All kidding aside, I found it strange that the locals poured out of the store after he left, sad

My dad was in the Army, and they taught him some wicked things. I only put my finger in his face once, for instance. I think with that sort of training, as long as you were not sucker punched, you could have held the upper hand during the entire scuffle, if there were one.

Only 1 problem with that, what if he is ex military, he could even be ex-Special Ops.  You can not assume anything when you plan, you must know.  The only options are avoid a confrontation and get the heck out of there or attack with so much overwhelming force that the opponent is instantly unable to respond, whatever that means.  Anything else is a recipe for disaster.  In a civilian environment, the second option usually means you will be in jail, at least for a while.  

Avoiding a fight is always the best option.

Rod

[M.Brane]

My solution (if i can't pass the car in-front of me) for tailgaters, is to drop a gear and constantly speed up and slow down.  Tailgaters can only tailgate if their performance matches yours.  Clearly, you have to be careful doing this, but it really does work.  After about 10 attempts keeping up they are sick of punching the throttle and just back off.

 I don't fuck with anyone on the road. I'll either pass them with extreme prejudice, hang back, or even pull off somewhere. Whatever it takes to diffuse the situation with the least amount of risk.

 If I do pull off, and they double back I have no doubt I can leave them looking at a rapidly disappearing taillight.

[jay547]

I've had problems on the Ozarks. Some people are just assholes.

i posted this in september of '07 after the central stn meeting at eureka springs. it's the only time i've ever really had a problem and both instances were on the same day.

some locals were screwing with us on 23. a grossly obese blonde and her 6'5" inbred-looking boyfriend. we caught up to them, kept our distance, didn't tailgate, but they insisted on straddling the double-yellow line so we couldn't pass, speeding up in the passing zones, and frequently running their windshield washer. my g/f wanted to report them but i just let it go. another guy on 62 would hit his turn signal about every ten seconds, i guess to keep us behind him. this lasted for about five miles until we got around.

[Snowbird]

In retrospect, it's easy to say that I should have passed both at once, but under the circumstances at the time that was not the best option.  

Everyone here knows exactly what you should have done even though they were not there as you reacted to the situation you saw unfolding ahead of you. STNers have this amazing gift usually only seen in Monday morning quarterbacks. Soon they'll be parsing your sentences and proving just how wrong you were.

If only we could harness all this knowledge. The mind reels....   

[evilted]

I don't really see that you made any mistake here.  For the 1 in 10 clowns like mister diesel pickup here (I'm still not really clear on what his motivation was for jamming on his brakes, and I doubt anyone else is here either), the other 9 would more likely have been offended by a multiple car pass at high speed.  Not that they would have tried to run you off the road, but it may have only further reinforced certain misinformed biker stereotypes in their head.

Nah, I think you made the right call initially, and another when you decided to avoid further confrontation.

I've never had a problem with road rage either until this incident.

In retrospect, it's easy to say that I should have passed both at once, but under the circumstances at the time that was not the best option.  The road may have been clear, but my visibility was not.  Like I said, there was a huge cloud of thick dust coming from the first truck.  It took a while before I could actually see enough through the dust to make the pass.  I just wanted to get away from the first truck so that I could flip up my visor and see clearly.  The second truck was not close to the first one, if he hadn't slammed on his brakes there would have been way more than enough room for me to move back into my lane without affecting either one.

Yes, I could have passed both at once, but don't you think there is just as much, if not more of a chance for him to react aggressively to a multiple vehicle pass than to a polite and safe pass of the vehicle behind him?  I mean, I was consciously trying to NOT be the guy that upsets the locals by blasting around at 100+ speeds just because I'm on a fast bike.  It's always worked well for me except for this one time.

If I had known all of this beforehand of course I would have made the same decision you guys are offering, but I didn't, so I went with the series of options that seemed the safest as the situation unfolded.

Who knows, maybe I should just screw trying to be a courteous rider.

[Uncle Bob]

I was trying to think of the last time someone did a brake check on me....I'm glad to say its been a long time.

Back when I was stupid, I had a van brake check me, but I don't recall what led up to that.  I wasn't surprised by it, so there was something going on up to that point.  So I passed him and then brake checked him, then took off.

You really do think you're immortal when you're young.  I'd never dream of doing that now

[Black Ice]

I've seen more than a few in my day.

The last time was just the other weekend.  Me and the wife were in the cage(I know, I suck, we had stuff to carry) coming back from Flagstaff, and decided to pass a slow-moving pickup on a two-lane road.  No harm, no foul--I just wanted to go faster than he was.

Oncoming traffic, in the form of a Harley rider, appears over the horizon...and this inbred, big-tired, small-dicked motherfucker speeds up, leaving me no choice but to wring that little Corolla's neck to get in front of him.  My wife told me she saw the driver laughing.  

Not that I'd encourage vigilante violence or anything, but I'd really like to have a fist-to-face conversation with that piece of shit.  He put us and a biker in danger for no other reason than proving to his ugly-ass bitch that he's a Real Man even if he hasn't been able to get it up in a year or so.  

[servicerifle]

Sure, what I said could be read as "hindsight is 20/20" but really, it does seem to work.  

[Craigart14]

We could just allow (as the Constitution permits) law abiding person to carry.  An armed society is a polite society.

That explains all those books on etiquette coming out of Texas and the incredible courtesy one finds in America's inner cities.

Craig

[spaz_666]

Don't escalate it. You're on a quicker, faster, more agile vehicle. Just get the hell outta there, Or you could be the one who ends up in police custody.

[stevent]

You did the right thing by just not reacting, any car vs cage (or pos pick-up) confrontation is going to end badly for the bike. Following someone home is not a good idea either unless you do it right, ie find the general area then come back in the car to narrow it down. A few boxes of roofing tacks in the driveway and street do wonders and are a gift that keeps on giving specially if the driveway is gravel.

Shit like this is why I usually pack when I ride, even though I've been very lucky and had no road rage issues. I ride defensively and have out grown my aggressive riding but it's comforting to know if shit hits the fan I have a very powerful reply. The only time I can remember being fucked with was a car load of kids tailgating me on my chopper back in the '80's, I used to carry a used tranny sprocket in my coat pocket, these weighed 2 or 3 pounds and were a little bigger than palm size with 26 teeth. I took off my glove and pulled it out of my pocket intending to flip it over my shoulder into their windshield, as soon as I pulled it out the kid nailed the brakes and backed waaaaaay off.. that was the only time I remember being fucked with.

I think it's always better to try to avoid trouble if you can but like the tweeker with the machete in the gas station, sometimes it finds you. In a situation like that I would be in fear of my life and if the guy actually pulled it out and made threatening moves towards me would be within my legal rights put a couple of .357 hydrashocks in his guts. The law does allow a law abiding citizen to defend themselves with whatever means necessary if you have justification to be in fear of your life.  

[county]

Who knows, maybe I should just screw trying to be a courteous rider.

Yep, courtesy (On the road and on a m/c) is overrated.  I'd say it's about number 3 or 4 on my list of priorities on a bike.

[Benesesso]

Way back ~'75, my buddy and I were on the NY State Thruway, just north of Spring Valley.  I was on my much-modified '72 Kaw 750 two-stroke triple, and my bud was on a 450 DOHC Honda.  We missed the exit and pulled over ~ 1/4 mile past it.  Rather than go ahead a few miles to the next exit, we decided to turn around and ride back on the shoulder.

Hadn't gone more than a few feet when we saw an approaching trucker ~1/8 mile in the right lane move over onto the shoulder, aiming right at us.  We had to pull off the shoulder onto the grass to miss this a-hole.  

But this was well before cellphones, and I had taped a couple of large steel nuts to my clubman bars-two turns of masking tape.  As he went by, barely 10' from us blasting his air horn, I ripped one of the nuts off and let him have it right in the windshield.  He slammed on the brakes, but it took a long time for him to stop and we were back to the exit ramp before that. Adios.

I still ride with steel nuts or old spark plugs--haven't used one in quite a while now.

[ragtoplvr]

You know those "hows my driving call 800 XXX XXXX this is truck number XXXX things they paint on the back of a truck.

I had a route truck put me in the ditch once.  I was out running an errand at lunch.  He was going towards me, passing up hill, I got a surprise as I topped the hill.  He happened to be making his delivery where I worked.  They will not unload at lunch.  So he was there when I returned.  I checked the time when he arrived.  It matched, this was the idiot that ran me off the road.  So I called the 800 number.  Ended up talking to the owner.  

He was fired that evening when he returned to the lot.

Rod  

[SpitfireTriple]

There are pig-ignorant drivers in every country. I will say though, reading the posts on ST-N and ADVrider, you do seem to have it worse in the states.  Why that should be, I have no idea.

I think I should create this helmet-cam product.  
...

I think that this is the future of "civility": everyone keeping everyone else in line with video cameras and the internet.   I was watching the news the other night... there's this website were women who are sexually harassed on NYC subways post pictures of the perverts flashing them.  They've actually gotten guys arrested, thanks to cell phone cameras.  It got me thinking... we all need cameras.  Everyone filming everything that everyone does.  Through modern technology, we'll return to the "small town", pre-industrial concept of everyone knowing what everyone else is doing.  Too much anonymity is a bad thing, IMO.

When they were introduced, I didn't like the idea of CCTV cameras in British town centres. But they seem to have reduced the incidence of (mostly drunken) yobbery. I have no problem with the cameras now. Speed revenue cameras, however, are a different matter

[evilted]

Americans don't have duties, just rights.  Including the right to shameless ignorance apparently:

http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/PressRelease.asp
 

There are pig-ignorant drivers in every country. I will say though, reading the posts on ST-N and ADVrider, you do seem to have it worse in the states.  Why that should be, I have no idea.



When they were introduced, I didn't like the idea of CCTV cameras in British town centres. But they seem to have reduced the incidence of (mostly drunken) yobbery. I have no problem with the cameras now. Speed revenue cameras, however, are a different matter

[et]

Americans don't have duties, just rights.  Including the right to shameless ignorance apparently:

http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/PressRelease.asp
 

The fact that NY and NJ are on the bottom doesn't surprise me one bit.
The influx of NY drivers moving to NJ was one of the reasons why I moved out of NJ.

Have you ever seen NJ's written exam ? It has nothing to do with how to drive.
Instead it was all about the cost of tickets.
A co-worker of mine had a wife who had moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic.
She showed us the questions on her written exam. They were all questions such as: "How much is the fine for parking too close to a fire hydrant ?"
No questions such as: "Who has the right of way at an intersection ?" Or: "What should you do when approaching a stopped school bus with it's red lights flashing ?"
My co-worker; originally from New York; said his test in NY was about the same as his wife's NJ test.

Plus; NJ allows people to take the written exam in as many as 50 different languages. WHY ?! All the roads signs in NJ are in English !

[Craigart14]

Don't anyone jump on me for posting a bicycle story here; just thought I would add my two cents about road rage.

So one day I was riding along a four-lane bypass around my little town.  I'm in the right lane, even though I know there's an interstate on-ramp not far ahead.  I've always found that drivers become confused if a bicycle is in the correct lane (that would be the left lane in this case), so I generally stay in the right lane.  A pick-up comes up behind me.  I look over my shoulder and see his right blinker. He's heading for the on-ramp.  He had plenty of time to pass me on the left, then change lanes again to make his turn onto the ramp, so I'm puzzled by this over-the-top, well, courtesy. So, being a courteous soul myself, I move into the left lane and prepare to return what I am sure will be a courteous wave.  Look over the shoulder again and he's right behind me, closing fast.  I duck back into the right lane.  The bastard's right behind me again.  I move as far as I can to the right, and he rips by me on the left, cutting hard back to the right for the on-ramp.  I'm braking, trying to keep the rear wheel from coming up, and manage to miss t-boning the truck by inches.  Really, it's so close I can count the hairs in his old lady's mustache.  Her raised middle finger has a hangnail.  He goes down the ramp and I screech to a stop, shaking my fist at him and shouting.  He stops at the foot of the ramp and gets out of his truck, shouting back at me.  I'm so pissed I'm wishing I had a gun.  Just before I head down the ramp to beat some sense with this homicidal maniac, I realize that a: I'm wearing cycling shoes that are nearly impossible to walk in, let alone fight in; b: I'm a wimpy college professor and his frickin' wife has a mustache; c: he probably does have a gun--pick-up trucks in Georgia generally coming standard with gun racks.  So I make one last rude gesture, then go on my way, steaming.  He does the same.

It wasn't until later that I figured it out.  Every time I changed lanes to get out of his way, he thought I was trying to block him.  I was wondering why he was being such an asshat, and he was wondering why I was.  It should have been funny; it would have been had we been walking through a mall or something.  But in what should have been a harmless misunderstanding that lasted only a few seconds, he got pissed enough to run me off the road--if his truck had clipped my front wheel I would be sending this message from the Other Side--and I got pissed enough--or nearly so--to get in a fight with a complete stranger.  True, I thought he had just tried to kill me, while all I did was hold him up a few seconds.

I wonder if he ever figured it out.  Or if he's got it in for long-haired, bearded guys on bicycles.

Craig

[SpitfireTriple]

Americans don't have duties, just rights.  Including the right to shameless ignorance apparently:

http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/PressRelease.asp

quote from that link:
the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test released today found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans - amounting to roughly 41 million drivers on the road

Only 20%? I'm impressed. I doubt whether 80% of British drivers would pass a driving test if they had one tomorrow. I include myself in this doubt. Especially if irrelevant questions like the ones mentioned by evilted were included. Though, as far as I'm aware, there's nothing about the price of parking in the current British test. But the British test does include questions on braking distances. Okay, this is important, vital actually, but I'm not convinced that learning a list of (metric) stopping distances makes you a better driver. It's more important to develop a feel for braking distances than to learn a table of numbers parrot-fashion.

Oh, and whilst in America you have the nonsense of being able to take the test in 50(!) languages, you do at least stick to English for the road-signs. In certain corners of Britain, signs are now in a foreign language spoken by less than half of one per cent of the population. All of whom can speak English perfectly. Well, apart from a funny accent and a few funny phrases. All in the name of Political Correctness.  "Every time I see "Gweff" written on the road it takes me an extra fraction of a second to realise that they mean "Slow".  As all motorcyclists, and most drivers know, a fraction of a second can be critical.

[SpitfireTriple]

Don't anyone jump on me for posting a bicycle story here; ........ I'm so pissed I'm wishing I had a gun...... I thought he had just tried to kill me, while all I did was hold him up a few seconds.

I wonder if he ever figured it out.  

There's a lot of this about. Because we feel (and are) vulnerable, we become paranoid. (On a motorcycle this is healthy of course). We sometimes feel that others are deliberately out to get us. The truth of course, is that most incidents of this kind are about lack of concentration, misunderstanding, and misjudgement.

[Craigart14]

quote from that link:
the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test released today found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans - amounting to roughly 41 million drivers on the road

Only 20%? I'm impressed. I doubt whether 80% of British drivers would pass a driving test if they had one tomorrow. I include myself in this doubt. Especially if irrelevant questions like the ones mentioned by evilted were included. Though, as far as I'm aware, there's nothing about the price of parking in the current British test. But the British test does include questions on braking distances. Okay, this is important, vital actually, but I'm not convinced that learning a list of (metric) stopping distances makes you a better driver. It's more important to develop a feel for braking distances than to learn a table of numbers parrot-fashion.

Oh, and whilst in America you have the nonsense of being able to take the test in 50(!) languages, you do at least stick to English for the road-signs. In certain corners of Britain, signs are now in a foreign language spoken by less than half of one per cent of the population. All of whom can speak English perfectly. Well, apart from a funny accent and a few funny phrases. All in the name of Political Correctness.  "Every time I see "Gweff" written on the road it takes me an extra fraction of a second to realise that they mean "Slow".  As all motorcyclists, and most drivers know, a fraction of a second can be critical.

I'm not sure I could pass the written test.  40 years of driving have convinced me that many of the rules aren't exactly relevant to real world situations.  Besides, I don't much care what the fine is for parking too close to a hydrant; I'm not parking anywhere near a hydrant because I know what they're for.  My MC test way back when asked me how high I could legally have my handlebars.  I still don't know the answer.

Craig