I don't drive fast, I do the speed limit in town and 8 mph over on the interstate. Well actually autobahn living in Germany. Anyways being in Germany I call it the snow plow factor, I have people pull over when they are driving the other way. They seem to just want to get off the road when I pass by. The cars over here are smaller than the ones in the states. They almost seem to panic when I am around. I even have pedestrians move back on the sidewalk. Like I said I abide pretty strictly to the rules when I drive. You have to being in the military, or you lose your license, and if the accident you were killed in was your fault due to neglegent driving, good luck getting your life insurance. I won't get into what I drive, if you don't know look it up in the gallery. Oh yeah think of how a snow plow works, that is what traffic looks like when I drive by.

CJ

 

I need to move! Around the Washington, D.C. area, bigger doesn't mean squat. I drive a F250 around town and get no respect from smaller vehicles. Then I go to work and drive a F650 with a 24' box, and I get even LESS respect. I firmly believe that someone has snuck a big sign that reads "F*** Me" on the front bumper of the 650. Just the other day I had someone pull across in front of me. Honda pulled out approximately 80 yards in front of me. Trust me, those air brakes got a workout, along with the horn! Thank you Ford, for equipping the system with anti-lock!

 

I never let trucks "intimidate me." In fact, I like it when they get right up on my mini-van's rear bumper with their headlights in my mirror. This causes me to slow down, because I'm dialing the police and trying to drive safely at the same time. I usually have five little kids in the car to worry about, so I do my best to remove the "road bullies" to a safer vehicle, like a bicycle. It doesn't matter which lane I'm in either, they always find me. Once the license number is called in, the driver can explain to the reconstruction inspectors later in the week why his headlights are causing accidents, and why his bumper height is illegally high, tires protruding, etc, as they remove the number plates from his vehicle and hand him an application to apply for a new permit after his vehicle is brought within specs. Now when I'm in my truck, I try to remember how I may make other drivers feel, and back it off a little. Don't like to seem a dick, but that's how it is.

 

iv seen the same thing in most all my trucks most all people GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY and i personaly like the feeling!!





01 sport trac 4x4 black
97 explorer xlt AWD v8 blue
91 f-250 xlt lariat 4x4 blue/gray
84 ranger xlt 4x4 black
94 explorer xlt 4x4 purple/gray
96 explorer limited 4x4 green

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that fullsize truck headlights generally DEADCENTER the back windows of most cars!

For which I don't feel a bit guilty, since I've dealt with enough glare in my eyes from oncoming idiots with their high-beams on...

(Oops, did I just open up another whole can of worms? Yep, I sure did...)

 

ya know i musta say i am very shocked to hear some of you say how you disrespect your fellow man the way you do purposely tailgaiting to get them to move out of your way. And all of you who really beleive that anyone in the passing lane that is not speeding is a newcence is a dangerous moron. If the speedlimit is 65 then anyone going 65 is just fine with me and should be for you. Now i consider myself to be a safe driver i do speed usually 5 over and 10 over on the freeway but anytime someone is going 65 then i slow to 65 and stay far back enough that if they need to brake i have time to break i may not like going 65 but it is the law and its the law for a reason SAFETY What really gets me going is those inconsiderate A$$ wholes who think that riding my a&& at 75 in a 65 will make me go 85 you know what i like to do is find a big rig going at least the speed limit and ride right next to him until the jerk backs off which never happens i always give up after 5 miles because of the people behind him that i feel bad for that want to speed and dont tailgate but what really pisses me off is the dumba$$'s that have the nerve to call me dangerous for doing this and have nothing to say about the guy thats right on my tail doing 75 he is the dangerous one not me. I have a thing i do under 50 MPH where once they get up on me and i mean like literally less than 2 feet from my bumper i stay on the accelerator with my right foot (going 5 over limit) and lightly push the brake with my left which is enough to turn on my brake lights but not enough to actually make the pads touch the rotors this always works and ive never had one come back up on me. There have been many of time i wanted to be a cop in an unmarked car just to pull these people over and KNOCK some sense into them!!!!

 

If you are driving 20mph over the speed limit in the "fast lane" and someone won't get out of your way, I say good for them, as long as they are doing the speed limit they have every right to be in that lane and shouldn't have to move for someone that shouldn't be doing what they are doing in the first place. If that happens to me, I let them go around.

 

>I also speed on the freeway and get irritated at people in
>my way, but you have to look at these things differently.
>Just because you and I want to drive faster than everyone
>else does not mean they should have to get out of our way.
>If the speed limit is 55 and the right lane is filled with
>people doing 55, you can't complain about some guy doing 60
>in the left lane being in your way. He is doing the same
>thing we are, just not as fast.

>When I can move to the right without altering my speed, I
>will do so, but I will not merge into 55 mph traffic when I
>am doing 80 and have to hit my brakes to let you pass. Why
>is it OK for me to hit my brakes to let you by, but not
>alright for you to hit your brakes and be patient? You will
>have to be courteous and patient, and wait your turn.

We think alike on this although I usually don't drive 80. I do get a little nervous when a truck or SUV comes up on my bumper where I no longer can see the head lights, even more so with a big rig. I stay away from those big rigs if I can. I also agree with the application of speed thing. On some of our southern California freeways if your trying to maintain the speed limit, you may be the one to cause an accident. It's the ones cut in front of other drivers, yapping on the cell phone, or don't slow down or speed up even, with road conditions and traffic that cause the problems. Going down the freeway at 70+ mph with a bunch of communters following closely will prepare you for NASSCAR. Sometimes just trying to maintain a safe distance between you and the car in front of you is a challange. If you leave enough space for a car to fit in between you and the car ahead, chances are someone will squeez in there. So you back off and it happens again. Pretty soon you are the driver going slower than everyone else because you keep slowing down to maintain a safe distance. It would be best for such a driver to stay to the far right as to not cause problems with other drivers use to these conditions. In this case it would be unrealistic to try to maintain a good safe a distance in the left lanes. But you do what you can. You have to buck up and get in there if you want to keep up. So I can understand that sometimes a car or truck following close behind me does so in order to keep up the pace in certain conditions. People who do this every day, twice a day, develop a skill for driving in those conditions. Does it make me nervous? Sometimes. But like the man says, "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen".

When I was stationd in San Diego and we lived in El Cajon I had to commute on the interstate between the two cities, about 25 miles, back when the speed limit was still 55. If you wern't doing 75 and near bumper to bumper, you were the problem. A bumper sticker I found on some cars read, "Pray for me, I drive 94".

 

I try to be a polite and courteous driver, but now a days it seems if you cut someone some slack they stick it to you, soooo....

Occasionally I will come up on some joker blocking(Clear lane ahead) the passing lane/fast lane whatever you want to call it. I will gradually come up on them and hope they get the message and move over so I and usually 4 or 5 others can pass. If that doesn't work I will scooch up a bit closer. I know bad boy, unsafe etc, but I ALWAYS get out of the way when I am slowing things down, I expect others to do the same, especially if they can see a line of cars behind them.

At night my best method is to drive as far to the left in the lane as I can. This has the effect of having one head light in their left hand mirror and one right in their main mirror. I don't even have to get too close. Eventually they get the picture and move. Some times I have seen determined drivers try to stay in the lane while covering the mirror.

So yes I am evil and I occasionally do get a bit too close but like I said, I always get out of the way and try to go with the flow. I only do these things to people who do not return the common courtesies.

Just my opinion,

Jim Henderson

 

I've had several old, ugly trucks over the years.
The thing I have noticed is that no matter how fast your driving, many people think they should pass me, (after all, old ugly trucks are always slow, right?)
And almost invariably, they slow down after getting past. I live in the boonies with almost all two lane roads here. Next thing these drivers know, there's an 8 inch channel iron mumper with a bent up licence plate that reads FORDZLLA in thier rear window.... they tend to get out of the way after that

 

No no - that's: "Pray for me, I drive OLD highway 94!"...

I should know, I lived in San Diego for 20 years and 94 ran right by the house. Ever get a chance to drop in at DOGPATCH USA? It's way up in the foothills and if you miss the tavern, you won't find the town - so don't blink. There's a real nice S-turn just east of it...

Ramona is another notch in your drivers handbook. There's a reduced speed in the town, and at the east end is a sign that could have been better written; it says simply: "END SPEED LIMIT"...

Figure how that gets translated in the average boneheads mind! It might as well say "WELCOME TO THE AUTOBAHN", and keep in mind the shoulder of the road goes straight up on one side, and straight DOWN on the other.

But California (& I have been from one end to the other of it) has absolutely nuthin on Virginia, at least in the Tidewater area. These people invented GRIDLOCK, and after drivers ed in high school, I think most people graduate to TAILGATE 101 in the local community colleges.

If anything whatsoever is going on in the opposite lanes, everyone slows down to look! It doesn't matter what it is, it could be somebody changing a tire. But the chain reaction results in twenty mile an hour speeds on interstate highways and bridge tunnels!

Anyone from Hampton and Norfolk here? Say it ain't so!!!

And god forbid a trooper pulls someone over on a divided road! For ten miles after, everyone slows down to EXACTLY 5 under the limit. As if the cop is going to drop his book and say "THERE GOES ANOTHER'N!!! L'ES GIT 'IM!!!" and cross through the concrete deviders "in HOT persuit...".

Yep, I can handle Southern Cal any day...

(Written while taking a break from moving barbells & weights)

 

Hey haroutd!! YES SIZE DOES MATTER!!! I get the same response in my truck. But when I`m in my wife`s Jeep it all goes down the drain. And for all of you drivers that your little booger hurts, stay on the right side of the road, out of the way so us faster drivers can PASS!!
It`s usually the fools that talk on their phones, read newspapers, and apply makeup while driving that cause the wrecks anyway!!

`82 F-250 Custom** 4x4 ** 351W ** 39.5--15x16.5** SS- TSL`s ** 6" Lift ** Granny 4-speed**** If you can`t run with the BIG DOGS , stay on the porch!!!

 

I would like to know what you THINK the drivers that you tailgate are afraid of. It's not like you're actually going to hit their car or anything. If I saw a big pipe-bumper in my rear-view, inches from my car, I'd be down-right happy, and maybe even cause it to tap my vehicle. Then the fun begins. Terrorizing some fifty-year-old secretary going to work, maybe, but most of us feel like the bumper-sticker says, "Hit me, I can use the money."

 

Tidewater?! Go just a bit farther north, to the Capitol Beltway. After all those people pass tailgating class, and flunk out of obey the red light class, they all move up here and play a game called 'Let's see how bad we can mess up traffic flow'! You're oh so right about the ten mile back-ups to watch a person change their tire. When something 'really big' happens, like someone actually taps somebody else's bumper, then the real fun starts!!!

 

If size matters I must be Rodney Dangerfield. 40 ton (+ or - a couple hundred pounds)and 60+ feet of rolling thunder and I have less respect than a ***** wearing a wedding dress. I know,I know we're profesionals. Must be egotistical, bullying your way around in a 4 ton lite weight.