Bullies Are Mean
I drive to work in a semi-busy two lane freeway. When driving on a semi-busy road, the slow lane/fast lane rules don’t work too well. The left lane is no longer just the passing lane, it is the lane where people drive slightly faster than those in the right lane…but usually we, in the left lane, can’t drive too fast because there are other cars in front of us (who by the way, are driving about the same speed as others in the left lane).
But then comes the mean old bully. Sometimes the bully is a Mercedes and other times the bully is a minivan. They come up really fast behind you and want you to merge in the the right lane so they can move ahead another hundred feet and bully the next guy into scooting over. It makes me feel like we are back in junior high and in the lunch line. We are all waiting for our hot dish surprise, but someone comes up and cuts in front of you - even though you are the last person in the line. They have to wait just as long as you, but they got to eat 15 seconds sooner. It is annoying to scoot over in line when the result of their bulling does not get them anywhere except for one place ahead.
I also have to wonder about the ethical nature of letting the bully zoom by. Should I enable the driver by scooting over, thereby allowing him to break the law (and I mean break it worse than my 5 miles over the speed limit )?
Either way, I agree with the kids at my school - bullies are hard to stand up to.
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Driving in rush hour is a whole new skill for me. Yesterday as I was waiting to turn left onto 35W, I thought I’d be the tricky person this time and zoom up in line and then at the last minute pull infront and merge onto the highway. But instead, the guy I tried to pull infront of would NOT let me in! And, instead of being mad at him, I was actually proud that he stuck his ground. Maybe even a little jealous that he had no qualms about being the jerk that doesn’t let the bully merge. I mean, I’m just barely learning how to do that myself, with all the bullies that try to merge infront of me.
As you probably remember, my usual “passive aggressive way” is to not pull over and slow up a little bit - hey I am still going the speed limit, so why should I have to move over to the slower lane? Mom warns me that in our day and age, I might end up getting shot or rearended - she is probably right. So - I don’t recommend the passive aggressive method.
I suggest mind games. When the bully approaches from behind I tell myself: “Move over, he’s rushing a pregnant woman to the hospital!” or “She is going to wet herself, and how embarrassing would that be?”
Or I use personal experience. I say “Hey, remember when you were being the jerk? You were rushing off to work because the dog puked on the carpet just as you were walking out the door . . .and of course, you had to clean it up then and there because who leaves dog vomit on the carpet all day? And so it is with this guy/gal–the dog barfed, and now if he or she doesn’t get to work on time, s/he is going to get written up for it. Do you want to help or not help? So move over, already!”
I do realize that this may or may not help you.
I have analyzed my behavior a bit more since my post and have noticed that I will be more likely to immediately switch lanes for a person if they slowly approach as opposed to speed up really close to me and visibly slam on the brakes. If they are going that fast I might take the passive aggressive route and make them wait a bit until I pull over - just because I don’t think they should be going THAT fast!
Katy and I have named different types of drivers on the road. for instance, the driver who comes up quickly and wants you to move is called The Pusher, because he is trying to push you forward and over. The people who drive “in the zone” instead of using cruise control tend to be Speeder Upper Slower Downers because they gauge their speed on your speed, which is really obnoxious when you are trying to pass them. To beat a SUSD, you pull a Pinch, wherein you speed up until they have a slow car in front of them. They then have two options: slow down or try to speed up and pass you. The Pinch happens when you go faster than they do and they have no option but to slow down. Then there’s the Rabbit; a Rappit is a speeding car that is in front of you that you mimic the speed of from a distance. That way, if anyone gets pulled over, its them (it also helps in that you can watch their brake lights to tell when a police car is hiding).
There are many other names and driving moves, some nicer than others, but I try to drive with the Driving Lane Passing Lane mentality. This gets thrown off in 3-lane areas specifically on 694 and around Madison, but it works as a general rule.