Why YSK: Your signals alert other drivers as to what you’re doing; a signal bulb costs a few bucks and is usually a quick and easy repair to do yourself (consult YouTube); and any place that regulates motor vehicles probably requires you to have working turn signals. So knowing when and how to replace a burned out signal bulb can save you an interaction with law enforcement.
Adding: You can diagnose which bulb is out by turning on your hazard lights and checking all four corners of your car. It’ll be the one not flashing.
This is also probably a good time to check your brake lights. Put something heavy on the pedal or have a friend hold it down and check that all three brake lights illuminate. Replacing a burned out brake light is also usually pretty cheap, quick, and easy.
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Yeah. You are the asshole here
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You are going out of your way to mess around with someone at speed in a public motorway. Is it your responsibility to teach every driver? No. Your actions are adding higher risk as you are changing lanes, speeding up, slowing down around a vehicle that is staying in their lane. The justification you are using is you are better than them, while you’re are creating more risk than they are. So you might be annoyed at someone in the middle of 3 lanes of travel, an adult would not increase risk for the sole benefit of their ego.
You’re the asshole
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Speeding up to pass, then slowing down is being an inconsistent driver. Inconsistent drivers that are changing speeds and lanes, are more of a danger than someone maintaining speed in a single lane. Given that you are passing them then slowing down to get behind them, there is the possibility that you are also in violation of the law. So claim you are teaching them while also possible violating the law is silly. The main issue is you are going out of your way to cause a situation and increase danger. Someone maintaining speed in a single lane is way less dangerous than what you are doing. You feel justified because it annoys you. Most likely you also violate the law when driving, like we all do at times. So this is just vigilante justice to boost your ego. It is not safe compared to someone sitting in the middle lane.
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So one wrong necessitates your vigilante wrong to prove they are wrong. That is all your ego. Everything you have said to justify your position shows you’re the asshole. They maybe incorrect in what they are doing. You are going out of your way to be an asshole. If they don’t know what they are doing is wrong, then how would they know the intent of your actions? They might think your drunk or a road rage nutter about to shoot them. Not the smartest tactic to boost your ego
Also depends on the location, where I live it isn’t illegal to stay in the middle lane.
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LOL
Oh boy, RIP to the inbox of anyone arguing with this guy.
I mean, you just described driving like an asshole, what more do you want?
You’re kind of an a*hole for doing the latter. But I get it. Middle lane hoggers are amongst the worst. And I have no good solution to offer.
Honestly the best solution, as with most traffic annoyances, is just to quietly curse at them as you go about your day and let the police deal with enforcing the laws.
When trying to teach someone a lesson, you might get the occasional person who was absent-mindedly being annoying, but most people are just going to come away from the interaction thinking YOU are the asshole. Not to mention the person who is being an asshole on purpose looking for confrontation…
I think you summed it up pretty well. It’s a bit easier said then done to let go of your rage… But in my experience it’s exactly like you said. I’ve kinda accepted that like 40% of people just can’t drive. Any you just got to stay away from them and decide if you want to care. You can’t change anything about it and the next a*hole or bad driver is already waiting for you anyways…
That is literally defensive driving.
One of the really annoying things we inherited from reddit are the crowd of idiots who think the entire world can be summed up in a driver’s ed manual. Sometimes that manifests as “Driving 5 miles below the speed limit is the safest way to drive” and sometimes it manifests as… a jackass who is flooring it and swerving around traffic while flashing them with their signals because… they are maintaining the flow of traffic in the middle lane of a three lane highway?
The reality is that it doesn’t matter what the law is (unless a cop is visible). The other person getting a ticket is a weak consolation when your car is totaled and you are potentially crushed by all the god damned monster trucks on the road.
Defensive driving is about protecting yourself and, by association, the other drivers on the road. If the flow of traffic is that everyone is going 90 on a 60? You should at least be going 80 if you at all feel safe doing so because the alternative is increasingly aggressive drivers around you and an increasing likelihood of getting rear ended by someone who decides they want to pass on the right without looking ahead.
And same here. I’ve more or less learned to ignore turn signals when I am at an intersection. People aren’t turning right until they slow down and ACTUALLY start turning right. Doesn’t matter if their blinker is on because it might have been on for the past ten miles or they realize at the last second it is not the turn they want.
And that also applies to highway. I genuinely forget what the driver’s ed manual said, but let’s say that you are supposed to try to stay in the rightmost lane unless you are actively passing and the idea is that the left lane is for passing the people passing in the middle lane (that sounds wrong to me but, again, no idea). Fuck the law. Because people will randomly slow down 30 miles at a time when they start trying to read the signs to figure out what exit they are in. And “the rules of the road” are generally that the right lane is for getting on and off the highway, the middle lane is for traffic moving “at speed”, and the left lane is for passing… or driving 20 below the speed of the middle lane because you are the best driver ever but forgot what you were doing.
At the end of the day: it is about minimizing collisions (and, increasingly, lunatics with guns taking pot shots at you for existing). And a jackass who is swerving around and trying to shame people by flashing their blinkers is doing the opposite of that.
+1 on the “I’ve more or less learned to ignore turn signals”… That was about my second driving lesson. I tried to turn right onto the main street. Someone indicated to turn and I thought I’m now supposed to go. And my driving instructor would always let you make mistakes and then wait for the last moment to brake very abruptly so you really knew you fucked up. In that circumstance, it wasn’t clear if the other driver was turning into the street I came from, or if they wanted to get to the gas station 30m ahead. Since I got my driver’s license, I always wait if other people slow down and really do the thing they signal for.
I agree that driving isn’t always like in the textbook. On the other hand many rules are there for a purpose and some safety regulations really are written in blood. You have to use your brain.
I don’t know how highway’s work where you live. There are countries/states that allow you to drive on arbitrary lanes. Or allow overtaking people on their right. Usually, doing what other drivers expect you to do, isn’t the worst idea 😉
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Sure. Maybe I was a bit dramatic when I typed the reply. I know how annoying some other drivers are and how they make it worse for everyone. I wouldn’t even be mad at you if lost your cool. And I’m not against using indicators or flashing your lights at people. That’s kind of why we have them in the first place. Only thing I’d have a problem with is brake-checking people or intentinally getting too close. Flashing or honking to signal them to get out of the way is pretty alright in my eyes.
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Agreed 100% there!
The problem (and probably why you’re getting downvoted) is that physically using your 2-ton vehicle travelling at freeway speeds to coerce someone into doing something is not really communicating. It’s not a method prescribed by any kind of authority or training, and is actively discouraged by most! Sure it may get the result YOU want in the moment, but communication requires understanding.
Personally, if someone were to overtake me and then slow down intentionally, I’d take that as them being an inattentive driver at best, and a passive-aggressive jerk at worst.
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Yeah, it’s illegal here in Germany. It’s likely considered a form of coercion and two wrongs don’t make a right. And it’s dangerous.
Same thing to get super close to other cars on the left lane, flash your lights and have your indicators signalling to the left constantly. It’s kind of a dick move. And bad accidents have happened because of this. But it happens every day on the streets.
I don’t participate in that behaviour. I can’t be angry at the world the whole time. And there are soo many bad drivers out there. It’ll take you ten minutes and the next person pulls to the left lane without having a look into the mirrors. Or can’t drive straight and on the right lane like they’re supposed to do. And I don’t think it does anything to lecture those middle-lane hoggers. In my experience they’re mostly way past learning anything.
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StVO § 3 Absatz 2 says you’re not allowed to drive slower than necessary if it impedes traffic.
StVO § 4 Absatz 1 says you’re not allowed to thwart (is that the right word?) someone unless you’re forced to do. (And you got to keep your distance.)
It’s an immediate 20€ fine, or 30€ if it caused an accident. (Bußgeldkatalog: “Tatbestand: Sie bremsten als Vorausfahrender ab, ohne dass dafür ein Grund bestand. Es kam zu einer Gefährdung des nachfolgenden Verkehrsteilnehmers.” – Fine: 20€, caused an accident: 30€)
Next step after the 20€ fine is they treat it as coercion and that’s not a fun accusation any more.
You’re right. The police rarely is around if you need them. And things like that happen every day. And nothing will happen in 99 point something percent this happens. And it’s difficult to prove. But they will prosecute people for that, on the occasion that they become aware and have the time to deal with that.
a) You needlessly get less distance between the both of you. Now there isn’t enough space to respond to other things without crashing into you or doing dangerous maneuvers. b) The other driver could drive shittily because of a reason. Maybe they can’t drive. Or are 95 years old. Or are playing with their phone or paying attention to their GPS and that’s why they’re hogging the middle lane and doing stupid stuff. They’ll crash into you because they literally won’t see you in front of them. Or they look up from their phone, catch sight in the last second, get startled and start swerving around. This has happened and happens from time to time. c) You do this to a truck/lorry and the emergency brake system will get activated. Spilling the driver’s coffee and causing yet more trouble for the traffic behind them.
You don’t want to be the cause for an accident on the motorway (or anywhere). And if you do that in traffic, you’re going to annoy a few ten thousans of people who are now going to be late at work or waste their time.
And I don’t think you should compare risks without also talking about the circumstances. Overtaking is a necessary maneuver. Brake-checking someone isn’t. Even if it were the same amount of risk. It could be avoided and generally, risk should be minimized. (And overtaking someone is not allowed unless you drive significantly faster than them. So that scenario would be illegal, too. (StVO §5 (2)))
That’s also what bothers me. You either are in a hurry and want to drive fast. Or you have all the time to lecture people and do loops. I’m always fascinated by people who combine both. They want everyone out of their way, but then suddenly muster up lots of time to do things like that. I usually honk at people or flash the lights and then I put ‘the pedal to the metal’ and get on with my day.
If it helps, there may be some merit to this. But that hasn’t been what I’ve experienced. People will just get annoyed and either defiance kicks in and they shut down, or their belief that they’re right and everyone else is wrong solidifies even more. And most people don’t respond well to tit for tat, anyways. (Slowing them down after they slowed you down.) Honking at them is in my oppinion a better way to make them aware. (This of course has limitations, too. I’ve seen people drive without lights at night, flashed my lights at them for like a minutes straight. And they either didn’t notice or thought I’m the idiot. I had to pull up next to them at the next traffic light and tell them… Some drivers are just weird…)
Yeah. I believe so, too. I’ve yet to visit the UK. Somehow I never got around to do so. Germany regularly gets praised for it’s standard of driving. And our perspective and what kind of things we have to deal with is probably very different. However, I think the percentage of idiots in the population should be around the same. And I’m basing a good amount of what I’m saying on rush hour, because sadly that’s often when you have to commute or get somewhere. And I live in the city, so that’s another thing. I usually take the train, so I’m dealing with other issues on a daily basis.
That would upset many people and be very unpopular in politics. But I think it’d be a good idea. And everyone would benefit from a safer environment. They could also force people to do a first-aid course every now and then. I’ve witnessed 2 bicycle accidents this year and for some people the last time they heard about first-aid was 30 years ago when they got their drivers license. Just my oppinion.
[Edit: Sorry you get down-voted so much. Maybe I don’t agree with some things. But I don’t find it offensive or outrageous what you’re saying. Just be careful on the street and do things with sanity and reason.]
Hah, that’s funny though