Offensive Driving
My wife says that since moving to the Washington area, I have become a much more aggressive driver. I argue this change is out of necessity, and not entirely a bad thing. Let me give you an example of what she would consider aggressive driving, and you can tell me what you would do, in this situation.
Saturday, we were on interstate, coming home from a family date–lunch at Red Robin, shopping at Target–and suddenly traffic came to a standstill. It was literally crawling at an almost imperceptible level, so much so that I concluded after a minute or two that there must have been a terrible accident and traffic was completely stopped.
My wife called 511 on the cell phone and confirmed that there was a bad accident at exit 180, about three miles ahead.
I knew that if I could make it to exit 180, I could get off interstate and travel home on a rural two-lane highway. You probably know how frustrating it is to sit completely stalled in traffic, with an exit almost in sight. Well, three miles isn’t “almost in sight,” but it was close enough. Do you pull out and drive down the shoulder to the exit, or do you wait impatiently in line, blood pressure building every minute?
I decided I was not going to wait. I pulled out and began driving carefully down the shoulder. Some people did not like this and pulled their vehicles over to try to block me, but I kept going. Three miles.
And when I got to the exit, I found that both lanes of interstate traffic were being rerouted off the same exit I wanted to take. I was embarrassed. If I had known, I probably would have waited in line. I had to cut off a tractor and trailer in order to get back in line.
Do you think I pissed some people off? Oh yeah. No doubt.
But I saved us god knows how many minutes of waiting. Traffic was backed up for three miles!
“I’ve just never known you to be so bold,” Lynn said.
“Well, in the city you make your own breaks, because no one is going to be generous to you,” I said.
And that is true. I’ve become used to cutting people off in order to change lanes. I don’t give a damn that there is maybe a two inch gap between two cars; if I need over, I start moving over, squeezing someone out and making room for myself.
It’s dangerous to some extent. The majority of accidents I see on the Washington beltway are rear end collisions.
But this is the way you have to drive. The alternative is to be overly cautious, which can be dangerous in itself.
We’ve all seen them: the driver who insists on obeying the 55 mph speed limit, even though everyone around him is driving 70; the driver who is paralyzed by fear as he tries to get on the beltway, or any heavily travelled interstate, and who comes to a complete stop at the end of the entrance ramp.
In my opinion, these people are more dangerous than those of us who drive fast in order to keep up with traffic, and who take chances when we change lanes or get on the interstate. To some extent in congested, heavy-traffic areas, you do have to drive like you own the road, otherwise it will own you.
What do you think?
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I drove at the speed limit in D.C, and I do in Atlanta. Yes, it infuriates people. Too bad - their problem, they’re the ones willing to risk a speeding ticket. The situation does make me rather angry as well - our governments are behaving irresponsibly in my opinion by so poorly moderating the roadways (and having outdated speed limits) and just using that as a revenue stream. Regardless, I don’t otherwise drive defensively and I am not “more dangerous”. That’s a BS rationalization (IMO) that I used before I decided to stop speeding. I still drive aggressively, I just stay within the limits of the law when doing so now.
Yes, there are people that drive slowly and poorly and are dangerous - but they’re in large part only really dangerous if you are driving dangerously when you come upon them. Your example of the entrance ramp, is of course dangerous (and in my drivers’ ed we were taught that was illegal and one of the most dangerous things we could do - maybe because it’s a scary thing for inexperienced drivers to do?)
You lay out the options as aggressive driving, or the alternative of overly cautiousness. I think you’re missing a middle ground, where some are more or less aggressive / defensive, but all aim for obeying the law and keeping us all alive.
I should add that traffic was a major factor in us leaving the area and moving somewhere else. Despite what I was told, too, Atlanta actually is significantly better. There are still traffic problems, they just don’t compare to D.C. though.
Oh, and I’ve been in the situation you described. I generally don’t drive on the shoulder though unless the exit actually is in sight, and even then it’s usually the case you described where a large number of others are getting off also. If not, and traffic is completely stopped, I will actually drive on the shoulder a short bit. You might just say I’m legalistic though, but I don’t think I’m overly so.
Comment by Step — Monday, 7 May 2007 @ 10:46 am
I just realized I might have sounded like a big jerk in my last comment. I don’t want to re-read it to find out.
Seriously, take my comments for whatever they’re worth. Just sharing my own experience in response to yours.
I remember one really bad road rage incident I had going up 95 from exit 126 to 166… someone blatantly cut me off in a red sports car (squeezing into a space less than one car length between me and the car in front of me).
I lost it - completely.
I went onto the shoulder(on the LEFT side!) in refusal to let them in, and sped next to them. We essentially fought for the next 15 miles or so (which went by very fast, I might add) - I got in front of them and repeatedly trapped them in using other vehicles. There were multiple instances of shoulder driving and highly illegal and dangerous behavior by both parties. I’m pretty sure I ruined their day, and I was definitely trying to do everything I could to delay them or keep them behind me.
On the plus side, I wasn’t bored when I got to work.
I remember being fairly proud of my Honda Civic against whatever sporty car they were driving - and later ashamed of how completely I lost control that morning. It was bad. That’s when I realized I needed to re-evaluate my driving habits and possibly living situation.
Comment by Step — Monday, 7 May 2007 @ 11:07 am
Oh man. I’m a pseudo-aggressive driver, so I’m a bad one to ask.
What’s better, being a jerk or being cautious? I think we usually try to rationalize from where we stand.
Though I agree with Step–probably a combination of jerk/cautiousness is best.
However, I do think there’s a danger in going significantly slower than traffic. Not slower than the inevitable asshole who’s going 90. But if traffic, and especially if it’s very light or very heavy, is going, say, 75, and you’re tooling at 55, everyone comes up on you very fast. Sometimes it inspires unsafe lane changes or slamming on brakes and neither of that is good. Interstate travel was built for (ha!) continous, monontonous, steady-speed traffic. Sudden maneuvers can be dangerous.
Dunno. Fresno sets their speed limits to what speed the majority of the traffic goes. Which is kinda like letting the inmates run the asylum. Most everywhere you can go 50, except for the residential streets where the developers have put in 5,000 speedbumps and 2,000 switchbacks. The freeways… forget it. Mean speed (outside of cities) is 75-80. If you don’t like it, get out of the way. Except in the desert. Mean speed is 90. Sweet jesus. But it’s usually for naught. The majority of the traffic — and there is always a LOT of traffic wherever you go — will go 80 for a few miles, then get bottlenecked behind someone going 60. 80… 60… 80… Not very efficient. And probably dangerous.
That said, Matt, you are aggressive as hell. On the shoulder for three miles? I’ve never done it. However, I was aggressive in Indiana, and now in California I have to become a Grade A jerk in order to get anywhere. I was cutting off people like you wouldn’t believe the last time I was on the 405 in L.A. But you have to. For one thing, the freeways are very poorly marked, and you never know when you’ll have to high-tail it across four lanes to get on your exit, cutting off people the entire way. And for another, you have to be properly positioned to be smack in the middle of the inevitable L.A. traffic jam.
Oh, and as a last note–in L.A., a lot of their freeways don’t even HAVE shoulders cause they made them all into lanes. Because there are too many effen cars and no real public transit to speak of. Not to the sprawling suburbs, anyway. It scares me to htink of what would happen if a big fireball came, trapping us all. I suppose I’d just get out of the car and run.
Sorry this comment is so long.
Comment by Heather — Monday, 7 May 2007 @ 11:42 am
No need to apologize for anything, you two. I think it’s an interesting subject, and I agree that I am probably too aggressive. In retrospect, driving down the shoulder for three miles was not smart, no matter if it saved me a half hour or more in wait time. I should have considered that I might have run into cops along the way, or I might have found myself even more trapped if the accident happened to be on the side on which I was driving.
I won’t do that again (I hope)…unless the exit is really in sight.
In terms of speed, I usually set the cruise between 70 and 75 as long as I am in a right-hand, cruising lane. In the passing lane, I speed up, but even then there is always someone going faster and riding my ass. I make every effort to move over for them and get out of the way.
However, I reserve all my road rage for the left lane cruisers, the people who cause the bottlenecks, as you say Heather. Driving a consistent 60 in the passing lane…yeah, that’ll make the ol’ blood boil. And doesn’t it seem like they stay right in the blind spot of the person in the right lane, so that no one can get around them on the right or the left?
Comment by greypilgrim — Monday, 7 May 2007 @ 12:38 pm
I used to be pretty aggressive and angry, but I’m getting more scared in my old age. I find myself driving at or near the speed limit a lot more often. I find myself worrying about tickets and accidents.
I would’ve been pissed if I saw you driving on the shoulder like that. But people do it fairly regularly. It’s dangerous and does make people unbelievably angry.
I usually do my best to be rude and not let people like that in. Makes me feel better.
That said, driving here is crazy. You do have the extremely fast drivers and then the ones that feel perfectly justified driving 60 in a 65 zone, when everyone else is driving 80. Oh yes, in the left lane of a three-lane freeway. That is dangerous. If you feel self-righteous about driving the speed limit or under, go do it in another lane.
Comment by Mel B. — Tuesday, 8 May 2007 @ 1:27 am
I generally agree about people driving on the shoulder. I get pissed if the person is driving down the shoulder in order to cut to the front of the line–you are perfectly justified in blocking that person. If they are driving down the shoulder to reach an exit, that is another story (unless the heavy traffic is perfectly normal for that time and place; then I have a problem there, too). I’ve seen people on motorcycles weaving in and out of stalled traffic, or driving down the shoulder, just because they can. Yeah, that pisses me off. I find myself secretly longing to see them thrown from their bikes at a low enough speed not to seriously injure them, but just to give them a nice case of road rash.
I can only think of one other time that I have driven on the shoulder, and in that case the exit was indeed within sight. But on the other hand, why should a driver have to wait in traffic, that may or may not move anytime soon, when an exit is just a mile or two down the shoulder?
Come on, we’ve all been there. To me, there are few things more frustrating than being so close, and yet so far, from an exit out of traffic–whether it be because of an accident, a work zone, or whatever. I would never do it under normal traffic circumstances, however.
Comment by greypilgrim — Tuesday, 8 May 2007 @ 5:52 am
I will note, since my original posts didn’t mention it, that I am pretty much always in the right-most lane that is appropriate. Another words, during situations such as highway merges and splits, sometimes I end up in the fast lane of one highway for a short period on my way to the other highway’s slow lane.
As far as the “drivers going the speed limit are dangerous and disrupting the flow of traffic” argument, I still maintain that argument is mostly BS. Sure, there are edge cases where that driver truly does cause a dangerous situation and risk of serious accidents, but MOST of the time the danger is really caused by the irresponsible or angry driver behind / around that person.
Look, I’ve been on both sides of it - I rationalized speeding for years, right up until I realized that I was never going to run out of excuses, and decided to stop speeding. It’s illegal, and that just was no longer personally acceptable to me to be part of widespread societal law-breaking as a normal part of life. I’m not telling anyone else what they have to do, I just personally found the situation untenable.
I will note, though, that if I am travelling at 65 (or 55, or whatever the speedlimit is), I DO NOT accept responsibility for the people coming up behind me at 70, 80, or 90 MPH. Unless the law allows that, all it really is is mass law-breaking with the bet that if enough of us do it, they won’t be able to stop us - the same principle as mob rule when shop windows get broken, people get trampled, and chaos rules. I’m personally not an anarchist.
Comment by Step — Wednesday, 9 May 2007 @ 8:52 pm
You are right. The “slow drivers are a hazard” argument is probably a rationalization for bad behavior.
However, I have a clear memory of my Driver’s Ed. teacher standing up there in front of class and tell us that we should drive the speed of the traffic around us. If traffic is going 70, then we should make an effort to keep up, for the safety of everyone. He even said that if you are driving too slowly in heavy, fast-moving traffic, the police may pull you over for reckless driving.
Now, maybe he had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he bought into the rationalizations all of us have formulated to justify our speeding. I debate this with my wife, too (she says he is full of shit).
I am just repeating what I recall being told in driver’s ed.
Incidentally, my driver’s ed. teacher also taught us that it is the responsibility of the person getting on interstate to yield, not the other way around.
I debate this with my wife, too, because she gets mad at me when I don’t move over for someone getting on interstate.
I say, “They have to yield! Not me! My driver’s ed. teacher told me so!”
My wife says, “It’s just common courtesy to move over. it won’t kill you, will it?”
Yeah, I’ve probably got an aggression problem, behind the wheel. Now, none of you probably want to drive the same roads as me, do you?
Comment by greypilgrim — Thursday, 10 May 2007 @ 2:18 pm
Try driving in Rome, Italy - now there’s a city I would refuse to drive in!! They say you can consider it a good day if you make it back home with no “fender benders”.
Comment by Step — Friday, 11 May 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Having visited Paris a couple times, I believe you about Rome. Europeans are nuts. I’ve never been in a city like Paris, where people just park their ultra-compact cars haphazardly on the sidewalk at night and drive 80 down a one-lane, cobblestone alley. Our drive to and from DeGaulle in the hotel shuttle was always breathtakingly harrowing.
Comment by greypilgrim — Saturday, 12 May 2007 @ 7:50 am
Just a note on the speeding–Step, you’re right. It’s mass law-breaking. And perhaps the slow driver thing is rationalization. But claiming that one was right because they believe they were on the right side of the law does little good in a wreck. Well, it does wonders to determine fault. Which might matter little if one is hurt.
It’s hard to argue that fast lane-changes or mass fast slowdowns are safe on an interstate. The human eye and brain can only register and react in so much time. And we’re talking everyone slowing down for one guy, not one asshole going way faster than traffic and being a dick.
But Step, you’re in the right-hand lanes, so it’s all good. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow your conscience. Just as you’re not telling anyone else how to drive. I’m just saying there is some validity to the argument of the slow driver in the way of the speeders.
As much as it’s worth, I think it’s California law to keep up with the flow of traffic or move to the right, which is something you noted. (The slow driver, not the speeders, will be found in violation of the law if they don’t get out of the way of traffic in this state and in some others, including Virginia, Matt, as well.
But not Georgia. That only works up to the speed limit.) For another, I like to get the eff across the state, so I barge down the far left lane. Yeah, I’m a speeder. 
I don’t deny I like life at 75. Most of the time everybody else does, too, so it’s all good. When they don’t I slow down. Because I like life in the left lane, overtaking slower traffic, I find it’s safer to not disrupt the flow of traffic. How does one know that the person behind them will see them in time to get out of the way?
With how people drive out here, that thought scares the daylights out of me. I’d rather not find out. Either go their speed or get out of the way.
People are crazy on the roads — I think we’d all agree to that. Personally, I’d rather be alive than right.
Comment by Heather — Saturday, 12 May 2007 @ 2:22 pm