Road Rage - Near Miss

[TXAG]

What do you do when you are forced to contend with road rage?

I’ve seen a couple of those ‘Idiots in Cars’ videos on YouTube, and I thought something like that could never happen to me. But it nearly happened yesterday as I was driving eastbound on Interstate 10 towards downtown Phoenix Arizona USA.

Me, my wife, and another couple were in my 2022 RWD on the way to a restaurant late Sunday afternoon to meet friends for dinner. The restaurant was in Mesa AZ, and I live west of Phoenix, so we would be driving on I-10 for over 15 miles. I merged onto the freeway, got in Lane 2 (Lane 1 is the leftmost fast / passing lane), and set my adaptive cruise control (ACC) to 73 mph. Lane 1 is the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane during the week, but on the weekends it’s open to all vehicles. The speed limit for all lanes is 65 mph, and Lane 1 is simply separated from Lane 2 by solid white lines painted on the asphalt.

Cars were passing me left and right as usual while I was driving in Lane 2 for the first eight miles. As yet another pack of traffic animals was working its way around me, there was a Lexus SUV that stayed behind and tailgated me. The rest of the pack passed me and Lanes 1 and 3 were open, but the Lexus inched closer to ride my bumper. I said Hey, we’ve got a tailgater to my passengers while keeping the cruise control steady at 73 mph. Then the Lexus leaned on his horn and inched even closer while Lanes 1 and 3 were still open.

I was bewildered. I’ve been driving in the same lane at the same speed for ten minutes without doing anything unexpected. I stayed calm.

Suddenly the Lexus swerved left to get in Lane 1. I heard the Lexus accelerate because it sounded like the exhaust was modified. As the Lexus was passing me, I waited until the driver was past my rear wheels so he couldn’t see me brake. I braked firmly, and sure enough he swerved into my lane so quickly that I had to veer halfway into Lane 3. The car behind me in Lane 3 veered halfway into an empty Lane 4.

Now the Lexus is in front of me. The ACC kept us separated. I could see its partially-blocked Georgia license plate. The Lexus was slightly bubbafied, e.g., it had a lifted cab and loud exhaust. But it didn’t have the extra-wide tires associated with my unconscious bias.

After about 15 seconds, the Lexus moved into Lane 3 at the same time I moved into Lane 1. My passengers saw that the driver, a bearded white male about 35 years old, was yelling at me. But I couldn’t hear him because my car has the noise and thermal insulated glass. Anyway, I eased my cruise control down to 68 mph. He matched my speed for about 30 seconds and then sped ahead. By this time cars were stacking up behind me in Lane 1, so I moved to Lane 2 to let them pass.

I should have waited longer. The Lexus moved to Lane 2 and slammed his brakes. But I was ready for him and braked in time. By then he had enough because he sped off and I never saw him again.

How do y’all think I handled it? I was calm throughout. At the first sign of trouble, should I have quickly but safely pulled off to the shoulder? The freeway was busy and I had three passengers, so trying to outrun him in my RWD wasn’t worth the risk to me or to other innocent vehicles IMO. Could I have done anything differently (install dashcams, ask a passenger to videotape the driver, call 911 while driving, etc.)? I appreciate your thoughts as they’ll help me and hopefully will help others.

Drive safely, y'all!

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[Vercingetorix]

If you’re getting passed on the left and the right, you really should move to the right lane.

 

[TaycanCook]

Glad you didn't poke the bear. Install a dashcam and should there be an incident next time, at least you have footage.

 

[Lazy]

First of all, it's great that you and your passengers are safe. May you all continue to remain safe.

You did what you thought was best and everyone ended up ok.

I get confronted with road rage frequently; though when I think about it so does everyone else in my area. Drivers here are often angry. In these moments, I often drive defensively. If pushed, I drive aggressively. So far, everyone either backs down or is unable to catch me since the Taycan is a monster through and through.

As for advice to do better? Only you know since you live your life. The only thing I would say is to keep your attitude of non-engagement. Deescalating either by fleeing or not interacting with angry drivers is the best cure for road rage. Leave them to sit with their misery and go on living your life.

Best of luck. Driving these days is no joke.

 

[TDinDC]

My personal strategy is: (1) no eye contact or interaction; plus (2) avoidance; and (3) slow down. How would that have worked under the scenario you described? When I saw I had a tailgater, I would likely have signaled and gone to the slow lane, even if that meant that I had to slow. This almost always works. Slow lane drivers who do not give you a reaction are usually too boring after a minute or two for continued attention. It is also the automobile equivalence of ceding Alpha position to the other driver.

Where I have not been able to avoid contact, I typically will apologize even if it was not my fault in the least. Winning a fight with a loser would just make me a loser too, so better not to compete.

 

[Jasper4S]

You did well by staying calm, but try to keep to the right as much as possible.

 

[Hirschaj]

Dashcam and a phone call to the police while it’s happening. I’ve seen a video where a road rager was busted by the police on the highway and the dashcam footage is glorious.

 

[Archimedes]

Sorry, but if there is a fast lane open to your left, you have no responsibility to pull over into the far right lane. The left lane is a passing lane and as long as it's open, you can select any other lane you like, particularly if you're doing 70+.

As a younger man I made the mistake of getting into a few fights over stupid traffic arguments. After a particularly stupid encounter, I realized that it just isn't worth it. Now I just defer and if they are intent on continuing to engage, I give them the classic 'point to my ears with a bewildered look, and mouth, 'what? Sorry, I can't hear you...' I keep doing that until they get sick of it and disengage.

 

[cgfrndpor]

If you’re getting passed on the left and the right, you really should move to the right lane.

not sure of the law in Arizona, but orderly driving suggests keeping right, that is all the way right, unless you are passing. This allows predictable speeds in each lane.
Passing on the right is illegal in many states. By riding the center lane when there is space in the right lane you are forcing people in the right lane who would like to pass you to move over 2 lanes are break the law and pass on the right. why not just keep right?

This is no way excuses the behavior of the crazy person driving the Lexus; maybe he didn't know he was allowed in the left lane (like trucks in many states). Again, doesn't excuse his behavior in any way but heck, why not keep right??

 

[Bigben]

TBH, I clearly wouldn’t beep / brake test anyone for this, but I would get quite close and flash my light to *very annoying* middle lane hogging drivers.
In Western EU, if you’re not passing anyone, then you should move to the slowest lane. Seems like total common sense to me

Again, no one should behave like the twat in the Lexus did, but if someone flashes at you and tailgates, letting them pass is probably the wisest thing to do to avoid any problematic situation down the line!

 

[whan]

I agree with Archimedes that you have no responsibility to pull further right. That being said - it may still be the smart thing to do.

At the end of the day, it’s the fastest and easiest resolution to a tailgater - their motivation is to get you to move out of the way, and are trying to bully you into it. In their mind, staying in the same lane doing the same thing is the equivalent of purposely agitating them, hence the brake checking. By moving over, it lets them continue going to tailgate someone else

Beyond that, once you’re in the situation, I’d say you for the most part did the right thing. Slowing down and going to the right lane, while perhaps having your phone up to your ear (even if you haven’t called 911 yet) could be helpful, in that it signals to the other driver that perhaps the cops may be on the way, and thus limits the time they’re willing to spend trying to road rage with you. I would not film, gesture, or make much eye contact as that can also be perceived as escalation. Dash cams that passively record would be better in this circumstance as far as evidence goes.

In this circumstance with someone this aggressive, I wouldn’t stop on the side of the road. Perhaps turn off an exit and hope they don’t follow (and do call 911 if they do), but if they were willing to brake check aggressively multiple times, it may escalate into them stopping and getting out to confront you.

 

[WattTurbo]

You said yourself there was a solid line to your left so he couldn't have passed you on the left unless he illegally crosses the solid line, which makes your lane, lane #1 (the fast passing lane). Do you have to move to the right? No, but it's common courtesy especially at 73 MPH on I-10 to do so. I live right off of I-10, and if you're doing less than 80, you'll get run over. Also, there are 2 lanes to the right of you, 3, and 4. I get it, lane 4 has a lot of people merging in so you'd try to avoid that lane, but lane 3 should have been the ideal lane at your speed. Again, you did everything legal here, but not courteous IMHO.

Edit: if yours is like mine the odometer is 3 miles optimistic, so indicated 73 MPH is 70 on GPS.

 

[O2TheL]

Echo all the "glad you're OK statements" and nothing excuses dangerous reactions, but also I'm also of the opinion that you bear some responsibly for being a good driving citizen here and not camping in lane 2.
In Europe what you were doing is a ticket-able offense. Frankly I think US roads would be far safer if driver used the principle of allowing faster traffic to pass on the left in all cases.
As a motorcycle rider, it is very frustrating/dangerous to see drivers park in lane 2

 

[ejcintr]

What do you do when you are forced to contend with road rage?

I’ve seen a couple of those ‘Idiots in Cars’ videos on YouTube, and I thought something like that could never happen to me. But it nearly happened yesterday as I was driving eastbound on Interstate 10 towards downtown Phoenix Arizona USA.

Me, my wife, and another couple were in my 2022 RWD on the way to a restaurant late Sunday afternoon to meet friends for dinner. The restaurant was in Mesa AZ, and I live west of Phoenix, so we would be driving on I-10 for over 15 miles. I merged onto the freeway, got in Lane 2 (Lane 1 is the leftmost fast / passing lane), and set my adaptive cruise control (ACC) to 73 mph. Lane 1 is the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane during the week, but on the weekends it’s open to all vehicles. The speed limit for all lanes is 65 mph, and Lane 1 is simply separated from Lane 2 by solid white lines painted on the asphalt.

Cars were passing me left and right as usual while I was driving in Lane 2 for the first eight miles. As yet another pack of traffic animals was working its way around me, there was a Lexus SUV that stayed behind and tailgated me. The rest of the pack passed me and Lanes 1 and 3 were open, but the Lexus inched closer to ride my bumper. I said Hey, we’ve got a tailgater to my passengers while keeping the cruise control steady at 73 mph. Then the Lexus leaned on his horn and inched even closer while Lanes 1 and 3 were still open.

I was bewildered. I’ve been driving in the same lane at the same speed for ten minutes without doing anything unexpected. I stayed calm.

Suddenly the Lexus swerved left to get in Lane 1. I heard the Lexus accelerate because it sounded like the exhaust was modified. As the Lexus was passing me, I waited until the driver was past my rear wheels so he couldn’t see me brake. I braked firmly, and sure enough he swerved into my lane so quickly that I had to veer halfway into Lane 3. The car behind me in Lane 3 veered halfway into an empty Lane 4.

Now the Lexus is in front of me. The ACC kept us separated. I could see its partially-blocked Georgia license plate. The Lexus was slightly bubbafied, e.g., it had a lifted cab and loud exhaust. But it didn’t have the extra-wide tires associated with my unconscious bias.

After about 15 seconds, the Lexus moved into Lane 3 at the same time I moved into Lane 1. My passengers saw that the driver, a bearded white male about 35 years old, was yelling at me. But I couldn’t hear him because my car has the noise and thermal insulated glass. Anyway, I eased my cruise control down to 68 mph. He matched my speed for about 30 seconds and then sped ahead. By this time cars were stacking up behind me in Lane 1, so I moved to Lane 2 to let them pass.

I should have waited longer. The Lexus moved to Lane 2 and slammed his brakes. But I was ready for him and braked in time. By then he had enough because he sped off and I never saw him again.

How do y’all think I handled it? I was calm throughout. At the first sign of trouble, should I have quickly but safely pulled off to the shoulder? The freeway was busy and I had three passengers, so trying to outrun him in my RWD wasn’t worth the risk to me or to other innocent vehicles IMO. Could I have done anything differently (install dashcams, ask a passenger to videotape the driver, call 911 while driving, etc.)? I appreciate your thoughts as they’ll help me and hopefully will help others.

Drive safely, y'all!

I agree with the others that I would have moved to the right lane - but you did nothing wrong.. just that I would have moved over to avoid this guy (and his driving). Unfortunately in the US (I don't know if this is a world wide phenomena) there seems to be a breakdown in civility while driving with more poor behavior- I don't know what is causing this- years ago this was abnormal behavior- its almost become a norm e.g. I see this behavior at least once a week (not directed at me but at others)... I think its a reflection of a greater societal issue that is also reflected in the rage we see on social media and politics...

 

[AngloCan]

Frankly I'm surprised at the posts defending driving in the centre lane and perhaps that's permitted in some states but a quick google search of Arizona Driver License Manual states this is not acceptable in this instance (late Sunday afternoon):

Lane Use
On all roadways with two or more lanes, drive on the right half of the roadway except when passing or when signs indicate otherwise. On highways with three or more travel lanes in the same direction, the right lane is typically used for entering and exiting and so traffic in this lane may be traveling either slower or faster than traffic in other lanes. During rush hours, drivers not intending to exit may want to avoid these lanes during these times. This will leave room for vehicles entering and exiting. Be alert for other vehicles attempting to merge into your lane, and use proper signals to let other Arizona Driver License Manual and Customer Service Guide 26 drivers know if you are changing lanes. Do not exceed the posted speed limits. Avoid “tailgating” (following the car ahead of you too closely).

Drive however you wish but you can't be too surprised if your idea of driving in the 'correct lane' causes an equal and opposite reaction to other road users. Glad the road-rager got bored quickly, drove off and you're fine but you'd be a trigger for me too, not a red mist moment but definitely a hand gesture on the way past.

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