Small Car Driving Tactics

[icejedi]

Gripes:

I'm constantly having cars jump out in front of me at the last moment, completing their left or right turns, and I have to hit the brakes.

Let's jump out in front of that little car. I's not going fast because he's so tiny..which is wrong, but much like motorcycles, drivers easily misjudge a smaller vehicles speed. Frustrating. Ugh.

Also, 50% of traffic likes to ride the bumper. It's very easy to get lost in blind spot and have a car try to merge into you.

I commute 80 miles a day. 19,750 miles clocked so far.

I can tell the difference when I drive the family Subaru Forester instead of my Rio. Non of that B.S. happens but I drive the same pace, etc. I just have more "road" profile.

My question is, how is it going out there for everyone else? Any scary situations or annoyances?

[TJ85]

Point-to-point lazer turret system. Fixes everything but if only the government would let us have them...

Size of the car certainly does play a big part. The bigger the car the higher percentage that an absolute c-bomb is behind the wheel. For some reason people in bigger cars feel the need to show they are big boys now and will drive right up your ass or cut you off.

Today on way back home had a 4WD doing this to everyone on the freeway. Some people just have complete disregard to everyone else but themselves. Just keep in mind that there is a tree/pole/ditch with their name on it somewhere. Its only a matter of time.

I had a guy a few weeks ago that tail-gated me for about 10-15mins on the way home from work one night. Followed me everywhere and wanted me to pull over. Drove out to the nearest forest/bush area I could get to and see if he followed me in. He stopped and turned around the other way.

My grandmother use to keep a toy gun in the front seat too. If she got any crap out it came and the other driver would crap themselves.

[Wry 'Cuda]

I once bought an old car for commuting purposes while working in another city. On the highway, despite easily maintaining the speed limit or a bit more, cars following me seemed intent on passing, just for the sake of passing a $1000 car.

[OzSLS]

i've never encountered so much road rage as i have in the 7 months we've owned the Rio. EVERYONE just wants to play a game and they often end up worse off.

I have a v8 Fairmont Ghia as well (full size) and honestly i get maybe 1 incident a year in that with a random moron. In the Rio, it's unusual to go more than 10 minutes into every single drive without small small-*** loser trying to flex his lack of under-belt equipment. Then as soon as i jump back in the Fairmont again, nothing. I've also had people out of their car attacking ours for reasons i'm yet to understand.

Had an incident with a loser in a big v8 this morning, on Australia Day of all days. It's just non stop in this car, sad really. So many pathetic w**kers with an inferiority complex out there.

It's just the way the world is these days, it's changed dramatically in the last decade on the road. Selfishness and delusional self-importance are the order of the day.

I have a car cam so it's captured some interesting footage.

meh.

[Mouse]

I can't pinpoint any real problems I've had but then I do live in a reasonably small country town. We do have our fair share of road rage but most don't carry on too much cause guaranteed you will see them shopping at Woolies the next day.
It's only if I go to Cairns for the day that I will notice people tend to want the small car to get out of their way.

If anything I have found night worse because a lot of the big cars can literally shine their headlights straight in the back window of the Rio to try and make you let them past. I am quite a lead foot so I tend to floor it and if they can pass me fine, otherwise too bad cause I am not getting out of their way!

[Daddy-O]

I've had 3 hot hatches over the years and never got 1 day without being dissed.

However, sometimes kharma comes around and lets you watch while she doles it out. Not too long ago, after a heavy snow, on the interstate highway at 65mph, an idiot in a full sized sedan comes flying up behind me, nosedives within inches or my bumper, stays there for a quarter-mile, passes me on the wrong side all pissed-off like, but here's the good part: looses traction, does 2! 360s in front of me, crashes nose first into the center median concrete, flies NASCAR style across 4 lanes to the other side, smashes his passenger side flat to the opposite barrier and grinds to a spark-flying stop. As I'm driving safely thru his debris field, waving goodbye, all I see in my rear view mirror is his face in his hands while smoke starts pouring out from the fuel tank area.

I silently thanked for divine intercession for not getting tangled up with that moron and hoped he didn't die in the fire so he maybe learned a lesson.

Does being happy about payback make me a bad person?

[OzSLS]

Originally Posted by Daddy-O

Does being happy about payback make me a bad person?

you're asking the wrong person here

[Wry 'Cuda]

Many years ago, on a wet night, while tootling at moderate speed through a notorious series of downhill curves in my Mini Cooper, a very large car came up within inches of my rear bumper with high beam and spot-lights blazing. There was nothing else to do but quietly engage a lower gear and accelerate through the upcoming tight bend.

[OzSLS]

lol

when i've got a sufficient amount of road rage incidents on my car cam i'll make a compilation and youtube it. I only have about 4 incidents so far on cam. I have about 200 incidents of idiocy though.

[TJ85]

YouTube it all and send it to Tracey Grimshaw! She loves that sort of thing.

Not had any karma payback views in the Kia yet but have had plenty in the other car. In city was driving home from work and down one of the sidestreets was a P plater in a VE ute, saw my car then started jumping on the throttle and decided to turn onto the main road waving his ass like a cheap whore. Car behind him was an unmarked police car. Not even finished getting the ass of the ute in line and flashing lights going off.

Another one was a Honda Civic loaded with idiots seeing the car on the freeway and have the brilliant decision in trying to race it... Let him past as I had passengers in the car and not playing games so kept driving. On the next bend here is the brilliant Civic driver pulled over by unmarked police car.

Karma always works