Road Rager Didn't Like Me Driving the Speed Limit

[Oldgringo]

I find it best to sit there with a straight face and be dialing the phone. That usually deescalates the event pretty quickly. Laughing may make the person think you were purposely driving slow to make him mad.

Roger that, good advice!

My handheld radio has been a de-escalator here in the park on more than one occassion. {Little do they know that the Lake County Sheriff or my Park Warden is 30-45 minutes away}.

[C-dub]

I don't worry so much about crazy people behind me like that. I drive a truck with a trailer hitch and ball that still out about 8-12" from the bumper. I've had two people, not road raging, rear end me that just weren't paying attention. One of them actually put a mark on the chrome on the ball. Both cars were non-functional and had to wait for a tow truck. I don't hit my brakes on people like this any more. 20+ years ago I did, but not any more. I'll tap my lights at them, but that's all. Otherwise, I just let them be.

[smoothoperator]

What really chapped me was this guy nearly caused 2 accidents within 2 miles of driving and he would swear probably that it was everyone else's fault but his.

That sounds like reasonable suspicion he was driving drunk. I call 911 and report my suspicions.

[Dave2]

What really chapped me was this guy nearly caused 2 accidents within 2 miles of driving and he would swear probably that it was everyone else's fault but his.

That sounds like reasonable suspicion he was driving drunk. I call 911 and report my suspicions.

I do that all the time.

[flb_78]

When someone decides that I'm driving to slow and decides that they need to ride my bumper, I slow down.

I usually have my cruise set and I just start tapping the coast button, about once every 30 seconds or so.

[chasfm11]

When someone decides that I'm driving to slow and decides that they need to ride my bumper, I slow down.

I usually have my cruise set and I just start tapping the coast button, about once every 30 seconds or so.

I admit to doing that myself a few times. Recently, I had a lady trying to kiss my bumper (I was doing the speed limit) on a 6 lane highway. I could see that she was yelling and screaming at me in the rear view mirror. I was sorely tempted to really slow down but simply maintained my speed. About a mile later, she did a two wheel turn into an animal hospital. I'm guessing that she had a sick pet on board. As she turned, I noticed that she had her flashers on. She had been too close to me for me to see those flashers when she was following me.

To me, my situation once again demonstrates that tunnel vision that people can get into. She was obviously worried about being able to make the right turn and ignored her opportunities to pass me in the two adjacent left lanes. As much as I believe most people who tailgate are just idiots, sometimes there is a reason greater than just their lack of good judgement.

As an RVer, I'm aware that some people hate RVs and don't want them on the road. I've experienced all kinds of bad behavior from drivers who apparently just don't like my presence. Most of them don't understand that it impossible to accelerate, corner or stop a 22,000lb vehicle like they do their 3,500lb car. If I did anything but the best I could and it was perceived by other drivers as further delaying them, I suspect that their attempts a a vehicular attack on me would only get worse. I tapped my air horn (and I seriously do mean only a slight tap enough to sound it) when a woman nearly sideswiped us while driving with her elbows at 65mph and trying to text at the same time. She went into a nearly 10 minute road rage (in heavy traffic in all 3 lanes) . I thought sure that she was going to wreck us. There is no way that I can get our combined RV-towed car away from someone like that and because of our size, there is nowhere to pull off. I do try to pull off whenever I can because I have no desire to impact someone else's use of the road more than necessary. But I refuse to give up using the RV simply because a few driver's somehow find it offensive.

[The Annoyed Man]

Another example of why I have a camera in the windshield of my car.

1080p / 30 fps /160 degree view.

Great ability to see license plates, cars, signal lights, all the road rage stuff that goes on in front of me.
Behind me....no view of that. But you can tell very easily what's going on by what the front of my car is doing in the video.

With known distances between landmarks, you could calculate my average speed - kinda like VASCAR the cops used to use.

I never go anywhere without it. And since my driving habits are being filmed as well....its a good check on me. Hey, I'm only human....I think.

Which camera, how much, where did you buy it?

[jsenner]

Another example of why I have a camera in the windshield of my car.

1080p / 30 fps /160 degree view.

Great ability to see license plates, cars, signal lights, all the road rage stuff that goes on in front of me.
Behind me....no view of that. But you can tell very easily what's going on by what the front of my car is doing in the video.

With known distances between landmarks, you could calculate my average speed - kinda like VASCAR the cops used to use.

I never go anywhere without it. And since my driving habits are being filmed as well....its a good check on me. Hey, I'm only human....I think.

Which camera, how much, where did you buy it?

I too would like to know more about the camera. It's been a while since I looked into this, but back then the options were quite slim unless you wanted to invest several thousand on a custom system.

[LabRat]

Another example of why I have a camera in the windshield of my car.

1080p / 30 fps /160 degree view.

Great ability to see license plates, cars, signal lights, all the road rage stuff that goes on in front of me.
Behind me....no view of that. But you can tell very easily what's going on by what the front of my car is doing in the video.

With known distances between landmarks, you could calculate my average speed - kinda like VASCAR the cops used to use.

I never go anywhere without it. And since my driving habits are being filmed as well....its a good check on me. Hey, I'm only human....I think.

Which camera, how much, where did you buy it?

Hi TAM,

I use a GoPro Motorsports camera.

http://gopro.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the Hero HD and I bought an extra battery pack. it comes with 1, but I added the extra to get about 4 hours of HD record time. With a 32GB SDHC card (not micro), it lasts for about 4 hours as well.

You can use a lower resolution (720 / 30 fps or even lower) to get a lot more record time, but I like the highest res I can get.

It comes with mounting hardware...there is some settings to go thru, but once set, I hit the record button when I drive and let 'er run.

There is now a Hero2 that's supposed to have improved resolution, but I've not used that model. Mine's about 2 years old or so.

There are GoPro videos on Youtube or the GoPro website if you want to check out the playback.

Regards,
LabRat

[Scott in Houston]

Lab, I sent you PM before getting to the end of this thread... :)
Ignore. And thanks for the info.

[sjfcontrol]

Found this one online for about the same price. Records both forward and inside the vehicle. About the same price.

[LabRat]

Found this one online for about the same price. Records both forward and inside the vehicle. About the same price.

Hey sjfcontrol,

This one came up in my searches before I picked the GoPro. It has to be plugged in continously to DC power, so I favored the battery option on the GoPro to keep the clutter down in the dash area.

That means if your car loses power (maybe after an accident....the recording quits) - no continuing to record. I preferred to keep recording.

Also, I like the 30 FPS rather than the 15 FPS required if you use the dual mode.
Single exterior mode is at 30 FPS. That 30 FPS makes the video much smoother.

I did like the interior/exterior views and the GPS location and G-force data could be handy.

If any one gets this model, let me know how you like it and if the GPS etc. works as advertsed.

LabRat

[Keith B]

A Friend of mine who does auto-cross has one of these http://contour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. He ties it in with some other type of system that will actually show his track around the course, tachometer, speedometer, g-forces, etc. Pretty cool and good video. I can;t link to one of his now, but will try to do it later. It is similar to this, except his software has a lot more on the display.[youtube][/youtube]

[sjfcontrol]

Found this one online for about the same price. Records both forward and inside the vehicle. About the same price.

Hey sjfcontrol,

This one came up in my searches before I picked the GoPro. It has to be plugged in continously to DC power, so I favored the battery option on the GoPro to keep the clutter down in the dash area.

That means if your car loses power (maybe after an accident....the recording quits) - no continuing to record. I preferred to keep recording.

Also, I like the 30 FPS rather than the 15 FPS required if you use the dual mode.
Single exterior mode is at 30 FPS. That 30 FPS makes the video much smoother.

I did like the interior/exterior views and the GPS location and G-force data could be handy.

If any one gets this model, let me know how you like it and if the GPS etc. works as advertsed.

LabRat

I didn't notice the 15/30 fps issue, thanks for pointing that out. On the other hand, I would prefer one powered by the car, rather than trying to keep batteries charged -- but to each his own...

I gather yours requires an external microphone to record audio.

[Kawabuggy]

I'll post this because I PRACTICE this often.

When you first noticed the person tail-gating you, did you immediately start looking for a turn off so that you could let him go? If you did not, then you are part of the negative equation. Just think how easy it would have been to simply pull off and let him go tail gate, or rear-end, someone else. If you had a chance to change lanes, or pull off, why didn't you?

I know, it's not a "manly" thing to have to sacrifice your driving lane to an idiot that is a danger to himself and others. But you could have. And you should have. The only way to avoid problem people like that idiot is to just get out his way and let him go on and be a problem for someone else. I fear though, that too many of us, myself included at times in the past, allow arrogance, or attitude, to come into play and instead of removing ourselves from the equation, we simply continue on with the "it's my lane so screw you" attitude. Well, if he had hit you, his/your insurance would have probably covered it, but what if you got a broken back, or broken neck, or irreparable damage from something you could have avoided? People often say "you can't fix stupid" but I sure as hell can do my best to avoid it. If someone is tailgating me for ANY reason, I'll gladly surrender that lane by changing to another lane, or pulling off and letting them go if it is a 1 lane road. It's part of defensive driving. I can't change the way stupid people operate their vehicles, but I can often find a way to work around them, or simply get away from them. Think about that next time someone is tailgating you-just signal your intentions to change lanes, or turn off the road, and let them go. You are never going to change their attitude, or driving habits, so just remove yourself from the equation. It's easy.