On the way to the put-in spot, I ended up behind a pair of pickups towing large catamaran-style boats, going about five M.P.H. under the speed limit on a hilly, winding two-lane highway. I wasn't in a hurry, and I certainly wasn't road raging, but I did want to go faster than they were traveling.
After following these guys for about ten minutes, things fell in line for me to pass... the vehicles in front of me got far enough apart for me to leap-frog between them, the highway flattened out a bit, and the double-yellow lines became a single stripe. Seizing the opportunity, I tromped on the gas, made my way into the other lane and started my pass. I was about 1/4 past the guy when I saw another truck towing another something-or-another, headed right for me. I slowed down to get back to my spot.
Unfortunately, so did the I was trying to pass, though I didn't really notice that specific aspect at that exact moment. I did see that I probably wasn't going to be able to get back into my lane, and began evaluating the options. I had considered going into the ditch, but it was too steep and I definitely would have rolled. I filed that in the back of my mind as a last resort though.
Eventually, the guy I wanted to pass got the idea that I was slowing and gunned it, allowing me to get back in my lane. During this whole thing, I never panicked. My blood pressure never went up. Immediately afterwards, both trucks in front of me pulled over, allowing me to pass.
Thinking that was pretty cool, I gave the guys the thank-you wave as I passed. In return, I saw red-faced, shouting, angry faces, answering my wave with a one-fingered salute. Apparently they thought I was a crazy, reckless driver trying to pass them at whatever cost. And on top of that, they probably thought that I was an obliviot for waving and smiling at them while they were yelling and flipping me off.
It's really kind of unfortunate that my attempt to pass caused that kind of anger in them. It's too bad that they didn't understand I wasn't just some idiot in a hurry, I was a fellow motorist who happened to make a mistake. Sorry dude.
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Reminds me of something that happened to me back in England:
I was on my scooter when some dickhead in a Mercedes pulled out into opposing traffic to overtake a truck...meaning I was suddenly faced by two side-by-side vehicles heading directly towards me with nowhere to go.
I ended up swerving, mounting the curb at about 50mph, just barely managing to miss a couple of pedestrians and shot back across the road before I could get some modicum of control back.
Somehow I ended up facing back the way I came without a scratch but in dire need of new underwear.
What makes this a real story is that five minutes later I was sitting on a wall in a garage forecourt sipping some water (the garage was right next to where it all happened) and trying to get my heart-rate below 300bpm, when the Mercedes guy comes stamping over and started screaming at me for 'reckless driving' (apparently, doing the speed limit in your own lane is reckless, overtaking a truck without looking isn't). He was a real oblivious, self-important dickhead, and when he said something about how I could have damaged his car and mentioned the words 'my lawyer' I just LOST it.
It took four guys to pull me off him while I beat the shit out of him by using my crash helmet as a boxing glove.
The police where called, and when I told them what happened (backed up by the truck driver and the two pedestrians), the cop let me go and arrested the Mercedes dude... despite the fact I'd broken the dude's nose and knocked out two of his teeth.
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