ztanos said:
Agreed, they are both being rude. One is being dangerous and using their vehicle as a weapon; potentially a deadly one. That is a very big difference to me!
So putting both drivers on the same moral footing is definitely not justified, imho.
I have passed cars doing 41 in the far left lane when the speed limit is 70. Even going 70 that 41 mph car is deadly and shouldn't be in the left lane. I consider the slower car more deadly than the car going 80 in the 70 speed zone.
That actually isn't accurate, the likelyhood of death in an accident doubles for every 10mph faster you drive, so if a car doing 80 hit one doing 70mph this is by itself is mathematically equivalent to a car doing 55mph hitting a car doing 30mph.
Then add to that the increased deadliness of the aftermath that occurs after the (2) high speed cars hit together and inevitably have to somehow come to a stop and you actually have a much more deadly situation.
AKA if both drivers crash at 70mph & 80mph, both will probably die during the fallout after collision, if a 70mph car hits a 41mph car one driver will likely die but the other will mainly be injured but not dead depending on how he gets hit (guess who wins?).
The stats on these type of issues are quite clear, you don't want any type of accident when traveling above 55mph. If both drivers are nascar ready they might be able to control their slow down but you really can't expect that our of an average driver and the results are usually bad.
That said, the likelihood of an accident is actually a wash between large speed differentials and slight speed differentials, the reason is the 41mph car is MUCH more likely to get your attention while you are wanking and texting than the 70mph car going slightly slower than you are (which you probably won't notice).
When I am driving slowly on a mostly unpopulated 4 lane road, I tend to start the flashers if I see someone behind who is distracted and high, if I feel threatened I either move off the road or stomp on it. I have avoided at least 3 car pileups and 2 head ons because I kept my speed down on 4 lane 65mph roads, if I would have been driving 65mph or speeding I would likely not be writing this today.
55 stay alive.