Bravado Preservation tip of the day

Ever been driving down the road, minding your own business, and found yourself inching past another driver while in the right lane? If you have, you know what can happen next. It becomes a game. The other driver guns it to pass you because he (or she, to be fair) can't stand to be second place; this road-rage chicken derby can persist for miles if you don't make conscious effort to stop it.

So this tip is an admission and a question. My admission is that I often slow down when this happens and let the poor emasculated whelp who is desperately trying to pass me have his way. My tip is that, by doing this, I give said whelp a burst of self-esteem. He who believes the speed of his car is an indicator of his anatomy will never guess that he's just been allowed a pity pass as he sneers at me through his rearview mirror. Who knows? Maybe by the time he and his chrome-tipped dual-exhaust get home, he'll be so pleased at having 'won the race' that he'll be nice to his mother or start volunteering at a nursing home. Stranger things have happened. My question is: Am I the only woman who allows the "pity pass", or is this a pretty standard act of charity? I'm curious.

Comments

Kris said…
You may be. Personally, I like to team up with another car in the right lane and make them "stuck" where they are, unable to pass. Or, get in front of them, slow down, and force them to pass me properly...in the left lane.
JCo said…
I pass on the right when I encounter a slower car in the left lane. And I don't believe I have ever given a pity pass. Guess I am just an aggressive driver!
vander said…
Kris, I do the forced left-lane passing too. That particular activity has kept me awake on many an interstate. Also, if someone is riding my bumper, I go slower and slower until they swerve around me.

So no pity-passers? An interesting side effect of this is that, if you fake it and pretend you're going to charge ahead, they will do it instead, going far too fast for their own good and leaving you with all the open road you can handle.
Kris said…
Vander Molen, I do the same thing when they are riding my bumper. It's what my drivers-ed manual told me to do, and it's fun, 'cause it makes them really mad :)
Pete said…
You know in some countries you can get pulled over for passing on the wrong side.

I also teach a "calm down while driving" course, if anyone's interested.
Kris said…
Peter, speaking of driving tips, you remind me...next month is August, so this time, when you get your tags, you might also want to put that sticker on your license plate. Or, I could just borrow your truck again :)

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