Rocky and Bullwinkle? Anybody?
So today I was driving around in Zyvelles, my husband's car (Zyvy henceforth), and I eventually got used to different levels of pedal pressure meaning different gears instead of different and relatively linear power inputs. Pedal a third down: same gear, kinda faster?; pedal two-thirds down: down to fourth, sudden pickup; pedal all the way down: down to third, hold on to your pants. In Birdy it's like, you push the pedal and the car goes accordingly. An automatic is just a mind game. But I admit it was fun to tear past people in third randomly "AAAAH why am I going so faaaaaaast?! (pass car)"
Also I almost died, but we'll get to that later.
The main annoying driver tonight was this maroon van from Massachusetts. Basically it went 82 (faster than me) until it passed a semi, at which point it braked to 70 MPH unfailingly and then typically went back up to 82, except for when it didn't. Why 70? Not really sure. Why did they want to prolong a pass which they evidently found terrifying? Not really sure. WHY, did they choose to hug the right part of the lane while passing semis? Completely clueless. Anyway, I followed this guy for a while until this Benz tried to pass me on the right (at which point, I kept him out because I was so angry--poor decision-making on my part since I then looked like a jerk and endangered people). I thought for a second and realized I'd rather have a more aggressive driver behind the van than I was (since he wouldn't get right for anybody), and I let the Benz and this gorgeous white Audi pass. They had no luck getting him over until finally, it must've been ten semis later, he got over, and I sped up ridiculously to get past him. Another dumb move. You'd think I'd be done with stupidity by now. But anyway.
The reason for this title was that initially, before I was right behind the van, there was this little Honda Element behind him, tailing him. At some point the Element lost faith that the van even had a driver, and when the van started on one of its 70 MPH gigs (far away from a semi...what on earth?), the Element tried to pass on the right. But the van was one of these folks who speeds up if you try to pass on the right, and then you get behind him again, and he doesn't get over and slows back down. Finally the Element decided to have a race with the van, but I swear it seemed like he didn't want to go above 80. I mean, if you're going to have a race with a Silhouette and it's already above the limit, be committed. Finally he went all out and passed the van and left me stuck behind him. That's the cool story.
Now for the terrifying story and another dumb move on my part. I was in the far left lane, and to my left was one of those nice welcoming solid concrete wall barriers, and that barrier was maybe a foot or two to the left of the white line, so there was really no emergency "lane" to speak of. More like an emergency sidewalk. I was passing a semi, I had been in the left lane for quite a while, I thought he knew I was there, and then all of a sudden he starts coming slowly in my lane. But it's ambiguous. It started like, "Hey you know, this is a curve to the right and so I'm gonna accidentally track into your lane a little bit, my bad," and started to become, "You are now in my blind spot and I'm gonna act like I'm changing lanes to freak you out." I reacted really poorly (understandably though I think). Given that initially things seemed like an "oops mistake sorry!" I kept accelerating past him and sliding left a little to accommodate him, and then when he kept coming into my lane, I started braking (why I would do that I have no idea since I was already just a bit behind the cab), and then I gathered my wits, he got a bit back in his lane, and I shot out of there (this was one of the "why am I in third?" moments). Also it's key to note that he didn't have his signal on at any point. I'm not sure how I would have reacted if he had. I departed pretty significantly from my lane, which means I maybe should have looked at the wall some, but in my experience I tend to go toward what I'm looking at...and the semi just seemed a lot more relevant at the moment anyway.
So lessons: If a semi comes into your lane, look at where you are and determine whether it's better to slam on brakes or slam on gas. Don't just brake out of habit because then you feel dumb later. Also, if you're leaving your lane a little bit and you're near a dangerous wall, maybe glance at that to double-check distances. And if you want to honk but are hesitant to because that violates highway decorum, honk, because if you gave your life for courtesy's sake that would really be a shame. ("I died for honor!" "I died for my country!" "I died for courtesy!" "...What?")
I honestly don't know what would have happened if he was really changing lanes and really didn't see me. I think I would have run into the barrier (hopefully at a shallow angle, maybe at 60), the semi would have contacted me, and then the semi would have swerved right (good luck folks in that lane) and everyone behind us would slam on brakes and yada yada. Although it's true that in Forza Motorsport (come on, it's supposed to be a decent simulator), if you slam into a wall at even the shallowest of angles it can send you spinning. Which would be bad. So let's stop the thought experiment.
No comments:
Post a Comment