Ripped from Bogey's thread below... Give us a story about attempting to pass and passee speeds up.
#1
Ripped from Bogey's thread below... Give us a story about attempting to pass and passee speeds up.
'Cause I have one that almost ended in tragedy.
I was in NC, driving up a state road to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm in my 1993 Toyota Paseo.
The road was busy in my direction, but not so much in the opposite direction, summer tourist season and all.
This was on a two lane road. I am in a minivan sandwich. Speed limits are clearly marked and often. I move left a little to peek around the minivan in front of me (minivan 1) to see how long the passing zone is and check oncoming traffic. I see a fairly long passing zone coming up and nothing in front of minivan one.
Minivan 1 sees me move left and moves to the right side of the lane. I take this as a polite gesture that he is making room. Ali sees him wave as if he is waving "OK, c'mon and pass me." A car passes going the opposite way, I edge out and have a clear shot. I drop into 3rd for extra oomph and take the pass. Of course, as soon as I get along side minivan 1, he guns it. I can hear his engine laboring. He is laughing and making more hand gestures.
Split second: I am running out of passing zone and I can see a curve is beyond the passing zone. I go to brake and duck back in behind minivan 1 and WOOPS there is minivan 2, the one that was behind me, closing in 1 or 2 minivan lengths behind minivan 1.
I have two choices: 1: gun it as hard as I can and hope there is no car coming around the curve; 2. Brake suddenly and violently in the wrong lane of traffic and try to cut in behind the two minivans or behind them.
By now, there is more traffic behind the minivans and they (benefit of the doubt) can't see me because I am in the wrong lane beside minivan 1 and in front of minivan 2. The braking option seems to be fading fast.
I take the shot. I gun it forward, which puts me into the curve, a wide right hander. Of course, there is a blue Mercury Mystique coming around that corner. I swerve back into the right lane and can't see the disposition of the Mercury.
I drove about 1/2 mile and stopped. Both minivans just kept going never to be seen again. Ali (just my girlfriend at the time) and I discuss just taking off, but we can't. I'll never forget these words from her: "We should be dead." Time would tell, but we were unhurt and as far as we knew, nobody else was hurt either. We do the right thing and turn around to see how it all ended up.
The Mercury went 10 feet down an embankment trying to avoid their perceived impending collision with me. There was a pretty good dropoff below that, but lots of heavy brush stopped the car from going over. The car was scratched but otherwise undamaged.
As it turned out there was a local road at a stop sign at the end of the passing zone before the curve. The speed limit had gone down 100 feet before the crossroads to allow for it. There were 3 or 4 houses at the corner and there were people sitting on the front porch, saw the "whole thing" and called the local po-lice. (Yes, I am still convinced there is no way they saw the whole thing.)
1 driver that was behind me in the pack stopped, and his version of things matched mine. The locals did not agree, however, and I got a reckless driving and passing in a no passing zone citation.
The Mercury was being driven by a 15-year-old boy on a restricted license. It was all legal, mom and dad were in the car. Two things struck me immediately about this. The first, what was a parent doing letting their child drive on a restricted license on a holiday weekend coming out of the mountains. My father took me out on a Sunday afternoon to a big empty office park and taught me how to drive there. I wasn't allowed to be on public roads until 2 months before my 16th birthday and never without a parent. It was the law, anyway!
The second thing I thought was that this poor boy, who handled the car pretty well, was going to be scarred for life from driving. I was going to talk to him and his folks, but since they were really angry with me and since it was obvious I was being held at fault, I passed. (No pun intended
I said a lot of mean and nasty things about minivans and minivan drivers that afternoon. We made it to our destination up on the Blue Ridge, Ali got out of the car and reached into the back seat for a pen and paper. She wrote the word "MINIVAN" on the paper as I watched and then covered the "MIN" with her thumb. We laughed for ten minutes! Not too funny to relate it here, I know, but from all the nerves, it seemed hilarious at the time.
Shortly after this trip, Ali and I were engaged. I don't know what that says about either of us, but it's the truth!
Sorry for the mixed tenses and length.<p>Ivan
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
I was in NC, driving up a state road to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm in my 1993 Toyota Paseo.
The road was busy in my direction, but not so much in the opposite direction, summer tourist season and all.
This was on a two lane road. I am in a minivan sandwich. Speed limits are clearly marked and often. I move left a little to peek around the minivan in front of me (minivan 1) to see how long the passing zone is and check oncoming traffic. I see a fairly long passing zone coming up and nothing in front of minivan one.
Minivan 1 sees me move left and moves to the right side of the lane. I take this as a polite gesture that he is making room. Ali sees him wave as if he is waving "OK, c'mon and pass me." A car passes going the opposite way, I edge out and have a clear shot. I drop into 3rd for extra oomph and take the pass. Of course, as soon as I get along side minivan 1, he guns it. I can hear his engine laboring. He is laughing and making more hand gestures.
Split second: I am running out of passing zone and I can see a curve is beyond the passing zone. I go to brake and duck back in behind minivan 1 and WOOPS there is minivan 2, the one that was behind me, closing in 1 or 2 minivan lengths behind minivan 1.
I have two choices: 1: gun it as hard as I can and hope there is no car coming around the curve; 2. Brake suddenly and violently in the wrong lane of traffic and try to cut in behind the two minivans or behind them.
By now, there is more traffic behind the minivans and they (benefit of the doubt) can't see me because I am in the wrong lane beside minivan 1 and in front of minivan 2. The braking option seems to be fading fast.
I take the shot. I gun it forward, which puts me into the curve, a wide right hander. Of course, there is a blue Mercury Mystique coming around that corner. I swerve back into the right lane and can't see the disposition of the Mercury.
I drove about 1/2 mile and stopped. Both minivans just kept going never to be seen again. Ali (just my girlfriend at the time) and I discuss just taking off, but we can't. I'll never forget these words from her: "We should be dead." Time would tell, but we were unhurt and as far as we knew, nobody else was hurt either. We do the right thing and turn around to see how it all ended up.
The Mercury went 10 feet down an embankment trying to avoid their perceived impending collision with me. There was a pretty good dropoff below that, but lots of heavy brush stopped the car from going over. The car was scratched but otherwise undamaged.
As it turned out there was a local road at a stop sign at the end of the passing zone before the curve. The speed limit had gone down 100 feet before the crossroads to allow for it. There were 3 or 4 houses at the corner and there were people sitting on the front porch, saw the "whole thing" and called the local po-lice. (Yes, I am still convinced there is no way they saw the whole thing.)
1 driver that was behind me in the pack stopped, and his version of things matched mine. The locals did not agree, however, and I got a reckless driving and passing in a no passing zone citation.
The Mercury was being driven by a 15-year-old boy on a restricted license. It was all legal, mom and dad were in the car. Two things struck me immediately about this. The first, what was a parent doing letting their child drive on a restricted license on a holiday weekend coming out of the mountains. My father took me out on a Sunday afternoon to a big empty office park and taught me how to drive there. I wasn't allowed to be on public roads until 2 months before my 16th birthday and never without a parent. It was the law, anyway!
The second thing I thought was that this poor boy, who handled the car pretty well, was going to be scarred for life from driving. I was going to talk to him and his folks, but since they were really angry with me and since it was obvious I was being held at fault, I passed. (No pun intended
I said a lot of mean and nasty things about minivans and minivan drivers that afternoon. We made it to our destination up on the Blue Ridge, Ali got out of the car and reached into the back seat for a pen and paper. She wrote the word "MINIVAN" on the paper as I watched and then covered the "MIN" with her thumb. We laughed for ten minutes! Not too funny to relate it here, I know, but from all the nerves, it seemed hilarious at the time.
Shortly after this trip, Ali and I were engaged. I don't know what that says about either of us, but it's the truth!
Sorry for the mixed tenses and length.<p>Ivan
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
#3
Re: Ripped from Bogey's thread below... Give us a story about attempting to pass and passee speeds u
I get propositioned to race *all* of the time, usually when in the 911 or the 944. Now that a TT has replaced the Probe, I now have 3 cars that have signs on them that say "egg me on to race!".
So being that I get this all of the time, and that I'm not one to take big chances in life, I only accept propositions from those in cars that I am certain I'd be able to beat while staying in 2nd gear.
Just this past weekend, I had such an incident occur. I was merging onto a toll road, with a guy in front of me doing the same in a Jeep. Said jeep merges into the right lane of the 4-lane interstate, and I'm behind him. He stops accelerating at 60mph, so I assume he's a safe driver, wants to stay at the speed limit. I jump over into the left lane, and drop to 5th. After I'm doing about 65 or so, I'm next to him and starting to go by. I get to 70, and I look up, and he's next to me. I look at him, and he gives me this really stupid smirk, and a motion to race with his arm.
So I drop to 4th. Gun it. Take off. End up doing about 110mph before not being able to see him again, and then quickly back off, as I'm starting to enter the more populated areas of this interstate (more cars and such, this started way back out in the corn fields).
About 10 minutes pass, and I'm approaching the first toll booth. I notice the same jeep just barreling down on me (in relation to the fact that I'm doing 15mph towards a toll booth, I assume he was doing around 65mph). I have this I-Pass thingie, that auto-deducts the toll from my account, so I don't need to stop. So I'm just crusing at 15mph watching this looney flying towards the toll booth. I start to get worried, in that he's lost his brakes or something.
What happened next was kind of a blur. I was maybe 150 feet from the booth itself, and perhaps 50 feet from the actual "point of no return" lane-cone thingies that are on toll booths. This jeep appears to be heading for the lane next to me, but, he swerves between me and these cones, missing on by no more than 3 feet, almost slams into the toll booth to the left of the lane I was in, chirps his tires in the toll booth and flies through, doing at least 35-40mph.
I stopped at the toll-booth, and spoke to the attendant. Asked him if he got the jeep's license plate #. He said no. I said, "well, I did. Here it is:". He wrote it down, and assured me he'd call the police about this guy.
Best part about it was, about 10 minutes later, I start coming up on a jeep on the side of the road. He was standing there, with a cell phone in his hand, and a flat tire on his jeep. <p>
Chris Lawrence
chris@nrsys.org
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera
1985.5 Porsche 944
2001 TTQC 225 Brilliant Black/Aviator Grey, Performance/Comfort/Navigation -- NO phone
So being that I get this all of the time, and that I'm not one to take big chances in life, I only accept propositions from those in cars that I am certain I'd be able to beat while staying in 2nd gear.
Just this past weekend, I had such an incident occur. I was merging onto a toll road, with a guy in front of me doing the same in a Jeep. Said jeep merges into the right lane of the 4-lane interstate, and I'm behind him. He stops accelerating at 60mph, so I assume he's a safe driver, wants to stay at the speed limit. I jump over into the left lane, and drop to 5th. After I'm doing about 65 or so, I'm next to him and starting to go by. I get to 70, and I look up, and he's next to me. I look at him, and he gives me this really stupid smirk, and a motion to race with his arm.
So I drop to 4th. Gun it. Take off. End up doing about 110mph before not being able to see him again, and then quickly back off, as I'm starting to enter the more populated areas of this interstate (more cars and such, this started way back out in the corn fields).
About 10 minutes pass, and I'm approaching the first toll booth. I notice the same jeep just barreling down on me (in relation to the fact that I'm doing 15mph towards a toll booth, I assume he was doing around 65mph). I have this I-Pass thingie, that auto-deducts the toll from my account, so I don't need to stop. So I'm just crusing at 15mph watching this looney flying towards the toll booth. I start to get worried, in that he's lost his brakes or something.
What happened next was kind of a blur. I was maybe 150 feet from the booth itself, and perhaps 50 feet from the actual "point of no return" lane-cone thingies that are on toll booths. This jeep appears to be heading for the lane next to me, but, he swerves between me and these cones, missing on by no more than 3 feet, almost slams into the toll booth to the left of the lane I was in, chirps his tires in the toll booth and flies through, doing at least 35-40mph.
I stopped at the toll-booth, and spoke to the attendant. Asked him if he got the jeep's license plate #. He said no. I said, "well, I did. Here it is:". He wrote it down, and assured me he'd call the police about this guy.
Best part about it was, about 10 minutes later, I start coming up on a jeep on the side of the road. He was standing there, with a cell phone in his hand, and a flat tire on his jeep. <p>
Chris Lawrence
chris@nrsys.org
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera
1985.5 Porsche 944
2001 TTQC 225 Brilliant Black/Aviator Grey, Performance/Comfort/Navigation -- NO phone
#4
I wish I could give you ONE story, but around here, seems to be a sport. What happens
is, you are driving down a road, any road. You are behind someone, who is slower, usually driving a rice-burner, mustang, z28, etc. (insert your favorite POS car here) and it does not matter the number of lanes, etc. You change lanes to pass, and suddenly, their planet-sized ego kicks in. Something in their subconscious starts screaming "Hey, you're about to be passed!"
They floor it, and all of a sudden, I find myself in a race, one which I never intended to be in. Usually, I will back off just because I'm not an immature (read: stupid) teenager, and also because drivers in S. Florida are (a) insane, (b) bad drivers, and (c) very well armed.
Of course, down here, if you even flash your brights at someone who is drifting along in the left lane, you will usually get the finger (especially from women too, what's up with that?).
Hey Ivan, as for your story, I'm sorry - it must have been the height of frustration knowing you were the one who got screwed, twice. Once by the minivan driver, and the second time for being conscientious enough to go back and check on the other driver.
They floor it, and all of a sudden, I find myself in a race, one which I never intended to be in. Usually, I will back off just because I'm not an immature (read: stupid) teenager, and also because drivers in S. Florida are (a) insane, (b) bad drivers, and (c) very well armed.
Of course, down here, if you even flash your brights at someone who is drifting along in the left lane, you will usually get the finger (especially from women too, what's up with that?).
Hey Ivan, as for your story, I'm sorry - it must have been the height of frustration knowing you were the one who got screwed, twice. Once by the minivan driver, and the second time for being conscientious enough to go back and check on the other driver.
#5
My pleasure. Thanks for the kind words.
<p>Ivan
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
#6
My Karma was still good, and that is what matters in the long run, at least to 1/5 of the planet! :)
<p>Ivan
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
<i>Jacksonville, Florida<i>
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/y2ktturbo/tinytt.jpg" BORDER=0>
"Zorro" 2000MY, 180hp, Fronttrak, Silver/Ebony, MKII suspension, spoilTT,
K&N, Garmin EMap GPS, Colgan "mask" on order, Audi roof rack, Cobra R/D
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#8
Very, very well said. :)
<p>
Chris Lawrence
chris@nrsys.org
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera
1985.5 Porsche 944
2001 TTQC 225 Brilliant Black/Aviator Grey, Performance/Comfort/Navigation -- NO phone
Chris Lawrence
chris@nrsys.org
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera
1985.5 Porsche 944
2001 TTQC 225 Brilliant Black/Aviator Grey, Performance/Comfort/Navigation -- NO phone
#9
We concur with Duke. Like flying single engine airplanes...
better to stop when you can't stop than go when you can't go. Less energy when you crash.
FWIW; I'd run the van off the road before hitting an innocent (or any one else) headon.
So glad nobody was hurt.
FWIW; I'd run the van off the road before hitting an innocent (or any one else) headon.
So glad nobody was hurt.
#10
AudiWorld Super User
After someone did that to me I vowed never to own a vehicle that couldn't smoke em if I needed to...
<p>Tom Boucher
Lawrence, KS
----
TTRQ 225hp Roadster
Desert Green/Black Top/Aviator Gray Interior, Premier Package, Bose Package, and NAV
ORDERED - April 17, 2000, , STATUS HA - July 5, 2000
VIN#TRUUT28N911005008
Lawrence, KS
----
TTRQ 225hp Roadster
Desert Green/Black Top/Aviator Gray Interior, Premier Package, Bose Package, and NAV
ORDERED - April 17, 2000, , STATUS HA - July 5, 2000
VIN#TRUUT28N911005008