Well, it was another day driving to Sears today, however, it was unlike any other day. Over the past 2 years, I’ve never had a problem getting to and from work at the speed I drive, but today, I had a complete idiot to deal with. As you may not know, I drive a 2015 Ford Focus Electric, therefore I don’t get that much battery power. However, it gets a good 100 miles to a single charge under the right conditions. I do like to help my grandparents save on their electric bill, so that’s why I drive at an economical speed. I normally drive 50 mi/hr when the weather is mild, but today, I drove 55 mi/hr since it was 80 degrees outside. So, here I am driving, in the slow lane just as I normally do, and someone in a white van passes me. So far, so good! However, after he’s like…1000 feet away, the driver started slowing down after he/she went back into the slow lane after passing me from the middle lane. He started slowing down shortly after the Columbus/Florence exit. It doesn’t appear that anyone was coming onto the highway from the ramp, but even after the exit, the driver still kept slowing down. Now the van is moving even slower than I am. I retain my speed at 55 mi/hr (which is always set using the cruise control), and I immediately pass the van after I am only a couple of feet behind it. Then, there were a few cars and a semi approaching me in the middle lane. Obviously, the semi can’t pass me in the fast lane, because that would be illegal, so the semi would have to slow down. I tried to get out of that lane as quick as I could to prevent the truck driver from slamming on his brakes and causing an accident, (this is why driving at 55 mi/hr on an interstate highway can be dangerous and is NOT RECOMMENDED). Once I got back into the right lane, I was only a couple of feet in front of the van. Yes, I was tailgating in case some of you wanted to know what I just did. That was a red flag on my part. So, far I’m driving faster than the van, but THEN the van slowed down again. What a complete asshole that person is! Seriously! I could just pass the van again, but now there were other cars in the middle lane. So, I used the shoulder to pass the van…totally ILLEGAL! After I successfully passed the van the second time, I looked behind me and noticed the van proceeded to a complete stop in into the shoulder and put the blinkers on. I have a feeling the driver is going to report me to the police! So, this is how I’m going to be treated? For being economical and saving money going just 10 miles under the speed limit in the GODDAMN slow lane, and now I have to deal with someone slowing down after passing me? Drivers like that don’t belong on the road. I have had an instance like that happen a couple years back when I was driving in the fast lane in a 55 mi/hr road. However, that was a mistake on my part because I had like…20 people behind me in the 2nd lane. The person who passed me and slowed down even flashed his stupid blinkers at me to let me know I didn’t belong in that lane. Then, after he passed me in the other lane, he went in front of me and slowed down to remind me AGAIN. So, obviously this is a different situation. Now, one thing I noticed is that when the van slowed down, the brake lights didn’t show up, which means he just coasting, not deliberately braking. This could mean that the driver is an elderly person, and is just slowing down enough to see that there was nobody coming down the exit ramp. Then, he/she simply forgot what speed he was going to simply didn’t accelerate and continued at that speed. Of course, my fault is when I drove too close to the van after passing it. Both times when the van passed me, it was 5 car lengths away, which is the correct threshold for safely staying driving behind someone. The van was also 5 car lengths in front of me when it passed from the middle lane back into the slow lane. So perhaps I set him off, but obviously I got set off as well, which is why I passed him from the shoulder. I have seen other people pass me from the shoulder, however, two wrongs down make a right. I certainly went too far on handling this situation. I could have just slowed down after he slowed down in front of me the second time. However, I was too hasty, and I needed to get to work. I didn’t want to be late. I arrived 5 minutes late, which is only 1 minute before the 6 minute grace period. I’m sure the van would keep slowing down more and more until it was 35 mi/hr on the interstate and I could report that driver to the police to be driving recklessly slow!
Well, because this driver may have reported my license plate, now I may have to hide from the police. That’s just great! The fact of the matter is, I can’t drive 55 forever, and someone’s going to report me so that everyone else gets to share the slow lane too. That’s totally unfair! I guess I’m going to have to increase my speed to 65 one of these days. I drove a different route home, because I was afraid the driver of the van may have sent the cops to monitor the area. It took an extra 7 minutes to get home tonight. I’m at least hoping that on Saturday, there won’t be any cops on the road. As far as I am concerned, only the state police patrol the interstate, and I only see them with the speedometers a few times a month. If I see them, I’ll just drive 65, then I’ll slow back down to 55 again once I’m out of their sight. No big deal! Haha, you can’t get me.
