[Thymeclock]

Do you really want to know where you went wrong or how you can improve your driving psychology? If you can withstand some criticism, I’ll offer it. (If not, please don’t read this and don’t offer a defensive argument.)

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

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The exit to my house is the only exit, in at least 100 miles, where you have to be in the left lane for the exit. I try to get in the left lane well before the exit, because traffic can get so heavy and people follow each other so closely that sometimes if you wait too long you just can't get into the left lane safely.

Yes, what you describe is a poorly planned interstate highway like many others in the Northeast with the 'left lane exit only' foolishness of design.

This was not one of those days. Speed limit is 65, but if you go that slow you have people all over your arse, but today the traffic was actually moving along a just a couple of MPH over the 65 limit.
I moved over to the left lane a little over than a mile from the exit…

IMHO that is way too soon, but I’m a NY’er. No one needs a full mile to exit any highway.

…speed up to 72 MPH to match my speed to the left lane traffic, everything looks fine, maybe another 60 seconds to my exit.

At that speed we are talking about a mile, right? That gives lots of time to do lots of things, no?

A single car is leaving the crowd 100 yards behind me. This guy is closing fast, has to be going 90+ to close at that rate. Even though there is no other car within over 100 yards of me front and rear, this clown pulls up 2 feet behind me. The right lane is clear but no, he wants to tailgate me 6 feet from my rear end and I am going 100 feet per second.

I move over in the lane to the left edge, which usually gets the idiot to just go around me…

Why didn’t you just ignore him? When you moved over and acted deferential, you invited him to bully you.

….but not this clown, he pulls up beside me and gives me the finger. I return the favor.

Oh, that was smart. First you acted passive, then you act aggressive. Can you see how you exacerbated this situation?

…so his next move is to run me off the road. The crazy thing is as he is pulling into my lane with his left rear tire next to my right front,
HE HAS HIS TURN SIGNAL ON!

Well, DUH - at least give him some credit. If you had ignored him from the start none of this would have happened. Either he would have sped up and cut in front of you or been relegated to sitting behind you. Next time someone flips you the bird, smile and wave back at him. It’s disarming. It’s really hard to get angry and escalate a situation when you are perceived as being friendly or carefree rather than angry. But you “returned the favor” by giving him the finger in return. Bad strategy.

Finally he pulls away, rolls his sunroof back and gives me the bird with both hands out the sunroof. A few seconds later this absolute genius sees me hit my left turn signal and get off the road using the left exit. By now he has closed on the group of cars in front and is tailgating someone else again.
I can only wonder what the idiot thought when he saw me exiting to the left when is the only way for me to get off the road without going several miles past my house and coming back. Probably cussing the driver in front of him for slowing him down.

Look – you knew what his mentality was, but you got suckered into playing his game. The best way to deal with people like that is to let them go! Let them cut in and out of traffic. Let them speed. Ironically people that drive that way usually don’t get anywhere any faster than by keeping a steady pace. And often you might pass them further down the road – because they will have done you the favor of being more attractive to the cop that pulled them over.