I was stuck behind someone going 40 in a 55, finally have a good clearing to pass them - then as I’m in the middle of that they decide to match me. Okay…weird, but they’re going fast now and on coming traffic is approaching now, so I hit my break to slip back behind them. They hit their break too. I’m guessing they saw the traffic too and they hit their break to let me ahead??
I had to pull into the wrong shoulder to avoid collision. There was still about 5-10 seconds before the on coming car actually passed me, so its not like it was a “near miss”, but still too close.
Was I in the wrong here? I felt like an idiot after that, but also being stuck behind someone going 15 under is miserable.
This sounds like you encountered an actual road troll, but it could’ve been one of those things akin to 2 people trying to speak at the same time, where it takes 2+ attempts before they figure out who’ll talk and who’ll listen.
The matching of your speed during your pass attempt seems like the primary offense.
The only justification I can concoct is if your passing attempt made the driver realize they were going slow enough to make people wanna pass, and they chose a stupid and inconsiderate time to accelerate. But that possibility is undermined by their subsequent braking. Maybe the braking could’ve been reflexive as they watched you and oncoming traffic approach bumpers, but that’s a second unlikely thing that’d have to be true to shed a troll label.
I knew a guy who was that kind of troll. Riding in the car with him, he’d mutter “don’t pass me” and would go faster purely to avoid being passed. So I know those trolls exist.
You say it was 5-10 seconds before oncoming traffic would arrive. That feels close to me. 5 seconds is too close to be passing in my opinion. 10 seconds sounds safe.
Having not been there myself, I’m can’t feel certain either way. But kudos to you for considering that you might be wrong. Just that fact portrays you as attempting to do right, and lends credibility to the trolliness of the other driver.
When I said 5-10 seconds, I meant there was 5-10 seconds after I pulled over before the on coming car passed me.
In that entire interaction, I had time to speed up, they had time to speed up, I speed up some more, they speed up more.
Then I presume we both saw the on coming car, realized we were getting nowhere and did the same action hoping for opposite results. They gave up to let me ahead, and I gave up to get back behind them.
Then I really gave up and pulled to the shoulder, than it was another little bit for the oncoming car to pass. And of course, the memory of timing could be completely off, but I was fully stopped when the car passed me and my pants stayed clean.
They probably weren’t paying attention to their speed at all, and didn’t even accelerate on purpose. People often go faster when something starts passing them.
My guess is they doesn’t realize what they did, and thought you had lost your mind. I mean, imagine how that looked to them if they doesn’t realize they sped up on you.
On the other hand, I’ve had other drivers do things like that on purpose to screw with me before too, and while I could go into detail, it suffices to say the times I am thinking of were pretty clear cut. I haven’t found that behavior to be particularly common though.
I was stuck behind someone going 40 in a 55, finally have a good clearing to pass them - then as I’m in the middle of that they decide to match me. Okay…weird, but they’re going fast now and on coming traffic is approaching now, so I hit my break to slip back behind them. They hit their break too. I’m guessing they saw the traffic too and they hit their break to let me ahead??
I had to pull into the wrong shoulder to avoid collision. There was still about 5-10 seconds before the on coming car actually passed me, so its not like it was a “near miss”, but still too close.
Was I in the wrong here? I felt like an idiot after that, but also being stuck behind someone going 15 under is miserable.
This sounds like you encountered an actual road troll, but it could’ve been one of those things akin to 2 people trying to speak at the same time, where it takes 2+ attempts before they figure out who’ll talk and who’ll listen.
The matching of your speed during your pass attempt seems like the primary offense.
The only justification I can concoct is if your passing attempt made the driver realize they were going slow enough to make people wanna pass, and they chose a stupid and inconsiderate time to accelerate. But that possibility is undermined by their subsequent braking. Maybe the braking could’ve been reflexive as they watched you and oncoming traffic approach bumpers, but that’s a second unlikely thing that’d have to be true to shed a troll label.
I knew a guy who was that kind of troll. Riding in the car with him, he’d mutter “don’t pass me” and would go faster purely to avoid being passed. So I know those trolls exist.
You say it was 5-10 seconds before oncoming traffic would arrive. That feels close to me. 5 seconds is too close to be passing in my opinion. 10 seconds sounds safe.
Having not been there myself, I’m can’t feel certain either way. But kudos to you for considering that you might be wrong. Just that fact portrays you as attempting to do right, and lends credibility to the trolliness of the other driver.
When I said 5-10 seconds, I meant there was 5-10 seconds after I pulled over before the on coming car passed me.
In that entire interaction, I had time to speed up, they had time to speed up, I speed up some more, they speed up more. Then I presume we both saw the on coming car, realized we were getting nowhere and did the same action hoping for opposite results. They gave up to let me ahead, and I gave up to get back behind them.
Then I really gave up and pulled to the shoulder, than it was another little bit for the oncoming car to pass. And of course, the memory of timing could be completely off, but I was fully stopped when the car passed me and my pants stayed clean.
They probably weren’t paying attention to their speed at all, and didn’t even accelerate on purpose. People often go faster when something starts passing them.
My guess is they doesn’t realize what they did, and thought you had lost your mind. I mean, imagine how that looked to them if they doesn’t realize they sped up on you.
On the other hand, I’ve had other drivers do things like that on purpose to screw with me before too, and while I could go into detail, it suffices to say the times I am thinking of were pretty clear cut. I haven’t found that behavior to be particularly common though.