[bigtrouble77]

I've been purposely forced off the road by 2 tractor trailers. The first time I told my parents about it they absolutely would not believe me.

Just yesterday it happened again with my mom in the car. We were going about 65-70 in the slow lane, a truck came up from behind at a very high rate of speed, saw that the lanes merged not too far up and layed down on the horn. He came flying past us partially in both lanes then pushed us off the road at 75-80 mph. Completely unprovoked as that was the first time we saw that truck.

The only thing I can think of is burly truckers are offended by the car. Had he actually hit us I'm pretty sure I'd still be detained by the authorities for breaking his legs and shoving his foot up you-know-where.

 

[cakley]

My father drives a big truck and I I keep a CB radio in my car. So truckers don't hate hybrids. What they hate is old people who do 15 less than the speedlmit and never ever look in any direction other than staight ahead. They also hate people who use the merge lane as a passing lane. Which might be what happend to you. Big trucks take a long time to increase speed so they try to keep the same speed.

BTW most of them have 1800 hos my driving numbers. Call them up. They get in serious trouble.

I've put 52000 miles and never had a problem with big trucks.

 

[bigtrouble77]

I wasn't using that lane as a passing lane. The highway just went from 4 lanes to 3 lanes. I'm certain it's cause he wanted to maintain his speed. That's not my problem, tho. He had 2 other lanes to choose from if he wanted to go that fast.

The first experience was even worse. It was 4am going about 75mpg and the truck merged right into my lane forcing me off the road. Then he slowed down and started weaving across the highway at like 50mpg so I couldn't pass. When he stopped I tried to pass and he tried to force me off the road again. I finally did get past him and called the cops. Of course they said they couldn't do anything unless I was willing to press charges in VA.

Unfortunately those 2 trucks didn't have 800 numbers posted.

 

[bfivelover]

There are a lot of idiots out there, as I'm sure you're aware. I drive in VA on Routes 7 and 81 and have had no problems. In 33yrs of driving, I have only encountered one idiot like you described, but he was in a car, not a truck, on Route 195 in NJ. He was playing games weaving back and forth not letting me and my friend in the car behind me pass. I ended up getting by him and almost forcing him off the road. He didn't bother me after that, but he had my friend pretty shook up. That was 20 some years ago, so I was obviously not in my Insight.

 

[bigtrouble77]

lol, those speed listings in my earlier post are supposed to be MPH. So used to saying mpg on this board

Yeah, these guys are idiots but I never had it happen before my insight. Thankfully, it seems like my experiences are isolated.

(btw, VA81 is the site of the first incident.)

 

[figgy]

I was run off the road once. It is a small and winding road going down the hill from my house to the flats. It was by a guy who lives further up the hill who was returning to his house in his giant land yacht RV thing. He came around a corner and wiped across the entire curve, pushing me into the bushes and leaving about spider silk width between me and his flank.

I don't think he would have slowed down for any sized car, so I consider it lucky that I was in the Insight and small enough to escape getting crushed. On the other hand, maybe he just kept going BECAUSE I was in the Insight?

 

[james]

"He had 2 other lanes to choose from if he wanted to go that fast."

Let's see if I understand this: you were in the 3rd lane from the right, and the 4th lane was merging into that one? And the two lanes to the right of you were clear?

If that's the situation, why didn't you move right a lane or two? I always thought that among the basic rules of the road are "Slower Traffic Keep Right" and "Pass on the Left".

 

[bigtrouble77]

"Let's see if I understand this: you were in the 3rd lane from the right, and the 4th lane was merging into that one? And the two lanes to the right of you were clear?

I was in the right-most, slowest lane.

 

[dazey]

I have had 2 semis pull into the space I was occupying or about to be in. I don't think they were doing it to specifically "get me". The first, I was in the right-most lane that was an on-ramp / off-ramp lane, the semi was in the next lane over and started to merge to the right when I was about in the middle of him. There was a lot of commute traffic around us and I'm guessing he just didn't see me, 2nd gear was my friend there. The other was a truck turning right on a red when my left turn lane just turned green. Again I am thinking he just wasn't paying attention and started to pull out when it was our right of way.

2 SUVs have turned inside of me on left turns at intersections though. The first one made it since I wasn't paying attention to him. The second was at a stop sign and they didn't even stop, they just started to go. I got to show her that the Insight isn't a "gutless little car" though

 

[slideways]

Jeez, my experience was only with a BMW driven by a woman under the influence of at least a really bad attitude. In times like these I'd much rather have as an option a grenade launcher then say, power windows or AC :twisted:

 

[Thorian]

1 18 wheeler and one f series pickup. the 18 wheeler really had no where to go he swereved to avoid a suv that just flipped over the(really bad accident no survivors) median and I give my wife credit for avoiding the f-series because she was commenting on the turn signal in the side view as I realizd that I was going to be sideswiped by some one on a cell phone. Laid on the phone and the accident was avoided

 

[james]

There's one place where someone tries to run me off the road about every time I go through it. 2 lanes of traffic stop at a cross street, then turn left. Right lane then enters the freeway on ramp, left goes straight. And just about every time, the idiot in the lane to the left of me will turn, then try to swerve over to the right to go on to the freeway, even though I'm in that lane already.

It's not the Insight, either. Happens when I'm in the pickup, happened when I had the CRX, and the Subaru before that... Must be some sort of very localized magnetic phenomenon that interferes with the brain cells of anyone in that lane.

 

[shalwechat]

Re: How many of you have been run off the road in your Insig

I've been purposely forced off the road by 2 tractor trailers. The first time I told my parents about it they absolutely would not believe me.

Just yesterday it happened again with my mom in the car. We were going about 65-70 in the slow lane, a truck came up from behind at a very high rate of speed, saw that the lanes merged not too far up and layed down on the horn. He came flying past us partially in both lanes then pushed us off the road at 75-80 mph. Completely unprovoked as that was the first time we saw that truck.

The only thing I can think of is burly truckers are offended by the car. Had he actually hit us I'm pretty sure I'd still be detained by the authorities for breaking his legs and shoving his foot up you-know-where.

well i only had one incident of road rage. i was driving my wife's insight and a car was diving on the shoulder became enraged when he was forced to cut behind me in instead of cutting ahead of me. he slammed on the breaks and i stopped so not to rear end him.

 

[shalwechat]

here is a new option for the victims of roadrage

http://www.trunkmonkey.com

then click on

trunk monkey video #1

 

[InsightLight]

I just learned how to drive stick 3 days ago and got my insight just a little over 1 week ago. When I drive, I noticed I get honked at more (I don't know if ppl just wanna give me a thumbs up or if my car has charlie brown syndrome?) But the other day my father was driving the insight and he has over 30 years of driving both transmissions and someone honked the horn at him while driving my insight with me as passenger. My father was quite surprised he was honked at being that we were at least 3 or 4 cars away from the honker. (we still don't know exactly why he honked at us but do know it was towards us) We were driving at speed limit in a straight road on the slow lane.

When I used to own my 2005 GTO, people never honked at me, cut me off, or stay in front of me for very long...they just shyly remained behind me and when someone wanted to pass me they would do so very slowly and cautiously

Just my experiences ...

 

[racer26]

Cruising along the 80km/h country roads (50mph) on my route to work at 75-85km/h seems to piss a few people off, but the majority that want to go faster simply wait till there's a passing opportunity, and blow by me like I'm standing still. Some will tailgate, and its irritating, but I find that I still come up on people way worse than moving the speed limit. Two days ago, a late model accord I think it was, not that its important, was going down the fastest section of my ride home (I top the scales at 110km/h in my Insight, @ an iFCD reading of 2L/100km, its about a 6% grade for 1.5km) which is an 80km/h posted limit. He's coming down at 55km/h. I passed him, and the car following him in front of me, getting my insight up to 123km/h on the next downhill segment.

I very rarely let my speed drop more than 5km/h under the limit, and I only do that when there's nobody following me.

 

[Eli]

Never been run off the road, but it is amazing how people treat you in the Insight.

I'm an aggressive driver and will dish it right back. If you ride my ***, expect me to slow down even more at the least. If you keep it up, expect to be brake checked.

That includes 18 wheelers. I won't put up with that. Most truck drivers are courteous in my experience though.

 

[racer26]

@Eli: I'm fairly aggressive too (I'm a racer, what do you expect?), but I've found that the video game the aFCD makes of setting the high score has made me far less aggressive than I used to be. That being said, I'm still plenty assertive.

I pride myself in knowing exactly how big my car is, and exactly what it is and isn't capable of doing.

 

[Eli]

Yeah, same here.

I haven't encountered any problems at all on the last few road trips come to think of it. It's usually not a problem for people to pass out on the open road. I imagine it gets a little more hectic if you're near a big city all the time.

I know what you mean though. I think it's probably calmed me down too. At least, I've only gotten one speeding ticket in the Insight - back when I first bought it.

I've been stomping on it lately and my fuel economy has dropped to below 60MPG for this tank. Still have ~250 miles to get it back up again, so I've been hypermiling my way to work the last couple of days.

 

[samwichse]

Weekend before last I was on a road trip going to Canada and in the middle of New York state.

The car in front of me suddenly started going 40 in a 55... I saw the passenger kept looking back over his shoulder at me.

Finally, got a passing zone (basic 2 lane rural highway), and when I accelerated into the left lane, the girl driving throws on the gas and tries to keep me from going around while hanging her head out the window with a big grin and flipping me off.

WTF?

Normally I would have guessed the driver was responding to being tailgated, but I always leave a huge space to "absorb" sudden speed changes in front of me.

In 3rd at 75, that little three banger has quite a bit of oomph though... certainly enough to outrun her automatic Geo Prism.

Sam