[net.auto] Going slow in the left lane - guns pointed at me.

cpr0@bunny.UUCP (C. Rosebrugh) (05/04/85)

Just a little ditty for thought (our net has been down for a couple of 
months, so I'm not sure how sick everyone is of this subject!)
My brother and I were coming back from Montreal a few weeks ago (to Boston),
and we went through Vermont, on Rt. 89. I like to set the cruise control
at ~70 and cruise in the left lane. I move over for those who travel faster,
and I expect those who travel slower to move over for me. If someone doesn't 
move over, I will pass on the right if I can do so without messing others up.
I came upon a guy in the left lane going about 60, (no-one in the right lane),
so I moved into the right lane to pass. As I was passing he put on his signal
to move over - but I was already there! I figured it was easier to just finish
passing him and then he could move into the right lane (I was almost next 
to him.) I did exactly that, and he moved over (we were then both in the
right lane.) He was obviously Flaming mad, as he then tailgated me. As we
came upon a car in the right lane going about 60, the tailgater pulled into
the left lane and blocked me in behind the 60 mph guy. I was fairly calm 
about this game and waited for the tailgater to speed up, then pulled into the 
left lane behind him. He slowed down, so once again I passed him on the right.
When I was almost even with him, he started moving into the right lane, 
running me of the road - which happened to be a no-guard-railed cliff. As I
accelerated in the breakdown lane to get around him I finally got mad and
gave him the the finger - profusely. I took off at about 95 mph to get away
from him - but he followed. When I came upon traffic, I slowed to 60 and 
pulled into the right lane. He came up beside me, his passenger (a ~15 year old
girl) popped me the bird. I pointed to the side of the road for him to pull 
over (my brother wanted to beat the sh*t out of him for running us off), 
and he responded with a long barrel pistol out the window at us!! To make a 
long story short, we stopped at the next State Police exit, filed a report,
they caught him, he admitted to the reckless driving (for running us off of
the road,) he had ditched the gun (he was from the area and saw us get off at
the SP exit), but the reckless driving is in the courts now. So, the moral
to the story is: There's alot of a**holes out there who don't like people
travelling fast on the highways and they have their own ways of dealing
with it. You can bet I'm pressing charges - I don't like looking down the
wrong end of a pistol. People who drive slower in the left lane than 
the flow of traffic are AS*HOLES! Be careful out there.