Date:         Fri, 9 Nov 2012 08:02:15 -0800
Reply-To:     Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: LED Tail Lights
In-Reply-To:  <CAHTkEuK+W4SGADnwMu1oKVvEUX3qxFXqfGVn-EK8WSAJ0hYSKA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I've got news for you guys, it ain't just in the West.   They are all over
the lower 48.
And they don't do it just to VW buses either.   They do it to all makes and
models.
They are just stupid inconsiderate drivers that don't have a clue.   I've
had idiots for
no apparent reason follow me for many miles while I'm driving a cookie
cutter vehicle on a
multilane highway and then finally decide to pass and give me the look like
I had anything
to do with slowing or impeding their progress....    It's like they "must"
be in that lane and no other.
I don't get it.   Those kind of people live in a black or white world I
guess.

Steven
91 Westy

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 6:30 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
> scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > I have to shake people off frequently ...mostly when I am driving in one
> > lane on a two lane  in each direction road or freeway   and people just
> > cruise up  tome ( mostly empty highway ) and 'lock on'.
> >   They love to do that in California.  Extremely dumb drivers that way.
> >
>
>   I encounter that behavior a lot.   A car will catch up to me, come up
> pretty close and then remain there for miles and miles.   Out in the desert
> and high plains country in the West, where the highway is just two lane but
> there is no traffic and no terrain that blocks the view, drivers will still
> sit on your tail despite unlimited passing opportunities.
>
>   Curiosity caused me to once allow a following car to stay on my bumper on
> 2-lane  Wa. SR 14 along the shore of the Columbia River.  I was curious to
> see how long they'd remain there, despite them coming up pretty fast when
> they 'arrived' on my tailgate.   They followed along, about 20' back as I
> traveled west at 55-60mph for over 50 miles!,  until we hit the next
> intersection at the 'town' of Maryhill.  And.....That driver Glared at me
> as he turned off, like I was 'holding him up' or something.....There are
> probably only about a dozen miles along that stretch where a pass would
> have been even a slight challenge,  maybe two total miles of solid center
> line in our lane over that 50 mile stretch.  65mph speed limit.  Almost a
> full hour of that car following me at ~20' back.....Nobody else in
> sight.....Weird...
>
>    It's often necessary to slow up to about 30mph before some goof behind
> you will finally take the plunge and go around.   I don't want anyone who's
> driving skills are so shaky on my tail for too long. When  someone misses
> multiple chances to pass me and sits there for more than a few miles, I
> assume they're on the phone, putting on make up, doing their email or not
> paying attention in some other way and I  gradually slow  up to force them
> off my rear bumper.
>
>    It can also be challenging, in the Vanagon, when you encounter a gaggle
> of vehicles where this 'following behavior' is going on.   Getting past
> multiple vehicles, all being held up by one  driver who's too lame to
> simply pass the slow vehicle....sometimes this isn't so easy....On my
> sportbike..no problemo, but the Vanagon takes a bit of 'planning' to get
> around multiple vehicles in one shot, or to leapfrog along a bunch
> ......and you must be very aware  (and prepared to take action) if maybe,
> just maybe that dullard who's been following the fruit truck or motorhome
> for 10 miles without passing will finally decide to make his pass without
> first checking his mirror, right then,  when you are going around him....
>
>    At night, it is especially irritating to have someone hanging behind for
> mile after mile, though I 'get it' that passing at night might be a little
> beyond the skill-set of many city drivers who're only comfortable on
> freeways and multi-lane lighted  boulevards.
>
> And of course, there's the Left Lane speed limit Enforcers we have here in
> the NW who drive along on the empty interstate in the left lane at just
> below the limit and give you the "Stink-Eye" when you pass them using the
> right hand lane......
>
>   D. Hanson
>