Attack of the Yari

[GeneW]

On the way to work an Audi convertible indulged in a grievous sin to me - they hogged the left lane doing just under the speed limit.

Your humble narrator was getting onto the road and knew what to do - use the on ramp as a passing lane. Within a few seconds I was past the Audi and a minivan. I noted that the Audi pilot had a cell phone screwed into their left ear. Some kid in their late twenties or thirties, probably a Lawyer with more dollars than sense.

I watched the Audi drift behind me, maintaining its solipsistic mode of travel, oblivious to the world.

Since I keep an eye on EVERYTHING around me I take frequent peeks in the rear view mirror.

To my amazement a SECOND Yaris approached the Audi, paused for several seconds, and then pulled into the right lane, slid in behind the mini Van, passed the Audi in the right lane and then proceeded up the highway.

What's a snobby German car owner to do, with their low slung Audi Coupe with Iodine lights, cell phone in one ear, hogging the left lane when passed by not one but two Japanese economy cars and on the right no less?

The Audi passed the Minivan and then pulled into the right lane. I soon lost sight of the Audi but the Yaris paced me for several miles and then pulled off on an exit ramp.

Gene

[jambo101]

Pulling into the on ramp to pass some one is insane and will ultimately make for a real bad day.As for the Audi driver? i doubt he even knew you were there or even cared and if he did he probably did you a favor by not speeding up and blocking you out in the on ramp.
Gene you car isnt a Yaris equivelent to this is it?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...4/43/Poser.JPG

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Pulling into the on ramp to pass some one is insane and will ultimately make for a real bad day.As for the Audi driver? i doubt he even knew you were there or even cared and if he did he probably did you a favor by not speeding up and blocking you out in the on ramp.

The on ramp is about two miles long, maybe I ought to have mentioned that. I am aware that people do not look to their left too often. I game what they might do and hope for the best.

You have to game things while driving a Yaris. Brute force is not part of your toolkit when you're driving a Yaris or any economy car.

If Audi boy had blocked me I'd have done something to evade him. Of course he wasn't aware of me - he was in his own little world, totally isolated from others. People like him are simply in the way.

Gene

[jambo101]

The on ramp is on the left??
Trying to get your Yaris into it with an Audi TT is somewhat akin to bringing a knife to a gun fight.

[eTiMaGo]

thankfully here a few flashes of the high beams are enough to get slowpokes out of the fast lane... but there are plenty who are oblivious...

[ZING]

We don't even have lanes, just a wide piece of road. No speed limits, no rules, lazy cops. If anyone wants good driving all day, come here.

[SIPNGAS]

I love it when Gene tells a story!

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by jambo101

The on ramp is on the left??

No, it's on the right hand side. Should have said, "Look to their right".

Originally Posted by jambo101

Trying to get your Yaris into it with an Audi TT is somewhat akin to bringing a knife to a gun fight.

You can almost always win a contest where the other person doesn't compete. More so if you have some nerve and good timing.

Gene

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by ZING

We don't even have lanes, just a wide piece of road. No speed limits, no rules, lazy cops. If anyone wants good driving all day, come here.

....also some of the most beautiful women on the planet.

Gene

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by SIPNGAS

I love it when Gene tells a story!

Thank you.

Gene

[Shroomster]

Originally Posted by jambo101

The on ramp is on the left??
Trying to get your Yaris into it with an Audi TT is somewhat akin to bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Jambo, Gene is trying to say that the on-ramp has two lanes that eventually merge into one before it dumps you onto the road.... he passed in the right lane of the on-ramp.....no harm done....

[RHDVIPbB]

glad I am not the only person who uses on ramps as passing lanes from time to time.

[Revsson]

Where's the video to accompany this narrative?

[jambo101]

New old saying "people who drive slower than me are all morons and idiots,people who drive faster than me are all crazy lunatics"

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by jambo101

New old saying "people who drive slower than me are all morons and idiots,people who drive faster than me are all crazy lunatics"

that would make for a perfect bumper sticker

[TLyttle]

Talk to a traffic manager sometime, and ask him if jambo is right. Their jobs would be easier if we all drove at the same speed!

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

thankfully here a few flashes of the high beams are enough to get slowpokes out of the fast lane... but there are plenty who are oblivious...

Do that around here and the majority of the time it results in the lane-hog slamming their brakes!

I do miss the driving discipline that I was used to in Europe; but one of the reasons I traded my Passat in for the Yaris was that I was getting too aggressive with my driving. In Texas we have something called "access roads" that parallel the main highways and many times I have "bunny hopped" off of the main road onto the access road to pass large gaggles of traffic. Unfortunately, that mean picking up a lot of speed then merging back onto the highway. On my way to work there is a major roadway where I could do that up to four times to get around slower folks who never move out of the left lane.

But the problem was the speed I was going on the access roads, way too fast. When I bought my Jeep, I calmed down a lot as there is no way you can drive a Wrangler like that. But I still had the Passat and knew eventually it would lead to trouble.

I still scoot pretty well in my Yaris, but I know there isn't a lot of power in that 1.5L engine so it have notched it down several levels. The funny thing is, now that I have to rely on better tactics and techniques to make good time (and get better gas mileage), I find I am not really taking much longer to get anywhere and I catch up and even pass many of the faster cars as they usually get bogged down somewhere along the line. The important thing is to keep up a high level of situational awareness, and riding motorcycles and driving economy cars forces you to do that. I try to steer clear of the cell phone drivers although that is hard to do as it seems like a third to half of the folks on the road around here are chatting on them.

And as a former German car owner, I can tell you it is not unique to those marques. Here everyone from the F-150 to a Kia driver seem clueless to the basic rules of the road (blocking the left lane is illegal in Texas, but it is rarely enforced). Everytime I return from Europe it takes me a while to adjust. And it always pisses me off. It is not that hard to drive courteous, but it all starts with a little respect for other drivers; and even when I try to do something nice, like move over a lane so someone can merge into traffic, it usually goes unnoticed and the opportunity lost. I guess people just don't expect it around here anymore, which is a shame as southcentral Texas used to have some good drivers!



Cheers! M2