In Minneapolis, I always drove in the left lane and almost never had to move over for anyone. Down here? I drive on the right and still these jerks tailgate.
I've reached a point where I get angry about it. Especially in the morning. There's not much traffic and there's no reason to ride my bumper. And it was Monday morning and I was crabby anyway, so... But I'm jumping ahead. Let me backtrack.
I'm driving on a highway that has several speed changes. It also has a stretch of three lanes that drop down to two just past a busy intersection. Shortly before this intersection, there's a big speed change. It goes from 50 mph to 40mph. I always slow down for several reasons, but some people don't bother.
I'm driving in the middle lane because that right lane drops off shortly and there's only a few other cars on the road with me. As I approach the speed change, I begin to slow down. Suddenly, there's a car in the right hand lane beside me and I'm like: Whoa! Where did he come from?
And then he cuts over behind me. Riding my bumper because I'm slowing down to the speed limit. The light is green, and I know slowing down might mean I have to wait at the light, but I'm not flying through this intersection. And if the asshat on my bumper doesn't like it, he can go around me. There is a left hand lane for him to use. I was irritated.
I remained at the speed limit despite his pushing me.
That's when my driving app goes off and reports police reported ahead. And I'm like, I bet this guy behind me is a cop. It was dark and I couldn't tell.
We go through the intersection and he finally goes around me. I was right. It's a cop. The guy in the left lane is going close to the speed limit, too, and he doesn't speed up either. The police car cuts back over to the right lane and starts aggressively coming up on the car in front of me.
That driver sped up.
And kept speeding up, pulling farther and farther away from me. I knew this wasn't going to be good, and sure enough, farther up the highway, the cop has the driver pulled over.
I'm not sure if the driver slowed down or not at that speed change. They might not have and maybe that's why the cop sprang out from wherever he was. Maybe the driver was using their phone and the officer saw the light? Georgia is a hands-free state. Or maybe he just wanted to give someone a ticket and counted on his aggressive tailgating to cause someone to speed up and I didn't bite. Neither did the guy in the lane next to me, so he kept trying cars until he found someone who did go faster and faster. Or maybe some reason I didn't come up with. Who knows?
I think he was trying to get someone to speed up, though, because of how he tailgated me and I was doing the speed limit or barely over it when he pulled that little stunt. I guess I can be grateful for my attitude--it saved me from a ticket.
