I have to tell about an incident that happened to me last night that will identify a type of driver that is in the minority here, but when you do encounter them, it is quite unpleasant.
In my neighborhood there is a sometimes busy street on a rather large hill. The speed limit is 25 mph on this street (though people usually drive around 35 mph). I turned out onto this street, heading uphill. Whenever I turn out onto the street, I always accelerate up the hill to get up to the speed of traffic quickly, because I personally hate it when people pull out on this street right in front of me and then crawl up the hill at 10 mph.
I see a car coming up the hill, but it is far down enough that I know based on years of driving this exact route that I have PLENTY of room to pull out. I guess I didn't figure on encountering Mario Andretti.
It was dark, and I'm accelerating up the hill - and I see these headlights roaring up behind me. I accelerate even more to try to accommodate his faster speed (so as not to be like one of those people that irritate me) - but this guy seems to accelerate even more himself. He comes right up to my bumper before swinging into the next lane at the last minute, passes me and then proceeds slalom back into my lane in front of me, right between me and another car.
Based on the speed that I was going when I accelerated a second time, he must have been going close to 55 mph as he passed me. He decelerated very quickly to slalom back into the lane (because everyone else was going at least 15 mph slower than him). Due to this move, obviously I am rather close to his back bumper when he cuts in front of me.
Then this guy suddenly comes to a complete stop. You know - the "swoop and stoop" move the insurance companies talk about - where they do it so you hit them? Unbelievable - I have no idea what this guy is thinking. I slam on my brakes and can feel that grinding, pulsating feeling in the brakes when you stop so suddenly. There probably wasn't more than a couple inches between our bumpers when I came to a stop. So he starts moving forward, I start moving forward and we're going along for a while - and then he does it again. This time I was further enough back that it wasn't such a surprise - but what the f#@*?!
Not that I've had this exact type of incident ever happen to me before, but I've seen this type of behavior to recognize this type of driver. You'll find them mostly in the central to leeward parts of the island. It is usually a local male somewhere between 20-40 yrs old, driving a big SUV or truck. Always speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. They seem to take it as a personal affront if a slower car is in their lane. They can't simply pass or go around you, but must show their displeasure because you "got in their way" - by cutting you off and tailing you.
And heaven forbid you come too close to their car - even though it was caused solely by their own actions. Then you get what I did - coming to a complete and sudden stop, like they're daring you to hit them. The second time this guy pulled this move, I thought about just hitting him and taking it from there - but then figured all the resulting hassle was not worth the indulgence.
