Ice + Tailgating

It really makes me wonder what enters people's minds when they combine two dangerous things. Let's take ice and tailgating. Ice can be very dangerous on its own. People slip and fall, cars slide everywhere, it just creates a hazardous environment.

Then you have tailgating. People love to do this all the time which blows my mind because the reaction time I have witnessed in most individuals does not warrant tailgating. Idiots assume that they will not have to brake for some reason.

Now, take these two and combine them and you have a recipe for disaster! I don't how many times vehicles rush up behind me and drive very close behind me... all while there is a nice sheet of ice on the road. NW Indiana has been getting some lovely ice storms where it rains and then freezes when it hits the ground. Either these people are complete idiots or they have never driven in winter conditions before.

The other day, this little white Focus was tailgating. If you have studied insurance policies at all, anytime you are rear-ended, it is always the person's fault who runs into the back of you. So I waited and braked hard since there were two vehicles in front of me and I just crack up while this Focus fishtails all over the road. He came within inches of hitting and I was kind of hoping he would. I'll take some damage to my vehicle to teach some ignorant moron a lesson.

Anyways, I still don't get it. I always get stuck behind people who go far below what they could be driving. You'll get the 80 year old lady who shouldn't be driving in the first place but for unknown reasons, the DMV is still letting her carry a license. The road will have two clear tire tracks, like it did last night, but these people will still drive 20 miles an hour. Last night, I was stuck behind about 20 to 30 cars all following this tiny little car, smaller than my civic, that was going about 20, maybe 25 at some points. And I was getting tailgated the whole time. The person behind even weaved out in the middle of the road, looking as if he was going to pass. Good luck trying to pass 30 cars in between spurts of traffic, while there is snow, slush, and occasional patches of ice all over the road. I mean, we could have been going faster, maybe 35 to 40 safely with proper distance between vehicles but... I guess if the road conditions don't allow for the safe passing of other vehicles, it's probably not a good idea to drive just a couple feet behind their bumper.

Cuz people like me like to brake hard... on purpose... ;)