I still don’t get what motivates this behavior – what on earth do they think they are getting by delaying my progress by a few seconds?

A larger penis?

(I recommend using grippy front tires with 100,000 mile economy specials on the rear for fun times in a small & slow FWD car.)

One day, the wipers stopped working. A look under the hood revealed that the nut connecting the two wiper rods popped off and the rod for the passenger arm, still connected to the motor, was jammed. However, the driver’s side was free to move and I saw that if I pulled the rod towards the passenger side, the wiper arm would swing up.

Being stuck at work with a rain storm coming in forced me to figure something out with the stuff I had on hand. So, using a bungee cord, I rigged it so that the rod was always pulled under the hood and in the upright position. Taking some spare speaker wire, I tied one end to the automatic shifter, and ran the wire through the passenger window (the ventvisors helped here) and tied the other end to the outside arm.

So, when it rained, I just pulled wire from the passenger window, which pulled the arm down towards the hood. When I let go of the wire, it sprang back up to the driver’s side. A coating of Rain-X helped out while I was adjusting the defroster or changing the radio station.

This worked so well that both myself and a friend of mine did this on other cars to get out of a jam.

I still don’t get what motivates this behavior – what on earth do they think they are getting by delaying my progress by a few seconds?

If everyone left 100 feet in traffic, the traffic would grind to a halt when already heavy. And while it’s important to leave enough space to react in time, I don’t see any point in making other drivers mad.

One thing I do on 2 lane city streets in traffic: if I’m turning left, and have to wait for traffic going the other way, I try to pull far enough to the left so that the people behind me can get around me. I also try generally to be conscious of the people behind me, as well as those in front. And, for example, if someone is tailgating me on a 2 lane country road, if it’s reasonably convenient, I’ll pull over to let them pass. When I lived in California in the early ’70s, people used to do this all the time. I don’t see it there anymore.

1- get illusion of some clear space on the road ahead of me, plus I can see around car in front.

2- It confuses, angers, and drives crazy Boston drivers around me. This is a good thing.

Boston drivers just cannot tolerate this and go to great lengths to get in front of me, gaining the 75 feet and closing up forward to draft distance in stop go traffic while munching or drinking or talking on hands on cell phone.

I then pass them at toll, since I spent the $25 for fast lane transponder and they didn’t, quite a few years back.

…So, my boss asks me what my favorite trick is, driving along in his Mazda3 in Toronto. “I refuse to tailgate.” “(incredulous) you think I am tailgaiting” “I didnt say that” He is waving hand at car 50 feet ahead at 70 mph. Room for two Bostoners to jump in. I would be 100 feet back not 50. We then slow to a crawl to get around a 3 car tailgate induced pileup in left lane in otherwise smooth traffic, 2 ambulances on scene. Kid laying on pavement beteween cars, kidseat off to side. Silence for ten minutes and he drops 1 mph for ten seconds then resumes.

Trick # 2 is cruise control. More comfortable, and get 10% better mileage, and its fun to watch the others who cannot keep steady manual speed as they pass me, then forget what they are doing and fall back, then pass me, in a 30 second cycle.

To do this, one removes the slow-filling handle from the fuel-filler, holds it *high* in the air above his/her head, and shakes both hands and filler-handle in rhythm. Next, the movement travels down the arms to one’s bottom– this is where it becomes fun for anyone around you.

If you want to add extra interest for those fueling around you to see, you simply add a couple: “OOhhwah OOhwah”s in falsetto.

Damn right.

but the the hoses at petrol stations are long enough to reach around the car and allow you to put fuel into your car regardless of which side the petrol tank cap is on

As far as a trick, my car is a manual shift and if I have a tailgater behind me I wait until we get to a stop sign to return the favor. Sometimes it just happens to get difficult to keep the car from rolling backwards before I get going. Oooops. It can be kind of fun to watch the expression on the drivers face. Sometimes it gets them to back off and sometimes it doesn’t.

My favorite ‘trick’ back in Toronto was to postpone traffic ticket trials as long as possible. By the time I actually got around to showing up for a trial, the ticket (which I think was based on the date of the offense, not the date of the trial) would be so old it would expire in a matter of weeks (tickets expired after 2 or 3 years, I can’t remember). That doesn’t work in this wretched state of Massachusetts where tickets stay on your record for 6 years :(

The speedo in my Impala is within 1km/h of actual speed, as indicated by my GPS system. And the roads around here (eastern Ontario) the cops start pulling over at 100km/h. Plus, since I do most of my driving at night, in rural areas, going 120 seems rather, how shall I put it, f-ing insane.