so this morning i'm driving to work in a residential burbish area. This guy pulls out of his driveway, and I would have had to hit my breaks to slow down, so instead i just pass him. I was probably going 5-10 over. This happens to me all the time on the way to work, it aggravates me. I always wait for on coming traffic, but these people will pull out in front of you and proceed to accelarate at their own speed even when they obviously see you are going faster than them. At the next stop he pulls next to me, and is screaming

-what the hell are you doing? what the hell was that?
- you cut ME off, asshole!
- you were at the stop sign, i didn't cut you off
- if i have to slam on my breaks so i don't hit you, didn't you cut me off?
- NO.
- what do you care if i pass you anyway?
- i have kids that live here.
- Oh really? when your kids are PLAYING ON THE STREET are you concernd about guys pulling out of their driveway that aren't looking, or just people driving on the street?
- just go.

and i grew up in this neighborhood, people do drive fast which is why we had to stay out of the street.

 

I'm with you buddy. The guy should've looked for traffic (you) before he pulled out of his driveway and onto the road. There are times when I did what you did and other times I just stopped and let the assholes go. If you had hit him and depending on where his car was on the road, like say half on driveway and half on the road, the guy would've been paying for the damages. In those cases, don't move your car and take a picture immediately. But who carries a camera?

 

In most cases, traffic has the right of way, and cars entering traffic has to yield to that traffic, unless otherwise posted.

 

Cut you off? Not really. It sounds like he got fully out of his driveway and was headed down the street once you got on top of him...you could've either slowed to his speed or pass him. You chose to pass him...not necessarily legal, but if no kids or on-coming cars are around, you were probably safe. I did a similar maneuver once except I blew by the guy on the right as he was hugging the line on a extra wide lane. Light we were approaching was red, but the point was to prove he shouldn't have pulled out in front of me.

And yes, I do agree that morons who pull out and drive slower than you were originally going are VERY annoying...especially when there is no one behind you and they could've pulled out and grandma-ed down the road behind you.

 

from what I see on the roads, the mentality of most people is 'wherever I am, wherever I am going, or if I think I can fit my car there...I have the right of way'.

 

In a residential area? I would've slowed down. Not saying you did anything wrong, because I wasn't there to see it, but from the sound of it, I would've definitely slowed down in that situation. It's a residential area... people are going to be coming out of their driveways, kids are gonna be running around and pets are going jump out on the road. Better to slow down than pass someone to prove a point.

 

Take it to Car Talk, please.