New Hampshire Rt 9 west into Vermont and then onto 91 south

But you still played with him -- racing him to 90. That can be a dangerous game. I don't know if you've heard, but there are one or two psychopaths out on the American highway. Angry at the world for the perceived injustices to which they have been subjected, bent on taking it out on others, and feeling that being in an automobile gives them anonymity and freedom of action.

What do I do in such a circumstance? As soon as I see that the nutter wants to race me I slow down and get behind him -- well behind him. Then I take the next exit after he has passed it. By the time I pull into a parking lot to turn around, maybe stop at the filling station/convenience store for a bottle of water, he is long gone.

Davoud

You see, we know how it ended with him chasing me for miles. But at the time all I wanted to do was pass and get far enough ahead and reset my cruise control to 55 mph. The other problem was I wasn't alone in trying to pass him. Suppose I tried to drop back while others are behind me too. Who's to say as I'm dropping back he's not slowing down too? I've seen this before. I've been a reluctant participant in this type of road rage. Damned if I do and damned if I don't kind of thing. Has this happened to you? You're driving at the speed limit with the cruise control set and you slowly creep up to the driver in front of you. You leave your speed set as it was and you start to pass. As you begin to pass the driver speeds up. So now both of you are neck and neck. You drop back slightly and return to your lane behind him. What does he do? He slows down again. What are your options now? OK, the story sounds familiar to the first one. But this is happening on level ground. The car up ahead isn't varying his speed. The lanes aren't merging. No one else trying to pass. Maybe if the one who speeds up chimes in we can all understand this madness. Any takers??

mark_digital©:

Davoud:

Let him slow. You can still take an exit at the last second -- after it is too late for him to take the exit.

Yes, of course, this has happened to me. And I'll speed up to try to pass -- to a point, but that point is well below 90 mph. 99.5% of the time that's the end of it -- the other driver's speeding up was an automatic reaction to being passed, not an active attempt to prevent the pass. The other .5% of the time is, of course, tricky. Twice in my life since the advent of cell phones I have reported another driver to the police because he was attempting to prevent others from passing. In one of those instances a police officer in an unmarked car got behind me (I had identified my car) and observed me trying to pass. After I fell in behind the other driver, but ahead of the police car, the police officer tried to pass both of us. The other driver repeated his behaviour, speeding up considerably, and received a ticket for his effort.

The above behaviour is not common in my experience. More common is when driver A pulls out to pass driver B, a slower vehicle. When A pulls alongside B he slows to match B's speed. This is not malice. A is not using cruise control and he is not paying attention to his driving. He has become distracted and has forgotten where he is and why he is in the passing lane. He's frequently the kind of driver who has no clue as to why his car has so many mirrors, but if he happens to see your headlights flashing behind him he will /usually/ complete the pass and pull over.

Davoud

Yep. If I'm driver B and I'm wearing sunglasses driver A kinda hesitates before making a full pass. My son tells me I look like, well, you know, a cop. I suppose after thinking about the Prius and the fact my plate is like everyone else's he passes confidently. But you never know. Someday it just may be a cop in a Prius who knows how to use his radio efficiently.

Here's another situation. Driver B is in the right most lane and driver A is in the left lane. Driver B is way ahead of A and they both are traveling at somewhat the same speed. Up ahead is a tractor trailer in the right lane. B approaches the tractor trailer and signals he's going to lean into the left lane to pass. He notices driver A has suddenly picked up speed and the gap between them has diminished. Driver B starts to pass along side of the truck and now is being tailgated by driver A. How odd this behavior from driver A.

On the subject of cops in Priuses, apparently the police in Watford (UK) have just taken delivery of their first Prius. They say that its near-silent operation wil help them to sneak up on criminals (!).

Paul

The guy is a moron. Best thing to do IMHO is, if you have a cell phone, take the guy's license number an report him to the highway patrol.