Another guy giving bmw drivers a bad name

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Lucky1

I think that as the audience we're aware of the Mazda driver's intentions (or at least how he can paint it since he's the owner of the video and is essentially writing history here) so it disarms us but as the Bimmer driver you wouldn't know and it would make me a little peeved too.


What I would do is actually slow down and use my BMW Assist/Bluetooth to call the cops and lead him right to them rather than stopping in the middle of the road and making things worse. But I see two bad drivers here, not one.

You'd call the cops because someone is matching your speed while staying 5 car lengths behind you?!

WTF is wrong with you guys? He was PLAYING AROUND, and it should be obvious. The second the BMW driver had slowed down this guy would have as well, and that would have been the end of it.

Do you drive around scared every time a car gets behind you at the same speed?!

[Robert]

All I have to say if you play, sometimes you play with fire and don't be too surprised if there's a nut job on the road. Some guy was shot on the on ramp due to road rage because he refused to yield.

[esscolab]

TWATT in the BMW endof.

If he did that to me I would be out the car in a shot landing a fist in his face.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by Lucky1

I think that as the audience we're aware of the Mazda driver's intentions (or at least how he can paint it since he's the owner of the video and is essentially writing history here) so it disarms us but as the Bimmer driver you wouldn't know and it would make me a little peeved too.


What I would do is actually slow down and use my BMW Assist/Bluetooth to call the cops and lead him right to them rather than stopping in the middle of the road and making things worse. But I see two bad drivers here, not one.

What about when you want to pass a slower car on a two lane road like that? Considerate drivers will see that they are holding up traffic and pull off when they can to let the traffic pass. Some drivers will keep on their way leaving you to wait for an opportunity to pass in an open passing zone. When I'm in this situation, I usually try to stay a few car lengths behind so when a passing zone appears, I can get by the slower car in the shortest distance possible. Sometimes those passing zones aren't very long and you want to get back to the right lane before the lines turn back to double yellow. I wouldn't consider a situation like this to be tailgating.

[JB135MDCT]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

I just fail to see how the guy in the Mazda did anything remotely wrong. He wasn't pushing the BMW to go faster, he was simply keeping up with him when he did. I do that all the time in the mountains, and every now and then I'll pull up a little closer just to let the guy know I can if I want to.

If the guy in the BMW wasn't up for having a little fun, he should have just stayed at the speed limit. I doubt very seriously the guy in the Mazda would have gotten upset about that.

Agree 99%. Mazder wasn't pushing or tailgating, but Bimmer dude thought differently.

When soft drivers pullover ( possibley pissed off ), thinking I am to close, they see a tailgater and I feel perfectly comfortable that I can brake in time.

Warning, if someone ever approachs your car it's a good idea to lock the door and leave. Unless you have a shotgun.

[JB135MDCT]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

That still doesn't give the 335 driver any right to stop in the middle of a 2-lane road and confront the other driver. All he had to do was pull off at the next available spot and wave the other driver by.

Agree

[thez99]

Ya honestly, if he were to come at me in my car, Id feel well within my rights to roll the windows n pedal it thru his ass. Specially if the guys coming towards me swearin n yelling, how the hell do I know he doesnt have a knife or a gun. I mean, fuck denting my car from ramming into his body, id rather have that, then a dead me

[former]

Originally Posted by Lucky1

I'm of two minds on this one:

1) Don't think the Mazda3 was tailgating. Tailgating (aka "riding someone's ass") is really tight and leaves no room for the driver in front to brake safely. It is a very aggressive following maneuver that is only done by idiot douchebags who don't think about the consequences of their driving, even if the person they are tailing is going too slow.


That said...

2) The Mazda3 was clearly playing with him and matching maneuvers with him, ie speeding up or slowing down in sync with the BMW. That can come off as very aggressive and if you're in the car in front you have no real way of telling if he is just playing around or if the driver behind you has negative intentions. What if it was a woman behind the wheel? Would you think some guy is following you? If you STOPPED and waved them by how do you know the guy isn't going to stop to and make things worse for you? For an example of how this feels from the driver’s perspective read this post from this very forum: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showp...5&postcount=67. Yeah the poster was probably being followed closer than the guy in this video but I think the idea is the same.
...

I agree with you on your first point. As to the second point, this looks like a SoCal canyon road to me. If you have ever driven on these things, it is extremely typical for much more aggressive tail-gaiting by plenty of people in all sorts of vehicles.

And, let's not forget, the bimmer zipped out in front of the Mazda aggressively. He should have just let him go by and followed. He didn't, he made the mistake, realized it and instead of eating crow - flipped out in a most dangerous way.

[ethermal]

in my opinion it wasn't tailgating and the db in BMW completely over reacted. That said i learned an interesting thing in law class many moons ago. In my province (ontario) at least at the time late 80's early 90's. It is considered a threat to tail gate someone. So in ontario if you tailgate someone that is truly the equivalent of threatening physical violence. I'm not sure it's prosecuted all too often but I know road rage is taken very seriously. I was in court for a noise violation ticket waiting for my turn and I had to sit through 2 road rage ticket claims. The judge threw the proverbial book at both of them.

[JB135MDCT]

Originally Posted by ethermal

in my opinion it wasn't tailgating and the db in BMW completely over reacted. That said i learned an interesting thing in law class many moons ago. In my province (ontario) at least at the time late 80's early 90's. It is considered a threat to tail gate someone. So in ontario if you tailgate someone that is truly the equivalent of threatening physical violence. I'm not sure it's prosecuted all too often but I know road rage is taken very seriously. I was in court for a noise violation ticket waiting for my turn and I had to sit through 2 road rage ticket claims. The judge threw the proverbial book at both of them.

If I had videos of all my encounters with 4 bangers, it would be a whole different discussion. Excpet for when a cute blond in Honda was playing with me, that was fun.

Send the judge to MD. Would generate a budget surplus.

[oasis3582]

Originally Posted by Robert

You guys do realize when you record at the widest angle or without zoom the object may appear further than actually is. So the Mazda speed 3 may as well been tailing the BMW closely. I don't encourage road rage and things could have escalated quite badly. But it's quite possible the MS3 guy was putting the heat on because he was upset by being cut off earlier. The BMW driver also did not handle the situation well to say the least.

The first time I did a drive video I was surprised how far the car appear on tape. A simple test is to take a sample picture in front of you inside the car using an iphone then go out and take a picture of the actual distance from the side. You will be surprised how far an object may appear from inside the car.

Uh, so the wide angle lens makes the MS3 look farther, but not the Bimmer? Ooookayyy.

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by oasis3582

Uh, so the wide angle lens makes the MS3 look farther, but not the Bimmer? Ooookayyy.

?

notice how you can see the whole dash on his car? That's probably a 180 degree gopro video, they really mess with distance perspective, something close will look far away because the image is distorted so much, it's almost a fisheye effect

I use a helmetcam when I offroad, and trees that are so close that I hit my handlebars on, look far away in the video

[meg180]

Everyone on this board has played with another car now and then. It can make a boring drive fun and/or quicker. The BMW guy needs to grow some balls. I hate people who buy a BMW just for status.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by imported_mega

?

notice how you can see the whole dash on his car? That's probably a 180 degree gopro video, they really mess with distance perspective, something close will look far away because the image is distorted so much, it's almost a fisheye effect

I use a helmetcam when I offroad, and trees that are so close that I hit my handlebars on, look far away in the video

I can appreciate everyone's point of view on this video, as some are more welcoming of another driver having fun, and some are not.

I do video production professionally, btw. A wide angle can alter perspective for objects in the distance, true. However, even a standard lens on most camera's leave most people not truly being able to judge distance as the image is by nature 2 dimensional. Depth perception is achieved with stereoscopic vision, 2 eyes on the same plane, facing forward, you know, like we humans have.
In a "monocular" condition, such as having only 1 eye, or 1 camera lens, we need to use visual cues to assess what is not there.

As an example, one of my best friends lost the use of his left eye, and it took some time for his brain to better use the visual cues around us in order to be able to judge depth, so that he could drive safely and do other things in life, like catching something thrown at him. He does very well now, although he's become more klutzy indoors.

Even if the viewer can be "tricked" as to the distance in casual viewing, that's why you should use a visual reference point for a timing interval to judge distance, as most posters have done.
At any given speed, 2 seconds is an acceptable distance to be behind a car. In the olden days, there was the old "1 second per 10 mph".
However, that can lead to some big gaps that aren't necessary.
In my state and, I'm guessing, most others, the 2 second rule applies as well. So legally the guy doing the recording was within the legal distance, even if the camera may trick one into "seeing" it differently. Timing it helps sort it out.

I can see someone getting ticked while believing he was being tailgated.
But, there are better and safer ways to handle things.
Stopping in the middle of the road and aggressively coming at someone is asking for trouble. BMW guy has no way of knowing who is in the car, or what their state of mind is. If the Mazda guy were as hot headed, we would have seen a fight instead.

Even if the video is fake, it still brings the question of the situation.

[banglemangle]

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

... even if I thought he was "riding my ass...

Why are there so many donkeys in America?

[imported_mega]

I thought the rule for tailgating was 3 seconds above 45mph, they do not enforce it very hard here

[ronnyek]

Originally Posted by Paul53

Sorry guys. I'm with the Bimmer. Can't stand tailgaters and the Mazda WAS tailgating.

Hahah you need to try driving in cali sometime... that shit was like 10x the usual gap.

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by ronnyek

Hahah you need to try driving in cali sometime... that shit was like 10x the usual gap.

I have been there, and on 2 lane roads I was not tailgated and people left enough gap

[JB135MDCT]

Originally Posted by banglemangle

Why are there so many donkeys in America?

Because we got no dingos here.

[Lucky1]

I just don't think you should f*ck with people on the road, harmless or not. You can't say either party was completely blameless. And yes, if I got the feeling someone was FOLLOWING me and matching my speed and I couldn't shake them I would call the cops or try pulling into a gas station but not stopping on the side of a road to let them pass, it was too narrow there and who knows what they would do. If the car in front was being driven by a woman would it be as funny to have a guy following you? Stop making excuses for the guy in the Mazda, he's an immature kid who should be following Bimmers on the track not on public streets. The guy in the BMW is a douchebag because he obviously thought he was superior to the other person and even berated him for driving a "shitbox". I see the meeting of two lamers in this video.

[TMR013]

Originally Posted by Lucky1

I just don't think you should f*ck with people on the road, harmless or not. You can't say either party was completely blameless. And yes, if I got the feeling someone was FOLLOWING me and matching my speed and I couldn't shake them I would call the cops or try pulling into a gas station but not stopping on the side of a road to let them pass, it was too narrow there and who knows what they would do. If the car in front was being driven by a woman would it be as funny to have a guy following you? Stop making excuses for the guy in the Mazda, he's an immature kid who should be following Bimmers on the track not on public streets. The guy in the BMW is a douchebag because he obviously thought he was superior to the other person and even berated him for driving a "shitbox". I see the meeting of two lamers in this video.

What?! This looked like a road that enthusiest seek out for a little fun. Nobody should be scared or offended because somebody is behind you on such a road. In fact, the decent and courteous thing to do is to pull over and just let them pass if you think they are faster than you. To do anything else just makes you a serious, inconsiderate ass.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by TMR013

What?! This looked like a road that enthusiest seek out for a little fun. Nobody should be scared or offended because somebody is behind you on such a road. In fact, the decent and courteous thing to do is to pull over and just let them pass if you think they are faster than you. To do anything else just makes you a serious, inconsiderate ass.

You know, there are people driving on roads like this NOT interested in "playing." In fact, I'd wager most people on these roads (or on any roads, for that matter) are interested in playing these sorts of games.