RECKLESS

RECKLESS



I've been in Auckland for a few days, driving down and back this time for a change instead of taking the bus.

I just arrived back up north, leaving Auckland in the early evening. It was a reasonably easy drive except for one incident.
On a long stretch with a passing lane I was tootling along at 100km in a line of traffic and I could see in my side mirror a car racing along at what must have been 140km/hr. There was a big gap behind me and the closest vehicle in my lane and the passing lane was running out. Rapidly. The moron could easily have slotted in behind me which wouldn't have been too much of  problem since there was a big line of cars and trucks in front of me. But, no, the idiot decided to get one more car ahead and passed me as as/after the passing lane ran out, forcing me on to the shoulder.

I gave him the universal sign of wanker.

I held it for a few seconds so that he could see it in his rearview mirror which he obviously had going by the animated conversation that he had with his front seat passenger (another guy) who was turning around looking back towards me.

At this point I should tell you that I was on my own as The Old Girl is in Adelaide for a couple of weeks. In the past when similar situations arise and I communicate with miscreants via a range of 'universal signals' ......

..... The Old Girl would tell me off saying "Stop that. You'll get punched in the nose one day."

"She don't like that kind of behaviour"

Well, today I thought about her advice as the speedster in front decided not to overtake any other cars and to keep just in front of me. When the next passing lane came up he slowed to about 80 km and when I moved out to overtake sped up rapidly to stop me doing so. His car was some sort of grunty Toyota. Mine is a Toyota but definitely not grunty - more like something that your grandmother or Richard would drive so had no pick up and I signalled left again and moved back into the inside lane at which the arsehole in front slowed down again.

"Great"  I thought, wishing I was driving my old Rover turbo or the VW Passats we had in the past.

We drove on for another 30kms or so with the passenger in front looking back and conversing with the driver. Now they didn't try and run me off the road or anything but they created a dangerous situation and even 20 or more minutes later were still obviously rankling that I had taken umbrage at their stupid and dangerous driving.

As we were coming up to the turn-off for Whangarei Heads which splits off from the road to Whangarei, I moved to the right lane but the car in front, seeing this decided to move right at the last minute. The traffic lights were red but I could see (by the cross traffic lights) that they were about to change and so quickly moved left again and went straight through leaving them stuck in the right turning lane hemmed in by other cars. I continued on through Whangarei and took the slightly longer route to the Heads.

Now I may have been a bit paranoid but I had The Old Girl's warning in my mind and didn't want to be driving on the round the bays road to the Heads with a possibly 'P' influenced driver playing some sort of tag game. I didn't sight the car again and arrived home safely.