Glad you're okay! I live in the area so I know exactly where you were at, even have an idea of the dry cleaners!
People who speed up to prevent you from changing lanes should have the licenses terminated and their vehicles confiscated. People who do things like that are the scum of the earth. They don't deserve to live in society. I am not making a joke, either.
^not really, it's all in context and the situation. Glad you're okay, OP, but you should've slowed down and allowed the Charger to pass first. That's the more courteous maneuver. You actually tried to cut him off first since you attempted to change into his lane while he's in your blindspot. Then, if you're going to turn into a complex, you're going to make the Charger come to a complete stop and he's going to be more pissed off at your dick move. If you knew you had to turn into a complex, you should've been more prepared to be in that lane. Since you weren't, you should give the right of way to those who were instead of impeding their path.
Lots of critical driving mistakes by the op. I would grade his driving skills as a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10 based on his handling of this traffic scenario. Not knowing where he was. Not know where he needs to go. Not knowing all immediate space around his car at all times, especially the blind spots. Hesitant when changing lanes. Car in front of him was clear, but did not choose that path. Did not consider path behind the Charger. 20 seconds is a lot of time to change lanes in Houston. that's a 1/3 of a mile. Panicked and swerved which is the worst mistake you can make. If you miss an exit, just go to the next one and turn around. Some drivers will speed up to prevent you from changing lanes. You will need to learn to deal with it.
Don't think I clarified enough. When I came to switch lanes, he was no longer in my blind spot, and seemed to have slowed down a bit in order to let me pass since my blinker was on for a while. But as I switched lanes, he sped back up.
I knew where I was. I knew where I had to go. I knew the car was in my blind spot as well. He had slowed down and given me room to switch lanes but sped up as I switched lanes.
Knowing where you are and where you need to go meant that you should prepare for the exit earlier. The charger does not have enough horse power to pickup speed and block you while you were switching lanes if you had room to switch lanes. You panicked, swerved and lost control of your car, which is much worse than taking a hit from another car.
Well like you said, I had 1/3 of a mile so that's clearly enough to not miss my exit. The car gave me room to switch so I came to. The car in front of me slowed down so it was either get hit, or hit. Luckily neither happened. Thanks for your concern if there is any.
I should clarify. I am talking about when you're switching lanes and it's perfectly open and easy. You put on your signal and then start to move and some ahole speeds up trying to prevent you from changing lanes. The other day, I saw 3-4 cars do it to someone whose lane was ending, all in a row. They tried to put the person into the wall. There is no excuse for that type of driving. People are such pricks on the road.
I have concerns for all drivers, but this accident is all on you and not anyone else on the road. If I did not have concerns, I give my input. 1/3 mile is plenty to not miss the exit, but that first indication that you need to exit was seeing the cleaner down the road. That simply not knowing where you were or where you needed to go. Hitting the car in front of you is much much luckier than swerving and loosing control of your car in a busy freeway.
That can be rude, but then there are times when a person will change lanes to get ahead of cars in a line when they all know that lane is ending and traffic has to merge. I had two instances where people tried to cut in front of me yesterday. One was in a busy downtown one-way two-lane street. One lane was blocked at by a truck unloading in the left lane so as I pulled up, I waited in line in the right lane. The light was slow due to pedestrians, so a few other cars tried to pull into the left lane not realizing there was a loading truck blocking that lane. I was about the 5th car from the light, and when it turned green, myself and the cars in front of me continued straight without letting any of the left lane cars in. Those cars in the left lane were dicks for trying to cut ahead. Second time was on the highway when I was waiting in the exit lane into a two-lane flyover. It was bumper-to-bumper, and you expect some dicks to cut into the lane during the dotted lines. I was at the diagonal lines where the ramps separate, well past the start of the double white lines, when a truck tried to cut in front of me. I didn't let him in so he was forced to go behind me. The truck cuts another guy off swerving into the right lane flyover and then tries to inch ahead of me to get back into my left lane flyover and cut me off, but I curve around him to maintain my position. On the descending ramp of the flyover as we can gain some speed, the truck again tries to cut me off and does have enough space to, then brake checks me forcing me to slam on my brakes. He then speeds off into the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Had I hit him, the whole encounter would've been recorded on my dash cam and he would've been at fault the whole way. Sure, I could've let him in at first and avoided a roid rage incident, but I wasn't in any mood to, plus he had a mile of chances to change lanes. Moral of the story, be prepared when you're driving and know where you're going. If not, then you're at the mercy of other drivers and don't expect them to give you the right of way. This was all in San Antonio, too. Was almost in another unrelated accident where I was stopped at a 4-way stop sign, truck across from me reached the intersection at the same time. We see a woman approaching perpendicular to us and she just blows through the stop sign. I swear, San Antonio drivers don't know how to drive.
I HATE Bay Area Blvd . Every Christmas, I procrastinate and have to shop at Baybrook Mall for a last-minute gift. It always takes 4 hours to make a 30 minute round trip. I can't imagine what will happen when they expand Baybrook further in the next year and a half.
I live down El Dorado in Friendswood so I normally try to avoid Bay Area but yeah I hate driving down there. It's a pain in the ass.
This is another huge pet peeve of mine. I refuse to let people in who cut like that. I WILL put them into the wall on that circumstance. Construction at W. Dallas @ Sheppard (until 3-4 weeks ago, thank god) caused this very circumstance for MONTHS. It would sometimes take 15 minutes to get through the light because people in the back of the long line would decide to cut to the front. I gave the Dikembe finger wave as I drove by them, but a lot were just let in. I want to get behind those drivers while ringing a bell and yelling "Shame!"
Update on the story for those who care. Have been meaning to share this since it happened a two days ago. I was parked at the 24 Hour Fitness on 518 and 528 in friendswood. It's one of the gyms I go to from time to time. I parked in front of the Pizza Hut next to it and a guy walks out holding a few pizzas. He dropped his keys so I helped him and handed them back to him. He saw me locking my car (I don't have a clicker so I need to use the key) and he recognized my car. He told me he was the guy driving the charger and apologized for what had happened. He said he was texting his daughter at the time and didn't realize he was slowing down (I thought he was slowing down for me). When he realized, he started to speed up but hadn't noticed me changing lanes. He began to EMPHATICALLY apologize and offered to pay for the damages to my car. I declined because the damages weren't enough for me to actually care for the price. Afterwards he told me that he owns a used car dealership and he'd be willing to give me a car for a discounted price. I love my Honda since it was my first car. But I decided to go over there and check it out. It was a brand new dealership. Opened up a few months ago on HWY 3. He had plenty of cars but he specifically brought me over to the 2015 BMW sitting on the side. He told me it was his ex-wife's and he didn't want it anymore. Offered to give it to me for $10,000. He also had a 2009 Toyota Tundra that he was also willing to trade for my Honda, my dads Chevy Silverado and $4,500. I didn't care for it enough but I used the money I have and my siblings and dad chipped in as well and instead of buying the car for myself, we bought the car for my moms 60th birthday today. We also got the Tundra for my dad who's a landscaper/contractor and I get my moms '09 Lincoln MKX. The guy was very generous TL;DR Met the guy who ran me off the road in front of a Pizza Hut and he gave me a BMW and a Tundra in exchange for $14,500 and two old crappy cars.
^^ Nice! As I read the opening sentence, I was hoping the guy was going to apologize profusely and then offer you a pizza.
He actually offered me a slice but I was going to the gym and decided against it. Btw, your name is very fitting for my current events. Kudos.
