Some traffic clots you just have to pass in increments. Those participating in the clot just make it worse for those behind. Not to mention more dangerous for themselves, oncoming traffic, and other clot participants.
Well, when you are 3-4 cars back in such a clot there is not much safe that you can do to go around it, the road is not straight enough to pass unless you have a very fast car and my car does not qualify as fast.
Yeah. Clots grow when people overtake and then dont pass, and further, dont stay back enuf to leave space for the next overtaker to fit in between in a sequence pass. You are good to leave space. Odd that you would assign negative judgement to a passer for stopping in, rather than to the closely packed drivers behind the lead vehicle.
That is not when you overtake someone on open thoroughfare and have an opportunity to pass. Clots are inherently much more dangerous than well spaced traffic because every anomaly affects the whole train and there are visibility problems to boot. The very fact that some are passing within the clot shows there is room to pass - all thats needed is to ease off and give a little space. Yet the attitude is just the opposite. Clot participants make danger by becoming locked into a tight formation and begrudge a few car lengths and label and belittle, and even act hazardously against, those who dont choose to participate. It is, in fact, a kind of tyranny exercised in the name of safety by favoring the more dangerous situation under the guise of caution... and attitude. Unfortunately this is condoned. Drvers who cant deal with traffic in an efficient manner are much more dangerous than minor infractions yet are are almost totally overlooked in enforcement. Ever notice highway merging?
Things happen.... All the time. Some are not benign. Does that justify imposing your brand of conservatism on others. Living is the sole cause of dying. Everything has some risk and is perceived differently by each. What you describe is an unlucky situation arising directly from a clot and an infraction by one of the "safe" drivers participating. If you had to brake that hard the turning driver didnt give proper notice and the reaction stackup of the tight clot made it a bad situation. A seven foot long motocycle is not going to affect the distance you have to stop to any appreciable extent - unless he just clamps them on and stops faster than you can. Im surprised the rider didnt chose to brake easy and get out of the potential squeeze by moving over - experienced motorcyclists are very atuned to this option when they encounter a need for a quick stop in traffic. Even tho going faster than you the MC stopped fine. His tires werent smoking but yours were and the bike behind was having trouble. Im not sure whether you over reacted or not, but the MC didnt cause this - the clot did. If he hadnt been there yould still have had a hard stop. Yet you are quick to cast blame based on what ifs for the people who try to move thru the clot. What about the person who started it by overtaking the leader and sitting on his bumper and not passing? No complications for him; clear lane ahead just check for oncoming traffic. Defensive? Afraid to pass? An under the radar traffic hazard? --Catalyst for problems with traffic flow yet free of all responsibility for such. Far too often the defensive driver causes problems, especially when they think they should impose their concept of safety on everyone.
