contemplativeThe Slide - The slide is a fairly simple manuver, whereby a driver in the lane to the right of you and often just a little bit in front of you who is tailgating the car in front of them slides in to the gap between you and the next car. In a way, it's sort of like the nose of the car is sliding between the rear of one car and another, which is why I call it "the slide". The slide is almost always followed up by one of two behaviors - the speed cap, or tailgating. A slide and tailgate is bad kharma for the driver, but ultimately isn't that annoying for the person following. The slide and speed cap, on the other hand, is doubly annoying for the person following, since the offender had to take the time to execute a quick lane change, often leaving less than reasonable braking distance between you and them, and then they just go 65mph when everyone else is going 75-80mph, which makes you wonder why they needed to be in the passing lane in the first place.
The rubber band racer - The rubber band racer generally will be going at a relatively reasonable speed, but slightly to somewhat slower than you. However, once you approach the car from the rear, or start to pass them, suddenly they speed up, often going 5 to 10 mph faster than you. Less frequent, but far more annoying, is the rubber band racer that merely matches, or stays within 1mph or so of your speed once you've caught up to them. My own personal opinion is that you should generally drive like you have cruise control on - ie going as close to the same speed at all times as possible. While you certainly should react to the hazards of the road with the proper speed acceleration or reduction, reacting to other drivers in this way only serves to frustrate your fellow highway drivers.
The Wing Man - While the wing man can appear during daylight hours, he (or she) is most annoying at night. The standard wing man will sit off of your left side, far enough back that their headlights are blinding you through both your rear view mirror and your driver's side mirror. Not only is this frustrating due to the headlights, but also due to the fact that a person on your left should always be passing you, and not keeping the same speed as you are. Occasionally the wing man will take position on the right, however this is somewhat less annoying since the passenger side mirror isn't as close to your face while driving, and therefore doesn't stab you in the eyes quite as deeply with the offenders headlights. During daylight hours the wing man is generally a mere nuisance, although they can be bad if you're in need of switching to the lane that they reside in.
