Highway game players. Worth the bother?

[ChuckW]

Hey everyone,

Tonight I had a situation with a motorcycle on the highway and I was wonder how you would handle this...

It was 9:30 at night so the traffic was pretty thin, I was in the left lane as I had just finished passing a car and was coming up on a Harley with loud rumbling pipes riding in the left lane. I sat behind him for a moment and when I realized he wasn't going to yield the passing lane I moved right to pass him. Suddenly came the roar from his pipes and he speeds up and gets ahead of me. I simply resume my cruising speed in the right lane and eventually I catch up to him again, same situation and he speeds up again. I sped up a little bit more to see what he would do and he pushed the envelope making it clear that he was not going to let anyone pass him. My exit was just a couple miles up the road so I didn't get any further involved in the situation, but had I been on the highway for a distance, would it have done any good to call the police about his tactics? I would have had no interest in enduring his loud pipes or his game playing for what should be a relaxing drive.

I realize that you can't speak for the officers around here but I'm just looking for opinions on what you or your department might have done if you received such a call.

Thanks.

[JDCOP]

They would have put it out for a bolo. If there happened to be an officer there he could watch the driver's actions. But typically there would be no officer dispatched for that incident.

[StudChris]

Same here, maybe a bolo... but more than likely even that would be cleared out by a supervisor. Since all you said is that he kept speeding up, and not acting aggressive in anyway, maybe he was just in a daze and kept realizing he was going too slow. If you don't want to be around the bike pull to the side for a minute or so so he gets a nice ways ahead of you. Yes yes I know, you shouldn't have to put up with those hulligans... but that's life for you.

[Fuzz]

In todays era of road rage it is not worth it to bother with idiots like this. There are some people out there that just do not want to get passed and there are some that are just out there to screw with people. First off he is on a motorcyle and is pretty stupid to be trying to antagonize a car....I never understand why some idiots on motorcycles do that. Second....you never know when someone is going to pull a gun, do something that could escalate the situation or end up following you until you stop somewhere. The best advice...... pull off the road, wait 2 or 3 minutes and then continue. The idiot will be well down the road and you wont have to deal with them.


On a side note..... I have had people at night do that to me when I am on my marked motor. I change lanes to pass and they punch it to not let me by. Look on their face when they look over and see my uniform and lights is priceless.

[Drunkcop]

I've had that happen...then the guy opened his window and flipped me off. Now, I know that was in keeping with his First Amendment rights...but it did, ahem, make me review my previous decision not to investigate his aggressive driving.

[Hoosier_Boy]

he's on two wheels... bump draft! Kidding of course... just ignore it thats the best way.

[PhilipCal]

The motorcycle's failure to yield under the conditions you described is a violation. However, to take action, an Officer would have to witness the violation. You can certainly contact the police, and they may put out a BOLO for the subject.