I've mused on this theme before, why trucks like to aggressively tailgate small cars like the Miata [by the way, did you know the word muse has it's roots in the old French word muser, which means to meditate or waste time? Which is precisely what this thread is going to do.]. It isn't just a matter of big vehicles just appearing closer when driving the smaller car, I know the difference. It's not a response to stickers or messages on the car; I don't have bumper stickers or such on my cars. I'm not poking along holding up traffic, I'm going with the flow of the cars in front of me. I don't react or respond in any way, and besides, I don't initiate the behavior. This doesn't happen when I drive our other car.
When I drive Ruby (our other car) it is rare for one of the large trucks to come up within inches of the rear bumper, but in the Miata it happens (with trucks) more often than not. And when it does happen, it almost always involves getting to within mere inches and slightly offset to the left so that their left headlight is aimed directly at the side mirror (this doesn't do anything to me because my mirrors are adjusted out for better lane-change visibility, which has the added benefit of not catching headlights directly behind them). The stance is predictable and specific. The same trucks, if they change lanes at some point, usually don't tailgate the other cars around us.
It doesn't happen 100% of the time, of course. There are truck drivers out there who maintain a safe (or at least, normal) distance and clearly could care less what kind of car others are driving (or don't appear to alter their driving behavior based on the type of cars around them). But it certainly happens to me more than 50% of the time when driving the Miata. The question remains: why? Can it really all be compensating behavior, all of the time? Frustration with the rising price of gas and the awareness that some of us drive cars which are less impacted by that trend? If so, do they also tailgate hybrids and Honda Fits? Maybe it's an addiction to exhaust that inspires this kind of extra-intimate tailpipe sniffing?
Alas, no answers here. Just one of the commute's regular mysteries.
This morning's playlist started off like an evening at the piano bar, slowly edging away from jazz and into jazz-heavy rock by the time Bruce Hornsby sat down at the keyboard. Good stuff and one of those amazing well-blended mixes of tunes:
- The Bad Plus: Film
- Aaron Parks Trio: Everything Happens To Me
- Rod Stewart: We'll Be Together Again
- Bruce Hornsby: Harbor Lights
-Posted via iPad
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