A reader, Ken Clanton, shared this story.

“I was traveling north in the left lane of Bruce B. Downs the other day in very heavy traffic. Speeds were ranging from 35 to 50. I glanced in my mirror and the car behind me was so close I couldn’t see the front half of his hood.

“When that happens I back off and allow a little more stopping room between me and the car in front. My tailgater would back off a little and then come rushing up to me again. The idea, I suppose, is to threaten me in the hope I’d dissolve in fear and he can move forward a notch.

“The car in the right lane beside him turned into Amberly Drive and let my tailgater move to the right lane. She (I discovered) began tailgating the car to my right, again backing off and rushing forward repeatedly. We had to stop well back from the light at Tampa Palms.

“When the light changed, the car to my right turned into Tampa Palms and the woman squeezed into my lane just ahead of me. She switched lanes a couple more times before we got to the light at Tampa Palms/Commerce Park. She pulled into a turn lane to turn left at N. Tampa Palms and had to wait for the turn signal. I had to stop, too, but my front bumper was even with her rear wheel. For all her weird driving, she was no further ahead and she had wasted gas and added unnecessary wear and tear to her car.

“The moral is Bruce B. Downs has not yet qualified as a NASCAR track and gaining a momentary tenth of a second between traffic lights is an exercise in futility.”

I’m sharing Ken’s story with my readers because it is a perfect setup for the subject of today’s column on when victims become suspects.

The unnamed woman in Ken’s story would be classified as an aggressive driver. Most of us who drive have to cope with aggressive drivers on a daily basis. In Ken’s story, he and other motorists on the road were the “victims” of the aggressive driver. Ken did the right thing by continuing to drive safely.
Dep. Jay Galassi of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office gave a few examples of how a victim of aggressive drivers can become the suspect in a criminal act. The aggressive driver commits a traffic violation and the victim reacts by committing a criminal act.

Galassi is a community-relations officer in the Sheriff’s Aggressive Driving Offender Watch, or SHADOW, program.

“Innocent people who are the victims of aggressive drivers many times follow the aggressive drivers and they have words with them,” Galassi said. “What happens is the victim of the aggressive driver becomes the one who commits road rage, which is a criminal act.”

Other things Galassi said not to do if you want to avoid committing a criminal act: Don’t shout threats out your window, don’t do a wheel jerk, pretending you’re going to hit him, don’t threaten him with some object you’ve made to look like a gun, don’t tap your brakes to discourage a tailgater, don’t make an abrupt lane change to get out of his way.

Galassi said one way to get rid of tailgaters if you are on a multi-lane road is just to let up on the gas a little. As you slow down, other cars will be going faster and the tailgater will switch to another lane as soon as he gets an opening.

“The key is to remain calm,” Galassi said. “You’re doing the right thing; let them go around you.”

A common complaint from motorists is that an aggressive driver not only will tailgate, but will call the other safe drivers names and exhibit other obnoxious behavior when he passes them. Galassi said he loves it when they do that to him while he’s driving his unmarked shadow car. He just rolls down his tinted window and says, “What?” The aggressive driver sees the uniform, his jaw drops, he stutters, he backs off.

“Just think about that when you see aggressive drivers,” Galassi said. “I do the paybacks for you.”

Lane closure
The northbound lane of Sun Lake Boulevard at Lutz Lake Fern Road is closed through March 20 for roadway repair. No detour required.

Today’s bumper sticker
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Carole Dickey is a staff writer and a Pasco County resident.  Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).