A Metro Vancouver driver didn’t act kindly toward a fellow motorist travelling in the HOV lane on a BC highway.
The beneficiary of the rude behaviour, who goes by DevinOlsen on Reddit, shared a video of his experience, which sparked a massive conversation about driver etiquette related to the HOV lane.
In the dashcam video, we see a truck speeding up on the BC highway behind the HOV lane driver before speeding by next to him and giving him the old-fashioned digitus tertius.
The Redditor was heading from North Vancouver to Langley. The encounter took place near the Surrey 152nd Street exit.
Agressively passed and flipped off for driving in the HOV lane?
byu/DevinOlsen invancouver
Some drivers suggested that the Redditor left too much distance between himself and the car in front of him, which he suggested was a safe following distance. According to the BC Ministry of Transportation, three seconds of distance is recommended on BC highways, which the Redditor seemed to provide adequately.
He believes the truck driver’s aggressive behaviour was partly due to the car he was driving.
“I drive a Tesla and that is a very polarizing vehicle for some people. Since purchasing it, I have had numerous truck drivers flip me off or ‘roll coal’ (accelerate in front of me and cause black smoke to come out of their truck) for seemingly no reason other than I am driving an electric vehicle.”
Another theory is that the truck driver was having a bad day.
One user responded, “Most likely, he was just mad at me for not following closer to the car in front of me. I had the car set to FSD (autopilot), and it was keeping what it deemed to be a safe distance, but some people like to drive more aggressively and follow closer.”
Most people sided with the Redditor.
“It’s always some fu**ing pickup. Laugh it off and move on with your day. He’ll probably flip over during a turn later,” said someone in response.
Another user agreed nearly word for word, saying, “Always a pickup truck.”
Someone else alleged they saw the same truck driver, identifying them by the Canadian flag decal, saying, “Lol, I saw the same truck flipping a Hyundai on 152nd Street merging onto Highway 1.”
The Redditor told Daily Hive, “I shared the clip to gauge people’s opinion on this. It seems like I am not alone in my frustration.”
Have you encountered behaviour like this on a highway? Do you also believe the vehicle you drive makes you more prone to certain attitudes from specific drivers? Let us know in the comments.