I was a peripheral participant in an interesting little drama on the
way to work this morning.

The scene - Wade Ave., Raleigh, NC at the I-440 Beltline.
The players - Me, a Scion xA, a Tractor-Trailer, and a 4 axle dump
truck.

There are a series of stop light before and at the I-440 intersection.
For traffic exiting I-440 from the south, planning to head west on
Wade avenue there is a long straight ramp with a light at the bottom.

I was heading west on Wade, more or less trapped behind a Scion xA
that was driving at just below the speed limit. As we approached the
I-440 stop light, it turned green. However, a semi-truck was in the
intersection. I can't say for sure that he ran the light, but he was
certainly in the intersection after it had turned green for us.
Amazingly the idiot in the Scion who had been poking along, floored it
at this point. What happened next almost got the idiot killed. Not
only was the semi in the intersection, a huge four axle dump truck was
right on his tail, and clearly, no doubt about it, ran the light. The
idiot in the Scion almost rammed the dump truck, and laid on the horn.
I don't mean a short toot, I mean he laid on it for all it was worth.
He got right on the dump truck's rear and also started flashing lights
his lights. The Scion briefly pulled on the shoulder on the left and
continued to flash lights and honk the horn. As the dump truck
signaled his intention to move to the right lane, the Scion whipped
around the truck on the right and drove along side the truck still
honking the horn. He prevented the truck from getting in the right
lane for a considerable distance before the truck driver slowed enough
to fall in behind the Scion. The dump truck then took the next exit
ramp. By the way, as is often the case, the dump truck was dropping
rocks all over the road - so I had backed off from the unfolding
drama.. After the dump truck exited, the Scion slowed back down and
started clogging up the road again- but at least he was now trapped in
the right lane, so I managed to escape this mad man (and it was a
man).

Clearly the dump truck driver was at fault for running the stop light.
However, I think the xA driver was also at fault. If he had continued
at his original sedate pace, the dump truck would never have
interfered with him (except for the rocks he was dropping). Instead
the xA driver sped up  to confront the dump truck. To me this was just
lunacy, particularly the move to cut off the driver by going around
him on the right. The dump truck could have crushed the xA like a bug.
I don't know whether the dump truck driver deliberately blew the
light, or if he under estimated the braking required (it is a high
speed down hill ramp to the light and the truck appeared to be
loaded), or if he didn't see the light change because he was
tailgating the semi. Any of these are a possible explanation of why he
ran the light. I go through this light on a daily basis, I and know
better than to crowd it. This is not the first time I've seen vehicles
run the light. I would bet the xA driver was local as well. I could
understand him being irate at the trucks running the light. However,
his response was insane. Particularly the way he sped up to confront
the dump truck (and I mean he floored it to catch up to the truck),
and the way he tried to prevent the truck from moving to the right
lane. It was just crazy. I assume this was a case of road rage.
However, it was like bringing a pea shooter to a gun fight.

Ed