Is it just me, or is there something about the fit that just begs other drivers to run it off the road? I used to drive a grey Acura sedan. Now I drive a black 07 fit. I have been cut off more times in the last few months than I have the last 9 years of driving!

I'm not just talking about people not seeing me, I have been purposefully run off the road into the grass. The guy gave me the finger as i passed him later, all because i didnt let him merge left with only a couple feet in front of my car. (i passed him before and knew he was not paying attention or dirving consistantly.) I haven't changed my driving habits. I'm not really aggressive. I just keep noticing that if there is any situation where someone should yield, the other driver just assumes the fit should. When I don't just get out of their way, they try and take my lane from me.

I know I am opening myself up to all kinds of comments about defensive driving and what not. Really, I don't care. My goal is to stay away from the idiots when I drive. Sometimes that means not letting them cut me off (and we all know the fit doesn't have the power to cut someone else off.) It just seems like the fit attracts idiots or screams, "Hey! I don't really need this whole lane. Even if you do hit me, it won't hurt your car."

Does anyone else have this problem? I took a 500-600 mile trip this weekend across tn and got cut off at least 10 times. If it keeps up, I am either going to sell the car or side swipe a wall to scare anyone that thinks its okay to run me off the road.

(The guy who ran me in the grass really should not be driving. I passed him. Later, he flew up beside me in the right lane. I was steadily passing a car in the right, and there was not enough gap for him to get over. I knew he would get back on his cellphone and I would have to pass him on the right again. So, when he put on his blinker, I honked my horn and closed the foot or two gap. Again, it's a fit. So I couldn't have closed much of a gap within two blinker flashes. He was mad, but instead of just waiting and passing me angerly later, he just comes over on me. I try honking the horn more, but when our mirrors overlapped, I had to yield. I gave up and hit the breaks when there was no more shoulder. I was in shock. Regardless of how biased you may think my story is, how could anyone do that to another driver? I only remember passing him earlier because he was cruising in the left lane with a couple cars behind him. I didn't merge back in on him or anything. I guess his range rover just owned my side of the road too. Anywho, I'll stop ranting.)

 

Hit em' NASCAR style.

 

Oh... I've gotten more road crap thrown at me when I drive "small" cars than larger SUVs.

Assholes and idiots alike, think they can bully you with the size of their vehicles. Which is why I try to stay as far from other cars as possible. The only problem is... like moths to a flame, they always find me.

But some (other) people are still assholes, even when they don't have a larger vehicle. The other day, I was on the highway and some guy in a Chevy (Cavalier?) was basically making a "rolling roadblock" with with an SUV at about 70 mph. The moment I moved to pass on the far side of him... he sped up to 90 mph. I know, because I hit 93 mph just as he ran out of road in front of him, forcing him to finally slow down.

Some fuckers are just that... fuckers. It sucks because there's not a whole lot you can do about it. Speed up to pass them or otherwise get away from them... you risk getting a speeding ticket. Bump or otherwise nudge them (even nascar style), you simply risk damage to your own vehicle.

Is it worth it? It would be, if they never bothered you again... but that ain't gonna happen.

 

It's not the fit, it's small cars in general.

Wanna hear a funny statistic? Flashing a gun at people makes their brakes work better

Lol I kid, please don't do that.

 

Good to know I'm not alone. I can't say I'm happy about getting pushed around. Maybe if I rough one up, the others will get the message. You typically don't want to hit the car that has already been hit. Haha

And pulling a piece will get you in trouble. You don't know if the other guy is a better shot or has a bigger gun!

 

This is true of small cars in general. I had a Element to daily before the Fit and never had a problem. First time i've ever had a larger than normal vehicle, I liked that aspect of it at least (and the cargo room), hated everything else.

I just have to anticipate other drivers more in smaller cars, 90% of the roadgoing public is very predictable. Just don't act scared or timid, most of the time, the driver that COMMITS to the action 100% is the winner. Just because your car is smaller doesn't mean you can't push people around. I do it every day. Just pretend you're driving a dump truck. Driving freeways in Los Angeles, Chicago, SF has trained me to be aggressive, not unsafe, but just enough to get where you're going.

 

Here I was afraid that this thread would get nothing but goodie-two-shoes comments back. I'm apparently in good company. I still wish I didn't have somewhere else to be when the range rover ran me off the road. He would have had a fit-sized dent in the side of that pos.

I commit, less the urge for self survival.

And yes, 90% of the road going public is predictable. They are idiots who aren't paying attention. The other 9.99% just got off their cell phone to realize they are in a huge rush. The other 0.01% is always right (me).

 

I had a red honda element for 3 years. One close call on the highway because a group of teenagers decided to merge without looking.

My fit I've had for one year and it has almost been hit by others merging into my lane MANY times. My horn has been used more times than I'd like it too.

Might upgrade to a train horn.

The Best Of Train Horn Pranks - YouTube

 

I have to say that people use to do the same to me until I added this massive tow hook on the front of my car. I have actually had people get out of my way or look like they were thinking of pulling in front of me but stop when they see the "hook". I think they don't know what it is and so they don't want to get near it. I have had it off for powdercoating for about 3 weeks and I notice a difference in the way people are with cutting me off or buzzing in front of me. I believe the "hook" is something they don't want to mess with! LOL!

 

Yeah, 100% agree. I owned a red g35, and people honestly kept away from me/ got out of the lane to let me pass. Now this silver fit seems to just beg to get bullied.

 

It's not just the Fit. Every time I go out of town to Vegas or Phoenix, I always rent a compact from Advantage. Advantage compact is a Nissan Versa. Got plenty of attempts to cut me off in a Versa. But since it's a rental car, I always redline it up to thwart the cutoff attempts.

With a Fit, I just let the morons cut me off. I only honk when they cut too close and I have to step on my brake.

My observation is that 99.99% of them were SUVs. If it was a sedan, then it would be a BMW or a Mercedes, basically high-end ones.

That's my experience.

 

I had a Ford Explorer Sport Trac prior to my Fit. Not a huge truck, but larger than a lot of vehicles I encountered on my daily commute outside the Boston area. I can see a big difference with the Fit, in both how I drive and the way others around me drive. For one thing, many more people cut me off now, especially the large German vehicles, (you know who you are, you a*holes!). In turn I try to drive in a very low key manner, keep calm and just enjoy the circus going on around me. On the other hand, when I was driving my truck, I was probably an a*hole myself. Go figure.

 

After riding motorcycles for many years in California you just learn to deal with it.

I hardly ever use my horn and just do what I need to do to avoid a accident.

I know it sucks but you just have to deal with it and keep your cool.

 

SO yesterday i had a 7th gen civic fuken cut me off with his pisa 18in rims lether recaro seats a blue full rollcage and a funny body kit he cut me off 2 times lil Itch kept reving on me i was with my lady lol soo said fuk itttt down shift smash on that foo lol Next i get to the red light and he hit me upp and ask so what motors does that have i said oh jsut a lil ivtec lol green light i was gone lol ahha HATERS

 

Couldn't have said this better myself...

And yes, compared to my other vehicles, the Fit does seem to attract asshat drivers. It never helps when people see my "the stig" license plate and think I want to race them.

 

I don't really think it matters what kind off car you drive. If you drive like a wuss you will be treated like a wuss.

There is such a thing as presence on the road.

We had a big GMC Acadia and whenever my wife drove it conservatively she would get cut off and pushed around. Now that we have the Fit her driving style hasn't changed much and she gets the same treatment by other drivers.

Drivers can sense weakness in other drivers. Sometimes it's not accelerating fast enough or driving on one side of the lane instead of in the middle. There are so many cues...

Take this with a grain of salt of course but I get the feeling that people who get pushed around in their daily lives get pushed around in a car no matter how big or small it is.

But there's always the jealous littles pukes who drive crap cars and take one look at our wicked sexy FITS and can't help to lash out.

A friend of mine has his rear view mirror tilted all the way down. I asked him how he can see out the back with it. He said`" if you go faster than anybody else on the road you don't need to signal or look in the rear view mirror now do you?" I didn't have a come back to that one.

 

FitnaGo, I feel 'ya! However, anticipation is part of being a defensive driver. Then the issue becomes "What are you going to do about it?" Not many choices with the Fit...

Cocowheat, I have to agree, in this case (on the road), size does matter. Many are still not into looking out for small cars.

Wanderer, you're right! The areas you mentioned are the perfect training grounds to hone one's "survival instinct" driving skill sets. BTW, you left out New York...

There are definitely some disadvantages driving a small underpowered econobox out there among the monster trucks, big rigs and full-sized SUVs. But there are also some advantages - very agile, shorter braking distance, less space required to move over and most of all when the adrenaline rush hits and the itch to stomp on it comes... well you just have to cool your heels coz nothin' happens... A dose of "not today" hits you back. And that could be a good thing.

Biggest car I've owned was a '71 Mach I back in the good ol' days. Hardly used the horn on that one. Never had an issue with being side-swiped. First small car before the Fit was an '80 RX7. Heheh, had to put a 3-trumpet air horn on that one after a few close calls with big rigs. Choices were big rig trailer, guard rail or hit the brakes.

Driving habits/patterns have changed over time also. Oops I feel a rant attack coming... My opinion is there are far too many drivers nowadays that are let loose on their own before they're ready. Then there's too many other things to tinker with while driving - cell phones, music files, ear buds, aux jacks, usb ports, screen displays, appointment-minders, etc.

So now you have the "too cool to look back", less skilled driver with a tank SUV or a "pocket rocket" on wheels out there to contend with.

And all the safety gadgets and technology in today's cars are meant to be "complimentary", not stand alone. It's still what's between the ears that matters. Just my take.

 

To answer the original question: No, not so much. A lot less than in my prior car, a silver Infiniti G-20. My Fit's blue. My theory is that people didn't notice the silver car as easily because it was the same color as pavement...
Really, the car sort of blended into the background. Car & Driver magazine had the same experience with a silver Sentra a couple of decades ago, though they didn't theorize why.

There have been a couple of studies about accident rate vs. car color (it makes some difference) but I don't know if they were able to attribute it solely to the car color (as opposed to certain types of drivers picking certain colors).

 

I commute an hour to and from work during heavy traffic so this happens to me a lot, both on surface streets and the freeway. There are often times where a two lane road becomes a one lane road and drivers who are further behind than I am will speed up so they can cut my car off going into the one lane, usually bigger trucks and SUVs, especially here in TX.

On the freeway, this often happens to me when I'm driving to work in the left lane and some slower car jumps in front of me, causing me to slow down to say 60. I'll maintain about a car or two's distance (but not tailgating, I hate tailgaters!) and keep the speed on if I can't find a way around first. Usually they will speed up since they know what they just did, but I'll stay right with them forcing them to continue to speed up because of the pressure. Usually, once hitting 80-85, they will change back to the middle lane if they can't handle it. If not, then then I win anyways because they are now going up past the 75mph speed I was originally going and I'll slow back down.

This doesn't work as well on surface streets and usually I just let them get as far away from me as possible or look for opportunities to change lanes to flow with traffic better and pass them up once again, showing them their behavior has no effect whatsoever and doesn't gain them anything. It's mostly useless to go more than 45 on most suburban streets due to all the stop lights, you gain nothing.

 

Not to mention all the potholes!