New Jeep, Reckless Driver

Some drivers give us absurd amounts of clearance, which is what we thought the driver of the white Jeep was doing:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - Jeep passing
New Jeep Reckless Driving – Jeep passing

Some drivers give us very little clearance, either deliberately or though negligence, which is what I thought the driver of the silver Subaru was doing:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - Subaru close pass
New Jeep Reckless Driving – Subaru close pass

Reviewing the videos revealed a different story that could have ended very badly for everyone involved.

Moving back in time, we crossed the bridge over the Wappingers creek, which has two southbound lanes. The left lane is dedicated to left turns onto Red Oaks Mill Road and the right lane is for through traffic southbound on Rt 376:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - Red Oaks Mill bridge
New Jeep Reckless Driving – Red Oaks Mill bridge

I had noticed oncoming drivers in the northbound lane were moving far over to the fog line, but (unseen by me) they were definitely swerving off the road:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - swerve 1
New Jeep Reckless Driving – swerve 1

It seems the Jeep driver crossed the bridge in the left lane and continued straight through, passing the solid line of vehicles in the right lane behind us. You can see the top of the Jeep’s windshield peeking out behind the Subaru, with minimal clearance to the black car swerving out of the way:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - swerve 1 clearance
New Jeep Reckless Driving – swerve 1 clearance

There’s not much shoulder on that side of the road, but the driver of the white Honda is using it all:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - swerve 2
New Jeep Reckless Driving – swerve 2

With all the oncoming traffic out of the way, the Jeep driver now accelerates in the wrong lane:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - passing 1
New Jeep Reckless Driving – passing 1

And passes the Subaru just behind us:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - passing 2
New Jeep Reckless Driving – passing 2

The license plate looks like JAE-7751, early in the “J” plate series, so that’s a shiny new Jeep.

Being passed at close range in an obviously no-passing zone caused the Subaru driver to flinch in our direction:

New Jeep Reckless Driving - Subaru clearance
New Jeep Reckless Driving – Subaru clearance

Unsurprisingly, the Jeep driver ran the red light at the top of the hill, presumably to avoid being stopped directly in front of us.

Never a dull moment out there on the road …

3 thoughts on “New Jeep, Reckless Driver

  1. Follow-up?
    What happened after the stalwart New York gendarmes took your video evidence and arrested JAE-7751?

  2. We get some of that behavior with discourtesy of legalized marijuana. I hear it’s a whole lot stronger than the stuff in the early ’70s. (Our auto insurance reflects the change in the law. #Headdesk)

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