[Nic Name]

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Originally posted by juju

People are constantly tailgating me or passing me going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit. I'm very vengeful, too. If someone tailgates me I slow down to like 20-30 mph below the speed limit. It really pisses them off, but I think they deserve it for not passing me.
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Reply by Nic Name

That is a dangerous game, too. Inducing road rage and contributing to another driver's irrational or impulsive passing behavior that results in an accident in the oncoming lane could cost some innocent driver his life.

If driving below the speed limit deliberately to frustrate another driver gives one a feeling of control, be prepared for responsibility and guilt in case of an accident involving an innocent third party, which might not have happened, otherwise.

I thought about this discussion again, when I read about the cause of that accident involving the FedEx truck.

Fiery crash of FedEx truck blocks St. Louis interstate

By Richard Thompson

October 30, 2002

A FedEx Ground truck struck a highway exit sign north of St. Louis on Tuesday afternoon and caught fire, shutting down a suburban portion of the busy interstate in both directions as debris littered the road.

The accident occurred between 1 p.m. and 1:25 p.m. on Interstate 270 in North St. Louis County near the Illinois state line.

No injuries were reported in the one-vehicle accident; the driver and a passenger in the truck walked away unharmed.

Officials said the accident occurred after the FedEx truck driver swerved in an apparent attempt to avoid striking another car that slowed in front of the two-trailer truck.

Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Chris Ricks said preliminary investigation showed that during the swerve the rear trailer of the truck struck the highway sign for the Bellefontaine exit. The rear trailer was caught on the sign but the rest of the truck kept going and packages spilled onto the road, he said.

Ricks said the truck's right cab fuel tank then ruptured and caught fire. The rear trailer sustained the most damage, he said.

FedEx spokesman Jess Bunn said there was no explosion.

Because of the fire and the debris, that section of 1-270, the outer loop highway of St. Louis, was shut down in both directions for several hours.

FedEx Ground is the ground, small-package delivery unit of FedEx Corp., the $21 billion global transportation company.

Bunn said the FedEx Ground truck was en route from Kansas City to Columbus, Ohio.

FedEx did not release a manifest of the truck's destroyed contents, but there were no hazardous materials aboard, the company said.

Late Tuesday, police were searching for the driver of the vehicle that caused the crash.