Road Rage

[Texas Star]

I just saw a segment on the news about road rage. Said that most drivers have been guilty of it.

Have you? Were you a victim of an incident?

I'll tell later about incidents in which I and my son (separate occasions) were approached by furious drivers, who had no cause to leave their vehicles. One danged nearly hit my son's vehicle. Weapons were involved, but thank God, not used.

 

[Doug627]

Yes, I have experienced road rage. Not proud of it but I admit I have experienced it.

 

[HoleCarder]

I once flipped off a family of four after I saw them driving a car displaying a Cleveland Browns bumper sticker and flag.

I'm not proud of my actions, but I'm confident my rage was justified.

 

[vytoland]

we see crazies and nascar wanna b's everyday on the road.....back off and give em a WIDE berth.....

 

[RobertJ.]

Yes, I have experienced road rage. Not proud of it but I admit I have experienced it.

Same here. Thankfully, those moments are fewer and fewer.

I've figured out how to help myself through it, both for my sake and the sake of the other drivers. I look for bad drivers, I keep my distance if possible, and always let them go first.

I taught behind-the-wheel driver ed. at our high school for a year. I learned two things: 1. I don't have what it takes to let 15 year-olds drive me around! and 2. It taught me to be a better driver.

 

[Old TexMex]

No, I wasn't a victim. And I'm not going to be.

I had a fool scream at me last month, he then turned around and began to pursue me. My passenger dialled 911 and passed the phone to me. I informed that I had a road rage situation, gave a discription of my and the ragers vehicle. "We're on our way" was the PD response, and in less than three minutes (!) a unit was behind the offender, and I went on my way.
His wife or girlfriend was with him, so I'm sure he paid a very high price for his moment of testosterone.

I have to add, his day turned out a lot better for him than it might have....

 

[bountyhunter]

I just saw a segment on the news about road rage. Said that most drivers have been guilty of it.

Were you a victim of an incident?

Yes, some idiot in a pickup decided he could extend his manhood by blocking the fast (left) lane of I-5 straddling a very slow moving truck in the right lane south of Stockton. There was a long line backed up behind me I hit the lights and he slowed down even more. After the lanes opened up to three (and he could no longer block the road) I tried to pass he intentionally ran me off the road into the center divider. He kept zig zgging in front of me and slowed to about two miles an hour on the freeway. I lost him by taking an exit and driving many miles out of my way. People in California do things like that because they know law abiding citizens are unarmed and cant do anything. If I had been driving a rental car I would have spun him with a PIT maneuver and left him upside down. "Gee officer, I was driving along in the left lane and he swerved into my lane......" But I didn't see it worth ruining my car over.

 

[Sconnie]

Yes, I have experienced road rage. Not proud of it but I admit I have experienced it.

Same here. Thankfully, those moments are fewer and fewer.

Amen. Yea I saw the segment on the news tonight too. Just like so many things these days the impression is the instances of it or anything bad is going up according to the commentary.

I think the advent of cell phones for calling the police from the road started the increase, not in instances but rather in reporting. And now the news media gets video and they love video. There are more drivers out there these days so the likelihood has gone up but all of those video clips are going to make you think it is much more prevalent than it really is.

But I could be wrong...

 

[pittpa]

Not since I've been carrying. But I'm in the Burgh. We let each other go. I get mad when I wave a guy on, and he waves me on. There we are going nowhere. That story said men are in 3x more incidents than women. ONLY 3X?

 

[Speedo2]

It's becoming more frequent around here and in most other places that I drive in, it seems. When carrying it's good to remember that we give up our right to be azzhats in those situations. Later, in order to relax my blood pressure, I find it good to remember that famous quote about "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". It helps. -S2

 

[jimbo728]

A friend and I watched a reckless driver almost t bone 2 cars and then
nearly nail 2 teens on a cross walk.
He became aware of us watching, swung around along side us and produced a crowbar. We took off and he got behind us.
We turned to avoid being followed home only to have him follow.
We stopped, watched,as he looked as though he was going to get out
when he realized our phones and a weapon were ready.
It ended there except for his Police questioning and being straightened
out about his reckless driving and his threatening actions.
The Police were great!
Jim

 

[Donn]

Guilty as charged back in the day. As I've gotten older, especially since I started carrying, my fuse has gotten extremely long. Rarely use the horn any more.

 

[Skeet 028]

One time back in the day..scenario..wife and kids and I had been to Ocean City Md..6 young'un in a convertible bumped us at a light..not hard..I let it go..happened again.so I got out held up traffic and checked the car... no damage...but they gave me a ration of Crapo... and pulled around me and left...15-20 mins there they were again... and did the same... so I got out went back to the car and shut the car off..ripped out the keys and threw 'em in the marsh..turned around and there was a BIG black guy standing behind me..he said I thought ya might need some help... I thanked him shook hands and left. Yeah it was a stupid thing to do and was glad for the help. Called the police from a ways down the road and reported what I had done... They had multiple reports on the jerks and said thanks..They had found 'em on the side of the road... and for me to have a good day. Even then I kinda realized I had been very lucky

 

[old bear]

I can internal road rage on a regular basis, but I've finally learned to keep to myself. I've only been the Victim of road rage once. Traveling at 3 MPH ABOVE posted speed limit, in slow lane, some fool kept tailgating me. I slowed down and waved him around me several times, but the fool would not pass me. I finally slowed way down, as he passed honked horn and signaled he thought I was number 1. Chump.

 

[chaparrito]

I enjoy elevating the blood pressure of morons through the simple act of driving the posted speed limit. I do it all the time.

Another great way to anger these fools is to signal well ahead and slow down before turning from a main road onto a side road with a slower speed limit. Apparently these days you're supposed to turn from a 35mph road onto a 25mph road without braking at all. When did they change that rule?

 

[pharmer]

One time almost 40 years ago I was in a "parallel parking" spot. A guy left a spot for me to merge into traffic so I went. Guy goes nuts, honking and gesturing. I turn off into a neighborhood, guy follows. Goes on until I get out on Rt 46. I stop for a red light and the guy runs up, pounds on my driver' window then jumps on the hood of my big Buick "lead sled." Light goes green and I punch it, get up to about 35mph and lock up the brakes. Guy takes off like an F18 off a carrier deck. Didn't stop to see what happened and went about my day. Joe

 

[Tom S.]

You can't drive in Detroit without experiencing it both ways.

 

[hoosierone]

Too many instances to recall over the years. My policy is to try to get away from them if possible. My car goes 0 to 60 in 6 seconds, has decent tires and brakes. All, IMO important.

 

[allthumbs]

Another guilty , and was very disappointed in myself. I was taking the family to a beach (wife and 7 kids) in Wisconsin and it was 90 degrees out and our van had no A/C . I was fine until we arrived at the beach which was gated and I pull in and 1 car is in front of me checking in or trying to get in and a car pulls up behind me and hadn't even stopped rolling yet and hit his horn , I ignored it , then about 5 seconds later does it again , I ignored it , after doing this about 10 times he lays on the horn so I get out and said there is a car in front of me I can't move , he flipped me off , well , I walked up to his drivers side window and he couldn't roll it up fast enough , I just lost it and started punching the window until he put the trans in "R" and beat cheeks out of there. I was so ashamed to see the horror on my family's face , I've calmed down a lot since then.

 

[Rpg]

A few years ago, I was filling the car when a guy pulled off a busy street, parked near me and approched me screaming i'd cut his girlfrend off.

They weren't in the same car so girlfriend was talking to boyfriend via cell. Boyfriend hadn't seen what gf described, so was guessing about the offender.

I told bf that I had no idea what he was talking about.

He left.

I don't know whether he figured out I had a M38 in my pocket.

I never took my hand out of my pocket.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

I've been guilty in the past with letting another driver upset me, other than a horn blast or such never acted on it though. These days it seems that a lot of people are "wound tight" and do not (unless it would get to a dangerous level) respond any more. Perhaps I'm a bit wiser in my older age.

 

[Smoke]

I drive around all night with my employer's phone number on my car. You'd be amazed how much that mellows you out. When I'm not at work I don't get in my car unless I have to

I posted these in another thread but they apply here as well

When I was 13 years old I watched a friend of mine get all his upper front teeth taken out by a guy with a crow bar who didn't like something my friend said to him as he drove by in his car.

When I was 25 years old I had some maniac chase me down I-5 in Tacoma in the middle of the night because he felt that I cut him off on an empty 6 lane interstate and took exception to it.

When I was 9 years old I took a beating in front of my house by a guy who didn't like me throwing rocks into the street while he was driving his car by.

I learned at an early age you never know when you're going to win the psycho lottery and trifle with the one person you never should have trifled with.

I think it's one of those things people don't get until they learn the hard way.

There was point in my life where I seemed to have a psycho magnet on my forehead so I have a bunch of stories to tell.

One day (had to have been 20 years ago) I had a run in at the gas station on Ft. Carson with a guy that cut me off at the pumps. I don't even remember what I said but whatever it was he came absolutely, foaming at the mouth unglued on me.

He was an inch away from my face screaming (not yelling SCREAMING ) that he was going to murder me right then and there and he was very specific about using that word.

I don't even remember what turned him off but he just stopped in the middle of his rant and walked over and finished pumping his gas and drove away.

Bottom line, I've run into enough people like this in my life that I am convinced that the world is full of very angry people who are one tick away from exploding.

As a result I do not leave my home unarmed and more importantly (And anyone who follows my posts will see this theme over and over and over again) I. DO. NOT. TRIFLE. WITH. PEOPLE. I. DON'T. KNOW. (and very damned few that I do know).

 

[S42N8]

Have been on both sides, but I'm much better about moderating my side...FL traffic will eventually wear the edges off. Worst experience was in San Antonio, coming home from Sea World after closing. Was chased by some idiot in a pickup for 10-15 miles; tailgating me, flashing high beams, honking...all the usual behavior. Thankfully, it was dry, no traffic to speak of, and I was foolishly confident of my ability to outrun him at speed well north of the limit, which I did. As luck would have it, the idiot in question followed me into Universal City, all the way to the PD parking lot, where things came to an end in short order. I parked, and the moron decided not to stick around. That, and the two PD cruisers in the lot probably discouraged him a bit...

 

[sigp220.45]

I have a relative by marriage who is learning the hard way right now. It is still in the courts, so I won't go into great detail. He has a history of getting extremely angry with other drivers, and got into some "speed up, slow down" nonsense with another driver on a two lane highway. The allegation is that he displayed a handgun as the other driver finally passed him.

A few miles later the fun began. Red and blue lights in the mirror. Handcuffs. Gun recovered in search incident to arrest. Jail. Bail. Lawyers fees. Trial looming. He's a retiree well into his "golden years".

I don't engage with other drivers. I let silly stuff go. I'm saving my good guy green stamps for a situation I couldn't avoid.

 

[16thVACav]

I've found the presence of a small S&W revolver in my pocket has made me a more kind and gentle traveler on the highway. I never yell, gesture, or otherwise initiate a potential confrontation, although I do sometimes quietly talk to myself about another driver's abilities or the lack thereof.

 

[the ringo kid]

I just saw a segment on the news about road rage. Said that most drivers have been guilty of it.

Have you? Were you a victim of an incident?

I'll tell later about incidents in which I and my son (separate occasions) were approached by furious drivers, who had no cause to leave their vehicles. One danged nearly hit my son's vehicle. Weapons were involved, but thank God, not used.

A good and female friend of mine had a bad incident when she was in houston. Some sack of feces cut HER off-then followed her to a red light. She briefly looked at this gangbanger-wannabe PUNK. He looked at her, pulled a gun and aimed-then zipped through the red light. Because of that incident-is nwhy she doesnt care for guns. Ive told her time and again--dont blkame the gun, just the punk behind it. I MAY have started to get her to come around to our line of thought. Maria mentioned something about looking into maybe buying a gun and will let me know if or when she decides so.

Ive had my run-ins with these type punks too. Needless to say, when they are confronted with possible bodily injury on their part-they run like roaches. It seems when the outside temps get hotter-so do tempers.

 

[mike from st pete]

Geeze you guys are something else and it ain't a good something.
Maybe is was from years of racing and seeing friends injured and killed that makes me drive gently. Things are hairy enough when we are all going the same direction as fast as possible.

 

[Ogandydancer]

Too many instances to recall over the years. My policy is to try to get away from them if possible. My car goes 0 to 60 in 6 seconds, has decent tires and brakes. All, IMO important.

Do they still ticket you if you run studded tires past May?

 

[KnRMachineWorks]

See it a lot in my neck of the woods. Lots of 2 lane highways around here. Funny how pissed they get when you drive the speed limit. No slow lane so how can I get out of the way? Seems tailgating is their drug of choice.

 

[wbraswell]

I have done things I am not proud of. None of them escalated to actual conflict. The last one was at a McD drive thru line. One of the double ones, where you form one line until the lanes split to two order boxes. Big, young no neck, comes around the line and pulls in line to the outside box, breaking in front of me and 2 other cars. When the car in front of him pulls up, he is messing with his phone or something and leaves a gap, a gap that my little Ranger can fit into. I pull right in front of him. He then pulls along side of me, and rolls his window down. He asks, "What the **** do you think you're doing?" I tell him that I don't think much of rectums breaking in line in front of me. He asks me to get out of my truck. I tell him I'd prefer that he come over here and try to drag me out of it. I also bluntly tell him that I will ruin the day for him and all his family. He just looked highly ticked and didn't know what he wanted to try to do. He was smart, he left. I should have just told him that since he broke in line in front of me, I was just doing the same. That's what I get for going to a place like McDs.