Road Rage

[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.

 

[Rick1967]

My wife has a cc permit. So do I. She dropped our son off at high school. As she was leaving the parking lot a man was speeding down the street. She did not realize how fast he was going. She accidentally pulled out in front of him. He started tail gating her. I mean like 2 feet behind her. She stopped her car. He got out of his car and started toward her. She took off. He got back in and chased her. This continued for about 2 miles. He came to a passing zone and passed her. Then tried to force her to stop. She showed him her gun through the windsheild still in its holster. Her decided he wasn't as interested as he had been and took off.

 

[Arc Angel]

There've been a few years during my life when I put in anywhere from 60 to 100 thousand + miles on the road. I learned early on that you've just got to learn how to let things go. It, also, helped me to realize that emotional rage is always self-destructive; and anyone who gives in to it is invariably courting some sort of serious personal disaster.

My only regret? I'm sorry that I wasn't there when an, 'inevitable event' finally caught up with each of the people I had a problem with; but, then again, I should probably thank: fate, fortune, and destiny for, 'small favors' because, every now and then, I was!

 

[The Big D]

Just last Saturday I went out to buy the paper and was getting back in the Jeep when a toothless fellow in a pickup truck drove over the curb adjacent to me. He was NOT coming in the direction from which I had traveled. Was wondering what was happening in his world when he jumped out and approached me as I was by then in the driver's seat. He inquired 'don't you know what yield means?' I said I surely do at which time he said 'you don't' and then said I had failed to yield to him about a mile
before at a no stop (either way) intersection.

He noted the road I had, indeed, traveled so I said 'I'm sorry if I did' whilst thinking NO I did not as I travel that road daily and am well aware of the traffic pattern. He persisted and was starting to irritate me but I repeated my 'sorries.' He finally walked away; I drove away. Note: Dude was not at all intimidating nor a perceived threat.

In retrospect I do believe, however, he was trying to provoke a fight as he simply could not have been a 'victim' given the direction from which he was traveling and he had not followed me.

Perhaps he was trying to pick a fight; dunno, don't care.

Peace, out.

 

[Texas Star]

I was stopped at a red light when an imbecile on a motorcycle drove by the drivers side of my Toyota and started screaming vile obscenities at me. I had my kids, then about nine and 12, in the car and didn't like them hearing that.

I thought he was about to break my window, and opened a lockblade folding knife. Thankfully, the light changed and he took off.

A couple of months later, I was leaving a grocery store at an intersection where this hyped up jerk (almost sure it was him) ran the red light and was t-boned by a car. He went up in the air about 20 feet and came down dead. Good riddance. Very spectacular to see.

I think he must have used drugs.

 

[Texas Star]

Second incident:

I was almost hit by a car on a curve in a road where a sign was unclear about a narrowing of the road. The light ahead changed to red and the driver of the other car ran back to me and started ranting. I had opened my knife when I saw him get out and placed a sweater over my right hand, holding the knife. This was before my state allowed concealed carry.

I listened to him, probably looking at him as if he was nuts. After awhile, I think he realized that I was holding a weapon and that he was better off leaving. He did, and I breathed easier.

 

[cndrdk]

One of our motorcycle officers was on the freeway when a lady drove up beside him yelling and pointing at him and then to her speedometer. He then pulled her over and wrote her a ticket for speeding. (didn't go over well with the brass).
One time my patrol partner (note "patrol" partner) and I had just left the PD when some idiot pulls along side honking and pointing at us. As we suddenly slow to let him get in front of us in case we have to tune him up a bit, we hear things rolling on roof of the car. Seems we had left a walkie-talkie, night stick, and notebook on top.

 

[peyton]

I will add to the road rage but with a difference. gas pump hogs that stand there texting after he got done filling up his gas tank. The gas station only has two pumps so I honked the horn to get his attention, when he looked I waved for him to move on.
No luck, mister got all day took a couple of minutes to finish his business while I smoldered. After he left I paid for my gas and told the worker she needs to add a 911 button at the pump. She asked why, I said that these yahoo's keep blocking the pumps and soon someone is gonna have a gunfight at pump two!!

 

[tlawler]

I admit I've flipped off a few people that have cut me off. Never escalated into anything. I think they usually realize what they just did and eat crow. Never in a company vehicle, though...I need my job too much.
One time when I was in my company van, I pulled out to fall behind a line of cars that were doing around 35 mph. There was a yahoo who was about a block behind this line of cars and he must have been doing about 70. Came up on me really fast, zoomed around me and almost hit an oncoming car before cutting back in front of me. About a half a mile later, it goes from 2 lane to 4 lane, but still 35 mph zone. He hops in the left lane and floors it, getting back up to 70 or so before getting to a little bridge that spans a canal. He practically got airborne over it and waiting on the other side of the bridge was a county deputy taking radar. Talk about Karma...I laughed my butt off!

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

Only once really, that I can count. For years I carried a key ring on a brass Kubaton. I stopped for a red light on the way home and this guy hit his brakes behind me. No where to go so I just sat there as he walked up to the truck- my window was down. When he grabbed the door he got a good swing of the Kubaton across his left hand. He never said a word and went back to his car. I am quite sure his next stop was the local hospital to set a few broken bones in his hand. Just the way it was.

 

[jimmyj]

DO I GET ROAD RAGE ??
Not a chance, I shop at Wal-mart