Another unarmed life taken in road rage

[jdavionic]

Originally Posted by jnclement

I think this is worse when people live in ant farms ie major metropolitan area. And if these a$$holes would get knocked out once in a while, they wouldn't be so eager to chase someone down to get even for their crappy day.

Well before you younger guys get too fired up for teaching lessons (and jnclement, I don't mean you...I'm adding to what you wrote), let me tell you a little true story - kept very short.

I was in college and at around 2am, I was heading back to my apartment when 2 guys were on my bumper, flashing high beams, horn, etc. I don't drive slow...so I don't know what their problem was. In HS and college, I used to kickbox and studied martial arts which I started as a small child. Since they wanted a fight, I thought I'd oblige. They turned off behind me. I stopped, backed up, turned the headlights off, and followed them. They pulled in their apartment complex & parked. I blocked them in & came out ready to fight. To say I was in an attack mode would be an understatement. They both closed their windows, refused to look at me, and sat on their car horn for help. Brave guys!!!

I left & went to my apartment. Next morning, I received a wake up call from the Sheriff's Department - where they read my tag number, vehicle make, and color (which was not accurate) to me. Who payed? Me. I was very fortunate that it worked out without charges, etc. I was also very fortunate that neither guy had a gun.

Lesson - it just isn't worth it! Even if you think you won in teaching a lesson, you will likely still lose...and possibly lose your life.

[LUVMYSIGP225]

Originally Posted by Tommyguns

Lovemysigp225 - your friend needs some serious counseling. Something is going on inside him that is not good.

I agree 100%. I have told him he needs to go see our work counselors or something.

The thing that sucks is that he is REALLY a good guy. Always the first guy at work to help you with something. Never complains about a task that is given to him. Works over on his own time to make sure something gets done. He will be the first guy to volunteer to help you move and borrow his pickup. If you have a problem at home, say a problem with a furnace, he always drops by after work and helps you out. If you are sick and take the day off work, you come in and he has done as much of your work as he can, plus he stops by the house to see if he can run to the pharmacy and get you anything. He can be broke or hurting for money, but when we had our 3rd baby, he brought us by a nice gift. Totally selfless when it comes to friends and family.

Put him in a car, and WHAMMO!! Total raving lunatic. I don't want to see him get hurt or killed, or more likely, given his 6'2" 345 pound frame, hurt someone else and end up in the slammer. Plus, he gets busted with his Kel-Tec without a license, he is up $hit creek without an oar!!

[AntXD]

I know that when i was younger(now 32) if someone would be too close it was brake time and whatever followed. Now that i have two kids i just let things go even if i am carrying, no need to endanger them.

[Tard]

My policy is to chant "You are a bad driver" over and over in a mocking tone (to myself in the car).

I always end up laughing.

When I go someplace I know there will be a-holes, I drive my big truck and really I just don't care if they tailgate that.

[jednp]

What I want to know, is how was this guy taken out of the vehicle so easily? If someone was following me, I would have already had my doors locked and windows up. And if I stopped and they got out, I'd be taking off. In fact, if I knew someone was following me and had to stop at a traffic light.. I would be sure to leave room in front of me and be in a lane that would allow me to escape.

I had someone participate in a road rage incident with me once and they tried to run me off the road. The guy ended up speeding around me when I turned a corner, and he slide his vehicle sideways and stopped in front of me, blocking me from going forward. He dang near hit me.

I was with my brothers girlfriend and her friend, I had to pick them up out at some house at the lake and give them a ride home. They were being goofy and singing out the window going down the one-ways in town. This guy and his friend apparently had a problem with that.

The guy proceeded to tell me to get out of the vehicle. I had my window cracked like 1/2" so I could hear what he was saying. He was telling me that I better put my woman in her place.. how he wants to beat my a$$. Saying I need to step out of the car. My doors were locked, and he would have had to drag me out of the window after he broke it in order to get me out. I kept telling him nobody said anything to him, and that I'm not getting out of the vehicle. I had the vehicle in reverse, foot on the clutch ready to go backwards if he started trying to smash the window.

The guy got back in his car and drove away.. but there was no way he was going to get me out of my vehicle. At a moments notice I could have drove off if he started trying to get physical. I could have drove off before.. but I wasn't really scared of this guy. I was prepared to leave if things turned south though.

Looking back on that situation now.. I think I was only 18 at the time. That one situation has made me realize that if someone ever confronts me like that again... I'm not sticking around to hear them out and try to calm them down. I'm driving off. I somewhat knew this person in a way... not personally.. but he was one of the weekend cruisers of the one-ways, thought he was so cool with his junk car. He was just out being a hot head and trying to fight someone. I wasn't worried about getting in serious trouble. But it's now got me understanding that had it been the right person, it could have been worse. But I did have my doors locked nad window up so he couldn't touch me without smashing the window.. and had he done that, he's either getting run over or dragged.

[exexpat93]

I had a very similar sitrep.

I was on a 4 lane city street that was merging into a 2 lane city street. I was on the outside lane and trying to merge to the inner lane to make the 2 lane.

A guy in a car sped up when I put my turning signal on and would not let me over.

He kept looking over at me like he knew what he was doing as the curb approached. I would slow down, he would slow down, I would speed up and so would he. I honked my horn - the other driver just smiled back at me.

I had to pull off the street into a strip mall before hitting the curb - the other driver followed me in.

Bad decision. I was just coming back from the range with my AK and did not feel like a fight. When he got out of his car he was a big guy too. Looked angry for whatever reason. He could have kept going.

I stepped out of the truck and pulled back the seat. I pulled out just enough of the AK stock for the other driver to see it.

He hopped back in his car and sped off.

I do not know what the other guy was trying to prove or what his problem was. I was just trying to get home.

[jtkratzer]

I drive the highways a lot and I get irritated with people who don't know how to drive, but i just let it go. I hate driving on 81, anywhere on 81, Pa, maryland, wv, virginia, it doesn't matter. it's a highway with 2 lanes in either direction and a lot of hills through virginia. people often hang out in the left lane and hold up traffic, truckers especially.

i spent quite a bit of time in germany, and over there, if someone is in the left lane and you want to pass, you just flick you high beams, they oblige and move over and let you pass. i thought this would work here. most of the time it does, but every once in a while, you get a lunatic who gets pissed and wants to play games on the highway then. so, i stopped using the high beams, instead, i'll just turn my lights on and off real quick once or twice. people just don't pay attention and forget they're out there and just drift along like they do in the rest of their lives. people seem to not get upset about that. i also wave and mouth thank you to them.

i've had a few people tailgate me for other random things, but nothing has ever really come out of it. i've called the police a few times on people doing crazy stuff on the highway or using the middle turning lane to pass.

for the most part, instead of doing things that could cause road rage in other people, i just use other lanes and go around people.

if people were just more curteous on the roads and paid better attention, things would be much smoother. example, if someone would wait 5 seconds to let you go by before pulling out in front of me when no one is behind me, it's just a matter of respect and being polite on the road.

[wombat13]

Originally Posted by jtkratzer

...it's just a matter of respect and being polite on the road.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I think what sets generally nice people off is dangerous driving followed by rudeness. I let things roll of my back but when someone does something that puts me and my family in danger and then acts like it's my fault and flips me the bird that really makes my blood boil. I am mature enough that I don't take any action but I can understand what drives people. Two examples:

1. Driving in a business district (2 lanes each way with a turning lane) a woman makes a left hand turn right in front of me. Fortunately for me I assume all other drivers are complete idiots, but even so I had to mash the brakes and stopped short of t-boning her by about 3 feet. Of course I honked as I was braking. What does she do? She gives me the finger! She could have caused injury to me, my wife, and daughter if I wasn't anticipating her stupidity and she gives me the finger!

2. A driver turned into my lane on the highway when the back half of his car was still alongside my car. Again, drastic evasive action on my part (at 70 mph) prevented the collision. Again, I honked to get his attention hoping he would get back in his own lane. Again, he gives me the finger!

As I said, I didn't road rage and try to get revenge, but when people put me and my family in danger and then are rude rather than accept accoutability it really pi**es me off and I can understand what triggers some people.

Note: I am not excusing anyone who does road rage and behaves violently toward other drivers.

[jednp]

When I drive, I always do my best to let people merge, let people pull out of parking lots, etc. I'm not going to sit while 10 cars pull out.. but if I can I'll let at least 1 or 2 go, and a lot of times I find that since I was the first to start letting people go... I see drivers behind me make the decision to do the same. Sometimes drivers to follow by good example.

I've had people speed up, slow down, or whatever other things they may do.. yes, it makes me really mad. But I just think to myself, dang this person is a moron.. in this city it's usually ritzy people with their expensive cars acting like they own the road. There's no way they will go over into the other open lane to let you merge onto the road. Just annoys me.

I've had people honk their horn within like .05 miliseconds after the light turns green.. and I'm thinking my god how big of a hurry can this person be in? I hadn't even had time to step on the gas yet and he's honking.

Everyone is in a hurry, yet none of these people realize that by them being road hogs, they are the ones causing the roads to jam up most of the time. They make traffic so it doesn't flow smoothly.

There will always be jerks like this.. I just figure there's no sense in me letting it ruin my day. I ignore the people and carry on like I was before.. but I can't help but think that a lot of these jerks take that traffic incident home with them and let it keep them pissed off the rest of the day. I think they like being angry. The best thing one can do is just ignore them and carry on about your business. Do your best to not allow them to get you pulled over to where they can confront you.

[LUVMYSIGP225]

Originally Posted by wombat13

IAs I said, I didn't road rage and try to get revenge, but when people put me and my family in danger and then are rude rather than accept accoutability it really pi**es me off and I can understand what triggers some people.

Note: I am not excusing anyone who does road rage and behaves violently toward other drivers.

What the problem is, is the complacency and expectations that Americans have these days.

No one has any respect for anyone else. Horns are meant as safety devices. There isn't a state that I know of that will permit you to drive a vehicle without a horn. Why? Because it is there to be used to grab attention and avoid collision by alerting other drivers. However, it has been used so much as a way to "yell" at people, that now it is not seen as a safety device, but as an offensive weapon.

I was at a stoplight the other day, and some idiot was chatting on his cell phone, while I was stuck behind him. The light turns green, and he is sitting there looking off into space, moving his arms while having a conversation with someone. Well, I wasn't in a huge hurry, but since it was a 6 way intersection with long lights, I would really like to at least get through this light. So, I give him the "soft" friendly, double-tap beep. Not laying on my horn, but more of a "beep beep" real quick. Instantly, I get the finger. WHY? I wasn't the one on the phone sitting idle through a green light. Why did I get the finger? I didn't lay on the horn. I tooted the horn in the same way that you do when you leave mom's house or something. But, I get the finger with my kids in the car with me.

What I think it is, is that we have become such a selfish country that lacks respect for others. "You don't know me, you can't tell me what to do". "I may be in the wrong, but I am flipping you off to tell you to never tell me what to do again". People with too much pride to admit that they are wrong.