Another unarmed life taken in road rage

[jdavionic]

A man driving with his wife & 4 yr old daughter is stabbed to death in a road rage incident. There are many sad aspects of this story...including the fact that GA allows you to carry a loaded firearm in the glove box or console of the vehicle. Unfortunately this man didn't have a weapon.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_...?storyid=96353

[LUVMYSIGP225]

Road Rage is a very odd thing to me. I do not understand it. It turns ordinary, everyday nice guys into total A$$holes!

I have a friend that I work with that turns into a total idiot when he gets behind the wheel of a car. He is truly one of the nicest guys that you have ever met. Hard working, cheerful, with a big heart.

Put him behind the wheel of a car, and he changes like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

I have personally been in the car with him and witnessed DOZENS of road rage incidents with him(that he has caused). I will no longer ride with him. He knows why, too. When a group of people ride to lunch together, he has to ride by himself in a seperate car. He will even start a road rage incident if he is the passenger in a car. He gets upset at other people's driving, and thinks it is his job to correct them. If they argue back, it makes it ten times worse. He is the KING of following them into their destinations and confronting them when they exit their cars. He doesn't give a $hit if they are man, woman or teenager. Recently, I had to ride with him to a business function. I figured ":how much trouble could he get into in 5 miles?". Boy, was I wrong. A guy turning into a building in front of us tossed a cigarette butt out the window. I didn't even notice, as I was busy driving. The minute we got out of the car, I see him approach this guy's pickup truck. I thought he was friends with the guy or knew him. I thought nothing of it.....UNTIL....I heard the content of the conversation. He told the guy to go out into the road and pick up his cigarette butt before he "jammed it in his ___". He went into a long drawn out tirade to the guy about how smokers were disgusting, and that people like him were the reason that cigs are being outlawed. YADA YaDA YADA! He told him that a cellulose cigarette butt takes a million years to decompose,etc. God, I was embarrased, and talked him into going into the building. The part that scares me is that he carries a gun illegally, and wants to get his CCW.

I have told him numerous times that he is going to meet up with the wrong person, and he is going to end up dead. I have told him that NOTHING good comes out of road rage. You either hurt someone or they kill you. Either way, someone ends up in jail or the hospital. I have also told him that I am very tempted to call the Sheriff's office if he ever applies for his CCW and tell them that it is the wrong thing to do by giving him one. He laughed it off. The guy should not be carrying a gun. Legally or illegally. I have also told him that when you obtain your CCW, that you CANNOT participate in road rage. They tell you in the classes to be the better man.

When I get into situations on the road, right or wrong, I always wave it off. Smile and wave. It can turn a bad situation into a good one. If I accidentally cut someone off, I will lip the word "sorry" while waving. Usually it defuses the situation.

[jdavionic]

Sounds like you did the right things – don’t drive with him & warned him. He’s on a fast ticket to jail or a grave. I’ve got a cousin (female) that is actually just as bad…yes, you don’t have to be a guy to be a road rage candidate. She has her CCW permit and has pulled her gun on several occasions (a topic discussed before in this forum).

It’s odd for me. Before I carried, I pretty unforgiving and always willing to have a confrontation on the road. As a got older & matured (which occurred late in life for me) and started carrying, I have become quite passive behind the wheel. Basically I decided that He who carries, must take the high road in confrontations or they shouldn’t carry. Now it’s not to say that I will back down from a confrontation. However I will make every effort to avoid escalating it. And if some numbnuts like your co-worker decides to follow, he will likely not survive. I will make every effort to involve the police. But they often only make after a crime has been committed. Some bastard follows me, and then approaches me when stopped will be met with a gun pointed at him/her (equal rights supporter). If they persist, I will use the force that I deem necessary to protect myself


Eventually your friend and my cousin will meet someone with the same mentality or perhaps someone who is more aggressive. And both will have their lives changed forever, assuming they survive.

[Radio Relay]

He goes into fits of rage over every little thing. I think he could do something violent at work.

A few weeks ago, I ask him where the guy is who usually car pools with him. He says "So And So, refused to ride with me this morning". So, I ask him why, and he tells me this story about how he was driving home from work at night, and decides that the truck behind him is intentionally leaving his brights on. Evidently, this p.o.'d my workmate, and I guess it turned into road rage, with him and this guy chasing each other around the countryside. Until it culminated with them stopping in a little town, and my workmate trying to run down the other guy when he got out of his truck.

I told this guy you're damned lucky you didn't get shot, because just about everybody out here on the high plains carries a gun in their vehicles for self protection. We have crazy druggies stealing anhydrous fertilizer, and setting up meth labs in abandoned farm buildings, and coyotes, and common thieves stealing farm equipment, etc. He says "yeah, I know. I don't know why I do this stuff all the time. It's not the first time". I just shook my head and told him he needs to call the counselling 800 number our company provides. Of course, he thought that was stupid... Oh well, maybe he will.

There are crazy drivers out there, but it isn't worth confronting them, because they won't stop it, just because others don't like it. In Colorado, you can call the Highway Patrol and report anyone driving dangerously. They'll keep track of it, and if enough people call and report the person, the road rager will get a ticket in the mail. If he/she keeps it up, then he/she wil get a visit from a CHP Officer.

Just recently a guy in Denver, was sentenced to two life terms for causing the deaths of two people in a road rage incident. He was one of those who had been reported several times, and the CHP was looking for him when he caused those folks to get killed.

[Radio Relay]

Originally Posted by jdavionic

It’s odd for me. Before I carried, I pretty unforgiving and always willing to have a confrontation on the road. As a got older & matured (which occurred late in life for me) and started carrying, I have become quite passive behind the wheel. Basically I decided that He who carries, must take the high road in confrontations or they shouldn’t carry. Now it’s not to say that I will back down from a confrontation. However I will make every effort to avoid escalating it.

I feel that I have a responsibility to behave myself...

The most common reason for people losing their CCW licenses in Colorado, is flashing their weapon in road rage. If you get reported, they will yank your CCW, and you will never get it back!

[LMTD]

Originally Posted by LUVMYSIGP225

I have told him numerous times that he is going to meet up with the wrong person, and he is going to end up dead.

You are correct. Guy I knew was not quite so bad but sort of close. He loved to fly the bird, he would fly it all the time. Well he flipped the wrong guy off one time and did not notice the guy followed him. When he stopped for gas, the guy walked up and smashed him in the face knocking him out cold and left him laying on the ground at the gas station and drove off.

I only know about it because he actually told us about it the next day, he was never quite so eager to flip the bird anymore.

[Tard]

My secret hope is that R-R's find their match and get punched out before they get killed or kill someone else.

Doesn't happen much here in The Pacifist Northwest (Seattle, WA).

[Tommyguns]

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

[Mrs. CAR-10]

When I was 7 months pregnant (last July), I had an old guy rearend me due to his road rage. I was on my way home from being in the hospital all morning. Everyone was getting over into the left lane because the right lane was ending. This guy got over into the right lane to pass everyone. Of course, low and behold, the right lane ended and he was left on the shoulder. He started to turn right into the side of my car, stopped, then got into traffic behind me. He tailgated me into the town, with very thick stop and go traffic, honking his horn the entire time. I was behind a dump truck. The dump truck stopped, I stopped, dipstick was too busy tailgating and honking and drove [accelerated] into the back of my car.

He was a real arse. I pulled off the side of the road, kept my windows rolled up and my car running while I called the police. He came up to my window and I just kept it rolled up and wouldn't look at him. Another passerby stopped to make sure I was alright, and also called the police. After the cop showed up, the guy tried to tell him that we were just going to settle without insurance and we didn't need a report since most of the damage was to his car (it was really mashed up). I told the cop I was reporting it to my insurance and I wanted him to make a report. I also told the guy not to talk to me, that my husband was on his way (I had called him after I got off the phone with the 911 operator). I guess the idea of a pissed off husband of a pregnant girl made the guy back off. When the cop took his statement, he said that I cut him off and then locked my brakes up. The cop just rolled his eyes.

When my husband got there, we had to park my car in a grocery store lot, and he drove me back to the hospital (30 minutes away). I was in the labor/delivery unit for another 6 hours and had to be treated for contractions. They gave me these awful shots to stop my contractions that made me feel hot and cold and shaky and sick and sleepy and jumpy all at the same time. What a truly awful day.

It caused $3000 of damage to my car and $3000 worth of hospital bills. I missed several days of work. And of course, it was California and I was not a resident, so I could not carry a handgun.

I mean, come on, what a jerk to harrass, then crash into, a pregnant woman's car and not feel even a single bit of remorse? The cop didn't even ticket him or anything. No warning, nothing. If people like that think that they won't get in trouble for road rage incidents, then they'll just keep doing the same thing until it gets them or someone else killed.

LUVMYSIGP225, you should report your friend. You've already warned him that you were going to. You could end up saving his life, or someone else's. Since he's normally a nice guy, it sounds like there is some sort of "disconnect" when he is driving.

[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.