Anyone here ever been involved in a Road Rage incidient?

[Majcric]

I had just left my house for work today when this ole dude pulls out in front of me, I lay on the horn, but yet he continues to pursue onto the main stretch and never even looks in my direction. Fortunately, I'm not going very fast and am able to get my vehicle to stop so there is no accident. (Here's where I screw up) I chase after him tailgating until I'm finally able to pass and then stop my vehicle in front of his. Like a fool, I get out and go to the drivers door and start yelling about how he couldn't see me, etc. Things are really starting to escalate and the next thing I know he has a gun out encouraging me to take action on him. After seeing the gun I finally decide it's not worth it (but believe it or not at the time I had to think about it)

After having a few minutes to cool off I realize the stupid mistake I made and I could have very easily been shot. It's strange though how this all happened in a flash and I'm not even known to have anger issues.

Just wondering have any of you guys/gals had any road rage lately?

 

[Murloc]

lol you're a hothead, you had a bad case of road rage.

Someone brake checked in front of me once, I sure as hell didn't cut him off as it was in the middle of the highway and I always check and use turn signals before changing lane so maybe he mistook my car for somebody else's.

 

[Grimjak]

Luckily here in Canada you can road rage all the time and not get shot to death. Unfortunately most times it ends up with you having to take a course in anger management.

Not quite worth the effort to get your point across to some dickhead on the road.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I have been the victim of road rage, but *never* have I done what you did. I don't consider it worth my time or effort (and good on you for stopping to reflect.)

Two events come to mind on road rage:
Merging on to 405 in Kirkland, I merged in front of an E350 van. I had to merge, and the gap was big enough for me. The guy behind hit me with his high beams though while riding my bumper. My reaction was "eff you too buddy" and I did a light brake check (brake, let off. Brake, let off, brake, let off) to clue him in that I didn't appreciate being blinded. His response was that once the onramp ended and we were on the highway, he merged into the lane to the left of me, got up beside me and proceeded to attempt to slam his van broadside into my car. THANKFULLY the SUV behind me was paying attention and backed off quickly, so when I hit the brakes I didn't get rear ended. The van tried again a second time and then decided to speed off. Now, E350s can't speed off....and I was somewhere between shaken and pissed the hell off. I chased after him while dialing 911 so I could get a good description of the van and the plate off to the operator. I doubt state patrol did anything about it beyond log the call....but that was jarring. I have never had someone make an attempt (let alone two) to run me off the road. If I'd had my gun with me, I likely would have flashed it (between attempts to run me off the road he looked RIGHT at me.)

The second road rage incident in my mind is when someone I knew was killed. Some drunk ass on 405 decided to rage when he was cut off. He pursued the person who cut him off. In pursuing the person, he exited 405 on to 85th in Kirkland, which is a clover leaf style on/off ramp setup, where you turn 270 degrees while exiting. The road is banked and I can take it at 50 MPH if I'm awake and paying attention...but he took it MUCH faster. The guy who was road raging took it so fast he rolled his car. On top of a BMW convertible. The driver of the BMW was killed.

http://www.king5.com/news/Road-rage-suspected-in-fatal-Kirkland-crash-126093229.html

Don't road rage, people. The other driver probably IS an idiot for what they did. Don't be another idiot on the road.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Realizing/identifying a problem is a first step to correcting it.

 

[mmntech]

Luckily here in Canada you can road rage all the time and not get shot to death. Unfortunately most times it ends up with you having to take a course in anger management.

Not quite worth the effort to get your point across to some dickhead on the road.

No they'll just try and run you off the road to kill you.

 

[kranky]

Not involved in it but watched one a couple months ago. Rural part of an interstate, a guy in the left lane (white car) wasn't going fast enough to suit everyone so people would come up on him, move to the right, and pass. White car just didn't ever move over for whatever reason. After a few minutes, a blue car came up on white car and instead of moving over, rode the white car's ass WAY too close. I guess he figured that would make white car move. It didn't.

Now the traffic was getting a little thicker and by the time blue car figured it was time to move over to pass, there wasn't an opening in the right lane. After a few seconds, a spot opened up. Blue car pulled to the right, all the way over to the shoulder, and started passing people in the right lane.

White car sees this, and, stirred into action, speeds up past the cars in the right lane. As soon as blue car gets to the front of the line of cars in the right lane, he starts to pull back over onto the road. But now white car has gotten to the same spot and veers into the right lane so blue car has to stay on the shoulder. Blue speeds up to get in front of white. White speeds up so blue can't get past. Now they are both doing about 80 but the blue car is still on the shoulder.

White backs off, blue pulls back onto the road and immediately moves further left to pass white. White pulls back in front of blue so he can't pass. And for another 30-45 seconds, they screamed down the highway, weaving back and forth like a NASCAR race. Until blue finally backed off, and white sped off.

Craxy. If they had collided at the speeds they were going, they both would have flown off the highway, rolled over many times, and been killed.

 

[waggy]

yeah!

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2018090&highlight=road+rage

 

[Paratus]

I had one about 15 years back. Was coming down the frontage road and needed to make a left. The intersection was under construction and they had just changed the lane assignments.

Previously there were only two lanes, a left turn and a straight/right turn lane. With the new assignments there was now a left turn, a left/straight/right turn, and a new right turn lane.

I needed to make a left and then a fairly quick right so I took the middle lane and a mad the left into the far right lane on the new road. Anyway the lady next to me in the left most lane also tried to make the lef into the far right lane. She came within a hair of putting me into the underpass.

I sped up and she pulled into the lane behind me. I thought that was it. It wasn't.

She followed me into the grocery store parking lot and blocked me in a space as I was getting out of the car.

She then jumped out of her car and started screaming at me. Called me a stupid son of a bitch who almost hit her. I told her that she screwed up and the lanes had changed. She then told me that she had been driving that road for ten years and she knew what she was doing. I then pointed out all the construction and she finally took a look back at the intersection.

She then looked at me and said, "Oh sorry", in a normal tone of voice and got back in her car.......

 

[Murloc]

I have been the victim of road rage, but *never* have I done what you did. I don't consider it worth my time or effort (and good on you for stopping to reflect.)

The guy behind hit me with his high beams though while riding my bumper. My reaction was "eff you too buddy" and I did a light brake check (brake, let off. Brake, let off, brake, let off) to clue him in that I didn't appreciate being blinded.

the waters are getting muddled here, you kinda escalated the situation with something unethical and characteristic of road rage. Brake check is not self-defense, it's just vengeance.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

If he flashed his gun at me, I would have pulled mine out and shot him and claim it was self defense.

 

[Majcric]

If he flashed his gun at me, I would have pulled mine out and shot him and claim it was self defense.

It was my fault for chasing him down. In this case, self defense wouldn't have worked. Even though it was my fault for engaging this doesn't change the fact he has absolutely no business on the road. I blowed my horn consistently off and on from the time he pulled out until I got him stopped. His claim was he didn't hear it. And again if your hearing and vision are that impaired you probably shouldn't be on the road.

Edit: Let me clarify here this guy never heard my horn period or so he says even after i've stopped him. Folks i'm laying on this horn a good 5mins off and on. It was only after I passed him and got in front to make him stop that I was able to get him to even acknowledge what he had just done.

 

[Sluggo]

Things are really starting to escalate and the next thing I know he has a gun out encouraging me to take action on him. After seeing the gun I finally decide it's not worth it

You should have called the cops, chances are he would have lost his CC permit, assuming he had one.

I can only speak for my state, but if you show a weapon only to intimidate someone, you are guilty of brandishing a weapon.

Either way there were two jerks there, and you were both guilty of escalating a situation, but only one of you used a deadly weapon to do it.

 

[RampantAndroid]

the waters are getting muddled here, you kinda escalated the situation with something unethical and characteristic of road rage. Brake check is not self-defense, it's just vengeance.

Fair, I think I wouldn't quite call it a brake check as much as me tapping the brakes to flash my brake lights at him. The intent wasn't to make him hit me, the intent was to tell him to back off. Washington State law says he has to allow me to merge - I do not have to stop for him. Either way, if someone flashing brake lights at you and slowing down (after you hit them with high beams and blind them) is reason for you to make TWO attempts to run them off the road...you should be thrown in jail for a year and never allowed to drive. Ever. Again.

 

[LTC8K6]

If you had reported the gun-puller, he'd have been arrested.

 

[rh71]

Yeah even if the other driver isn't a badass they may simply fear for their life and start shooting. I'm glad I'm older and more patient on the road now.

 

[RampantAndroid]

If you had reported the gun-puller, he'd have been arrested.

Likely not. OP acted aggressively and forced the driver to come to a stop. OP then exited car and moved towards driver. OP then gets to window and starts yelling. That's all aggressive and puts the driver in fear - which meets the requirement to pull a gun.

 

[Raizinman]

An incident comes to mind where I was with a friend who was driving. We pulled onto a 45 mph divided highway. A motorcyclist (Big Harley Dude) had to slow down a bit as our vehicle was a smaller 4 cylinder vehicle and it took a little bit of time to get up to 45 mph. The biker was upset and at the upcoming red light pulled close to the driver and started to rant rave and curse at him. The driver apologized and tried to explain that his car was not real powerful and it took a few extra seconds to get it up to 45 mph. The biker didn’t like this and took his boot and kicked the drivers door and put a large dent into the door. We both looked at each other and said ‘What’ in unison. At the next red light it was a shame that the bikers ‘brake lights’ were not working or we might have stopped earlier (wink wink wink). Moral – road rage on a motorcycle is really stupid.

 

[OverVolt]

I've raged but I don't need someone to pull a gun on me to cool down

I have alot of self control not that I don't feel the urge to rage sometimes. Drivers lately have been getting worse. Pointlessly selfish I guess. Which makes traffic flow badly, which make everyone even more selfish. Oh well I enjoy watching shit like this play out.

 

[Svnla]

Road rage as in directly confrontation with other drivers? No. But I do have a few close calls that I wish I could strangle the other drivers.

Just like Tuesday morning, I was on the right lane and ready to exit the interstate, the vehicle in front of me suddenly stopped (on interstate), I was paying attention so I did slam on the brake so I would not hit him from behind. Then I saw a car in front of him changed lane to move back onto the interstate from the exit. Amazing how stupid some people can be.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Don't remember if I wrote about this or not but I was on my morning commute one day and I was merging onto the highway. Apparently the guy behind me got pissed off that I merged in front of him. He cut me off and started throwing stuff out of the window. I didn't realize what he was doing at first (5:30am, not fully awake) but after a few magazines, a bunch of files full of paper, a few stuffed animals, and a mug full of iced coffee I was like "what the fuck.." He was decently far ahead of me so none of it hit my car. He immediately pulled off at the next exit.

If I wasn't going to work I probably would of followed him but I guess that wouldn't have been a smart idea either. People are crazy.

 

[Slammy1]

Lots of incidents of people doing it to me, around here it's the old folks driving in the left hand lane below the speed limit trying to control how others drive. Last week on my way to work I tried to pass one and she tried to stop me by using the car in the right lane (I wasn't tailgating, just went to pass and she slowed down suddenly). I put my turn signal on, started towards the right lane, then did a purposeful shift back left. The person in the right lane slowed quickly and I got around the one in the left. As I pass she's yelling and flipping me off. About a mile down the road we both get stopped by a light, she shows me her cell phone like I was going to do something. She gets behind me, I flip her off, she slows way down. Crazy.

When I was in Florida I had a couple of incidents. One time 3-4 guys ran the red light for the left turn and I was the one that broke the chain and stopped. The guy behind me starts yelling and flipping me off. I took the seat belt off and cracked the door and he stopped. Another time I was needing the left lane to turn for work and I (gasp) used my turn signal. I was going faster than the guy but he floors it. I figure if he wants to go faster than me OK. But he don't so I turn the signal once I'm past him by a decent distance and he floors it again. So I just take the lane and he gets behind me cursing and flipping me off. We stop at a light, him behind me and I look; he's looking down and quiet but as soon as we start moving he starts again. I get into the turn lane he pulls along side, I look he has his young daughter in the back seat, he's being "brave" again. I just shook my head.

 

[OverVolt]

Don't remember if I wrote about this or not but I was on my morning commute one day and I was merging onto the highway. Apparently the guy behind me got pissed off that I merged in front of him. He cut me off and started throwing stuff out of the window. I didn't realize what he was doing at first (5:30am, not fully awake) but after a few magazines, a bunch of files full of paper, a few stuffed animals, and a mug full of iced coffee I was like "what the fuck.." He was decently far ahead of me so none of it hit my car. He immediately pulled off at the next exit.

If I wasn't going to work I probably would of followed him but I guess that wouldn't have been a smart idea either. People are crazy.

Ah he didn't get his coffee

 

[Tweak155]

I am probably one of the more patient drivers out there. I only honk my horn when I think the other car doesn't see me (and may very likely hit me).

If it's too late I just try to avoid the accident (100% success so far!). If I get cut off or whatever I just slow down and deal with it. No point in honking, the guy knew exactly what he was doing. I don't see the point in confrontations.

The only thing that pisses me off is when people drive like morons. I.E not going when it's green because they're looking down and texting, going all over the lane, etc. I still don't honk, just try to avoid them when I can.

Over the years I have taught my wife this same patience. May have saved her life

 

[alkemyst]

You should have called the cops, chances are he would have lost his CC permit, assuming he had one.

I can only speak for my state, but if you show a weapon only to intimidate someone, you are guilty of brandishing a weapon.

Either way there were two jerks there, and you were both guilty of escalating a situation, but only one of you used a deadly weapon to do it.

If he felt fear of bodily harm (which any court would not find unreasonable considering he was stopped in the middle of the road and approached by an angry motorist), he could indeed present his weapon.