.....and it was 100% avoidable and very immature on my part. It's dark, rainy and I am driving home on the expressway, expediently to say the least. A white Focus stationwagon, late 90's model, following me close blinking his brights, passes and then weaves around back behind me and flashed brights several more times. this goes on for like ten minutes, dude had to of flashed his brights at me fifteen times at least. I am getting a little agitated, I have been driving for two hours and I am almost home. I turn on my interior light so he can see me, and after my visually exaggerated signed profanities, I throw my arms up to say "hey, just get in front of me and stay there". I move over to the slow lane and let him do whatever he is doing. After not seeing him for a minute or so, he comes back cutting me off into the SLOW lane that I am in, okay I am angry now, I ride up on him and just keep my brights on. He gives me a kind gesture with one of his fingers and turns his mirror down.
My exit comes up, it is a two-lane exit that then splits off into small single lanes that loop around for a right-tun only lane into the mall(confusing, but just imagaine a small lane, with no shoulder because going up a steep hill and a sharp curve. At this point my brights are off, I can see we are going to the same place so I back off, I don't want him to think I am following him. Halfway around the bend, he turns his car to the left, then reverses slightly to block me. I am cattycornered to the right because I was going to attempt to just go around. I see him get, what seems obvious to be a gun, from the glove box and exits his vehicle. My thinking right now is, if I try to go around him he has a clear shot at my drivers side, so I have the car in reverse and my gun in my hand, safety off(my "car-gun" stays in the drivers door panel). He is walking towards me, flipping up his shirt, I guess to make it clear he is armed.
My window is down, one foot out of the car, other on the brake, gun in hand pointed at aggressor, propped on door. I say "If you come one step closer or grab at your waistband one more time, I am going to shoot you, I WILL do it". He sees that I have the advantage and I see his demeanor change instantly from aggressor to trembling fear. He stops and starts walking back, he was very close, less than ten feet, he says "your not the only one bro(pointing to his waistband". I say "okay, that's clear, can we not shoot each other please and go about our business?, keeps your hands clear and don't come closer, I swear to god your about to get shot!!!"
He says okay, I see his aggression drop and he is turning away, I point my pistol away from him. now that it is clear that neither of us want to shoot the other and he is back at his car. I say "what the hell were you following me around for, flashing me and cutting me off over and over?"(I know, doesn't seem like the time to converse, but our rage has diminished and we are back to being humans again at this point). His answer made my jaw drop, it made me understand just how stupid all this was and how much I should have just let it go. he says "we were both following the Porche, I was flashing you when it was cool for you to pass again, if you knew anything about SPEED-RACING you would have known that....." I said, "dude, I don't know what Porsche your talking about, and I don't know anything about speed-racing, I know I wanna get home after a long drive and I don't wanna shoot someone or vice-versa.....I apologize for turning my brights on, but you should understand that I didn't know we were teaming up to race through traffic, im way too old for that s%^&." he says "alright, cool" and gets in his car.
so freaking stupid, for both of us, although he was the aggressor that armed up and got out of the car after blocking me in. as far as I know, I could have shot the man and I would have had every right, despite the circumstances leading up to it. but lord knows it would have been the dumbest shooting I have ever heard of and I am glad tempers went down. I am not sure the intentions of the man as he exited the vehicle, since he was approaching me quickly and only the sight of my gun slowed him down. he apparently thought we were a gang of racers shooting down the highway in unison and looking out for each other and I just thought he was an idiot who was cutting me off and flashing his lights in my face. but this is as much my fault for not being a grown-up and further deteriorating the situation, I could have just slowed down and drove home, or I could have just taken the next exit, I could have backed far enough away that we didn't see each other again. But, I was angry and was doing an aggressive action by riding up on him with my brights on, it was stupid and i'll think back on this situation in the future. If it was a kid or even a younger person driving, I probably would have just shrugged it of, but he was in his late 30's as far as I could tell, that shouldn't matter but it made me mad that he seemed to be persuing me on the highway.
I NEVER want to shoot anyone, even if they're the scum of the earth, it's not my job. I want to give life and never want to take it, I let road-rage and immaturity get in the way of common sense and goodwill. I am not a generally angry driver, but apparently I need to make it where I am NEVER an angry driver, because one situation like this is one too many. Who knows what my future would be if I had decided to pull trigger, I was very close. I thought quickly about the situation while it was occurring and what I was doing. my thoughts were "he has a gun, HE blocked ME in, HE got out of his car with a gun. he is coming towards me, I CAN shoot if I need too...right? yes I can shoot, don't hesitate to shoot if you need to".....very stressful, million things zooming through my head at once. my hands are still shaky. in the end though, regardless of the previous events leading up, I am damned glad I had my gun. I will never do that again though, I have things to live for.
I have to add, after our incident, we both drove down the same road for some time, politely, even sitting SxS at a couple red-lights. I gave him a "peace-out" salute when I turned right, he waved back. funny how anger changes people in the moment and how fast a misunderstanding can lead to violence.
My exit comes up, it is a two-lane exit that then splits off into small single lanes that loop around for a right-tun only lane into the mall(confusing, but just imagaine a small lane, with no shoulder because going up a steep hill and a sharp curve. At this point my brights are off, I can see we are going to the same place so I back off, I don't want him to think I am following him. Halfway around the bend, he turns his car to the left, then reverses slightly to block me. I am cattycornered to the right because I was going to attempt to just go around. I see him get, what seems obvious to be a gun, from the glove box and exits his vehicle. My thinking right now is, if I try to go around him he has a clear shot at my drivers side, so I have the car in reverse and my gun in my hand, safety off(my "car-gun" stays in the drivers door panel). He is walking towards me, flipping up his shirt, I guess to make it clear he is armed.
My window is down, one foot out of the car, other on the brake, gun in hand pointed at aggressor, propped on door. I say "If you come one step closer or grab at your waistband one more time, I am going to shoot you, I WILL do it". He sees that I have the advantage and I see his demeanor change instantly from aggressor to trembling fear. He stops and starts walking back, he was very close, less than ten feet, he says "your not the only one bro(pointing to his waistband". I say "okay, that's clear, can we not shoot each other please and go about our business?, keeps your hands clear and don't come closer, I swear to god your about to get shot!!!"
He says okay, I see his aggression drop and he is turning away, I point my pistol away from him. now that it is clear that neither of us want to shoot the other and he is back at his car. I say "what the hell were you following me around for, flashing me and cutting me off over and over?"(I know, doesn't seem like the time to converse, but our rage has diminished and we are back to being humans again at this point). His answer made my jaw drop, it made me understand just how stupid all this was and how much I should have just let it go. he says "we were both following the Porche, I was flashing you when it was cool for you to pass again, if you knew anything about SPEED-RACING you would have known that....." I said, "dude, I don't know what Porsche your talking about, and I don't know anything about speed-racing, I know I wanna get home after a long drive and I don't wanna shoot someone or vice-versa.....I apologize for turning my brights on, but you should understand that I didn't know we were teaming up to race through traffic, im way too old for that s%^&." he says "alright, cool" and gets in his car.
so freaking stupid, for both of us, although he was the aggressor that armed up and got out of the car after blocking me in. as far as I know, I could have shot the man and I would have had every right, despite the circumstances leading up to it. but lord knows it would have been the dumbest shooting I have ever heard of and I am glad tempers went down. I am not sure the intentions of the man as he exited the vehicle, since he was approaching me quickly and only the sight of my gun slowed him down. he apparently thought we were a gang of racers shooting down the highway in unison and looking out for each other and I just thought he was an idiot who was cutting me off and flashing his lights in my face. but this is as much my fault for not being a grown-up and further deteriorating the situation, I could have just slowed down and drove home, or I could have just taken the next exit, I could have backed far enough away that we didn't see each other again. But, I was angry and was doing an aggressive action by riding up on him with my brights on, it was stupid and i'll think back on this situation in the future. If it was a kid or even a younger person driving, I probably would have just shrugged it of, but he was in his late 30's as far as I could tell, that shouldn't matter but it made me mad that he seemed to be persuing me on the highway.
I NEVER want to shoot anyone, even if they're the scum of the earth, it's not my job. I want to give life and never want to take it, I let road-rage and immaturity get in the way of common sense and goodwill. I am not a generally angry driver, but apparently I need to make it where I am NEVER an angry driver, because one situation like this is one too many. Who knows what my future would be if I had decided to pull trigger, I was very close. I thought quickly about the situation while it was occurring and what I was doing. my thoughts were "he has a gun, HE blocked ME in, HE got out of his car with a gun. he is coming towards me, I CAN shoot if I need too...right? yes I can shoot, don't hesitate to shoot if you need to".....very stressful, million things zooming through my head at once. my hands are still shaky. in the end though, regardless of the previous events leading up, I am damned glad I had my gun. I will never do that again though, I have things to live for.
I have to add, after our incident, we both drove down the same road for some time, politely, even sitting SxS at a couple red-lights. I gave him a "peace-out" salute when I turned right, he waved back. funny how anger changes people in the moment and how fast a misunderstanding can lead to violence.
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