Road Rage Incident In PA

I don't think it's a good idea to think that you're going to be driving 55 miles an hour on a dark rural road and trying to shoot one handed at the same time. It's a nice romantic gesture of self-defense, but how many of us have the driving AND shooting skills to do it?

My mom grew up in an area where road rage was very bad, and although her teaching me to drive was a pain (I hate doing more than 5 over the speed limit) I did learn some things to minimize it. Stay out of the left lane if you're not doing a decent number of the speed limit. If someone comes flying up behind you, just let them over and let them do whatever insane speed they want to be doing. If you're on a two lane road and you see someone behind you driving erratically, in my opinion, it might be the better option to do a few over the speed limit until you can find a place to pull off and let them pass, as usually that will help pacify them if you're like me and like to do exactly as the signs say.

If someone's acting very aggressively for a long time, get on the phone with 911. Some cars, like our Kia, have a system built in that will connect to your phone through bluetooth and allow you to call simply by pressing a button on your steering wheel. This is preferable to a handheld flip phone because it leaves both hands free.

Your car is a weapon. Also, think outside the box. People have a tendency to follow societal rules even in emergencies (Pax at the corneredcat has done a good article on this, and I like to point to the Station Night club fire where people were trampled to death all insisting on exiting the way they came in) but do you have other options? Can you get into the oncoming lane and slam your breaks? Can you cross a median they can't? Does your car have offroad capabilities, and if so, are there any chances for you to leave the main road long enough to escape?

Finally, my gun does ride with me in the car when I go places. It's in its gun case (must be "securely encased" in Florida and it doesn't fit in the center console) and I have it loaded full 16+1 with an extra 15 rounds of 9mm JHP. I don't imagine I'll likely have to shoot it one handed while driving, but there are road rage cases of people being followed home and cornered at stop lights where they're shot or pulled out of their car and beaten.
 
This was a difficult situation for the victim because he was likely driving in unfamiliar territory late at night and in bad weather with icy roads.

Maybe the take-away is to try to drive unfamiliar roads in the daylight hours so you are less likely to be alone on the road with a homicidal lunatic.

It seems like the victim's SUV should have been able to out-drive a Ford Ranger pickup. I owned a Ranger once and it was no speed demon.

In hindsight, it might be a good tactic to speed up and drive as fast as possible while flashing the hazard lights. This might get the attention of a highway patrol officer if he is waiting to enforce the speed limit. Otherwise, try to maneuver to the rear of the assailant so he will have less opportunity to shoot.

If the assailant is to your rear, throw things out your window to distract him. Any heavy object might crack his windshield and cause some distraction but you also run the risk of enraging him further.

If you have a gun and you can not outrun the perp, then you might need to exit the vehicle and take cover in a field. Then, be prepared to defend yourself if he pursues you.
 
I appreciate posts like these because they remind me to appreciate where I live that much more. I can't imagine spending my life in a place where I may get murdered for frustrating a fellow motorist.
 
I have been the victim of a few incidents of road rage where people were following me. Here are some of the tactics I tried to lose them:

One time I jammed on the brakes to lock up forcing the other driver to pass me. Then I slowed to half the limit. The other driver slowed and we were almost at a stop on a 45 mph highway and a big rig sounded its horn. Thats when the other driver pulled into a gas station and I floored it losing him.

Another time I was being followed in a city and made a dangerous right turn at a red with a no red turn sign.

Quite a while back I drove a Mustang 5 liter and there was a Caddy following me. I had that car up to 130 losing them and then ducked into a rest area watching as the Caddy flew by.

When people want to get you its amazing what Dukes of Hazard style driving they are willing to do with their car. Try not to anger anyone on the road, but if you are on the road a lot like me its not a matter of if but when. Eventually you will cut someone off by mistake.
 
From what I read, it was around 2A.M. How do you put someone in such a rage at 2A.M.? Was there really that much traffic? I don't think it was road rage. I think it was either a sick game, or premeditated. Harder to track down someone close if it was done on a highway.
 
There is always more to the story. I always try to apologize if I did something wrong to upset the other driver. Sometimes that diffuses it right there and the whole thing can be avoided. I have also just allowed people to drive on raging and essentially ignored them. I observe and ensure that is all they do, if it progresses past that point I will do what I need to do. I have some pretty good
offensive driving training and experience, a 75 MPH PITT works nice. I like what Clint Smith said "Drive or shoot."
 
There are a lot of unreasonable people with issues out there. Just look at the news or even the local police blotter. Its not hard to bump into the wrong person even at 2am.
 
theres alot to read on this thread, so im sure if this was said, but get up to a high speed and slam the brakes, only damage your going to sustain is fenders being pushed into your rear wheels and possible gas tank if its very high speed, but his car will most likely be inoperable, at the very least his radiator will be blown and he will be overheating in a very short time
 
Guess some of those replying have never experienced a rear end collision.
Definitely not going to be my choice.
Twice I have been the intended victim of someone trying to run me off the road.
Both times with no previous interaction or warning.
And in broad daylight on regular roads, with plenty of other cars around.
Both times I just ran away from them, thanks to a few curves in the road, the poor driving skills of the other guy, and the alcohol or drugs they had probably been using.
One missed the curve entirely and landed in a mud hole.
The other one plumb disappeared somewhere and never exited the curve.
Must have found a wormhole into another universe or something.
 
well obviuosly getting away would be everyones first choice, but after ten miles of trying(and being shot at), what would you do if that wasnt an option? lets say hes in a new stingray and your in a 1991 hyundai
 
There was another story a couple of months ago, it got reported as 2 road-ragers got into a shootout and killed each other. The few facts available suggest that it was 1 RR'er who followed someone into a carwash and murdered him; the mortally wounded victim managed to get HIS gun out of the car and shot his attacker about 5 times (no misses!) and killed him.

There's a point to this... society seems to think if you do anything other than roll-over-and-die you were not really a victim but a mutual combatant. Only the police are given broad discretion regarding use-of-force in self defense. It may be better to "be tried by 12 than carried by 6", but how do you defend yourself in time to actually save yourself? If someone is trying to run you off the road and you bump them and send them out of control into a oak tree, YOU now are going to be seen as a murdering road rage idiot.

It's a conundrum.
 
Local news story; Fire Marshal....

About 4/5 years ago, a local fire marshal got into a heated road rage dispute while on duty in his own private vehicle. The marshal had a valid CCW & a pistol. :eek:
His yelling & screaming turned into a assault by the other driver. The fire marshal drew his pistol & fired claiming self defense.
He faced formal criminal charges for wounding the other driver in the dispute but I think the State Atty & prosecutors decided to drop the case.
The road rage driver pled no contest to striking the fire marshal in the incident.

Almost anyone can get into a road rage event. The point is to stay calm, be mature & be alert to other motorists who you might think are reckless, aggressive or intoxicated.

edit; due to content, corrections of details
 
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Defending yourself over reckless endangerment in a trail would be difficult unless you were run over a few times. If there are no witnesses I would spice it up a bit.
 
I let the chase get up to 65-70 on a two-lane and suddenly did a 180. Never even touched a ditch. I couldn't say the same for the other guy though.:eek: All the dust and debris I saw in the review suggests he may have flipped.

I studied Chitwood and have many hours of practice. Even a 180 in reverse is easy if you practice. Just don't touch the brake pedal!:eek:
 
I had some trashy Eclipse try to run me off the road. Easiest think to do is stop. If they get out to confront you burn outta there.

If the occupant was shooting that's a different story. changing direction with right hand turns to put as much distance/objects between you two would be helpful.

It could be a gamble but getting up to a good speed and hitting the brakes might work in your favor. His front end will be crunched airbags will go off. Ideally your car my be able to limp away while theirs is broken. Cars are designed to crumple and such for safety.

FWD can sustain pretty much any kind rear dmg as the front will just drag it along. But I've been rear ended in a RWD and mine worked sorta his was toast.

Depending on the cars involved pushing someones car around isn't rocket science. your front axle to their rear accelerate and turn in. that'll send em spinning.

This might sound kind of horrible but bring the attack if possible to an area fun of people. Rural road is one thing. pull into a gas station with six or seven people there is another. Might cause them to think twice.

If possible depending on the makes if your vehicle can go somewhere they cannot follow do that? Either they give up or get stuck trying to follow? Off road. Jumping a large curb.

I would agree with above keep the speed as fast as you can but with in the realm of your control. if you doing 115 on ice and spin out into a snow bank that is not gonna help better to go slower.

I guess another thing to consider is ammunition the aggressor has. Guessing what probably fifty rounds would be reasonable to assume? fullsized gun 2 mags? Perhaps more. Doubtful unless you are really unlucky. If u can keep somewhat safe he is going to run out eventually.
 
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Again based on all the local coverage: the victim was a car enthusiast, he knew how to drive, and he had a pretty extensive record of speeding violations. In no way am I implying that he deserved this, by all local accounts he was a great guy.

I have been in several pretty bad cases of road rage. The last one was a couple of years ago and it got really ugly after I thoughtlessly gave the finger to a guy who was tailgating me. He tried to run me off the road and I ended up stuck at an intersection with him next to me. I had to swallow my pride and avoid any eye contact while he stood outside my car and screamed at me. Maybe it was my willingness to let him feel like a big man, or maybe it was the fact that he saw me staring straight ahead with my phone in one hand and a tire iron in the other.

Either way I knew that I got lucky. Now I pull over and let every aggressive driver pass me and find someone else to rage on.
 
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