Road Rage Incident In PA

I think the chase started in MD and the shooting was on I-81 in PA. While not playing blame the victim, as someone who investigated various altercations, rarely is it 100% one person and a totally innocent victim in a road rage case. I am a PA resident and guns are easy to get and carry permits only require filling out a form and paying a small fee: IE; a lot of folks carry around here. What I am saying is before you start planning your tactics here, don't assume your opponent is dumb, unarmed, and doesn't know how to shoot.

The most successful way to safely get out of a situation like this is maintain a safe following distance and don't retaliate even if you are the wronged party. It is not worth it. I much prefer to indicate I am sorry to another motorist even if I did nothing wrong rather than try to crash the car or get in a shoot out over something stupid. YMMV
 
I live within 30 miles of the incident and there has been a ton of media coverage.

It sounded like the victim called 911 while in MD. The MD center took the call but the call was dropped when he entered PA. He called back and got the PA call center.

He was on the phone with 911 when the bad guy was shooting at him. MD State Police arrived on the scene before PA State Police.

The victim was spun out in the median and the bad guy stopped / came back and shot him dead.
 
Not to put the blame on the victim, but I have to wonder what he did to **** off his killer.
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Maybe nothing.
Maybe unintentionally cut him off during a lane change.
Maybe he brake checked him repeatedly for driving behind him with highbeams on.
Maybe he backed over his dog at a rest area 100 miles earlier.

Maybe nothing, nothing except be in the wrong place to be singled out, and if it wasn't him it would have been someone else.
 
Reverse 180

Even a 180 in reverse is easy if you practice. Just don't touch the brake pedal!
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Wait, what?
Thats how I do a reverse 180...
30-50 mph in reverse, stab the brakes and flick the wheel in the opposite direction you want to spin, as the car rotates drop the shifter into a forward gear, stomp the gas as the car straightens out.
What am I missing? Been working for since the early eighties.
 
Very good point

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
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And at what point do you decide, this guy that was in my blind spot that I accidently cut off and gave a friendly (5 fingered) wave of apology to is going to kill me if I don't send him off the road. He was only being "followed" per the media before the victim was run off the road and murdered.
 
Wait, what?
Thats how I do a reverse 180...
30-50 mph in reverse, stab the brakes and flick the wheel in the opposite direction you want to spin, as the car rotates drop the shifter into a forward gear, stomp the gas as the car straightens out.
What am I missing? Been working for since the early eighties.
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For a proper J-turn you do not need to go near that fast about 20, then 1/4 turn on the wheel. If you are moving forward and want to do a 180, after you crank the wheel a jab to the brakes will shift the center of gravity and aid in your slide.
 
Folks, in this case, remember this happened on an interstate highway with traffic going 70 mph give or take in the same direction. Doing a 180 there would probably be at least as dangerous as being shot at. That technique may be more appropriate under different circumstances but probably not for this one.
 
Folks, in this case, remember this happened on an interstate highway with traffic going 70 mph give or take in the same direction. Doing a 180 there would probably be at least as dangerous as being shot at. That technique may be more appropriate under different circumstances but probably not for this one.
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Never said it was not dangerous or that it was appropriate in the situation. Just like in shooting it pays to be the master of your car. Just as there are shooting schools there are driving schools.

There is always more to the story, or as Paul Harvey said "The rest of the Story".
 
Yep, lots of practice. I made my wife nervous for the first time yesterday practicing because I was dialing a phone number while 'waiting' for the car to line up where I wanted it before straighening out.
Yankee Traveler, it's safer not to touch the brake when doing it in reverse. Try it by pushing a grocery cart backwards and letting go.
 
Ive been following this thread a while now. I cannot quarterback this scenario, there are too many things about it I don't know. I can however, play it out as it applies to me. Long story short my finances do not allow for me to drive a new vehicle at this time. I drive a 00 Honda civic to get to work and back. Lots of people here in Texas love to drive F250s and as if those aren't already big enough they then jack them up in the air about 12 inches and mount oversized tires. Then they put heavy duty grill guards that stick out a foot or more off of the front end. In these vehicles they barrel down the roads at 80 sometimes 100+. There has been much talk about maneuvering and j turns and all of this, but my car cannot outrun an F250 or its equivalent, and at highway speeds outmaneuvering one is out of the question so Ill put it this way. I care not what the other person is driving. The laws that apply to me apply to them also and the FIRST (#1) time that my vehicle is struck in such a way as to cause me to believe it was done with intent to destroy it and/or the person/people inside it I will not wait for them to do it again, and I will not wait for police either.
 
There is an episode of First Person Defender that deals with a road rage scenario. They talk about how to exit the vehicle quickly without getting tangled up on the seat belt. It could be a useful skill to have if you need to (or are forced to) stop.
 
Again, I've followed this story because I'm from PA (where I'm from), and the victim is from a local town where I now live in Maine (ME). Just to recap: the victim was driving home to ME from Florida. He had to drive through either one of two states (NJ, or NY) that would have made the legal carry of a gun that he could reach very tough.

And he was on an unfamiliar highway in a rural area in the middle of the night, both sides of the road were covered in snowbanks. After whatever began his encounter with the shooter he tried to maintain contact with 911 while driving in all of these conditions.

All that having been said; the best advice I've seen on this thread is to avoid being in that situation, at that time of night. I've made the drive from ME to PA many times. On a few occasions I've pushed it and driven late into the night, I won't do that again.
 
No matter what happens, you are ultimately responsible for your own protection and safety. There's no other way to say it or define it. Any more it's almost to the point that a person shouldn't travel without carrying a gun of some sort on their person or carrying a medium caliber rifle or decent shotgun in their car. Try to keep it as legal as possible but survival is always your main concern. A rifle with a tactical scope gives a defender a better survival chance over a guy with a pistol almost every time. A guy with a pistol is almost always in a better position than the guy who only has a knife in most cases. But, then again, you need to train with your firearms to insure competency with them too. So the keys are: preparation, training and lots of practice to iron out the bugs in your defensive plan. Once you've gotten everything straight you can hope that you never have to use your defensive plan but you can rest easy that you have one and, like insurance, it's there whether you need it or not.
 
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