Road rage. What would you have done?

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sport45

So you are in your vehicle and he is out of his?

Drive away.
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extremely good advice. all people know when guys get heated they can be more aggressive, so even if you have the best intentions in stopping there's a good choice that isn't the way it is going to play out.

*something to think about on a side note*
some training in different fields can show someone how to "come in on someone low" when they are "over the top"(blowing their top so-to-speak).......this allows you both to 'meet in the middle' further away from lala land where people get hurt or killed if they are unlucky or foolish by not opting to drive away
 
Win 73, in your earlier post you said, "The traffic was thick so the hole I cut into wasn't very big." Now you say you had perfectly safe and adequate room. Those statements do not agree well.

One of my personal peeves is the driver who assumes that because he has signalled, he can now do what he wants. Signals and wants do not equal right of way.

I would not blame the guy for being annoyed the first time you cut him off. Twice? Not a good idea, and not courteous by any stretch.

I think your assumption that your race, and not your behavior, offended the other driver is offensive.
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You are infering what I did not imply. Yes, the traffic was thick. Yes, I would have liked more clearance. But it wasn't available at the time. Yes, I did say and still say the opening in the traffic was adequate. If I thought there was any more than ordinary traffic hazard in the move, I would not have endangered my family to take it. No, I did not say it was "perfectly safe." You are never perfectly safe when you are in a moving vehicle in traffic. I am an ex police officer. I directed a lot of traffic and worked accidents. My assessment at the time was and still is that I made a safe move.

You keep saying "cut off." I repeat, I did not cut him off. He did not need to change his traffic pattern either time. He did not need to slow down either time. He could have just kept flowing with the traffic.

You keep making it sound like I was deliberately picking him to cut in front of. Both times I was focusing on the traffic and just looking for an adequate hole to move into. As I said, I did not even realize that it was the same guy the second time until after I had changed lanes.

Come now, you don't think people are prejudiced against people of other races? I know whites that are prejudiced against blacks. I know blacks that are prejudiced against whites. During my time as a police officer, I saw a lot of it. I was called a honkie and worse names more than once. It really didn't bother me a whole lot then. I have black next door neighbors now and we are friends. When I lived in Kansas I had black next door neighbors. We were friends then. My children and their children played together and got along just fine.

If you are black and that is why you find what I said offensive, I am sorry. But I stand behind everything I said.

And as an ex police officer I definitely realize that signalling doesn't give you the "right" to do whatever you want. What is a bigger peeve to me is the fellow who doesn't signal.
 
things can escalate quick. All I am saying is, what was the deal with the wave? ...especially if you were concerned about the individual(s) you were dealing with andor the 'part of town' you were in
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It wasn't me who waved. It was my wife. At that point, because I had slowed down so much, they were 8 or 10 cars between us and getting farther apart. My wife is a friendly sort and probably felt any danger was over. After my talking to her I am sure she would not do it again if the same situation ever happened again. It hasn't.

And in just about any large city there are areas of town that it is not really prudent for certain people to be wandering around in. With the gang problem we have, they don't like outsiders trespassing on their "turf." I remember not too awfully long ago a family (white if I remember correctly) got lost in a city (don't remember which one). A gang killed the whole family.
 
Should not stop the car unless you feel is going to cause you to have an accident or you are running out of gas. Agree w previous comments, keep driving, no eye contact, let him pass. Usually they will give up when they are far enough off route.

Call police is another option and report unsafe driver
Intentionally go well off route but in safe areas

Last thing you should is stop and get out of the car
 
I didn't realize I had cut in front of the same guy the second time until after I did it. The driver of the other vehicle did not have to hit his brakes either time.
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How did you not see who you were cutting in front of, but know that the hole was big enough and manage to notice that he didn't hit his breaks? I'd think after the first confrontation you'd remember the guys car.
I would have slowed down and let him pass after the first time he got all up upset. Mouthing "sorry" usually goes a long way too.

And I do find it a little worrisome that being yelled at in traffic made you decide you need to be more heavily armed. You didn't need your .38, you wouldn't have needed a riot gun either. Careful driving and some conflict avoidance (talk to your wife about when waving is appropriate) would do much more to avoid repeats of the situation than a bigger gun would.

I've also thought a flashing "sorry" sign you could activate on the rear window would be a good idea for cars in general. I'd think a lot of conflict could be avoided that way.
 
"I have crappy friends." So, you willingly, and habitually hang around with lowlifes? You're known by the company you keep, ever hear that one? Lose the crappy friends and associate with respectable company. It ain't hard to do.
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It continues to amaze me how some of the "respectable" people I've known will react to other people in a vehicle, or in a confrontation.
 
Be careful on the road: here's a case in point and a true story. Here in Reno Nev. during the Clinton administration, a Federal agent with a history of being involved in road rage incidents had an incident that turned out to be his last.

Unknown to him, the "other guy" was a down and outer, had broken up with his girlfriend, and was in the process of leaving town on 395 S. bound N. of Reno. Tony, the agent, followed the individual who went E. on I80 and took an exit at the Nugget. The agent's car bumped into him at the stop sign. The agent, got out of his car and was in the process of calling in the accident on his cell phone when the occupant of the car came up and shot him with a .22 cal. handgun. The assailant then took the agent's .40 cal pistol and shot him to death. Then he took his own life. All this witnessed by bystanders from the overpass above.

When one relative was notified of Tony's death, he replied "Tony ran into the wrong guy this time, didn't he?"
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Here's another one. Guy probably wouldn't have had as much of a problem if he had reported the shooting.

Federal agent charged at elderly man as he was shot, expert says
November 2, 2012|By Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
The federal agent who was killed in a confrontation with a dialysis patient following a road rage incident in Pembroke Pines four years ago may have been running toward the shooter at the time he was struck down, Broward County's former chief medical examiner testified Friday.

Donald Pettit, 52, was shot in the head in a manner consistent with the idea of him running toward James Patrick Wonder, then 65, in the parking lot of a Pembroke Pines post office on Aug. 5, 2008, said Dr. Ronald Wright, a forensic pathologist hired by the defense to bolster Wonder's claim of self-defense.

But under cross examination from prosecutor Chuck Morton, Wright conceded that the trajectory of the bullet might also be consistent with Pettit seeing the gun and trying to turn away from a deadly attack.

Wonder is trying to get a manslaughter charge tossed before trial on the basis of Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which permits the use of deadly force in situations where a reasonable person would be in fear of death or serious bodily injury.

Wright was one of two witnesses who testified Friday. The first, Karen Samra, is director of nursing at the two dialysis centers Wonder visited the day of and the day after the shooting. She told defense lawyer Frank Maister that Wonder's condition included a surgically placed and highly vulnerable "fistula" on his arm that helps the dialysis process but must be handled delicately at all times.

An aggressive grabbing of his arm could have burst the fibula and killed Wonder in short order. Maister and his co-counsel, Michael Entin, are likely to argue next week that Wonder was protecting himself from the possibility of a fatal injury that might not have proved fatal to the average person.

Samra also said that Wonder's blood pressure and heart rate were too high on the day of the shooting to allow for dialysis treatment, which is why he visited a center in Davie the very next day for another appointment.

She told prosecutor Michelle Boutros that Wonder complained on the day of the shooting that he had almost been killed when another driver ran a red light.

Wonder is expected to testify before Broward Circuit Judge Bernard Bober on Monday.
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http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...alysis-process-federal-agent-dialysis-patient
 
Your buddy's being calm and stating, "are you threatening me?" won the day; however, I'd let him know not to flip the bird from here on out.
 
armed_librarian,

My response last night was a bit brusque, and rather self-righteous. I apologize for my e-dyspepsia.

Most of us here are well mannered! :)
 
How did you not see who you were cutting in front of, but know that the hole was big enough and manage to notice that he didn't hit his breaks? I'd think after the first confrontation you'd remember the guys car.
I would have slowed down and let him pass after the first time he got all up upset. Mouthing "sorry" usually goes a long way too.

And I do find it a little worrisome that being yelled at in traffic made you decide you need to be more heavily armed. You didn't need your .38, you wouldn't have needed a riot gun either. Careful driving and some conflict avoidance (talk to your wife about when waving is appropriate) would do much more to avoid repeats of the situation than a bigger gun would.
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You people are doing a good job of trying to put words in my mouth. I did not say he didn't hit his brakes. What I said was he didn't need to. He could have. Since I was in front of him I couldn't see his tail lights. I sped up when I moved over to prevent any such necessity.

After the left turn I observed him for a few seconds in my rear view mirror. Since I was in a strange large city, I then focused my attention on the traffic in front of me and on watching for route signs. I figured the incident was over.

And mouthing sorry to him? To do that I would have had to stick my head and shoulders out the window and look back. Do you seriously think I am going to do that while driving in heavy traffic?

And when I saw that I was going to have to make a right turn, I began just watching for a break in traffic large enough for me to safely move from the left lane into the right lane. I wasn't trying to identify cars. I had to make a quick decision because the intersection was less than a block away.

I assure you that is in no way the only reason I go move heavily armed now. I will have my .38 or .380 on me with my 9 mm or .45 in the vehicle. And no I don't carry a riot gun around with me. (Although I did while a police officer.)

Conflict avoidance? Have you ever faced another man with a gun? Have you ever looked down the wrong end of a double barreled shotgun? I have. But I was able to get him to put the gun down without shooting him. If I had shot him it would have a justifiable shooting.
 
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