Road Rage

[Mudderoy]

So I walked into the kitchen this morning to see a news story about a guy in a pickup having issues with a guy in a dump truck. A clear case of road rage, they said. Someone cut someone else off and there apparently was some posturing between the two gentlemen via the vehicles they were driving?

End result? Both, and I mean both, vehicles were left on their sides. The guy in the pickup the clear winner of this engagement. :smiley-laughing021:

Flash forward about 30 minutes to my trip into work. I was traveling down a 6 lane rural (lol yes rural) road and I see a sporty car (later to find out a BMW) come from the far side of the road, cross the three opposite lanes, enter the center turning lane and immediately merge in between the cars ahead of me in the fast lane.

No big deal, really, just most people zip to the center lane and pause before pulling into the traffic lanes.

So as we continue, maybe a half of a mile, the few cars that were between me and the gentleman turned off. We both approached a light. Now I've learned over the years that if you leave a 2 inch gap between you and the other vehicle, someone is going to pull into it. Even if you are coming up to a "RED" traffic light.

Force of habit I just time my stop to be 3 to 4 feet behind the vehicle in front of me. This time was no different. As some people do the BMW left a good car length and a half distance to the next car. This is usually a bad sign as it means they are busy doing something besides driving or worse a nervous driver.

Apparently the 3 feet distance, and I'm sure the perfectly timed stop to that point must have upset (scared I'm thinking) the gentleman in the BMW. First I see eyes in the driver's side mirror, then he starts gesturing raising his arms to his side I think saying "Where am I supposed to go?" So he moves up a little, I move up keeping the same 3 foot distance. Of course he's already started pissing me off when the gestures.

He moves up again, so do I. I'm not looking for a fight I'm just glad he closing the distance to the other car. Then he puts the car into reverse! :smiley-laughing021: Have you seen my bumper!?!?!? No contact of course. Now I'd say were about 12 inches from each others bumpers.

So with my 4.56 gears and 32" tires I tap the accelerator and the Jeep jerks slightly up (vertically) and forward (horizontally) quickly, I brake immediately. Now I'm having a hard time seeing his backup lights.

Now I see the eyes in the driver's side mirror again. I tell him "FORGET YOU!". In my utter amazement the guy pulls up moving into the center lane leaving me a clear path. I drive by and continue my normal uneventful trip to work. Apparently he was so shaken by the event he drove a little bit further and exited the 6 lane road into the nearby neighborhood. Of course he may have just been one of those dumba$$es that thought it was a good time to get a donut during Houston morning rush hour(s) and was simply returning home.

I kept an eye out for him over the next couple of miles just to be sure he wasn't attempting a short cut so he could mess with me further.

[Melissa]

That makes me think back to when I had my lifted suburban, except I used to hope that someone wanted to mess with me, cause I knew I was bigger and could whip them.

[muddeprived]

I had a bout with road rage once. It was back when I had my TJ and went wheeling with another TJ. We were cruising back home on a 35 mph road, passing the high school. This dude in a camaro was riding the arse of the jeep behind me and decided to pass her. She let him. I wasn't up to letting this idiot pass me in a school zone so he could go over the speed limit and get to his destination, what 2 minutes faster? As he got within 2 feet of my rear bumper and started to go in the opposite lane, i veered left and blocked his chance to pass. He gunned it at the same time and was forced off the road nearly fishtailing into a telephone pole. He came to a screeching stop sideways in the middle of the road and got out and made a gun sign to me with his hands. I didn't take that too well and gunned the tj towards him. He hurried back in his car and took off, scared like a little boy. Freakin idiots think they are so tough in their fast cars......and who passes people in a school zone??? :headshake:

[Mudderoy]

I don't want to place myself in the role of a police officer, but just like home invasions, car jacking, and a personal assault, picking up the phone calling 911 and waiting the required 45 minutes for the police to arive, well sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do.

I try really hard not to correct people poor driving decisions though. Now if there were kids visible near the road, he may have been rammed off the road and then handcuffed via some nylon tie straps until the police arrived.

Here's why I say this. I had a guy pull out from a store, cross 3 lanes of traffic, 2 on coming, and pass 20 feet in front of me. I was doing 40 mph, coming to an intersection. I asked him "WTF?!?!?!" and his response was I was driving too fast. So this a$$wipe took it upon himself to slow me down? Actually I think he figured out that he wasn't paying attention and instead of apologizing for being an a$$hat he tried to turn it back on me. Oh btw, the speed limit is 40 on that road so I'll repeat, WTF! :smiley-laughing021: :hitsfan: