Had my First Real Road Rage Directed at Me

Heading home after work. 1st 25 minutes is on a 2 lane county road (former highway). It's a difficult one to pass on at times. I am following a new F-150 and when I go to pass on a dotted yellow line section, he speeds up to close the gap, swerves into the lane I am in 2-3 times and I am forced to slow and tuck back in behind him. To prove it wasn't just on the phone - he flips me the bird (several times)! WTF???

I pass him quite a bit later and I get the finger again.

When I arrived home, I called my brother, who is a police officer and he recommended contacting the OPP.

I called them and they took the report (I did get the license number), and they confirmed that the registered owner of the vehicle will get a warning letter indicating that there vehicle was being operated in an unsafe manner.

I had it happen to me on a 4 lane, 40 MPH road just outside of town. The guy kept passing me, pulling it front and hitting the brakes, folowed by giving me the finger. After the third time in less than a mile, I was getting ready to blast by him and take off down the road when a local cop pulled him over. I gave him a friendly, 5 finger wave, as I passed.

Frustrating isn't it.

mike h

It's times like those that a dash cam would really be nice to have.

I had that happen to me driving a rental car home from Ridgecrest to Victorville (middle of berkeleying no where if you're not familiar with the area.) Unfortunately I was in a V6 Impala which was basically gutless so I was resigned to following that shiny happy person for close to 50 miles.

Any time someone asks me why I NEED 350 whp in MS3 I bring that story up.

We've all dealt with this sadly. A couple of years ago had a clearly drunk guy weave into our lane, I gave a light toot of the horn to let them know they were drifting..........instant road rage. He stopped in a 45 mph zone waiting for us to catch up and then swerved back and forth trying to block us. As soon as my wife picked up her phone to call the police he stormed off weaving like a nut.

In years past I've been road rage dude (usually in response to someone doing something stupid........because pouring gasoline on a fire makes things better) like most A.D.D. young men I didn't have an especially great filter but at some point you figure out geeez I could end up killing somebody. 

My wife once made the comment that "poeple don't think they can get killed in their car" and so they behave stupidly.

That's my exact commute and that kind of thing happens to me on a regular basis. People are funny about being passed, it's almost like they take it personally. Do it on a solid line and they lose their E36 M3.  

Now that I drive 50-120 miles a day for work, I've had many road rage incidents directed toward me. Mostly by stupid old white women or stupid old white men. The thing that gets me is that they are the ones that should be getting flipped off by me, not the other way around. I have literally NEVER once given the finger to anyone but people flip me off at least a couple times a month. I've had so many people cut me off on the highway and then flip me off when I pass them. It's like hello, you cut me off, I should be the one that is upset, not you.

been there, done that. Worst was outside of Reading Pa. Traffic was backed up due to road construction (that lasted all of about 100 yards) and there was a semi stuck in the right lane because nobody would let him merge. Slowly I inched up and being a commercial driver myself, I let him in. It barely slowed anybody down. The guy behind me lost his feaking mind. Yelling, screaming, flashing lights, and laying on his horn.

Soon as traffic went back to two lanes, The truck moved back over and I followed suit. Crazy guy pulled level with me to rant and scream.. after a quick check of the mirrors, I smiled, waved, and stomped the brakes. He seemed satisfied after that and took off down the road.

Happens quite often especially in road construction zones

When I was young and indestructible, and before I had “proper” outlets for my Need for Speed, I drove, well, like an shiny happy person. I drove a ‘70 F-100, and I used to put it through holes in traffic that it had to go through diagonally, because there wasn’t enough room for a normal lane change. I’m sure I would have been the victim of road rage, but when you drive like that effectively, nobody can catch you to kick your ass. 

Now that I’m older, I tend to practice “road passive-aggressiveness”. If I’m on the cruise (which is always, if I’m on a highway), and the guy I’m passing doesn’t want passed, I will very subtly keep pushing him up, close enough to his back corner that he really could move over, if he was competent or had situational awareness, or his mirrors adjusted properly, but he won’t because he is the opposite of all those things, until he gets jammed up behind another car and has to slow down. Then, it wasn’t really a race, he just had to slow down for the slow guy in front of him. 

Of course, the level of incompetence, pettiness, etc. that most people exhibit behind the wheel really does annoy me to no end. One time, my wife was all mad at me, and finding anything she could to complain about, and she asked me, “How would you like it if everyone drove like you?” I completely shut her down with, “If everyone drove like me, *I* wouldn’t have to drive like me!”

Um yeah, I drive a semi truck 6 days a week. People are stupid about being behind me. Had a guy run up beside me in a merge lane and almost hit me. There was another car in front of him who had enough time to merge. He just had to get in front. Oh yeah he sped up from way behind me to do it. Gave me the finger.

YouTube is full of dash cam videos. I love watching them and find them very educational. Most road rage incidents escalate because both parties can't let it go. I no longer give a F. I drive 70-120 miles per day and finally bought my own dash cam because I'm not about to lose my job over someone else's idiocy. $100 is cheap insurance. The world is full of Shiny Happy People, many of them carrying guns (and nothing against carrying as I own one myself). I just don't engage them. Let them go on to someone else who hopefully is a cop off duty or in an unmarked car. Instant karma is wonderful.

On my phone so this will be short

1.  If you are regularly getting the one finger solute you may want to look at your driving not others. It may be that you are the issue. 

2.  Wether you are a outright Dick or a passive aggressive Dick you are still a Dick. Knowingly instigating someone into a situation makes you responsible.  You are intentionally getting someone pissed off and then saying “gee what a jerk they are”. Sorry but that makes you the jerk. 

I use to agree with many of the statements made in this thread but as I got older realized that they are indeed wrong.  

dean1484 said:

On my phone so this will be short

 

1.  If you are regularly getting the one finger solute you may want to look at your driving not others. It may be that you are the issue. 

2.  Wether you are a outright Dick or a passive aggressive Dick you are still a Dick. Knowingly instigating someone into a situation makes you responsible.  You are intentionally getting someone pissed off and then saying “gee what a jerk they are”. Sorry but that makes you the jerk. 

I use to agree with many of the statements made in this thread but as I got older realized that they are indeed wrong.  

 

Exactly what my wife used to tell me. She said if it keeps happening then I must be the problem.

Then she saw it happen on a regular basis and saw that it wasn't me. People honking their horns, shaking their fists, giving me the finger, it happens all the time. I never retaliate. If anything I just smile and wave.

 The country roads out here are getting fairly busy and not only can people not maintain speed, but many of them don't know the rules of the road. If you're going to slow down at every intersection and every curve  or  clump together with a half dozen other cars one car length apart then what you're doing is dangerous and unpredictable and I'm going to pass you - I see this every single day.

And if I pass you on a solid yellow line don't flip out because I'm breaking the law because I'm not.

At this point I automatically pass everybody unless they're consistently going the speed I want to travel, which does occasionally happen. I may appear to be aggressive but you appear to be not paying attention to both the speed limit or the cars around you.

My favorite is when someone cuts you off or pulls out slowly in front of you, you hit the horn and their response is pretty much "berkeley you, you have no right to honk at me!" as they totally ignore that they just did something stupid and dangerous...

Heck, the other day I ended up doing a WOT 10 - 60 in the middle lane of a busy highway to get out of someone's stupidity...  Traffic started to get a bit heavier and there was one on ramp with a ton of cars getting on.  So one shiny happy person decided to come to a complete stop in the middle of the highway to let cars on.  This came very close to causing several accidents (and led to the guy behind me bailing into the shoulder to avoid rear ending me).  So as soon as a big enough gap opened up in the middle lane, I just planted my foot and went for it.  Road was a bit wet (it had just stopped raining a few minutes earlier), but the summers on the Jeep are great on wet pavement, so no traction problems in a WOT lane change at 10 - 15 mph.  But I did learn that people's eyes get really wide when they're just about to pass you in the left lane when the thing grabs 2nd at 50 and steps the rear end 6 inches to the left (the WOT 1-2 shift is pretty hard, so on wet pavement it's enough to get about a 1/2 second of wheelspin).  

Actually, passing on double yellows does upset me. Using algorithms beyond my knowledge,  it has been determined that the area is unsafe for overtaking. No one is prepared for an overtaking situation. Your action is making travel unsafe for me. On my motorcycle,  it can be deadly.  I take my safety very personal. 

Appleseed said:

Actually, passing on double yellows does upset me. Using algorithms beyond my knowledge,  it has been determined that the area is unsafe for overtaking. No one is prepared for an overtaking situation. Your action is making travel unsafe for me. On my motorcycle,  it can be deadly.  I take my safety very personal. 

Agreed.  I'm pretty sure I've passed over the double yellows exactly once.  In a spot where there was great visibility for passing and no apparent reason for the double yellows.  And the car I was passing was doing 30 in a 55 where I would have been stuck behind them for another 10-ish miles if I didn't pass when I did.  

My area is urban sprawl, so the drive is quite different than the middle of nowhere. I understand your situation.

Appleseed said:

Actually, passing on double yellows does upset me. Using algorithms beyond my knowledge,  it has been determined that the area is unsafe for overtaking. No one is prepared for an overtaking situation. Your action is making travel unsafe for me. On my motorcycle,  it can be deadly.  I take my safety very personal. 

I disagree with almost everything you said.

It is possible that it's not safe, and in those situations I don't pass.

I seriously doubt that any algorithms were involved in painting the lines on these roads that have been the same for longer than I've been around, but I do believe that in most situations people are not prepared for an overtaking situation. That's their incompetence and one of the reasons why I want to get around them. I've watched groups of cars follow a tractor at less than half the speed limit when there are plenty of opportunities to pass and nobody does. Most people will not pass. I don't want to drive near those people.

rslifkin said:

Agreed.  I'm pretty sure I've passed over the double yellows exactly once.  In a spot where there was great visibility for passing and no apparent reason for the double yellows.  And the car I was passing was doing 30 in a 55 where I would have been stuck behind them for another 10-ish miles if I didn't pass when I did. 

Yup. Every day.

Suprf1y said:

And if I pass you on a solid yellow line don't flip out because I'm breaking the law because I'm not.

Ummm, how does that work?  Literally everywhere I have lived in my 53 years on this planet, a solid yellow line specifically means passing is illegal.  With possible exceptions for extrememly slow moving agricultural or construction equipment.  It may or may not be safe, but it is definitely illegal.

My most recent baffling road range incident:  Driving along a mile or so of 2-lane road (35 mph or so), I was tailgated radically by a guy in a 10-year-old Ram pickup.  Like, less than a car length behind me. 

At the end of the road we both turned onto the same 4-lane collector, and I wound up behind him.  I hate tailgaters and was following at a very reasonable distance for the low speed, probably 3-4 lengths.  The guy stops in front of me, gets out, and starts screaming about how I shouldn't tailgate because he's driving a truck and trucks can't stop very well.  The whole time I'm thinking to myself, "First off, dumbass, that means if I'm behind you I can outbrake you any time, and second off, why the berk were you up my berking ass the whole way across the last road, then?!"  I didn't say any of this, luckily.  Younger me probably would have.

I rarely use my horn, never really have for some reason, but man when I do use it to spur someone to look up from their phone or any other distraction it is as if I insulted their child. I think it is a sense of entitlement. How dare YOU tell ME I should be doing something, instead of the intended purpose of "hey, just getting your attention". It's crazy.

Also, living in FL, don't even get me started on left lane drivers. They are on a mission to ensure that everyone does the proper speed, their speed, nothing higher. Driving in the outer-left part of the lane to pop up in their mirror? Nah, they don't watch them. Flashing your lights? Again, not paying attention. So, you (and others) are forced to do a higher risk pass using the right lanes with slower traffic. Crazy.

In reply to Suprf1y :

Thanks for making my ride safer.

Driving While Ignorant can't be solved by a yelling, a middle finger or horn honk or other obscene gesture.  I tend to smile, wave, and move on.  Funny how people tend to speed up when someone is passing them.   I often comment about unsafe driving when my son is in the car so he sees how reckless to cut people off, not use turn signals, tailgate. 

I've had a few middle fingers thrown recently as a response to my use of the horn.  At traffic lights.  That turned green five seconds ago.  And the lead car has a driver looking at their phone...and not the traffic signal.  I see this kind of thing once a week.  Instead of apologizing for impeding traffic, people tend to have the opposite reaction.   The % of drivers that seem to be regularly glancing down at a phone in their lap is terrifying these days.  Use your rearview to check the driver's eyes behind you on your next trip.

If you really want to see how ignorant a driver is, once you get past them, clean your windshield with lots of wiper fluid.  If they realize you're doing it to piss them off...they're actually paying attention.  If they don't...they're on auto-pilot.  Lots of people do keep guns in their cars, so use this one at the risk of "triggering" someone.

Several years ago was driving on interstate with cruise set a bit above speed limit. Looked in rear view mirror and then eased out to pass semi truck still on cruise. A car approached from rear doing at least fifteen mph faster then me. I accelerated to get past truck. Meanwhile car behind was flashing lights and honking horn. Got past truck pulled over in right lane to let guy past. Guy pulled up next to me flipped me the bird, made hand gesture like he had a gun then accelerated pulled in front of me and slammed on brakes. He then slowed down to about 45 mph . When I would pulled out to pass a couple times he would block and then slam on brakes. This went on for a a few miles to the point traffic was backing up. Finally I pulled out to pass he again blocked but I got back in right lane and ducked down a exit. For someone who was in such a hurry he sure did waste a lot of time messing with me.

The news is full of road rage incidents unfortunately a lot of them ending up with violence. At one time I might have been more aggressive but it just not worth it. There is no reasoning with these folks when they raging. There was a incident here a while back where a guy who was raging stopped in front of a guy in heavy traffic then got out of his car and came back and shot the other driver several times killing him in front of his two small kids.

I, admittedly, have a terrible temper. Combine that with all the self absorbed, phone watching, "I own the road" douche canoes around, and bad things are sure to follow.

My road rage had lessened though since I got rid of the miata, or moving speed bump, as every soccer mom, brodozer, and old biddy seemed to think it was. I still fully expect to go to prison some day because some mental midget is too busy playing on their phone and adjusting their kids DVD players to pay attention to the 5000lb battering ram they're "driving" down the highway hits me and I shove their phone up their ass on a Facebook live stream. 

But at least I don't feel like I have a target on my bumper anymore in the truck. Although Harley riders seem to think attaching their front wheel to my rear bumper so I can barely see the top of their unhelmeted head in my rear view is a good way to ride their scooter. Almost killed one about a month ago because I had to panic stop and he was not only right on my ass but not paying attention to the road either. Yet according to the gestures and screaming from him at the next red light, it was my fault someone pulled out in front of us without looking. berkeley you, next time I'll downshift instead of braking.

I don't really know the point of this post, I just can't resist a good traffic rant.