Road Rage, revisited.

[Hay Dude]

I think the angst is getting to us all.

A Toyota Tundra was parked next to me at the grocery store the other night. My car was the only other one in the lot essentially. The driver of the Tundra must have thought it was funny to park next to me, about 6-inches from my driver side door. No way was I getting into the car, or even walking between the two.

I flicked my key out to do some damage. My better judgement stopped me before I did anything. But just the thought of keying somebody's truck is not something I would ever do. I think the world is getting more stressful. Some take it out on others. Those victims react violently. Anger begets anger and the cycle picks up momentum...

I agree with your sentiments and see that a lot. The “everyone gets a trophy” mentality is coming home to roost.

 

[LouNY]

Well heck this evening coming out of Saratoga Springs I used my horn.
LOOOONG and Hard, then provided the other driver with my estimate of her IQ.
Dumb broad trying to cut ahead of a line of traffic, let her run on the shoulder for a bit before I dropped back
and let her in.

 

[Jstpssng]

Well heck this evening coming out of Saratoga Springs I used my horn.
LOOOONG and Hard, then provided the other driver with my estimate of her IQ.
Dumb broad trying to cut ahead of a line of traffic, let her run on the shoulder for a bit before I dropped back
and let her in.

I think that my days of being friendly with one finger waves are over. Every time I look in my mirror, I'm reminded of that.
The odd thing is that was my 3rd incident this month. My company truck has a big ding in the fender from when a lawn mower picked up a rock; then a few days later I had to leave the road because somebody decided to pass a truck and I happened to be in their way.
Luckily there was a wide shoulder.

They say things happen in 3s...

 

[bcp]

They say things happen in 3s...

And when it happens the 4th, 5th, and 6th time, that's really a new set of three.

Bruce

 

[Jstpssng]

And when it happens the 4th, 5th, and 6th time, that's really a new set of three.

Bruce

It was a long time before the first, so...

My company truck is supposed to be getting a dash cam. It will be interesting to revisit situations. As near as I can remember, that car was about 2 car lengths from me when he pulled back into his lane. If I hadn't had room to move over, or if I'd "held my ground" the way that some would I don't know if he would have cut the truck off, or tried to split the lane. I didn't like the third option, as I don't care to find out how well the air bags work.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I have really calmed my responses to the idiot drivers. I may vent my frustrations inside my own vehicle, but basically ignore the other driver... no use in starting an incident.

Sometimes doing nothing to engage them gets the point across, and it keeps things safer..... I hope....

 

[MossRoad]

About 15 years ago, I would drive my wife to work every day, drop her off, then head to my work parking lot a couple blocks away, almost exactly at the same minute every day. For several weeks, almost daily, I'd see the same woman in the same car coming from my right as I'd pull out of her parking lot. I could see her pass everyone through the intersection by using the right turn lane. Then she'd do it again in the next intersection to my left. And I'd pull out and follow her and she'd do it again at the next two lights, then sail off west. Some day's she'd pass me at different lights, but always those same four intersections around the same time every morning. So one day I followed her to see where she was going in such a hurry. She was heading to a plant on the west side. She'd pass multiple cars through the parking lanes, bike lanes, turn lanes. I was amazed. This wasn't just a one time thing. It was a daily occurrence of probably a dozen or more offenses. Really dangerous.

So I called the cops and told the above story. They said they'd have to witness it to do anything about it. So I said hey, trust me. Just sit at X location between 7:45-7:50 and you'll witness it.

Two days later they had her pulled over. And a few days later they had her pulled over again. I never saw her again after that. She probably changed her route.

Just saw this similar story about someone driving on the sidewalk to avoid rush hour traffic on a regular basis. Someone had enough, called the cops, told them where it was happening, and the cops set up on the area the next day and caught the person.

https://www.local10.com/news/florid...ver-uses-sidewalk-to-avoid-rush-hour-traffic/

 

[jaxs]

That this behavior continues and by some accounts is becoming worse is shameful. As discussed earlier,these people recieve citations only to have lawyers put the fix in and back to the same old behavior. I wonder if it would be unconstitutional if squashed tickets went on record (not on driving record as such) and judges could see how many tickets a defendant had squashed over a period. As we've seen some judges would turn them loose twice a week but some would take exception and say enough is enough and this time it's either plead guilty or go to trial. I figure some road rage types have become as frusterated as us with idiotic drivers and feel justified taking matters into their own hands to punish them. Some really bad people have been interviewed that couldn't see what they did was wrong.
If you have never seen Charles Bronson in Death Wish,it air's the notion of doing what law enforcement refuses to do.

 

[JasperFrank]

When I drove X-country with a van, I picked up every hitch-hiker It would get full some times. It was fun and I learned a great deal from the riders that had stories. And everyone became a group on the trip and we would sing along on the radio.
In the late nines, this started to fall apart. And I stopped picking up hitch-hicks, cause they didn't have a good story, had no money for gas, and frankly, seemed far more edgy, then I was use to. I don't think I changed, I think the Hitch-hiker changed. Last guy I picked up, was in a wheelchair, and I had to pick him up cause Ya just HAVE to pick up a guy in a wheel-chair that is hitch-hiking. Took him all the way to Oakridge, which is 60 miles round back for me. He had no story, offered no gas money, and just seemed pissed off the whole trip. Really?
So I don't pick up hitch hikers any more.

 

[jaxs]

Unless I recconized them I haven't picked up a hitch hiker in the last 50 years. I couldn't stand the odor when the pot smoking hippie movement came about. A friend I made a West Coast trip with in the 80s picked one up while I was in the sleeper. Kid got in laughing and saying "I bet you thought I was a girl else you wouldn't give me a ride." As my friend started rolling he said "it really doesn't matter I'm going to **** you after while anyhow".

 

[Jstpssng]

I had to use the horn again, two weeks to the day since I said that I wouldn't.
I could see a deer grazing on the side of the road up ahead and predictably, as I got close she started thinking that she needed to cross the road. I was already slowing, but 3 taps on the horn persuaded her to head off into the bushes, rather than the pavement.
Just 15 minutes before that I had been driving down the road and noticed a cat with a plastic mason jar stuck on it's head. I was able to stop and pull it off... then realized that I was standing on somebody's front lawn for no reason obvious to the owner. (I thought it was an abandoned building, until I saw the car in the yard.)

 

[MossRoad]

Man shot in front yard while holding peanut butter jar.

Not a headline you'd expect, but hey, it's 2022.


nice of you to help the cat.

 

[Jstpssng]

Man shot in front yard while holding peanut butter jar.

Not a headline you'd expect, but hey, it's 2022.


nice of you to help the cat.

Two points; the peanut butter jar was empty and obviously had been outside for years.
Also, I don't particularly care for peanut butter.

Thus that gunshot would have been even more painful.

And the darned cat didn't even stick around to thank me... typical feline!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Last hitch hikers I picked up was a man, woman and a kid about 3 years old. It was hot, and I figured they were safe. That's been 50 or so years ago. I wouldn't pick up someone I didn't know today at all. When I was growing up in rural Oklahoma, every body stopped for you if you were walking or having car trouble.

I the days before cell phones, I stopped to help a couple guys whose car was stuck in sand. When we finally got their car out, as they were turning on to the road, they shot me the bird. I've never forgotten that.

Like my old boss used to say, "No good deed goes unpunished".

 

[deezler]

Just wanted to help explain the nature of Michigan highway commuting with a picture in case its helpful. Many of the cars in front of me here are in the 1.5-3 car length following range (for no good reason) and are getting a huge aerodynamic drafting benefit.

Feel free to bash me for taking a pic at 75 mph if you want. Note: I cropped the image heavily to zoom it in on the cars in front of me, I was a good 4-5 car lengths back when I snapped it. I tried asking Siri to do it for me, hand free, but she wouldn't.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Tailgating is one of the things I have seen arise in my lifetime. I still follow the 2 second rule from when I learned to drive in the '60s. People think they can stop just as fast as the car in front, until the car in front hits something. My younger sister's best friend died that way.

 

[crashz]

Siri was safely refusing to use the phone while driving!

That literally could have been shot from my windshield this morning in MA. Same traffic in left lane. A little light in the right lane.

 

[jaxs]

Tailgating is one of the things I have seen arise in my lifetime. I still follow the 2 second rule from when I learned to drive in the '60s. People think they can stop just as fast as the car in front, until the car in front hits something. My younger sister's best friend died that way.

One thing led to another. People that once left space between them and car ahead got tired of cars coming from behind to jump in the opening.

 

[deezler]

^ exactly. I don't feel comfortable tailgating, I desire control of my fortunes, and options for avoidance should a panic stop or road hazard situation arise. But it really F^&(ng sucks when you get cut off repeatedly from right lane passers, so, you have to close the gap sometimes and prevent the opportunity for this kind of behavoir.

 

[MossRoad]

Tailgating is one of the things I have seen arise in my lifetime. I still follow the 2 second rule from when I learned to drive in the '60s. People think they can stop just as fast as the car in front, until the car in front hits something. My younger sister's best friend died that way.

I distinctly remember people tailgating my parents when in our VW vans in the 60s. It’s hard not to come up on those things putting along. We’d be riding in the back and cars would get up on our bumper. My sisters and I would make faces at them.

Nowadays, when someone comes up behind me and sits there too close, I just flip on the night mirror and ignore them. Not much you can do about it.