What do YOU do about road rage?

Rush

Member
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91 MX-5, 13 ILX
I'm not making this thread to talk about people that HAVE road rage. I made it to see what normal people do to deal with road rage when they're unexpectedly confronted with it.

Cause I had a hell of an experience with it today.

I was driving east on the PA Turnpike, from Exit 286 to Exit 339. For the last twenty miles or so, I had to deal with a total lunatic.

Upon entering a construction area, I was doing roughly 65mph in a 55mph zone -- pretty reasonable for the Philly area. I was in the left-hand lane, and came up behind a pair of oversized Ryder moving vans doing about 40mph. I checked the right-hand lane, saw it was clear save for a maroon minivan that was at least ten car lengths back, popped on my signal, and moved over.

I passed the trucks .. and next thing I knew, the maroon minivan was RIGHT on my ass. I kinda blinked in my rearview mirror, but stayed in the right-hand lane, figuring she (the driver was a woman) wanted to pass me. Okay, fine. She indeed came around to pass me .. but then paralleled me, honking her horn and screaming. I just kinda stared at her. I had NO idea why she was flipping out. I even took a moment to look around, thinking she was skitzing on someone else .. but nope, it was definitely me.

I continued driving normally, and this apparently made her even more irate. She started making little side-swipes at me. This irritated me -- so I simply dropped a gear and blasted off. After leaving her behind, I figured the incident was over and dropped back to my normal speed.

Haw-haw. She came CHARGING up behind me again after a couple minutes, again was RIGHT on my ass, flashing her high beams and laying on her horn. Mind you, I still had NO IDEA why this woman was flipping out on me. I'd try to move over to let her pass -- she'd either move over with me and keep tailgating me, or would fly past me only to cut ME off and then slam on her brakes trying to get ME to rear-end HER. And of course, let's not forget her continued attempts to side-swipe me. And the cursing and screaming and laying on her horn and middle finger out the window the entire time.

Finally, about a mile before my exit (yes, twenty miles down the road dealing with this) .. I was trying to move over to even GET to my exit .. when a car that I'd been 'traveling with' came to my rescue. You know how you always fall-in with other people traveling the same speed on a big highway? I'd been driving with three guys in a 3rd generation Eclipse. THEY actually pulled up next to her, blocking her as she AGAIN tried to cut in front of me to slam on her brakes -- and all three of them started screaming out the window at her. I can only imagine what was said, but the end result was her tearing off down the Turnpike, the guys turning to smile and wave at me, and me smiling and waving back in a bewildered way as I exited.

So what do YOU guys do in situations like that, when you're faced with a complete crackhead? I was an inch away from calling the police. That woman was a ******* nutcase.
 
Wow, That lady was a nut! If you hadn't taken your exit then calling the cops would have been a good idea.

I: a) Ussually ignore the jerk, which further pisses them off b) Down shift and blast away c) Roll down the window and turn up the stereo up REALLY loudly.
 
ya should have taken down the license plate and report 'em. i kinda do that when some1 does some sick s*** to me for example when i was driving out of my driveway, this civic and a dodge dakota was racing behind me. they went in front of me and at the intersection, the civic was in the middle of the 2 lanes and threw something at the dakota. i just went around them then the fucken civic almost drives into me..i was so pissed. i just blasted my horns and went WOT on the high way haha. wrote down the license plate and called the police..i guess u cant get very far on an island lol. uhh our road rage here is a bit scary though lol..
 
Rush said:
I'm not making this thread to talk about people that HAVE road rage. I made it to see what normal people do to deal with road rage when they're unexpectedly confronted with it.

Cause I had a hell of an experience with it today.

I was driving east on the PA Turnpike, from Exit 286 to Exit 339. For the last twenty miles or so, I had to deal with a total lunatic.

Upon entering a construction area, I was doing roughly 65mph in a 55mph zone -- pretty reasonable for the Philly area. I was in the left-hand lane, and came up behind a pair of oversized Ryder moving vans doing about 40mph. I checked the right-hand lane, saw it was clear save for a maroon minivan that was at least ten car lengths back, popped on my signal, and moved over.

I passed the trucks .. and next thing I knew, the maroon minivan was RIGHT on my ass. I kinda blinked in my rearview mirror, but stayed in the right-hand lane, figuring she (the driver was a woman) wanted to pass me. Okay, fine. She indeed came around to pass me .. but then paralleled me, honking her horn and screaming. I just kinda stared at her. I had NO idea why she was flipping out. I even took a moment to look around, thinking she was skitzing on someone else .. but nope, it was definitely me.

I continued driving normally, and this apparently made her even more irate. She started making little side-swipes at me. This irritated me -- so I simply dropped a gear and blasted off. After leaving her behind, I figured the incident was over and dropped back to my normal speed.

Haw-haw. She came CHARGING up behind me again after a couple minutes, again was RIGHT on my ass, flashing her high beams and laying on her horn. Mind you, I still had NO IDEA why this woman was flipping out on me. I'd try to move over to let her pass -- she'd either move over with me and keep tailgating me, or would fly past me only to cut ME off and then slam on her brakes trying to get ME to rear-end HER. And of course, let's not forget her continued attempts to side-swipe me. And the cursing and screaming and laying on her horn and middle finger out the window the entire time.

Finally, about a mile before my exit (yes, twenty miles down the road dealing with this) .. I was trying to move over to even GET to my exit .. when a car that I'd been 'traveling with' came to my rescue. You know how you always fall-in with other people traveling the same speed on a big highway? I'd been driving with three guys in a 3rd generation Eclipse. THEY actually pulled up next to her, blocking her as she AGAIN tried to cut in front of me to slam on her brakes -- and all three of them started screaming out the window at her. I can only imagine what was said, but the end result was her tearing off down the Turnpike, the guys turning to smile and wave at me, and me smiling and waving back in a bewildered way as I exited.

So what do YOU guys do in situations like that, when you're faced with a complete crackhead? I was an inch away from calling the police. That woman was a ******* nutcase.


O you and your wacky highway adventures
 
I had a guy in a VW Golf think he could run my Trail Blazer off the road, it didn't go over well for him:) As far as road rage in my car? I can usually out run or be out run by anything I piss off so im usually fine.
 
usually just try to ignore them and let them go on their way. ive been in your situation before where i have no idea what is going on but for whatever reason that escapes me, somebody is pissed off at me.

this person was really out to get you for something that was probably really stupid. after about 5 miles of that, i would have called the cops, or gotten off the highway. however, since you were on the turnpike, its a toll (if i recall from my trips up there) and you would have had to pay the toll to get back on.

you did the right thing though. just ignore them
 
(iagree) ha, jk. sortof...

i've had drivers follow me home for no reason when i've picked up family members and what not. i tell them to go inside and i sit by my car hoping they'll get out of theirs. but usually just end up reporting them.

but in your case you should have played a game with her. slow down speed up with a car next to you so she'd keep changing lanes trying to pass you... eh, prolly not. but always get the license number. i do it on occasion driving for no reason just in case. but if you have a camera, take a video of it to show the cops or confront the person after all else.

how many clams do our trunks hold?
 
Rush said:
*long story*

about 2/3 of the population of philly/philly suburbs have a genetic abnormality. I got used to incidents like that when I lived there. Something just ain't right about that city.
 
seanmcsean said:
about 2/3 of the population of philly/philly suburbs have a genetic abnormality. I got used to incidents like that when I lived there. Something just ain't right about that city.
Ohyeah, that's one thing I forgot to mention. The woman -- or, excuse me, at least the VAN -- wasn't from PA. It had Virginia plates.

Are they all flaming crazies down there or did I just get lucky? LOL.
 
I hate to say it, but even writing down the license plate and reporting it might not be enough...

[story]
I had a situation in which a guy in a *gigantic* pickup followed me (I didn't know until I got there *wasn't paying attention*) to my g/f's house. I didn't even know what I did (apparently going 30 mph in a neighborhood is *too* fast) but when I got there and got out of my car I see this hige truck barrelling down the road towards me. Well the guy slams on his brakes and stops dangerous close to my car and start yelling at me for speeding (wtf, he was going just as fast if not faster) using all sorts of nice words and whatnot. Here's the real kicker, he starts to ask if where I stopped was where I lived and wants to know my name. My first response was "You don't need to know any of that, but if you go near the house I will call the police". He made some stupid comment and quickly got into his truck and sped (yes, sped) off. After that I took his license plate number, vehicle model and color to the police and they said I had to go to the DA to report the guy. I get to the DA and he says that he can't do anything unless I press charges and show up in court even so, the guy may not even show up.
[/story]

The point of all that was that the police and everyone don't really care about this and you'll have to go through so much more trouble to "get them back", well at least in VA.

If that all had happened today I definitely would've ****** with the guy though - I love messing with this sort of person. Just have to be careful because they might do something really stupid...
 
Cindy - next time call 911. Tell them where you are (milemarker info, etc.), what the person is doing, give them the car/tag info, etc. Law enforcement is clamping down on this type of agressive behavior, at least down here they are, especially after some incidents in the recent past (guy stabbed to death in front of his wife & 4 year old daughter, other guy shot, etc.).
 
Rush said:
Ohyeah, that's one thing I forgot to mention. The woman -- or, excuse me, at least the VAN -- wasn't from PA. It had Virginia plates.

Are they all flaming crazies down there or did I just get lucky? LOL.

lol.. I swung and missed at that one. I still stand by my statement though :)
 
2 things here... i act one of 2 ways... if you know you have done nothing... which it sounds like you havent... just look at them and smile and wave... this will make them more mad when they keep yelling put your hands up like you dont know whats going on and say sorry... usually the tard behind the wheel feels like they "won" and the incident calms... i actulay had some one like pass me and then slam on their brakes with thier shity 87 olds and i almost hit them... then the F'er put it in reverse and tried to back up into me... i was furious as this drunk retard was out of his mind... so i tried to go around him and almost got hit again as he tried to run me off the road.... long story short... pulled over a about a half mile later and had vehement words with him and his hick GF... whom when i followed to wards my house were going to a dump strip club turns out she was a stripper... lol... end of story... i wnet back 20 min later... put pebbles in all of his valvestems on the tiers and twisted them on untill i heard the pleasent sound of ""HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS" oh that was fun.... i dont normaly act that way but i had doen nothing and i honeslty felt like this was an attack on me and sicne beating his ass would have got me jail time i figured i would just make him remember who not to **** with and try to get a f'n ins scam on!
 
Best bet is to avoid further confrontation, and call the police. If someone were trying to make me crash into them like that, I'd either drive quickly away (dangerous, not the best option, could get pulled over for speeding/reckless) or get in the right lane, put on my hazards, and slow down. They'll get real tired of harassing you when they realize they're doing 40MPH on the freeway, and everyone is honking at them trying to pace you in the middle lane. Oh, and you absolutely need to call 911. Especially if this went on for 20 MILES(!) the cops could have easily gotten someone to you.

I don't know why, but my wife seems to be a magnet for this kind of s***. It happens to her way too often, and she never seems to know why. I keep telling her to call the cops, especially since she's had people get out of their cars and approach hers.
 

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