I was driving through a construction zone yesterday (25MPH posted speed). I was coming up to a lane reduction where the right lane ends, which was posted a couple hundred yards down the road. This idiot decides that he needs to be there before me and I'm already in the left lane. He begins to pass me and the car in front of us (on the left side) brakes to turn left. Did the idiot trying to pass me slow down? No, he yanks the wheel to get into my lane. If I hadn't reacted he would have taken out my right front quarter panel. I honked at him, you know "Here's your sign!" He was pretty adament about me seeing the bird. I love when some bonehead insists on flipping me off when they are clearly the A-hole! But then he slams on his brakes like he tried to get me to rear end him. When he took off again he proceeded at 25 mph all the way down the road in a 35MPH zone. I totally understand why road rage is a fact of life now days. This idiot is a victim waiting to happen, I'm glad it didn't escelate because honestly I had my maglite in my hand and my blood was boiling.

Here is a question. If he were to stop in front of you and get out of his car for a confrontation would you A) get out and take the chance of being arrested for assault and battery if it goes well or a bullet if it doesn't, or B) Push his car with your truck (doing the most amount of damage to his and the least amount of damage to yours, of course), call the cops and tell them what happened and claim self defense?

 

I understand how you feel, I think we have all been in your shoes at one time or another. From a law enforcement standpoint, a road rage incident is usually a he said she said disagreement, rarely with any witnesses to verify one side or the other. Bottom line, if you hit the jacka@@'s rear bumper, you'll get a "following to close" ticket at a minimum. If an assault occurs, there's a good chance you'll both be going to jail and the judge can sort it out. You'll spend a boatload of money defending yourself, spend many days in court, and possibly be convicted. Worse yet, the a-hole might be an anger management case, and he might kill you during the assault. Is it worth it? Taking action on your own would give you instant gratification, but what are the long term consequences? The best advice in these situations is drive defensively, (which you did), get away from the offender as soon as possible, and notify your local law enforcement agency. In Wa St, the State Patrol has website where you can report agressive driving. When a person is reported they run the risk of risk of being investigated.

 

I'm the type of person depending on the mood i'm in that probably would of let him run into me. As for confrontations i have been in that situation where an individual got out of his car to start something that was his fault to begin with but once he saw me(6'2"@280lbs) get out of my truck he changed his mind quickly. i don't recomend confrontations just let the cops handle it, These days the laws are getting better on that just make sure you get the tag#.

On a side note i love tailgaters! I have a big clevis hitch on the back of my truck that sticks out about a foot an a half and when these people come flying up on me and see that........Well the looks are priceless.

 

If it weren't such a waste of a cop's time I would keep an eye out for him and report him as a drunk driver the next time I see him. There aren't enough cops as it is though.

I'm not sure if it still like this, but I remember California had a number to call to report cars that were producing excessive exhaust smoke. If anyone ticked you off in traffic, you could just call 1800-Exhaust and report them. They would receive a summons in the mail to get their car smogged and at the very least cost them $40 for the test and the time out of their busy lives to do it.

I'll bet it would change things if people's liscence plate numbers were the same as their phone numbers! I'll bet people would be more polite.

 

It seems that there are too many tough guys running around out there with a chip on their shoulder. These guys will do whatever they need to in order to provoke a confrontation. If someone flips me off, I don't even react. I act like nothing happened. And I do my best not to do dumb things to tick people off, but sometimes you have to use the horn in case they honestly didn't see you. Too many loonies out there, who knows what kind of weapon you could be staring at during a confrontation.

You did what you could to drive defensively, but the guy just wouldn't let it go. I guess the only thing to do if he gets out of his car is to drive away as best you can. Like others have said, any time you hit them in the rear, it's your fault. And if you were to use your car to somehow threaten him when he's out of his car, that becomes assault with a deadly weapon. All because his feeble, twisted ego got pinched from having a horn honked at him? Not worth it in the least.

 

Those things used to drive me crazy.Now I just listen to a good cd and drive as defensively as possible and watch what happens and try to avoid being part of it.I've tried to pass that on to my 4 kids who now all drive.

 

I let my temper put me in some no-win situations in the past before I learned to avoid confrontations with idiots. I just back off and let them go.
Dono

 

Boy, Dono, I hear that. It's such a strong urge to "teach that guy a lesson". It took me a while to realize that real life isn't a classroom and I'm not the teacher. Now, I just let them continue on their merry, ignorant way.

Too many unknown variables floating around out there.

 

Get a trunk monkey maybe? (scroll to the center of the page for the trunk money ad)

 

Welcome to the fraternity!! II drive an 18 wheeler and put up with these idiots on a daily basis. Can't count the number of times that I have been passed in the last 50' before a lane shuts down. People do not realize what an 80000 # big truck can do to a car or pickup. Just cause I have 5 axles and 10 brakes doesn't mean I can stop faster, It takes a minium of 2 football fields.
Best advice is to drive defensively, keep alert and watch your mirrors and slow down in construction zones to speed limit or less.
Interesting note for you'll - according to 2 studies done by AAA and Uof Michigan, 80% of all truck- car fatalities are the fault of the car!!! 80% of the time a professional driver has to live with the fact that he took a life. Not a fun thing to live with!!!!!!!!

 

when i'm driving home the left lane moves at about 120 kph. that's 75 mph. it's about 65 in the right lane. but then you get some jerk and it's just not fast enough for him. starts flashing his lights, passing on the right trying to get past everybody

it's these morons weaving in and out trying to drive 20mph faster than everyone else to save 5 minutes that cause 95% of accidents that slow everything down.

driving's simple. just stay in your lane and keep 2-4 seconds back from the car in front of you. how hard is that?

 

I've been in places where people will insist on squeezing in if you leave that kind of gap, forcing you to hit your brakes.

I bet the trunkmonkey could jump on their car as you pull up next to them. Polarbear, that site is great, I loved every video. You guys should go check it out.

I wonder if they make a larger version, like trunkgorilla, or trunkorangutan?

 

Last week I was behind a big rig with a "Wide Load" sign on the back when I saw his right turn signals come on. I backed off as he moved left to give himself room to make his turn when some idiot passed me on the right and pulled along side the trailer as he made the turn. There is now a Corolla in town that is not nearly as wide as it used to be.
Dono

 

if the cop was doing his job the corolla got a nice ticket. Turn signals usually mean what they indicate. Been there , done that,got the grey hairs to prove it!!

 

Down in my home town a few years ago, I used to work at a Auto repair shop right on the busiest intersection in town. Granted, its a really small town, but traffic had to be routed through thier once because of construction. A 18-wheeler was making a right turn at the light and a smaller dodge car (don't remember the model) pulled up on its right side. I got to witness the trailer drive right over the hood and front end of the car. No one was hurt, and 18-wheeler driver didn't even know he had hit the car, he thought he had just hopped the curb. The owner of the dodge attempted to press charges and even came to our shop to ask for witnesses. I was happy to give a statement to the police, but it wasn't what the dodge owner had thought. That lawsuit was dropped quickly and now we post a sign every year on that day mocking him of his ignorance.