I got behind a nutbag yesterday while leaving a shopping center. The guy missed about 10 chances to make his right turn and, with a bunch of cars stacking up behind me, I tapped my horn, didn't lean on it, just tapped it. He, of course, gave me the finger and then took off, several times brake checking me and trying to make me hit him. This was low speed stuff on the main road, but the lack of speeding traffic made it easy to keep it slow and just go around. There was no ambiguity here. He made 3-4 attempts to speed up and then slam his brakes on for me to tap him. And it was not a cheap car.
Eventually, the flow sped up and I was several cars ahead of him once one of the lanes went away and he couldn't pass. I started thinking he may follow me home, so I skipped my turn three miles farther up and went to the next street and turned left. He got hung up with oncoming traffic and I thought I'd lost him, but he showed up on my tail in a residential neighborhood you could only know about if you lived there. He had FL plates. Eventually the road narrowed to a dirt one and I was kind of wondering how nuts this guy was. But I had a pistol with me and was pretty sure the road led to a bigger one and was not a dead end. Once he saw me on the dirt road, he backed off and went away.
While he was brake checking me, I tried to video it with my phone, but only got a still. I got his plate. Probably can't get anywhere with a police report, since no video. But tomorrow I shall finally be installing that dash cam I've had sitting on a shelf since Xmas.
What would you guys have done?
Posts: 3813 | Location: Cave Creek, AZ | Registered: October 24, 2005
Head to the nearest police station. I'm glad you're safe.
I had a road rager attempt to follow me home once. Long story short, I got boxed in with our vehicles nose to nose in a really bad place for that to happen and the driver was about to exit the car with a baseball bat. I had nowhere to go and couldn't back up. I unholstered my Glock, held it sideways in front of me so it was extremely clear what it was and set it down on the dash and we just sat and stared at each other for a very long time. The driver eventually put it in reverse, did a real slow three point turn and then peeled out of the parking lot. I don't ever want a repeat of that.
I have a 4k dashcam now, and would have mounted the rear one but for the camper shell on my truck making it about useless. May put it in one of the other windows, though.
______________________________________________ “There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.”
I always hear that - drive to the nearest police station. I happen to know where it is, since this was near my house. But otherwise, I have no idea at all where the next police station is. And the one closest to my house was a total ghost town last time I went there to file a report on someone casing houses in the neighborhood about eight yrs ago. Of course, they did nothing. I don't even know if the other guy would have known he was at a police station, had he followed me into the lot. It's that unmarked and inconspicuous.
Posts: 3813 | Location: Cave Creek, AZ | Registered: October 24, 2005
Some ass hole just killed a 70 year old in Cincinnati due to road rage. Shot in the neck and head IIRC. I think you just should have kept your cool, never mind the horn, pull into the first drive way or parking lot so as not to become part of that drivers mental problem. People get mad easy for having to be part of a traffic pattern, never mind its not the end of the world if they make a wrong turn. When I made a wrong turn in a 18 wheeler years back, I bought it and started looking for a turn around. No road games. Just a minor mistake. Don't get sucked into another's mental problem. This is why, you do nothing but attentative driving, while you are driving. Read your fellow operators. Then you will most likely never give thought to your Rosco because of another's mental problem.
Posts: 18017 | Location: The Bluegrass State! | Registered: December 23, 2008
NEVER get out of the vehicle to confront someone . Especially if you have a gun . A lot of things can go wrong . If you can't find a PD , call 911 and tell them you are being followed by an aggressive driver .
Posts: 4419 | Location: Down in Louisiana . | Registered: February 27, 2009
Ok, the nearest police station to my house is about 4-5 miles farther up the road from where I turned off. So there would have been several more passing zones and red lights for the guy to have done something until I got there. Sure, I could have pulled into a few other businesses' parking lots. But then what? Hope their security cameras capture it all and it's in my favor? Had I driven straight home and guy parked in front of my house or, God forbid, blocked me in at my driveway or garage, I'd have certainly walked out with my holstered gun in hand at my side and asked, "Can I help you?" He had out of state plates from far away. So either he was a very clueless visitor, or he was a local and plate tax cheat and had to know he'd not fare well with a visit from the police if they checked his paperwork.
Posts: 3813 | Location: Cave Creek, AZ | Registered: October 24, 2005
If the driver was looking for his turn off, he was obviously trying to get somewhere. Next time you see that, just give a little space and time. I prefer to assist in a smooth traffic flow. That way, we all get where we are going. And don't feel pressured because cars behind you are stacking up for a short while. They too, have to wait their turn. I simply give the road up to drivers who feel they are more important. Know how often that occurs? Every day. Unless another driver is truly a threat or danger, calling the Police will get you nowhere. I doubt they will come looking for a Florida tagged vehicle in your State, because of what should be, a minor issue. Don't get sucked in Rick Lee. Be the better operator Savvy?
Posts: 18017 | Location: The Bluegrass State! | Registered: December 23, 2008
Just last thursday afternoon (the 11th) a local teenage girl (17) was confronted by a road rage driver to the point of brake checking and following her until she was able to drive home and closing garage door behind her then the road rager left the area. Shortly thereafter this same vehicle was involved in a disturbance in a parking lot of a small shopping center between a male and female...Police dispatched to the scene and upon arrival as the police exited their marked patrol vehicle the male suspect began firing at the officers while he was still in his car striking one officer multible times then as he was driving away turned and fired several more rounds at the officers before fleeing the area. Suspect was spotted 2/3 miles down the road by a sheriff"s deputy when the suspect came out with a rifle the sheriff"s deputy "neutralized" the subject to "room temperature"....... The officer still in hospital in critical condition... 2nd officer (green rookie) on the original scene was on his 2nd day after graduation from school did return fire hitting subjects vehicle but missed subject driving......Prayers for our officer............................................................................................................................................................................ Now a officer (Baton Rouge) in another city is under review because of the comment he made about if the 17yr old girl had reported her road rage incident the police officer might not have been shot and be in the hospital fighting for his life......................................... drill sgt.
Posts: 2154 | Location: denham springs , la | Registered: October 19, 2019
Every road rager I've encountered, I've waved at them with a smile while laughing.
If he was brake checking me, I would have just keep lagging behind.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 20248 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
Originally posted by Rick Lee: Had I driven straight home and guy parked in front of my house or, God forbid, blocked me in at my driveway or garage, I'd have certainly walked out with my holstered gun in hand at my side and asked, "Can I help you?"
I would have done none of those things, and in fact, did panic and take a random turn when I realized the road rager was going to follow me home, and it's the only time in over a decade carrying where I not only thought seriously about drawing, but made the decision that it needed to happen. I just didn't know the area well enough yet and made the worst turn I could have possibly made of all choices and wound up in a place I couldn't get out of, and yes, we were right in front of cameras. Road rager flat didn't care about that and had the bat in right hand and left was already opening the door when I made everything stop. I'll go so far as to say I hope to God nobody ever looked at that footage.
Everything step in what I quoted is adding unnecessary risk to a situation in which people get killed every year. Sometimes, there's just no easy answers, but since you had your phone in hand, I'd suggest that calling 911 would've been a solid move. Dispatch could have coordinated you driving past a unit waiting for the guy.
______________________________________________ “There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.”
First, I have a dash cam front and rear. Second, since I am armed, I am way laid back. If I tooted the horn and the driver became aggressive, I would disengage asap. If confronted, I would accept blame and apologize. But my goal is to de-escalate and escape. I’d try very hard not to get in front of a rager. If he’s in front, even if I’m going that way, I’ll turn off a go another way.
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier
Posts: 29997 | Location: Norris Lake, TN | Registered: May 07, 2008
I’ve had something similar happen where someone started dogging me on the freeway. It was predawn, so I flipped up my interior lights, pulled out my phone and made it very obvious I was calling someone (911). They ended up speeding off- I still reported them.
Go buy a dash cam with front and rear cameras. Today.
I now have one with 4.
There's no such thing as a "brake check" only aircraft do this before departing the ramp. He attempted to cause you to strike him which is aggressive driving. In Georgia it's a reckless driving ticket.
Again, get a dash camera.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.
Posts: 39938 | Location: Atop the cockatoo tree | Registered: July 27, 2002
I live in Central Texas. I would drive on the highway or a major road until they go away. Let's go for a drive in the country, or visit Dallas or San Antonio.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, pilot and author, lost on mission, July 1944, Med Theatre.
Posts: 6035 | Location: Central Texas | Registered: September 14, 2003
There's no such thing as a "brake check" only aircraft do this before departing the ramp. He attempted to cause you to strike him which is aggressive driving. In Georgia it's a reckless driving ticket.
The term " brake check " is commonly used and the rest of the world knows what it means .
Posts: 4419 | Location: Down in Louisiana . | Registered: February 27, 2009
Had a stupid inbred redneck hick pillbilly in a lifted diesel truck pass and lock his brakes because I was only going 57 in a 45. He WANTED to fight.
This instance I was aware enough to swerve and floor the little turbocharged Juke and extremely out accelerate him on the twisty mountain roads to run away from him.
Run away at the first sign of a shitbag.
____________________________
Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick.
Posts: 34566 | Location: North, GA | Registered: October 09, 2002
