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In fact, speaking of road rage as a not-new thing, my father spent his youth in California in the 1950s, and rode motorcycles when doing so marked a young man as a trouble-maker in the minds of many. He says that several times when he was riding he had cars deliberately try to force him off the road into a ditch! And one time one of his friends had a driver try to do that to him repeatedly, and the affair only stopped when my dad's friend drew a revolver and pointed it at the car driver (who abruptly lost all interest in harassing my dad's friend and quickly sped away).
So road rage has been around for quite a long time. I bet some form of it was going on in the horse and buggy era!
I just recalled another incident that happened on a road trip one time in West Virginia. I was heading west out of Charleston on the interstate and there was a long line of cars in the passing lane going under the speed limit. I stayed in the right hand travel lane at the speed limit. I came up on some slower traffic and there was an ample opening to merge with the passing lane. I get by the slow traffic and return to the right hand lane.
A few miles down the road an old beat up station wagon is behind me flashing his lights. The vehicle wasn't one I had merged in front of earlier. I figured maybe he had noticed something wrong with my vehicle so I pulled over. The guy gets out and comes storming up to my truck. When I first saw him get out my first thought was "crazy Meth head". I retrieved my handgun and held it out of sight. This dude comes up and is yelling incoherently; to this day I have no idea what he was saying. He saw the gun and I asked him to go away; he did.
Isn't it incidents like the above that cell phones were made for? Your husband should have called police. Sometimes you can get rid of someone tailgating you and getting hostile by pretending to lift a cell phone to your ear in a very obvious way, so they can see it through the rear window. A driving instructor taught me that trick.
I actually did have a cellphone back then but after I saw this guy following me, I figured we were going in the same direction since I had to turn on to a major street to get to work. Then I see him follow me into the parking lot at work!! Ive had people tailgate me all the time so I might try that trick!!!
I just recalled another incident that happened on a road trip one time in West Virginia. I was heading west out of Charleston on the interstate and there was a long line of cars in the passing lane going under the speed limit. I stayed in the right hand travel lane at the speed limit. I came up on some slower traffic and there was an ample opening to merge with the passing lane. I get by the slow traffic and return to the right hand lane.
A few miles down the road an old beat up station wagon is behind me flashing his lights. The vehicle wasn't one I had merged in front of earlier. I figured maybe he had noticed something wrong with my vehicle so I pulled over. The guy gets out and comes storming up to my truck. When I first saw him get out my first thought was "crazy Meth head". I retrieved my handgun and held it out of sight. This dude comes up and is yelling incoherently; to this day I have no idea what he was saying. He saw the gun and I asked him to go away; he did.
This is exactly why one should not confront crazy people on the road. One cannot tell when another driver has a gun and could essentially blow you away. This is why...even when I'm blatantly cut off in traffic or have a near miss I do not use the middle finger or blow my horn like a crazy person, because one never knows what the other driver is thinking.... he/she could simply pull out a gun and kill you over a the most benign road incident.... it happens. Not worth the risk IMO.
If someone wants to cut me off or drive like a fool, go right ahead.... I won't be the one shot dead or confronted by a lunatic.
Isn't it incidents like the above that cell phones were made for? Your husband should have called police. Sometimes you can get rid of someone tailgating you and getting hostile by pretending to lift a cell phone to your ear in a very obvious way, so they can see it through the rear window. A driving instructor taught me that trick.
True but this was 18 years ago. So we didnt carry cell phones like we do now.
In Phoenix, I had various incidents, but no other place ever. An elderly lady started cursing at me after parking my car she thought too close to hers. I had one accuse me of cutting her off, an elderly woman w/ her daughter in the car, and started saying "F this and F that." Seriously, both needed meds and counseling.
During early ears of the post-9/11 Iraq war, I had a "Defend America, Defeat Bush" bumper sticker. I've had two bumper stickers on my vehicles that referenced things I felt strongly about in 20 years of driving - an equality sticker and the anti-Bush/Iraq War sticker.
On a sunny day spring day, I suddenly heard violent honking behind me. There was an elderly man screaming at me from another car and shaking his fist when he wasn't honking his horn. My mind was wandering a bit that day and I thought maybe I'd cut him off or maybe even tapped him and hadn't realized it (my OCD often makes me think stuff like that in moments of panic - always thinking I could have turned the stove on when I didn't or something), so i pulled to the shoulder of the road. He continued on past me, shaking his fist and screaming incomprehensible stuff at me.
I was mystified as to what I could have done to excite such anger in someone - I hadn't cut him off, of that I was reasonably certain as I hadn't turned or changed lanes in a couple miles on a residential area road. And once I got over my alarm and had a few moments of rational thought, I realized I definitely had not tapped his car with mine. It wasn't until I had gotten home that I realized he just didn't like my bumper sticker. So bizarre.
I see bumper stickers I don't like all the time, but it wouldn't occur to me to scream at the drivers like a lunatic. At the time, I was dating a former sniper who had fought in the first Gulf War (and had some definite views about the second one). Kind of wished he'd been in my truck with me that day - then things could have gotten really fun.
Only one incident - a guy in a massive truck tailgated me and honked because I was doing 20 in a 35 zone, but the road surface was literally slick ice, a skating rink. Even at 20, I was sliding around. Then when the road widened into two lanes, I pulled over but there was a red light. He pulled up beside me and started making obscene gestures. I locked the doors and ignored him. Moron.
It does make sense and it's what I thought too. We just seem to differ on the meaning of "right of way". If it means you can't intentionally run over someone if they're jaywalking, then yes, pedestrians would always have the "right of way". I'm saying that if you don't see them and they're in a crosswalk, you'd probably/more likely be found liable, if they were jaywalking probably not. But I think most people know they can't intentionally run over a pedestrian just because they're jaywalking, although sometimes I wish I could I still blast my horn and yell at those idiots who make me brake for them when they're jaywalking though. A few words won't hurt them.
We had a case in Canada where a driver was given six months in jail for killing a jaywalker and driving away. The judge emphasized that the sentence was not for hitting the pedestrian but rather for not rendering aid. Usually, drivers who aren't speeding and hit jaywalkers in poor visibility conditions don't have charges pressed against them here. Usually.
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So we didnt carry cell phones like we do now.
