Road rage comes to Northern Virginia (Woodbridge, Lorton: how much, living in, dangerous) - (VA) - City-Data Forum

normie · 03-25-2010, 06:31 AM

I'm sickened to hear that we had an incident of road rage the other day. Geez, what is wrong with people? No matter how angry those fools got over traffic, their over reactions to each other just made their situations A LOT worse. They could have simply had a bad day, now they will have a bad life.

I hope this is an isolated incident, not a trend. I'd love to know a little bit more about the people involved. Did they recently move here from more violent cities? Did they bring bad habits and attitudes with them? Or is this being brought on by all the politicians and talk show celebrities who have been trying to whip up rage, encouraging violence as a way to deal with anger?

Whatever's behind it, I want this to stop, and that begins with not glorifying violence as a way to deal with life's frustrations. I hope they nip this in the bud and throw the book at anyone who indulges in road rage. I saw more than enough of it in California and am absolutely sick to see an incident like this here in VA.

bornindc · 03-25-2010, 06:47 AM

Unfortunately, this stuff happens every day. It just usually doesn't involve some knucklehead with a dump truck and a knucklehead with firearm. If it is just two guys in an Acura and a Chevy who sideswipe each other after some perceived slight, we never hear about it, they just get cited by the police and/or go to court.

Hopefully this case will allow others to pause and think before escalating these conflicts in the future, you never know what the person in the other vehicle is capable of or how irrational they are.

normie · 03-25-2010, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bornindc

Unfortunately, this stuff happens every day. It just usually doesn't involve some knucklehead with a dump truck and a knucklehead with firearm. If it is just two guys in an Acura and a Chevy who sideswipe each other after some perceived slight, we never hear about it, they just get cited by the police and/or go to court.

True enough, there's road rage and then there's road rage. Rage that involves people yelling or giving the finger, etc. isn't that unusual (although, to be honest, I haven't encountered that much of it here. Maybe because I don't drive 95 in Woodbridge that often?) That level of rage is unfortunate and childish, but just one of those things I tend to shrug off as part of living in the world today. But this other variety of road rage is much more serious. Not to say it's never happened, but VA drivers always seemed so much saner than LA drivers to me. Aggressive, yes, but not that prone to violence of this level. Oh well, guess times could be changing... for the worse.

oneasterisk · 03-25-2010, 07:04 AM

Yup I saw the news story and it's not too far from where I live. In case you're not familiar with the news story, here it is: Police: Road rage drivers tried to kill each other - wtop.com

Both guys seem to be idiots and luckily the shooter lacked gun control and didn't hurt/kill anyone.

When I first started driving around here I took the stupidity of drivers personally. Years later, it really doesn't bother anymore as I've built up a tolerance.

GreenGene · 03-25-2010, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

Both guys seem to be idiots and luckily the shooter lacked gun control and didn't hurt/kill anyone.

That's not the only kind of control he lacked.

When my kids were learning to drive, and I'd take them out on the road for some practice, I told them that no matter where they lived and how much or how little they drove, there would be people on the road who would do some strange and dangerous things. And I told them that they MUST control their temper, and not react, because the other driver might have a gun.

In essence, let the crazies drive on, and kill some other poor soul.

FindingZen · 03-25-2010, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by normie

True enough, there's road rage and then there's road rage. Rage that involves people yelling or giving the finger, etc. isn't that unusual (although, to be honest, I haven't encountered that much of it here. Maybe because I don't drive 95 in Woodbridge that often?) That level of rage is unfortunate and childish, but just one of those things I tend to shrug off as part of living in the world today. But this other variety of road rage is much more serious. Not to say it's never happened, but VA drivers always seemed so much saner than LA drivers to me. Aggressive, yes, but not that prone to violence of this level. Oh well, guess times could be changing... for the worse.

I don't know for sure since I'm not up in Loudoun very often...but I'm guessing that 7 and 267 isn't quite as tense as 95 and 66. But considering that my lady and I once got cut off by two "drag racers" as we approached an exit near LAX

I'm not surprised that you've seen worse.

normie · 03-25-2010, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tone509

I don't know for sure since I'm not up in Loudoun very often...but I'm guessing that 7 and 267 isn't quite as tense as 95 and 66.

Hmmm, you might be right. 7 gets backed up atrociously, but that's about it. People yell sometimes, but then they get over it. I've never had problems on 66, but I have seen a few people on 95 who seem overly tense. So far, I haven't seen anything like this, though. Hope it's an isolated incident, not a trend.

No good comes from reacting in rage, you only make your day so much worse. I wish we could get that message out.

cardinal2007 · 03-25-2010, 12:42 PM

I find drivers in NoVA to be much more aggressive than drivers back here in CA. Everytime I go to NoVA it takes some adjusting to that. Things I encounter in NoVA that I rarely do here is people that are very desperate to get ahead they are changing lanes all the time. People that tailgate you when you're already going 19mph over the speed limit (and trying to avoid some cop ticketing you with a reckless driving ticket). People that drive the speed limit on the left lane and refuse to move over.

Note these are all examples on the FFX Co. Parkway.

And to hell with me if I even suggest that what they are doing is wrong by refusing to get out of the way of the speeding cars (usually I won't if I would have to significantly slow down to move over to the other lane), if I flash my headlights to suggest a car move over the to the right lane, that just makes them more unwilling to do so (I guess I'm the only idiot who thinks it is not quite right to pass on the right).

I remember someone giving me the finger because when we were turning left there were two left turn lanes, and clearly this guy was in the wrong lane (he was on the left left turn lane, and wanted to turn right right after the turn) I honked the horn when he started to enter my lane, (clearly stupid me thinking that was an honest mistake and warning him), the guy then gave me the finger.

People in NoVA seem to show no courtesy to other drivers, and sometimes treat it like it is a competitive sport. I guess people in NoVA lose face if they change lanes to let others cars pass, or if they don't get to go 70+ on the parkway. Here in the Bay Area people will let you pass if they know you want to go faster than them (provided there are at least 2 lanes each way). There are jerk drivers here too, but I have encountered them much less often than when I drive in NoVA, and I travel to NoVA often.

Having said that, I have never seen any violence due to aggressive driving in any place. But I can certainly see how if someone is already wound up that this sort of behavior would cause them to engage the other driver. Most of the time it is best to steer clear of these jerks and crazy people.

Claire2900 · 03-25-2010, 01:22 PM

Combine road rage with VA's lax gun laws.......

ChristineVA · 03-25-2010, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tone509

I don't know for sure since I'm not up in Loudoun very often...but I'm guessing that 7 and 267 isn't quite as tense as 95 and 66. But considering that my lady and I once got cut off by two "drag racers" as we approached an exit near LAX

I'm not surprised that you've seen worse.

I know exactly the spot that this incident occurred. It is where Rt. 1 traveling south merges onto I-95. So if you are driving south on Rt. 1 in Lorton and you want to get on I-95 South you must exit up onto this big ramp that swoops you over I-95 and down onto the main lanes (right at the Occoquan exit). That area is usually at a crawl during rush hour and the people coming off of Rt. 1 are at the mercy of the people in the right lane of 95 to let them over. It's usually an okay merge but every once in awhile you get jerk who won't let you merge. My guess is the dump truck was trying to merge, the sportscar driving was having none of it and that got into a fight about it. Stupid.