I Got "Road Raged" Today!

[Jeff Higgins]

Still kinda chuckling about this. Maybe I should take it more seriously but, honestly, my only reaction was at first a somewhat stunned disbelief, followed by genuine amusement.

There were four of us in my Land Cruiser, myself along with my two sons and one of their buddies. We were northbound on the freeway, heading out of town in moderate traffic, driving in the center of three lanes (with an additional HOV lane to the left, making four). Just going with the flow, nothing unusual. Still dark out.

Then "that guy" appears in my rear view, going like a bat outa hell, weaving across all lanes. I first notice him a couple hundred yards behind me. So, maintaining heading and altitude, I'm just carrying on, knowing he'll be past and gone in a flash. Except, well, that's not what he did.

I was slowly passing the car to my right, pretty even with it, and just barely catching the guy to my left. About half a car length behind him, me gaining. He wasn't "doing his part" as a left lane traveller, going slower than the traffic to his right. So, lo and behold, "that guy" was now boxed in, trying to pass me on the left (where he should be), only to get held up by the fast lane slowpoke.

So he dives in behind me, noticing I was going a bit faster. How he didn't hit me still escapes me. Inches... Now he is behind me, so close I can barely even see his windshield behind my tailgate. So, without slowing, I tapped the brake pedal with my left foot, just to flash the brake lights. "Get off my ass..."

Well, that apparently set him off. Next thing I know, he's passing on the right shoulder. Comes back across the right hand lane and into the center lane in front of me, and brake checks me. He's in some little Nissan Sentra schitt box, I'm in a fully loaded (in more ways than one - I'll get to that later) Land Cruiser. I still don't know how I didn't hit him. So now he is doing the "slow creep", 40 mph in 60-65 mph traffic. So I did the right thing and... turned the high beams on. And he brake checked me again. This time, I saw a gap and went around him on the left, then all the way over to the HOV lane, suspecting I might wind up being forced to pull over if this guy either hit me or tried to run me off the road.

Next thing I know (I'm back up to 65 now), he comes barreling up on my right, leans out his window and - throws his Vente decaff soy free-range ethically harvested latte' at my windshield. Major props - he centers the passenger side, causing my son to instinctively duck - "WTF was that???!!!" Hell of an arm on this guy. Or maybe lots of practice...

He took one more low pass at us before departing, half out his window yelling profanities. We were driving in a light rain, so it took all of a mile for his $8.00 Starbucks to rinse off. The four of us just sat there in silence. For a minute, anyway.

Then one of my sons said, somewhat whimsically, "he had no idea..." You see, the four of us were on our way to spend a day at our shooting spot, in a gravel pit. We had enough firepower on board to invade a Third World country.

Good thing that paper cup wasn't a brick or something. I'd be typing out a whole different story, and it wouldn't be here on this forum.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

You should write novels Jeff, like that Clancy guy.

[cstreit]

$2.00 carwash to rise off his $8.00 Latte. One of you is an idiot.

[john walker's workshop]

I was coming home from work a few years ago and heading down the northbound 85th st on ramp when a guy in a Z car couldn't quite get past me in the HOV lane as it narrowed to one lane. He tailgated for a short time, then pulled in front of my truck and hit the brakes. I changed lanes a couple of times and he kept on being a dick, then finally sped off at high speed. Unknown to him a State Patrol car saw the whole thing from behind me and chased him down a mile on up the road. I honked and waved.

[look 171]

I read your story midway and I don't know why I am laughing? Maybe the way you wrote it. I don't mean to be offensive at all. I knew you have a cool head about things like that.

Do you find more road rage today then it was just 5 years ago? I sure see it here more since covid. People are hauling ass since and can't wait. I made a left after stopping, the person blow right through the stop as he made a right and stuck his finger and starting to scream at me out his window. I was watching from my rear view mirror. Hit the gas into the fwy I go. I really think there's these people watch too much UFC fights

[herr_oberst]

I hate driving in town anymore. I'll do anything to avoid it. If future Herr could go back in time to tell 16 YO Herr that's actually going to happen, 16 YO Herr would still be laughing.

Between the road/roid ragers (does he/she have a gun? I'll just pretend he/she does.) and the derelicts driving badly in unlicensed, uninsured pieces of crap, I take a moment to pause and reflect each time I make it back to the driveway.

Anyway, Jeff, glad you made it to your destination without gunplay. Be safe everyone.

[Bill Douglas]

Ha, funny you should write this today.

I was in the corolla this morning so it didn't matter too much.

But the other guy was what you would call a methamphetamine driver registration HZT917. Phew, I think he had been watching to many car chase/pursuit movies. I'm fine, the car is fine, and there were no pedestrians left lying on the pedestrian crossing LOL

[pavulon]

Schitt box nation sucks---here it's pickups. Many of which have little or no box remaining...which matches the rockers, doors, cab corners and fenders.

[Evans, Marv]

I thankfully live in the country where traffic is light and only have to deal with it when I have to go into town.

[LWJ]

I call 911 on jerks like that.

Best one got pulled over in a work zone (2x fines) a couple of days after a worker was struck by a car.

I wrote a formal complaint as did the fellow behind me. His complaint was a little better. He was a prosecuting attorney.

Oh yeah, and the guy I was writing the complaint on? He was packing heat.

Be safe out there!

[crb07]

Dash cams are mandatory in today’s world.

[Paul_Heery]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

So he dives in behind me, noticing I was going a bit faster. How he didn't hit me still escapes me. Inches... Now he is behind me, so close I can barely even see his windshield behind my tailgate. So, without slowing, I tapped the brake pedal with my left foot, just to flash the brake lights. "Get off my ass..."

So you "brake checked" the guy behind you and you think it's OK?

[Bob Kontak]

I usually try to accomodate the highway idiot. Speed up and move over or increase my speed just to get him away from me.

I used to brake check with prejudice (meaning more than a tap to engage lights), but then did that to an unmarked police car in a hurry. Cop was fit to be tied but had to be somewhere ten minutes ago and was screaming all of this to me going down the road with our windows open.

Not saying I am passive but I brake check a little more politely now.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Paul_Heery

So you "brake checked" the guy behind you and you think it's OK?

Tapping and stabbing the pedal are two different things. World of difference.

That's my opinion but there are probably reasons why you should never do it.

[Chocaholic]

With someone who seems overly aggressive, I generally resist the urge to tap the brake pedal. 100% of the time all it does is anger the chap even more. Best to maintain speed and ease into the right lane when possible.

Two possible scenarios…the guy is in a legitimate hurry (hospital, unexpected tragedy, etc), or he’s an unhinged maniac with a loaded firearm under the seat. I don’t care what’s in my car, I’m not getting into a shootout on the expressway. And certainly not with others in my car.

Best to suck it up, get out of the way and let the guy go by (likely waving his middle finger at you) at the first opportunity.

[astrochex]

I get the tapping brake check, I do it occasionally. I don’t understand how the high beam move, aka “the right thing”, would have been understood to accomplish anything other than further enrage the knucklehead.

[porsche tech]

I used to do the “tap the brake light “ thing. Then I got to thinking if that made the jerk veer into some other innocent person, I’d feel responsible. Now I try to do like Bob K and just try to let the guy get away from me.

[greglepore]

There's a world of difference between brake checking and activating your brake lights without braking and your foot on the gas. I do the latter all the time.

People drive like idiots. I pull a horse trailer (big un, 3 horses with living q's) and people do stuff all the time like pass on the right then whip in front of me, only to realize I was going slower because the car in front was. Bam on go the brakes.

Yesterday I came to a one lane bridge with yield signs in both directions a mile from my house in an f350 with my pup hanging her head out the window. I slowed, then had to stop as the woman coming the other way in her suv at maybe 50 never even lifted. Almost drifted into the center so she could explain to the cop how she hit me on my side of the bridge when I "didn't yield".

[GH85Carrera]

I just try my best to avoid the raging idiots. I had some dipstick that wanted me to race him, either that or he just hates El Caminos. I was cruising in the center lane of three lanes on the turnpike, the speed limit is 80, and that is about the max "happy cruise" speed of the old 86 El Camino. I had no reason to run faster, and the left lane was open. The dipstick circled me, took off a few times, and dropped back to be even with me as he blocked the left lane. He pulled in behind me very close so I just kept slowing down very gently until I was going 60 MPH (the minimum legal speed) and he finally took off. He did not scar my manhood or ego even a tiny little bit. He was irrelevant. I sped back up to the speed limit and off he went. I have not even thought about it since then until now.

Beyond 80 the lock up converter drops out, the RPMs go up, gas mileage goes down a lot and the wind noise is just too loud. My 911 is just waking up and getting happy at 80.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Paul_Heery

So you "brake checked" the guy behind you and you think it's OK?

to me a "brake check" is where you jab the brakes so the car actually slows down. What I read was that Jeff hit the pedal enough to activate the lights, but with his foot on the gas so he didn't actually slow down at all.
In my world that two different things.