Road Rage...Car Wash rage etc.

[Sonic dB]

Yesterday I experienced yet another bout of road rage... this time with a fat old bearded guy/psycho on a Harley.

I was driving one one of those straight roads in the San Fernando valley...either in Northridge or Reseda... I had just taken off from visiting a client and at the red light, I realized that I hadnt buckled up. As I reached over to buckle up, my cell rang and it was a client. So with one hand, I took the call and with the other hand, I buckled up. Then I did my normal coaxing of the 915 tranny into first gear.

All told, I was probably sitting there for 3-4 seconds only after the light changed before I started to take off.

This fat jerk on the Harley was behind me and he shouts "Go Dick!"...then he got really close behind me, to the edge of the drivers side of my car and turned his bright headlight on me.

This pissed me off a little, and a little more when as I pulled away, he attempted to pass along side of me on the drivers side. We were in the far left hand lane, and I dont know what the imbecile was trying to achieve...other than instigate me.

He then swerved around to the right and attempted to pass me...we were only going 35 or so... so I gave him the Bird, flipping him off as he drove past, rightfully so because he deserved it for acting rudely and like an imbecile...also for calling me "Dick".

As I was driving, he gets up next to me and shouts "Hey...F-YOU!!!" My client heard this over the cell phone and we had a laugh over it.

I let him pass and then got over to my right, which was behind him. He made it a point to go left, slow down and then get along side my car. He's shouting at me "Pull it over...pull it over right there".

Now, I didnt see a "CHP" sticker on his gas tank, so I surely wasnt going to pull it over for this dumb fat, old, bearded jerk on the Harley.... so I thought "whatever" and drove on. He tailed me for a bit, motioning me to "pull over".

Then, he pulled along side of me and started shouting at me... I rolled down my window and he yells "Why did you flip me off?" I just looked at him in amazement and said "OK...Why did you call me Dick and then tailgate me? You started it by calling me a Dick..." He said whatever and then drove off.

I guess he wanted me to pull over and fight me. He's lucky that i wasnt a psycho with a gun or something.

Now...I know that I did the "wrong thing" by flipping him off, in response to his rudeness....but I swear, its people like that who just piss me off. Its not like I was holding up traffic in the first place and he could have easily just drove around me at the red light...instead he had to start something.

This road rage stuff has been happening frequently lately, particularily up in the SF Valley, where the psychos hang out. I also think that the fact that I drive a Red Porsche acts as a flag to these psychos...kind of like a Red Flag that a bullfighter waves in front of the bull.

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Road Rage is pretty silly to get into...and Im going to make a point to not react anymore to those situations.

Just last week, back in Michigan....a guy that I used to know back in school got shot at after a confrontation at a car wash. This guy used to actually be a very good friend of mine, we hung around in the same click in HS... but after HS he turned into a total A-Hole after increasing use of hard drugs. He turned into a very irrational, unlikeable person.

Anyway.... according to reports, there was a car behind him at the car wash, that wouldnt back up. So this guy that I knew got into an argument with the 60 year old driver of the car behind him. He pushed the old man to the ground and the old guy came up firing with a pistol. The guy emptied the pistol as my "old friend" dove into his truck....luckily for him, he wasnt hit by the fire.

Its a crazy world out there, and its better to turn the other cheek and let the a-holes just be to themselves.

[concentric]

Originally posted by Sonic dB

Its a crazy world out there, and its better to turn the other cheek and let the a-holes just be to themselves.

Never mind.

JCM

[cegerer]

Obviously, you need a trunk monkey ......

http://www.squizzle.com/movieview.asp?id=15

[Sonic dB]

Hey cegerer....I like it! But with the 911, where do you keep him? If he is in the front trunk, then he can't sneak up on the perp from behind.

[vash]

he was probably anxious to get rolling, because his harley was about to stall. i dont understand dudes with attitudes on bikes. i once war riding a bike with my present girlfriend as passenger, same situation as you. but reversed. i left the light easy, because it was my girls first time riding on a bike. the a hole blasted passed me and flipped me off. i yelled for him to go eff himself, and he swerved into my lane and locked his brakes. i almost got wasted. lesson learned. i wanted to kill him, and to tell the truth that bastard almost killed me, he was lucky i had jen with me, i had visions of knifing him at the next light. now on the bike (or car) i dont flip anyone off, the consequences are just too great. now i am off to the gun thread....

[Zeke]

Originally posted by Sonic dB
So this guy that I knew got into an argument with the 60 year old driver of the car behind him. He pushed the old man to the ground and the old guy came up firing with a pistol. The guy emptied the pistol

Hey, 60 isn't an old man! I'm 58 and I don't feel like an old man. But I do usually have a 9mm with me. I wouldn't "empty" it on anyone though. You never know what's coming up next, so you better have some more rounds ready. Yeah, if I was pushed to the ground, and there was any more agression coming, I'd shoot.

Never had to pull it out. I don't drive after 9 PM. So far this year, Long Beach has averaged one death by gunshot every other day. While this is usually late at night, 2 of the last 4 have been in the afternoon. So, I carry. The local hospital treats gunshot wounds most nights.

My next door neighbor is a paramedic in downtown LB. These statements are verifiable.

This isn't road rage around here, it's some kind of protracted war.

[speeder]

I just keep a really old Jack-in-the-Box chocolate shake in the car to throw on them. Try it, you'll have a siezure laughing.

Just kidding. Better to avoid fights on the road.

[jrdavid68]

I prefer to drive around and get in front of the *********s and then flick a burning cigarette butt out the window in their direction.

[cegerer]

Keep a camera with a flash handy. Snap a photo - that always gets them thinking .....

[Sonic dB]

You are right Milt... 60 isnt old by a long shot. My bad. I fell into using the same "crutch" that the media was using when it reported the story "The shooter was a 60 year old man...the 60 year old man came up firing the gun...blah blah blah".

It would be relevant if the guy was 80 or something. (my apologies in advance for any of you octogenarians reading this.

Sorry to hear about LB. I dont venture down there very often. Its amazing how the violence here is mostly segregated to specific areas.... I mean down there you are right next to Newport Beach and a bunch of ritzy areas....heck, just a few miles to my right is Compton and South Central....

[nostatic]

I carry a loaded 7 year old boy with me. Anyone gives me crap, I say "you're going to have to take him home with you."

That ends it pretty quickly...

[SilverPoly]

Sonic dB wrote:

Road Rage is pretty silly to get into...and Im going to make a point to not react anymore to those situations.

Good thinking. I'm sure everyone's had a confrontation or two these days. Always good to just bite your lip unless you are in a situation where you have no choice.

Just curious though.. did you have an ear piece for your cell phone when talking with your client. I notice people get very irritable when they see driver's yapping on the cell while driving.

[Sonic dB]

Steve...good question. Ive tried two different ear pieces and both of them were crappy, ie. shorted out cords, poor volume etc. I dont like to talk while driving using the phone, but the street was pretty much empty other than me and this bike, so I took the call.

[SilverPoly]

Not blaming you for taking the call. It was a client so business is business. Too bad you ran into the likes of Gentle Ben on the Harley.

I've heard that murder rates go up during the summer when the heat gets unbearable. Wonder if that's true.. it gets awful hot in the valley during the summer.

[exc911ence]

Harley drivers... it's a gamble whether they're murderous bikers or posing yuppies. Either way, they are heavy and slow POS's so a quick downshift in a 911 would leave it for dead.

I got stuck behind this mouthbreather on a Harley once on a highway on-ramp and the guy was just crawling, which annoyed me. I didn't tailgate him but I was fairly close, close enough to piss him off I guess. Funny, once the curve straightened out, he floored it, as did I. I had to back off quickly as I almost accelerated over the top of the guy! Anyway, the guy is wailing his noise-maker to the redline and there I am, cruising behind him... he kept looking in the mirror like he couldn't believe that a car was keeping up to his bike. I suppose that's what happens when you build a 100hp motorcycle that weighs the same as an early 911. Once we finally entered the highway, I scorched past him and never saw him again (although I could still hear the horrendous blare coming out of his uncorked pipes)... I don't like Harleys. Oh, and neither of us resorted to name calling or flipping the bird. That could be the moral here... I forget what point I was trying to make. Time for bed...

[Schrup]

One time I accidently cut off a Harley guy when I was a kid, he chased me for about 5 miles before I finally lost him. I never flip people off, I smile a wave like there an old friend. I think that frustrates them more. If they are really pissed I laugh at them. Anybody who wants to pull over to fight deserves a bullet IMHO.

[sammyg2]

100hp harley? not unless he's spend a great deal of money on it. Try closer to 62 hp for a stock evo motor.
You need to bolt on a bunch of high performance parts to get an evo motor to 65 hp http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hdbuildstage1.htm

an 88 cubic inch road king has around 60 hp stock.

my brother (who doesn't own a tool except pliers) told me his new harley had around 110 hp. I laughed for a while, then looked it up and showed him. he looked like he was going to cry.
I told him not to feel bad, just because his loud, rattling, heavy example of 60 year old technology cost 3 times as much as a Japanese bike with twice the power

[Shuie]

I dont really understand why anyone on a motorcyle would provoke someone who is operating a 3000lb sledge hammer. For me, one of the luxuries of being on a bike is that its easy to get away from people in cars that are pissing me off or not paying attention to what they are doing.

I don't doubt it happens though. I grew up in the Harley capital of the world, Daytona Beach. On 3 separate occassions Ive seen some of the toughest looking Harley guys on the planet get knocked off their bikes or run flat over buy a scared and threatened people in cars. Its not just the harley guys either. As a percentage, there are just as many stupid people on all brands of motorcycles as there are in cars. Well, I guess the BMW people are an exception

As far as the gun things goes, how does having a gun in your car put you in the pyscho category? You dont need a gun to be a pyscho. A psycho in a car scares me a lot more than a pyscho with a gun.

Your car is legally an extension of your home where I live now, meaning that no CCW permit is necessary for a non felon to carry a weapon in their car. You dont hear a whole lot about overly aggressive behavior from people in cars here.

[Eric 951]

I too just had a "road rage" experience--so in order to vent I may as well post it here. I was driving my newly acquired 99 F250 4X4 last Sunday night, I was in the passing lane of the highway here in the 'burgh. After passing 2 cars there was a black Jimmy coming up, so I pulled over into the right lane to let him go. In front of me in the right lane was a rig, which was going a little slower than the rest of traffic--obviously, so without accelerating, I started to gain on him, while waiting for the Jimmy to get by, so I could get back in the left lane and pass the rig. Well, once the Jimmy got past, I got back into the left lane(now behind the Jimmy). Well, Jimmy-driver hangs his arm out the window and flips the bird--I thought he was flipping the truck in front of him(a rollback which wasn't exactly moving fast) so, I thought nothing of it, untill a little up the road, it opens to 3 lanes, and I get in the far left to pass the Jimmy and the rollback. While even with the Jimmy, this fat punk POS rolls down his window and starts gesturing and yelling, as I am passing him. Now being irritated, I jump hard on the brakes, fall back even with him, roll down the passenger window, and mouth--"what the hell did I do"--no gestures, just staring, saying "what?" "what". He just stares dumbly, and after giving me and the truck(festooned with NRA and hunting stickers) the once over, he slowed down, and that was the last I saw. Still no idea what I had done, unless he thought I beamed him, because of the height of the truck headlights. Man--2 years ago I would have showered this imbecile with spare change, I guess I am all growns up.(and don't want to get shot)--which is what he may also have been thinking.

[DonDavis]

Originally posted by Schrup
I never flip people off, I smile a wave like there an old friend. I think that frustrates them more. If they are really pissed I laugh at them.

I do the same. Works great. And as a bonus, after it's over I don't feel angry. It's a 3-4 second window of my life and its not worth it.