Road Rage

[87911jon]

My commute is 35 mile one way on a beautiful and twisty 2 lane country road (Falls Road). About 5 miles into the commute there a passing zone just after a 'stop 4 ways' intersection. On this morning, like most, if can pass safely I do. So at about 6:20AM I passed a Ford F150 pick up, six headlights, cow pusher bar. It's an understatement to say this must have upset him. Some mornings I can motor on and make time, this particular morning the traffic slowed up and couldn't. Allowing Mr. Pickup driver to catch up to me. And for the next 20 miles he seriously tailgated me with all 6 lights on high beam at 35-40mph. I paid him little attention, my pass was legal and safe and I was in front of him. 20 miles later the road changes into two lanes and then quickly into a 3 lane expressway. So in the two lane section, I took to the slower left lane and let the truck pass on the right. Traffic is moderate. My lane starts to catch the truck's lane, where he starts to swerve in and out of my lane, cutting me off. Clear message. I dropped back and very slowly made my way to the slow lane (three lanes now). And without fail, the 2 left lanes slow and I find my lane is moving quicker than the truck's lane. At about 45mph, as I get even with him he tries cutting me off again, this time more aggressively. And finally makes contact with my rear quarter. He drops back a little at this point (seconds), I'm thinking I need to pull over and call the police, and then I hear his engine revs-up at that's when he rams me. The 951's rear is pushed out, I counter steer, I pull off. Call 911. I stayed in my car, he stayed in his truck. Cop shows up, I give my statement, he gives his. Cop suggests that he gives us each an 'insurance' ticket, basically we take care of fixing our own cars. Mind you, he has no damage. I'm looking at my car asking the why the other driver is not being ticketed. Never ever occurred to me that the guy would say that I pulled in front of him and nailed my brakes causing the accident. Frick'in liar. So now if I want a ticket issued, we'll both get one. And so I ask for a ticket, Failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision. I decided on the spot that I wanted to go to court. Still can't believe this guy might actually get away with this. I'll pick up the police report tonight. Very curious to read the other guys statement. Got an estimate on my car this morning. $1761.42. Also found out that the guy refused to be interviewed by my insurance. Have no idea what that means. But I do have an attorney. And now the search for parts begins, fortunately I don't need many.

[equality72521]

What a ****ing asshat!!! If it was me, after everything is resolved I'd wait some time to let it cool down. Then that mother ****er better watch out!!!

[tcar]

Hope you have lots of pics. Got any of red paint on his truck?

[frogger]

I know this is of no help after the fact, but you really should've called the police early on in the road rage incident. If there was a police record of you reporting him, and then he hit you, it might have lead to the asshat getting arrested. Just my 2 cents. Sorry about your loss.

[svandamme]

that's a bum deal
over here, anybody bumping in the back of anybody is at fault, no question about it
the rule is you are at all times responsible for being in control of your vehicle
if something happens and you can't stop in time : you weren't driving carefull enough

i once had a similar story of road rage with me overpassing a nutcase
this was at 120 km/h , he overtook me on the right while had slowed down for a truck on the left lane, overtaking another truck on the right lane
was driving a spanking brand new Golf company car, he was in a 15 year old Opel Kadett

he crept up slowly with his mirror like 10 inches in front of mine, but i wasn't going to slow down for this nut case and let him in front of me where he could block me from my way out

i didn't move a bit, he made contact, my alloy sports wheels basically did a Ben Hur chop job of his kadett, pulled over, threats from his part, he drove off
called the cops, explained he fled the scene, turns out he had done the same about me
said i had ran him off the road from behind, and he couldn't move out of the way fast enough when i was speeding
cops checked out the damage and clearly could see his story didn't add up, the damage was worse to the front then to the back, which is impossible if i ran him off the road at superspeed....

[legion]

Lurk on some F150 forums. See if you can find a post about what he "got away with". Print, send to your lawyer.

[notfarnow]

I used to hear guys on this forum talk about how agressively people drove around their Porsches, especially guys in pickups. I always thought that they were probably just more aware of what's going on around them when they are in their Pcars.

Then when my dad got his Carrera in January, I started experiencing it myself. Pickups coming up from behind at full speed, and then tailgating. Some wouldn't even pass when the road went to 2 lanes. Just wanted to be ar$eholes. When my wife and I took the carrera on a road trip a month ago, we really noticed it. My wife's first chance to drive the car was ruined by some prick in a big dodge ram who kept riding behind her. Very nerve racking.

Do these guys brag about doing this on their pickup up truck forums?

Either way, glad you are OK. Aweful to deal with, but sounds like it could've been a LOT worse. The guy was really putting you at risk.

[legion]

And all you had to do was turn right...

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by legion

And all you had to do was turn right...

eh?

[87911jon]

[legion]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

eh?

Wait for it...

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by legion

Lurk on some F150 forums. See if you can find a post about what he "got away with". Print, send to your lawyer.

Its a shot in the dark, but I'd try this.

[Eric 951]

Did you tell the police that he was driving with his fogs on during the day? Illegal in most states.

That sucks big time--I drive an F250 and really try to be mindful of other cars--especially when behind them at night at traffic lights, as the headlights line up with the rearview mirrors, and I know what a ***** that is from driving my turbo and getting light blasted myself at lights/stop signs.

I hope you get a good resolution and remember that all truck drivers aren't douches like this guy was.

[NICKG]

i have that 1/4..in gaurds red..you can have it free....i am in nj

[87911jon]

Thanks. I'll take you up on that. Much appreciated.

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by NICKG

i have that 1/4..in gaurds red..you can have it free....i am in nj

Wow- you're a good guy! Not often that I see things like this. Thanks.

[speeder]

I can only surmise that you did not do a very good job of describing the incident to the cop. That was an example of extremely aggressive road rage culminating in him ramming your moving car. If the cop was too stupid to understand this, you should have demanded that he get his supervisor on the scene, pronto.

I would treat an incident like this as attempted ADW, (before the crash), and responded accordingly. Someone trying to hit you with a truck when you are in a small car is no joke. You should always call 911 as soon as someone exhibits that behavior. They belong in jail for that.

I have witnessed this "Porsche hatred" on the road, (to a lesser degree), and have zero tolerance for it. You should sue the guy. Make his pathetic life miserable. I would have thrown him a beating, just to defend the image of Porsche drivers if nothing else.

[masraum]

Makes you really want to amputate the guys foot or something, but I'm afraid that there's probably not much that you could do to stop it. I've dealt with it before when I had the 911, but 9 times out of 10 I was able to get away from the situation. Now that I have a miata, I'm more at the mercy of these idiots and have had a couple of weird incidents in the last 4-6 months. Fortunately, none of mine have ever ended as badly as yours. Good luck, I hope you are able to get this straightened out and get some justice. I'd explain everything to your insurance company and let them hunt the guy down. They have more money and better lawyers and may choose to go on a hunt to tear him a new one.

[BGCarrera32]

You made a legal pass, no question about it.

But, #1) After the formalities began, it was time to pull over, let him get up the road, etc. call the police pronto or stay away from the jerk. No reason to keep jumping lanes- you obviously knew at this point you pissed the guy off and stayed within proximity to him.

#2) You should have made it *crystal* clear that this guy intentionally rammed you from behind. The cop would have tagged this guy right there, no question about it. If not, move it up the food chain in his department sgt> then chief.

You'll spend a fair amount of your valuable time now sorting this out and getting the car repaired; file with your insurance company and let them handle it. Take your taps and move on.

Good luck.

[robs944]

87911jon,
Sorry to hear about that, falls road is a nice drive, sounds like you could have been driving a hyundai and the guy would have still been an a$$.
I guess this is your lucky day (sort of )
I've got the rear section (where the porsche script is located) I think it's
called the end plate??? Bought a several years ago but never needed it for my 87 n/a. It's yours for free if you need it, no damage to it but needs to be primed and painted. I live in the Westminster area not far from you and work in the Linthicum area.

BTW were you in Westminster recently? I saw a guards red turbo with black fuchs (nice).

Let me know

Rob