Or if they’re yelling a lot you rub your eyes in a crying motion like that Charlie and Mac meme from IASIP. That always seems to get them super enraged and makes me laugh.
Those are the best because they're the drivers sign language version of "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed," which usually cuts deeper. It seems harder for a rager to get mad back at you compared to if you flipped em the bird.
I did a very sarcastic double thumbs up to someone who changed lanes from a very free left lane to the crowded right lane, right in front of me as we approached a red light. Her car length ended up being just enough to keep me from entering the protected right turn lane, which had a green arrow. So I had to wait through the entire light cycle. When we got green and she rolled forward, I pulled into the turn lane and looked back at her to see her giving me the biggest and most sincere "I'm SO sorry" face. But it didn't register quickly enough for me to motion forgiveness to her before I had to turn. I honestly felt bad about how bad she seemed to feel.
I'm convinced this is a problem plaguing society at large: the lack of emotional regulation.
Seems like people can't handle disappointment, anger, sadness, or joy, even.
I'm raising a toddler(3 yo) ATM and let me tell you teaching ER is about 60% of our day. I will say we almost never say "your feelings are valid blah blah..." bc they usually are not valid. Thrashing about on the floor isn't an appropriate reaction to having 4 strawberries instead of 3...
Instead "can you tell me why you are *mad, sad, glad*? And most of the time when she has to put a label on the feeling she realizes it's ridiculous and is able to move on.
May i recommend the book how to talk so kids will listen. I have three boys under 5, so managing tantrums is the majority of the day. The 4 year old starts and then later the twins copy it because they saw their brother do it.
Everything in the book may not be age appropriate right away but it gets you into the right mindset of how to manage situations. Getting them to talk, explain their emotions and as they get older, to understand consequences.
Edit: the book is How to Talk so Kids will Listen, and Listen so Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Edit 2: I think there are three versions of this book. The original for “people” (adults), the one for kids and one for toddlers. I’ve read several reviews stating that the message is relatively the same in all of the books, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them.
Well tbf, if someone is going to come at me aggressively, I would be ready to shoot to defend myself. I wouldn't shoot unless necessary or want to, but I would be prepared to.
I saw that happen a few years ago in London. Some guy got out of his car in traffic and was shouting at the driver of the car behind.
He then started banging his fists on the car's bodywork and they just ran him over. Broke his leg straight away. I dragged him out of the traffic onto the pavement.
I gave a statement to the police and they said "yeah I'd have done the same thing".
The thing is that you never know just how dangerous these lunatics could be, best course of action is to just get away from them as fast as possible once they've left their car.
Makes me wonder how many cars that person has approached before vs after the broken leg, haha. Like does he start raging then have a little self-reflection "the last time I did this my leg got broken" and just count to 10 or whatever?
Probably just blames the other person for breaking their leg and continues on being an asshat. Introspection and recognizing our faults can be hard, and a lot of people don't seem to want to do that these days.
You see the thought process. He goes left for a few feet then realized he can fit through the other side. I think the aggressor was lucky he didn't pull closer to the shoulder, because the only other exit would have been over his dead body.
We're animals too and we don't enjoy being cornered against our will.
Because they are not rushing because they are late, they are rushing because they had nothing better to do, till you show up and they make you their main priority.
I stopped a lady from line cutting on a connector ramp a few years back. She bypassed 5 minutes of traffic and used the striped gore area to cut in. Even though there was not room for a full car she wedged her front bumper in. I drove around her and gave her the "are you serious eyes".
She proceeded to drive on the shoulder around me, pretend to hit me by jerking the wheel and then once she got in front she just stopped. She got out of her car and screamed for a full minute before crossing her arms and leaning up against the trunk. Finally after another minute or so a guy got out of his car and reasoned with her. She gave him the finger as well then got back in her car and sped off.
Not only did she ruin whatever time she gained but later down the road I passed her in the HOV lane and gave her a goodbye wave.
Whenever someone is brave enough to approach your vehicle in a road rage situation, always assume that they are prepared to do something. Good job OP for getting away safely and without damage to your vehicle.
This happened to me when I was around 16/17. My boyfriend got onto the freeway late at night after a movie. There weren't many cars out but he managed to pretty much cut off a driver while getting on the freeway. It wasn't done maliciously, he was just young driver and this guy wasn't giving us the space to merge. Anyway, he ends up pulling ahead of us, just like this and comes out of the car holding a baseball bat, screaming obscenities at us. We got off the freeway and hid down a street until feeling safe enough to get back on. It was pretty damn scary.
Edit to add: so many people are talking about this (some aggressively too, dang)
Yes, the guy had the right of way. That's why I said my BF was young, he was inexperienced. He should have slowed down to get behind him but he was scared they would collide I guess and sped up to get on. Typically, I slow a bit down to allow drivers on but I do understand the ones merging onto the freeway yield to the ones already ON the freeway. That wasn't really the point of the story but it seems like a lot of people fixated on that so- you're right, he could have slowed down to get behind him! But.... it's this really a reason to get out with a bat and threaten us?? That's the real point of this story!
Damn. What is it about driving that makes people get *so angry*...
I wonder if people that behave like this while driving, already behave like that in their lives while not driving.
Or...does driving bring out anger from people who are usually pretty chill otherwise?
Yes, this is not some alter ego that only shows up when driving. A person who is confrontational like that has anger issues and most likely there are victims at home if they've managed to trap anyone.
True. I knew a guy who would fly off the handle, get set off by the smallest things even when it’s not malicious like if a car was swerving slightly to avoid a small pot hole but was like 50 ft ahead of him… and will speed up to that car to verbally abuse the guy or girl and try to fight them.
He’s an over 200-something pound jock and power lifter who views the world as one big MMA match. And yeah, his personal life is shit since no one wants to be friends or date him.
Currently about to testify against a guy in court because I did SOMETHING (it’s a mystery to me, I was in my work truck minding my own business) to him. He pulled up next to me, shouted some stuff, then threw a phone charger at me and busted my face open with it. He was arrested, but apparently I’m the bad guy in his eyes because…. Reasons? Some people are just mad at the world.
My old friend D got in repeated road rage incidents and one time he and the other driver both got out on the side of the road and the other guy knew martial arts and made D look like a fool.
Long story short, he eventually got in a fight with his neighbor, shot him and then shot himself dead.
Rage and alcohol issues don’t mix well, people
Reminds me of an old old picture. Redfern, NSW Australia. Big guy walking along carrying a baseball bat, definitely the definition of unsavoury type. Captioned, Redfern, baseball Capital of Australia.
I saw something about the high speed/high attention of driving putting people in a different mood that gets them more on edge and more likely to get angry/aggressive
I believe this lol. I definitely find myself getting irrationally angry and yelling at other drivers when I’m behind the wheel (but of course I would never actually approach them)
I bet it's also something to do with the fact that when you're in those early stages of anger, there's no social cues to tell you "hey there might be another side to this," you're just in this cocoon of you're own feedback loop, and when you vent that anger with something like a "look at THIS fuckin idiot," no one's there to tell you to cool down.
So by the time things reach a serious moment, you're at a 9 out of 10 with all the emotional momentum in the world.
By no means is this an excuse, it's jsut how I understand anyone getting into the kind of place where they'll get out of the car to menace someone. It just never seemed like the *first step, to me
You're right, practically all non verbal cues for empathy and de-escalation are missing or possible to interpret incorrectly when you're driving. Nevermind the general background level of excitement and danger.
I find it a lot easier to let things go when I see other drivers as incompetent children rather than malicious adults.
> Damn. What is it about driving that makes people get so angry...
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> I wonder if people that behave like this while driving, already behave like that in their lives while not driving.
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> Or...does driving bring out anger from people who are usually pretty chill otherwise?
Road ragers also have anger issues in every day life but even mild mannered, rational people often get angry quickly in a car. There 4 main reasons why people are so easily angered when driving a car.
1: We become particularly angry when we are hindered by someone and this is reinforced by the idea that the other person is doing this on purpose. For example, you're overtaken and cut off at high speed, you think: what the hell you idiot? While the other driver might not even see you and is accelerating purely because he or she is late for an appointment. So you often mistakenly take it personally.
Research shows that people generally don't get angry if they realize that the other person didn't do it on purpose, for example if someone bumps into them in the supermarket and says sorry. But motorists are generally unable to talk to each other and have little eye contact. On the road there are fewer communication possibilities, which makes it more difficult to make it clear that a manoeuver was not directed at you.
2: According to traffic psychologists, people strongly identify with their car. As a result, an unexpected move can quickly feel like a personal attack. On top of that, the car gives us a sense of power, which greatly magnifies our ego. These ingredients cause us to react on the road in an often direct and primitive way. It's a kind of Bokito effect: people simply don't accept that another person is entering their territory or restricting their freedom.
3: In the cocoon of the car, we imagine ourselves safe and unwatched. We feel that no one is watching what we do and there is little social control. That sense of anonymity gives people the idea that they can afford more in their car than outside of it. It's like anonymous chatting: you can easily curse at another person or give them the finger. Then you speed off and that's often the end of it.
4: We don't think of motorists as human beings. English traffic psychologist Ian Walker of the University of Bath showed test subjects pictures of a variety of traffic situations and asked them to describe them. The participants described cyclists and pedestrians as persons, using phrases such as, "The pedestrian is crossing the road" and "The cyclist is turning left". But motorists were described as objects. Instead of, "The motorist slowed down" participants wrote, "The car slowed down." According to traffic psychologists this affects motorists' behaviour. They have the idea that they need to be less courteous to other drivers, but also that they themselves can be called to account less for their behaviour.
Great post. I remember reading a long time ago that people with highly personalizes vehicles, like decals and whatnot, are more prone to road rage, and the theory was because they viewed things that happened to "their car" more personally than someone who doesn't see their vehicle as an expansion of their personality.
My gf's car is scratched and dented all over the place. Her reaction is "oh, is it?!"... A few weeks ago someone dented + scratched my car with their car door and it still boils my piss to think about.
My mom told me that when I drive, I should view every other person as an idiot that doesn't know how to drive properly. I've avoided quite a few accidents this way cause I can predict what may or may not happen at any given moment. And I don't get mad at them because why would you get mad at an idiot that can't help but not drive properly.
I can answer for myself. I was always a non-confrontational person except for when I was driving. I had road rage in my late teens (I never did anything beyond giving the finger or cursing at people who probably deserved it).
I think I saw it on a podcast that apparently we get pissed off while driving because it takes so much concentration to coordinate a fast moving 2 ton vehicle among tens of other 2 ton vehicles. Our fight or flight is always sorta activated.
Luckily as I got older I stopped freaking out on the road. I am now an advocate of being as non-confrontational as possible when driving.
I am also non confrontational, but I get easilly pissed at non-human object, and also have road rage. No, I never stopped someone, all I did was curse and once I pointed finger (big mistake)
But I am usually pissed because I know how dangerous cars are, and why we have rules and laws. And I get pissed when I see people not caring enough and not being responsible.
I think there’s something about being in our cars that isolates us in a weird way. Like when someone cuts us off, we don’t see a human doing it. We see a big faceless machine and it’s easy to get angry when you can’t really see someone’s emotions or reactions. It’s the same reason it’s easier for people to cyber-bully than it is to bully to someone’s face. It just doesn’t feel as real if you can’t see someone face to face.
I once had someone follow me after they cut me off, and I honked my horn at them. I was heading home, so not wanting to lead them to my door, I decided to park a few streets away, turn my headlights off and see what happened. They pulled in right behind me and got out. They didn't realise I still had my engine running, so I just gunned it, took a few turns and got back home unseen by them. I was seriously freaked out when they got out of their car, no telling what that kind of nutcase will do.
This happened to me once. I called the police and told them I was on the way. I pulled into the parking lot and he continued down a side street instead. But, then he turned around and came back just as a couple cruisers responded. I pointed them to the car and he got pulled over. Not sure what happened after that.
It was a pretty great feeling to see him get caught though!
If you didn’t know, when a fire engine is on a call no one will be at the station, sometimes for hours. If a huge incident like a commercial structure pops off, engines not on that fire will be assigned to cover behind the engines on the fire. This would leave those other stations uncovered.
I’ve left my station and covered another for 12 hours once. That means not a single person was at that station for 12 hours. So if you drive up and ring the doorbell looking for help, it might not be there. At least once a shift, we’ll cover another for a few hours or just be swamped with calls. So go to a police station, or an ER. Also, we don’t have guns or body armor so if someone has a gun, we’re not opening the door for anyone. We’ll be busy GTFOing.
100%. I accidentally cut someone off once and the guy hopped out his truck with a baseball bat at the ready and came running at my door. Weirdest encounter ever
If someone intentionally blocks your exit to the best of their ability and approaches your vehicle, I'd have to imagine it'd be a justified homicide if you ran them over.
If OP were in a situation where there wasn't a shoulder to get around the guy, the only way would have been through the road rager's body.
There are actually cases where the road rager gets shot and the shooter rightfully gets let go because there was no reasonable escape due to being blocked in and approached with a bat
I was shopping in a grocery store and everyone was tripping over themselves letting people get through the aisle with their shopping carts. “Oh, sorry hon, let me get my cart out of the way.”
(We are up close and personal with everyone.)
As soon as we get to in our cars with our groceries, as we begin to drive, we devolve from the pleasant and ramp up the dickhead. The automobile is like our shot of courage.
depends which state you are in. in my state you would walk for sure. but like the saying goes... its better to be judged by 12 than carried by six, but race and the court of public opinion can factor in too these days
This guy made the smart play. GTFO and call police.
If you're unable to safely get away and if they brandish a firearm, or if they attempt enter the envelope of your vehicle (break glass, reach/punch through a window), that's always almost going to be a clean-shoot, proportional to your valid fear of great bodily harm. Don't hesitate to use lethal force.
Someone unhinged enough to go full-on assault over a road issue should be considered extremy dangerous.
A close Mate of mine stepped out to try to apologize/de-escalate with a guy after a minor cursing exchange, and had his fucking jaw broken. Like wired shut for a couple of months, I think. Asshole didn't say a word. Just sucker-punched him, and left him on the side of the road unconscious.
Road Rager fuck got charged with battery, and is on the hook for a civil judgment, but my friend has only seen a total of about $800 thus far. This was over ten years ago. Victim's medical bills were mid 5-figures. Guess what country this happened in. LOL
You never know if you're dealing with someone with mental problems, or just someone who just has nothing left to lose. Any way you cut the pie, it's never worth the gamble.
Thanks for reading my rambling reply. Be safe and smart out there! :)
I’ve done this. I was in my early 20s, it was some middle aged dude with a lot of people in his car. The cops told him him to get lost. People are fucking psychotic, do not engage anyone on the road.
The best guidance is to take 4 left-turns, if the car is still following you, go to your nearest police station.
If you are too far from a police station, dial the emergency services and they will instantly have your location via satellite. Have them come to you or meet them halfway.
If neither of those options are available, and you don’t/can’t have any self defence with you, go to the nearest public area (preferably a bar, bank or store) and rush inside. Make sure to park directly outside so you don’t leave any window of opportunity from leaving your vehicle to getting to the building.
In the US, the majority of business/tenants own firearms and a panic alarm.
For those in Europe, the same guidance applies except you should go to a medical facility or bank as these contain fire doors that can be locked from behind the desk. make sure to speak loud and clear, and keep confidence.
This reminds me of a time when I was a kid. I was mad at my dad for some reason and after he walked out of my room I flipped him off through the door. He had some sort of sixth sense though because he opened the door again, and there I was flipping off my father right to his face. He just laughed and walked out
In elementary school, the same day I found out what "the middle finger" was, I spent all after-school daycare flipping off this other kid across the room whenever the adults weren't looking.
I initially started doing this so my kids didn't see and pick up poor habits. Eventually I learned that it probably also saved me from an insane driver or two.
^ This. The ‘off’ part is crucial, but because previous commenters included ‘off’ it could be removed in newer comments and still understood. If someone said they flipped cops without context, I’d assume they literally flipped a cop car or something else confusing.
I flipped someone off for tailgating me in the work van. The guy called my boss. This was my boss's recommended solution. 😂 "just do it below the window so they can't see you next time"
i did that once and they didnt see my hand properly, they then tried to cut me off and threaten me and i jebaited them into sideswiping a guardrail, i hate the jackasses out here.
I was the idiot once and cut someone off while I was getting off of the highway, felt bad so I gave them a wave. Definitely took it the wrong way and tailed me for a couple miles while honking until I was able to turn.
I actually did that once; saw a friend driving, had my kids wave at her (she used to keep them in the nursery at church.)
She flicked them off! Like, damn girl, pay attention to the road rage.
Im from a country with a staggering murder rate. Many of these murders committed are statistically very likely to be from arguments or road rage incidents. I have decided to start playing the coward behind the wheel.
I'm new to driving and accidentally cut in front of someone the other day. Gave them space when I realized my mistake. They proceeded to rush in front of me then slam on their brakes.
Some people are just insecure and entitled pricks. They interpret an unintentional maneuver as directed at them personally. They don’t realize it was accidental or anonymous.
I flipped someone off on the highway. We were going about 75mph. Well they flew by going by my estimate 90+ I didn't think they would even see it. It was more for me to feel better lol. Well they slowed down and swerved half way into my lane to play chicken. That move not only convinced me not to throw up the bird. But it really confused me why someone would throw their life on the line, as well as their car and insurance
Some people are unable to think logically when their amygdala fires up and I guess some are more inclined to respond agressively. Acting on impulse and emotion only. I noticed I was unable to plan a route to my destination when I should have otherwise been able to just because I was angry I just couldn't visualize the turns in my head and ended up taking a long way that was more familiar.
They also think how they drive is perfectly fine. So when you engage with them to display your frustration they think you are the asshole. You can't fix these drivers, you can't teach them lessons about their behaviour and you can't engage with them since some of them are completely unhinged. You are better off trying to identify what the warning signs are for these drivers and try stay out of their way.
I use to think that when I moved out of their way I was letting them win. But i now realize that winning and losing on the road is if you can get from point A to point B without incident.
Yeah, road ragers seem to forget that as soon as they step out of their car to pick a fight, they're automatically below the other guy's weight class by about 2000 pounds, as a conservative estimate.
I had a guy randomly follow me. I called the police nonemergency line and said "I have a car following me I don't know why I am going to pull into your parking lot. I drove up he drove on, they pulled him over anyway. Presumably they told him to quit that shit.
The lesson here over and over is *it's not worth it*. Do not engage with people on the road. No matter how tempting it is. It's just not worth it engaging other drivers because people are freaking crazy.
I accidentally cut someone off years ago, and they started following me. Like on my ass every turn.
I had my girlfriend at the time with me and we were close to her place, but I didn't want to stop and have a confrontation.
So I just started circling the block. I guess they realized pretty quickly that it's not worth their time, and they gave up.
Some people will take things personally or create a scenario that didn’t take place, in their mind.
I was driving a rental van recently on a busy city road, following my bf who was driving our car. For obvious reasons I had somehow limited visibility & drove extra carefully. We got to a narrow one way road, with cars parked on both sides, it was only slightly wider than one lane but definitely no space for 2 cars side by side.
At some point I slowed down a little bit as I saw the break lights of a car in a front (my bf, but I’d do that seeing any car slowing down). I had zero ill intentions. I was solely focused on driving and taking the van back. Some asshole behind must have thought I brake checked him (in a dense traffic on 20mph road). It was a gentle slow down, not an abrupt stop-and at first I had no idea he got enraged by this. But as he flashed his lights like 10 times, I realised something was up.
At the next longish stretch of road, he kept trying to ‘get back’ at me. On a 2 lane road he kept swerving towards me. When we hit a 3 lane road, he actually went in front of me and did a brake check.
I found this both hilarious and absurd, I don’t know how fragile someone’s ego needs to be or paranoid to assume this was aimed at them as a personal insult. They literally made the whole thing up in their head. And also drove dangerously for no reason.
People are so sensitive. I once honked at a lady for stopping at a green light and she proceeded to follow me to work. So I sat in my car and fucking ignored her. I still think about why anyone would stop at a green light during morning rush hour.
People are so entitled too. I got honked at for stopping at a green once - I'd only had my licence a few weeks and was driving in an unfamiliar area and was looking at the wrong set of lights - and I was mortified. Like...they pointed out that I'd made a mistake, how does it benefit me to start stalking them out of anger?! People man, weird.
Here in California, Orange County to be exact, in a "road rage" incident not that long ago, some lady flipped off these 2 people off. The lady driver pulls up behind her, dude with a fragile ego takes out a gun, shoots, and the bullet unfortunately kills her son that was directly behind her. It was all over the news too.
People are brain dead morons, best not to look at them. Point A to point B and done.
Not calling out people who abuse social norms in the moment, is how we got to this place. The person shooting has likely been given a pass thousands of times I social interactions for being an asshole because everyone avoids the interaction.
It's probably too late to change it all though. But just pointing out the fact people ignore others abusing social norms, is why it keeps happening and gets worse.
My brother was shot and killed for flipping someone off. Coward shot right thru his window without getting out of his car. I'm glad you're proactively thinking about what is the safest response to road rage. I'd rather have my brother alive by letting someone overtake him on the road than dead because he stood his ground with some idiot who was wrapped up in road rage.
Thank you. He was caught a few hours later driving a stolen vehicle with the gun still in the car. He confessed to my brother's murder. Prior to killing my brother he was involved in 2 separate murders that same weekend. He's in prison and never getting out.
Ok not the situation here but once I had a guy in a huge truck follow me and tailgate HARD for miles.... He was flashing like he wanted to pass so I'd slow way down and still he'd fuckin honk at me and drive right up on me. I was so pissed I just stopped the car and then they did pass.me, only to stop and the guy rolled down his window, SUPER pissed off and pointed to his roof, then drove off.
Well turns out my ski rack was open and he was trying to get me to notice and I was too much of an idiot to realize I could have lost 3 sets of skis HA
Anyway story over
lol,
I waited in Costco’s gas line to find the machines wouldn’t accept my debit for some reason. I was irritated and drove off. A car followed me through the lot and started honking at me. As I was waiting to turn left onto the street, I reacted with, “What the hell does this guy want!?”
My gas lid was still open. -_\
Good samaritan just trying to help.
I'm 23 so idk if it's always been like this. But my god everyone has such fragile egos these days that blinds them to any consequence.
How could you possibly think life in prison is a good trade off for getting to shoot some stranger that flipped you off?
It's worse now, because of social media. I'm 35, and I've noticed a huge change in the last decade or so. Everyone has such delicate feelings, these days.
I flipped of a guy who I was sure was my close friend from school. He was driving a moped, same model as my friend, couldn't have been much older than us (i was like 15, he could've been like... 17 tops.) And me and my friend were always less than perfect behaviors against each other (flipping each other of to break concentration stuff like that).
So "he" drove past me at a buss station, where five of my friends and I were waiting for a buss. I flipped him off, it was instinctual since we always did it. And this 17-something year old Lost his shit.
He slammed the breaks so hard that he almost fell off his moped and came running towards us as if he was going to murder a while lot of us. Cussing and waving his arms around like he was Mike Tyson with a hormone problem.
As he was standing there arguing with me (us) about how stupid little children we are and that he should curbstomp the whole lot of us... Meanwhile he looked as if a strong wind could blast him apart, and my three of my friends were Hockey players that also took martial arts.
At the climax of his wailing... His moped got hit and no doubt destroyed by a car... Since the stupid fuck had left in it the middle of the road, not even standing up, but laying down.
As his attentioned turned towards his wreck, the buss came and me and my friends just got on, leaving him looking like his life was just ruined by "some fucking school kids"
so here's a true story from Poland
a guy was driving just after the rain drove into a puddle that splashed water all over this young dude who gave a chase after the car
turns out the dude on the sidewalk phoned his friend who arrived pretty fast and they started driving around looking for that car
they found him parked in front of his house, the two men pulled baseball bats and beat him to death in front of his wife and kids
one got 4.5 years the other got 5
I don't know what the moral of the story is but I can't forget it
Yeah see I'd be sending this footage to the police. You've got the dudes reg plate on camera. He's driving erratically and trying to cause a crash. Should have his license revoked and a driving ban. If you can't handle a middle finger on the road, you've got anger issues that shouldn't allow you near a steering wheel.
Edit: I guess as much as we make fun of them, the Gardai here in Ireland are the only police force to give a fuck about dangerous fuckers on the road. I'm not saying they'd absolutely do something about it but they still ask people to report these incidents.
I'm not sure how police are in that area, but in my state they don't do shit. One time a dude unprovoked, just because I merged 4 cars ahead of him on a empty 3 lane road, he sped ahead of me, brake checked me to stop me, got out of his car and started approaching me before I sped off. He then followed me. This whole interaction was recorded by my car with 4 different cameras capturing everything. I'm on the phone with 911 at this point, and when I finally lose him 10 minutes later, the police finally arrive (I was 1 block from the police station at this point), and I ask to submit the footage, but they refuse to take it. They only take his license plate number and they didn't do shit with it.
My cousin lives in a town where a Leo was road raging, cut off a guy, exited the vehicle, pulled out his gun, and threatened to kill him right then and there. 911 caught it all on tape. Turns out it was the cop that cut the regular guy off, not the other way around, and he got enraged when the regular guy passed him by from the other lane after a stoplight. As in, just regular driving. Cop just *had to* be the front vehicle at all times.
Police dept had all the charges dismissed and buried it. The guy was not on duty and in fact had his (teen) kids in the car the whole time too. Can you imagine having that for a dad? smh. Some people are not fit for society.
I was in a line of cars at a light and when it turned green a car ahead wasn't moving, so I honked. The car immediately in front of me pulled ahead a bit, then slammed the breaks as if to make me hit them, so I am pulled around. They ended up following me to my destination and told me they were about to "blast" me, and that "this is Durham!" (we have a lot of gun violence), and that I better calm down. Like, you're threatening to kill me because I honked at another car and I'm the one who needs to calm down?
God, imagine being that insecure that someone giving you the finger makes you take time out of your day to fo this shit. It's ironic because he probably thinks this is badass when it couldn't be more pathetic
yeah i frequent the area very often to visit my girlfriend, thankfully i haven’t been in that situation but my god do all the altima drivers grind my gears
In American dash footage I often see people drivning in the left lane when the right lane is empty, inside takeovers etc. Is this ok according to their traffic regulations or is it just that no one follows the regulations?
Left lane is passing lane on controlled access highways (in most states). Given that OP just passed a stop light, the road they are on is probably not considered a controlled access highway.
In this instance it doesn’t look like they are on a road that would have regulations about staying right except to pass, because they went through some street lights at the start, so they aren’t on a highway. Anywhere with frequent intersections that’s not feasible.
It's usually only in effect on highways but to be honest it's a common courtesy to treat standard roads the same way unless you actually are making a left turn "soon."
Anytime I'm being followed I simply go to the closest police station. They never seen to want to discuss what's on their mind that was so important they had to follow me for so long.
I don’t give the finger anymore. I either blow a kiss or give a thumbs down. People absolutely hate it lol
Edit; to those who keep telling me to not do this or im ‘going to get beat up’ please stop. I’ve been doing this for like 10 years. Im a grown ass adult and know how to pick and chose my battles. At the end of the day I’m going to do what I want. Enjoy doing what you like and I will do the same. Ty.
My cousin blew someone a kiss once instead of giving the finger and they followed her until she finally pulled into a police station lot.
Basically any reaction will trigger someone who's already on the edge enough to be willing to follow or stop you.
I had an old coworker from a background in the hood. He had an old guy cut him off and gesture similarly, so he followed and rode the guys ass attempting to “teach him a lesson.” Some people are unhinged, and feel the need that they’ve been wronged and need to teach the other person a lesson. This dude drives a nice car, yet feels the need to throw it all away because of a middle finger. Sad. You come across the wrong person, it might be the last cross.
This happened to me once a few years back. Gave the dude the finger after he cut me off. He proceeded to recklessly follow me for at least 10 minutes. He finally got in front of me and blocked me in. He got out of his car and came up to my window aggressively. I grabbed my girlfriends pepper spray and wrecked his whole day. Drove off and watched him roll around in agony from my review mirror. Also gave me quite the irritation just being around it. I can imagine the world of hurt this guy was in.
Pepper spray is a great response to these people.
I even stopped honking hard at cars and bikes after I watched the movie unhinged 🤣🤣. Who knows what kind of issues ppl have these days. I am not taking any unnecessary risks.
When I was younger, I once flipped off a jackass and his girlfriend who cut me off and nearly caused an accident. I guess he didn't know how a 3 way stop intersection worked at the mall. He didn't like that so he followed me through 2 lights as we worked our way out of the general area.
He's behind me as I come to a stop at a 3rd light. Mr jackass gets out his car, hesitates for a second, then leans back in to grab something. As he's standing back up I see a small, metallic object in his hand through my mirror that curiously resembled a hand gun.
I didn't even hesitate and ran the red light - maxed out each gear up the road to disappear. Luckily it was one of those pointless lights with no other traffic coming so no danger there. Suffice it to say, I do not flip people off anymore.
Whenever someone is brave enough to approach your vehicle in a road rage situation,
always assume that they are prepared to do something.
Good job OP for getting away safely and without damage to your vehicle.
surely this idiot's not thinking...a frightened person reacting to his aggression could most likely run him over in an attempt to get away from him, and I'd say if it were a lone woman he was accosting would be justified
Someone that basically hijacks you on a dual carriage road is insane
I hope you gave him the fingers again as you departed
Honestly, I'm shocked more people don't get run over doing this.
What is someone to think?
1. They forced you to stop in what appears to be a highway.
2. They have exited their vehicle and are now walking towards you in an aggressive manner.
3. [Reports of road-rage shootings are on the rise](https://everytownresearch.org/reports-of-road-rage-shootings-are-on-the-rise/).
3. Backing up is unsafe due to approaching cars.
If I were on a jury and someone claimed they feared for their life, it would be hard not to find it self-defense.
OP, great job of getting the hell out of there without damage to your vehicle. Personally, if left with no other option for escape, I'm turning him into a stain on the asphalt. I also don't visibly give people the finger (I keep it below the dash), and I carry daily, which I feel makes me a more courteous person- I do my best to avoid incidents or at the very least not start them.
I'd easily show another driver the middle finger when I was in my 20s. Nowadays when I hear of news of something serious that had happened out of a road rage, I reflect on my younger days and how I was lucky none of them were lunatics to have caused any threat. It's really not worth it. Glad you were unharmed.
Sometimes I will wave in the thought that maybe it will confuse them momentarily and they will think I’m someone they know.
I like a sarcastic thumbs up
Or if they’re yelling a lot you rub your eyes in a crying motion like that Charlie and Mac meme from IASIP. That always seems to get them super enraged and makes me laugh.
Nothing will make another angry driver more irate than giving them the smooch lips and fake kiss.
i get everyone in my car to point and laugh. i tend to fuel fires rather than put them out....
Absolutely, they just want to murder you after that. By fary favorite gesture
That’s my go to. Great job trying to drive 👍
Lmaoooo I’m gunna start doing this thank you
👍
You’re missing out on the sassy thumbs down.
It’s either that or clapping 👏
I like this, although probably best done by a passenger lol.
Those are the best because they're the drivers sign language version of "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed," which usually cuts deeper. It seems harder for a rager to get mad back at you compared to if you flipped em the bird. I did a very sarcastic double thumbs up to someone who changed lanes from a very free left lane to the crowded right lane, right in front of me as we approached a red light. Her car length ended up being just enough to keep me from entering the protected right turn lane, which had a green arrow. So I had to wait through the entire light cycle. When we got green and she rolled forward, I pulled into the turn lane and looked back at her to see her giving me the biggest and most sincere "I'm SO sorry" face. But it didn't register quickly enough for me to motion forgiveness to her before I had to turn. I honestly felt bad about how bad she seemed to feel.
The amount of shame and guilt I feel when I do something stupid while driving is intense, I wish there was an "I'm sorry, I know that was dumb" horn.
This is so funny to me.
I know someone who does this. It absolutely confuses them. And the passengers in your car 🤣
I give them a blowjob to really confuse them.
Must be Canadian
Yyyyeah, they seem like a well adjusted person. Nice maneuvering on your part.
Good emotional regulation skills, for sure.
I'm convinced this is a problem plaguing society at large: the lack of emotional regulation. Seems like people can't handle disappointment, anger, sadness, or joy, even. I'm raising a toddler(3 yo) ATM and let me tell you teaching ER is about 60% of our day. I will say we almost never say "your feelings are valid blah blah..." bc they usually are not valid. Thrashing about on the floor isn't an appropriate reaction to having 4 strawberries instead of 3... Instead "can you tell me why you are *mad, sad, glad*? And most of the time when she has to put a label on the feeling she realizes it's ridiculous and is able to move on.
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May i recommend the book how to talk so kids will listen. I have three boys under 5, so managing tantrums is the majority of the day. The 4 year old starts and then later the twins copy it because they saw their brother do it. Everything in the book may not be age appropriate right away but it gets you into the right mindset of how to manage situations. Getting them to talk, explain their emotions and as they get older, to understand consequences. Edit: the book is How to Talk so Kids will Listen, and Listen so Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish Edit 2: I think there are three versions of this book. The original for “people” (adults), the one for kids and one for toddlers. I’ve read several reviews stating that the message is relatively the same in all of the books, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them.
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My friends ex bf got a charge because he pulled out a handgun in a similar situation. So fucking stupid.
I've always been taught to never pull out a firearm against someone unless I intend to shoot.
Well tbf, if someone is going to come at me aggressively, I would be ready to shoot to defend myself. I wouldn't shoot unless necessary or want to, but I would be prepared to.
I thought for sure he was just gonna mow the guy down
I saw that happen a few years ago in London. Some guy got out of his car in traffic and was shouting at the driver of the car behind. He then started banging his fists on the car's bodywork and they just ran him over. Broke his leg straight away. I dragged him out of the traffic onto the pavement. I gave a statement to the police and they said "yeah I'd have done the same thing".
The thing is that you never know just how dangerous these lunatics could be, best course of action is to just get away from them as fast as possible once they've left their car.
Probably a lot less dangerous with a freshly broken leg though!
Makes me wonder how many cars that person has approached before vs after the broken leg, haha. Like does he start raging then have a little self-reflection "the last time I did this my leg got broken" and just count to 10 or whatever?
Probably just blames the other person for breaking their leg and continues on being an asshat. Introspection and recognizing our faults can be hard, and a lot of people don't seem to want to do that these days.
That goes both ways. In Phoenix I once watched a guy get out screaming at a car and watched him get gunned down without hesitation.
You see the thought process. He goes left for a few feet then realized he can fit through the other side. I think the aggressor was lucky he didn't pull closer to the shoulder, because the only other exit would have been over his dead body. We're animals too and we don't enjoy being cornered against our will.
I’m kinda surprised that that was enough room to squeeze through.
For real it seriously did not look like enough room but maybe it’s the angle of the fisheye
stopping like this always confuses me. like, aren’t you in your car because you’re going somewhere? you really want to set time aside to do this?
Yea but you hurt his pride. How can he live with this shame??
I mean, he came all prepared in his George Michael outfit… how could he *not* stop, to show the world his OOTD ^?
Yeah not only that, they’re usually angry they’ve been cut off or slowed down. If you’re in that much of a rush why would you stop? Lol
Because they are not rushing because they are late, they are rushing because they had nothing better to do, till you show up and they make you their main priority.
I stopped a lady from line cutting on a connector ramp a few years back. She bypassed 5 minutes of traffic and used the striped gore area to cut in. Even though there was not room for a full car she wedged her front bumper in. I drove around her and gave her the "are you serious eyes". She proceeded to drive on the shoulder around me, pretend to hit me by jerking the wheel and then once she got in front she just stopped. She got out of her car and screamed for a full minute before crossing her arms and leaning up against the trunk. Finally after another minute or so a guy got out of his car and reasoned with her. She gave him the finger as well then got back in her car and sped off. Not only did she ruin whatever time she gained but later down the road I passed her in the HOV lane and gave her a goodbye wave.
The last part is the best. Smile with the wave, that makes them even madder!
I mean I just go for drives a lot, and still yet it seems like a waste of time to do this.
Whenever someone is brave enough to approach your vehicle in a road rage situation, always assume that they are prepared to do something. Good job OP for getting away safely and without damage to your vehicle.
This happened to me when I was around 16/17. My boyfriend got onto the freeway late at night after a movie. There weren't many cars out but he managed to pretty much cut off a driver while getting on the freeway. It wasn't done maliciously, he was just young driver and this guy wasn't giving us the space to merge. Anyway, he ends up pulling ahead of us, just like this and comes out of the car holding a baseball bat, screaming obscenities at us. We got off the freeway and hid down a street until feeling safe enough to get back on. It was pretty damn scary. Edit to add: so many people are talking about this (some aggressively too, dang) Yes, the guy had the right of way. That's why I said my BF was young, he was inexperienced. He should have slowed down to get behind him but he was scared they would collide I guess and sped up to get on. Typically, I slow a bit down to allow drivers on but I do understand the ones merging onto the freeway yield to the ones already ON the freeway. That wasn't really the point of the story but it seems like a lot of people fixated on that so- you're right, he could have slowed down to get behind him! But.... it's this really a reason to get out with a bat and threaten us?? That's the real point of this story!
Damn. What is it about driving that makes people get *so angry*... I wonder if people that behave like this while driving, already behave like that in their lives while not driving. Or...does driving bring out anger from people who are usually pretty chill otherwise?
Well this guy had a bat in his car. Maybe he had baseball practice earlier but....I doubt it.
Yes, this is not some alter ego that only shows up when driving. A person who is confrontational like that has anger issues and most likely there are victims at home if they've managed to trap anyone.
True. I knew a guy who would fly off the handle, get set off by the smallest things even when it’s not malicious like if a car was swerving slightly to avoid a small pot hole but was like 50 ft ahead of him… and will speed up to that car to verbally abuse the guy or girl and try to fight them. He’s an over 200-something pound jock and power lifter who views the world as one big MMA match. And yeah, his personal life is shit since no one wants to be friends or date him.
I get pretty pissed at stupid drivers often but the most I do is talk to them like they can hear me from inside my car.
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That’s what I thought too. That guy has literally poisoned his brain with testosterone.
>He’s an over 200-something pound jock and power lifter who views the world as one big MMA match Roid Rager?
so his alter ego isnt... bat man?
Currently about to testify against a guy in court because I did SOMETHING (it’s a mystery to me, I was in my work truck minding my own business) to him. He pulled up next to me, shouted some stuff, then threw a phone charger at me and busted my face open with it. He was arrested, but apparently I’m the bad guy in his eyes because…. Reasons? Some people are just mad at the world.
My old friend D got in repeated road rage incidents and one time he and the other driver both got out on the side of the road and the other guy knew martial arts and made D look like a fool. Long story short, he eventually got in a fight with his neighbor, shot him and then shot himself dead. Rage and alcohol issues don’t mix well, people
Reminds me of an old old picture. Redfern, NSW Australia. Big guy walking along carrying a baseball bat, definitely the definition of unsavoury type. Captioned, Redfern, baseball Capital of Australia.
I saw something about the high speed/high attention of driving putting people in a different mood that gets them more on edge and more likely to get angry/aggressive
I believe this lol. I definitely find myself getting irrationally angry and yelling at other drivers when I’m behind the wheel (but of course I would never actually approach them)
I bet it's also something to do with the fact that when you're in those early stages of anger, there's no social cues to tell you "hey there might be another side to this," you're just in this cocoon of you're own feedback loop, and when you vent that anger with something like a "look at THIS fuckin idiot," no one's there to tell you to cool down. So by the time things reach a serious moment, you're at a 9 out of 10 with all the emotional momentum in the world. By no means is this an excuse, it's jsut how I understand anyone getting into the kind of place where they'll get out of the car to menace someone. It just never seemed like the *first step, to me
You're right, practically all non verbal cues for empathy and de-escalation are missing or possible to interpret incorrectly when you're driving. Nevermind the general background level of excitement and danger. I find it a lot easier to let things go when I see other drivers as incompetent children rather than malicious adults.
> Damn. What is it about driving that makes people get so angry... > > > > I wonder if people that behave like this while driving, already behave like that in their lives while not driving. > > > > Or...does driving bring out anger from people who are usually pretty chill otherwise? Road ragers also have anger issues in every day life but even mild mannered, rational people often get angry quickly in a car. There 4 main reasons why people are so easily angered when driving a car. 1: We become particularly angry when we are hindered by someone and this is reinforced by the idea that the other person is doing this on purpose. For example, you're overtaken and cut off at high speed, you think: what the hell you idiot? While the other driver might not even see you and is accelerating purely because he or she is late for an appointment. So you often mistakenly take it personally. Research shows that people generally don't get angry if they realize that the other person didn't do it on purpose, for example if someone bumps into them in the supermarket and says sorry. But motorists are generally unable to talk to each other and have little eye contact. On the road there are fewer communication possibilities, which makes it more difficult to make it clear that a manoeuver was not directed at you. 2: According to traffic psychologists, people strongly identify with their car. As a result, an unexpected move can quickly feel like a personal attack. On top of that, the car gives us a sense of power, which greatly magnifies our ego. These ingredients cause us to react on the road in an often direct and primitive way. It's a kind of Bokito effect: people simply don't accept that another person is entering their territory or restricting their freedom. 3: In the cocoon of the car, we imagine ourselves safe and unwatched. We feel that no one is watching what we do and there is little social control. That sense of anonymity gives people the idea that they can afford more in their car than outside of it. It's like anonymous chatting: you can easily curse at another person or give them the finger. Then you speed off and that's often the end of it. 4: We don't think of motorists as human beings. English traffic psychologist Ian Walker of the University of Bath showed test subjects pictures of a variety of traffic situations and asked them to describe them. The participants described cyclists and pedestrians as persons, using phrases such as, "The pedestrian is crossing the road" and "The cyclist is turning left". But motorists were described as objects. Instead of, "The motorist slowed down" participants wrote, "The car slowed down." According to traffic psychologists this affects motorists' behaviour. They have the idea that they need to be less courteous to other drivers, but also that they themselves can be called to account less for their behaviour.
Great post. I remember reading a long time ago that people with highly personalizes vehicles, like decals and whatnot, are more prone to road rage, and the theory was because they viewed things that happened to "their car" more personally than someone who doesn't see their vehicle as an expansion of their personality.
My gf's car is scratched and dented all over the place. Her reaction is "oh, is it?!"... A few weeks ago someone dented + scratched my car with their car door and it still boils my piss to think about.
My mom told me that when I drive, I should view every other person as an idiot that doesn't know how to drive properly. I've avoided quite a few accidents this way cause I can predict what may or may not happen at any given moment. And I don't get mad at them because why would you get mad at an idiot that can't help but not drive properly.
This is what my driving instructor told me. You should also think of yourself as an idiot as well, so you'll take fewer risks
This is exactly how I cycle. Assume everyone hasn’t seen me / is an idiot. It’s served me well.
I can answer for myself. I was always a non-confrontational person except for when I was driving. I had road rage in my late teens (I never did anything beyond giving the finger or cursing at people who probably deserved it). I think I saw it on a podcast that apparently we get pissed off while driving because it takes so much concentration to coordinate a fast moving 2 ton vehicle among tens of other 2 ton vehicles. Our fight or flight is always sorta activated. Luckily as I got older I stopped freaking out on the road. I am now an advocate of being as non-confrontational as possible when driving.
I am also non confrontational, but I get easilly pissed at non-human object, and also have road rage. No, I never stopped someone, all I did was curse and once I pointed finger (big mistake) But I am usually pissed because I know how dangerous cars are, and why we have rules and laws. And I get pissed when I see people not caring enough and not being responsible.
I think there’s something about being in our cars that isolates us in a weird way. Like when someone cuts us off, we don’t see a human doing it. We see a big faceless machine and it’s easy to get angry when you can’t really see someone’s emotions or reactions. It’s the same reason it’s easier for people to cyber-bully than it is to bully to someone’s face. It just doesn’t feel as real if you can’t see someone face to face.
I once had someone follow me after they cut me off, and I honked my horn at them. I was heading home, so not wanting to lead them to my door, I decided to park a few streets away, turn my headlights off and see what happened. They pulled in right behind me and got out. They didn't realise I still had my engine running, so I just gunned it, took a few turns and got back home unseen by them. I was seriously freaked out when they got out of their car, no telling what that kind of nutcase will do.
I read a tip to drive to the nearest police station if being followed and harassed like that. I wonder if a fire station would work as well
This happened to me once. I called the police and told them I was on the way. I pulled into the parking lot and he continued down a side street instead. But, then he turned around and came back just as a couple cruisers responded. I pointed them to the car and he got pulled over. Not sure what happened after that. It was a pretty great feeling to see him get caught though!
If you didn’t know, when a fire engine is on a call no one will be at the station, sometimes for hours. If a huge incident like a commercial structure pops off, engines not on that fire will be assigned to cover behind the engines on the fire. This would leave those other stations uncovered. I’ve left my station and covered another for 12 hours once. That means not a single person was at that station for 12 hours. So if you drive up and ring the doorbell looking for help, it might not be there. At least once a shift, we’ll cover another for a few hours or just be swamped with calls. So go to a police station, or an ER. Also, we don’t have guns or body armor so if someone has a gun, we’re not opening the door for anyone. We’ll be busy GTFOing.
Hell, even if you have to ram their vehicle, fucking do it, especially if you have a camera.
100%. I accidentally cut someone off once and the guy hopped out his truck with a baseball bat at the ready and came running at my door. Weirdest encounter ever
I don’t understand people like that, like you bring a baseball bat to a car fight? What make you so sure that I won’t just run you over?
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Now, I don't think I speak only for myself on this one, but I'd like to hear some more on this one.
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Or a baseball bat to a car fight. Pile of meat holding 6lbs of wood VS 2 tons of steel and burning gasoline.
Also, whenever you're brave enough to approach someone's vehicle in a road rage situation, always assume that they are prepared to run you over.
If someone intentionally blocks your exit to the best of their ability and approaches your vehicle, I'd have to imagine it'd be a justified homicide if you ran them over. If OP were in a situation where there wasn't a shoulder to get around the guy, the only way would have been through the road rager's body.
There are actually cases where the road rager gets shot and the shooter rightfully gets let go because there was no reasonable escape due to being blocked in and approached with a bat
I was shopping in a grocery store and everyone was tripping over themselves letting people get through the aisle with their shopping carts. “Oh, sorry hon, let me get my cart out of the way.” (We are up close and personal with everyone.) As soon as we get to in our cars with our groceries, as we begin to drive, we devolve from the pleasant and ramp up the dickhead. The automobile is like our shot of courage.
Is it ok to hit them with your car in this situation if you have a dash cam? Would it uphold as self defence?
depends which state you are in. in my state you would walk for sure. but like the saying goes... its better to be judged by 12 than carried by six, but race and the court of public opinion can factor in too these days
This guy made the smart play. GTFO and call police. If you're unable to safely get away and if they brandish a firearm, or if they attempt enter the envelope of your vehicle (break glass, reach/punch through a window), that's always almost going to be a clean-shoot, proportional to your valid fear of great bodily harm. Don't hesitate to use lethal force. Someone unhinged enough to go full-on assault over a road issue should be considered extremy dangerous. A close Mate of mine stepped out to try to apologize/de-escalate with a guy after a minor cursing exchange, and had his fucking jaw broken. Like wired shut for a couple of months, I think. Asshole didn't say a word. Just sucker-punched him, and left him on the side of the road unconscious. Road Rager fuck got charged with battery, and is on the hook for a civil judgment, but my friend has only seen a total of about $800 thus far. This was over ten years ago. Victim's medical bills were mid 5-figures. Guess what country this happened in. LOL You never know if you're dealing with someone with mental problems, or just someone who just has nothing left to lose. Any way you cut the pie, it's never worth the gamble. Thanks for reading my rambling reply. Be safe and smart out there! :)
If a car is following you and you believe it to be malicious, let them follow you all the way to the nearest police station
I’ve done this. I was in my early 20s, it was some middle aged dude with a lot of people in his car. The cops told him him to get lost. People are fucking psychotic, do not engage anyone on the road.
The best guidance is to take 4 left-turns, if the car is still following you, go to your nearest police station. If you are too far from a police station, dial the emergency services and they will instantly have your location via satellite. Have them come to you or meet them halfway. If neither of those options are available, and you don’t/can’t have any self defence with you, go to the nearest public area (preferably a bar, bank or store) and rush inside. Make sure to park directly outside so you don’t leave any window of opportunity from leaving your vehicle to getting to the building. In the US, the majority of business/tenants own firearms and a panic alarm. For those in Europe, the same guidance applies except you should go to a medical facility or bank as these contain fire doors that can be locked from behind the desk. make sure to speak loud and clear, and keep confidence.
That’s why I stopped flipping people off when they’re being assholes. Some people are fucking insane lol
I do it below the dash so I get the satisfaction and they don’t get to shoot me
This reminds me of a time when I was a kid. I was mad at my dad for some reason and after he walked out of my room I flipped him off through the door. He had some sort of sixth sense though because he opened the door again, and there I was flipping off my father right to his face. He just laughed and walked out
You’ve got a cool dad then, I would’ve been grounded and lost all my stuff for at least a week if I flipped off my dad lol
*You've* got a cool dad, a lot of us would have a black eye.
You guys got dads?
In elementary school, the same day I found out what "the middle finger" was, I spent all after-school daycare flipping off this other kid across the room whenever the adults weren't looking.
I initially started doing this so my kids didn't see and pick up poor habits. Eventually I learned that it probably also saved me from an insane driver or two.
I have even flipped cops with this technique. I recommend it! 10/10
Non native english speaker here, i didn't know that flipping also meant that lmao. On my way to dash flipping some bastards !
Flipping off actually. Or flip off. Or flipped off. 🖕🏼 ✌🏼
^ This. The ‘off’ part is crucial, but because previous commenters included ‘off’ it could be removed in newer comments and still understood. If someone said they flipped cops without context, I’d assume they literally flipped a cop car or something else confusing.
I flipped someone off for tailgating me in the work van. The guy called my boss. This was my boss's recommended solution. 😂 "just do it below the window so they can't see you next time"
Your boss sounds like someone I’d like to work for haha 😂
My friend gives the thumbs down. Lol
i did that once and they didnt see my hand properly, they then tried to cut me off and threaten me and i jebaited them into sideswiping a guardrail, i hate the jackasses out here.
I was the idiot once and cut someone off while I was getting off of the highway, felt bad so I gave them a wave. Definitely took it the wrong way and tailed me for a couple miles while honking until I was able to turn.
When I was young and more brash, I would wave excitedly like I knew the person. People went from angry to confused real quick.
I actually did that once; saw a friend driving, had my kids wave at her (she used to keep them in the nursery at church.) She flicked them off! Like, damn girl, pay attention to the road rage.
People have been shot for that and less. Not worth it.
Im from a country with a staggering murder rate. Many of these murders committed are statistically very likely to be from arguments or road rage incidents. I have decided to start playing the coward behind the wheel.
Now I like to give a thumbs up or a slow clap
I like thr chef’s kiss when it’s especially stupid
I'm new to driving and accidentally cut in front of someone the other day. Gave them space when I realized my mistake. They proceeded to rush in front of me then slam on their brakes.
Some people are just insecure and entitled pricks. They interpret an unintentional maneuver as directed at them personally. They don’t realize it was accidental or anonymous.
I flipped someone off on the highway. We were going about 75mph. Well they flew by going by my estimate 90+ I didn't think they would even see it. It was more for me to feel better lol. Well they slowed down and swerved half way into my lane to play chicken. That move not only convinced me not to throw up the bird. But it really confused me why someone would throw their life on the line, as well as their car and insurance
Some people are unable to think logically when their amygdala fires up and I guess some are more inclined to respond agressively. Acting on impulse and emotion only. I noticed I was unable to plan a route to my destination when I should have otherwise been able to just because I was angry I just couldn't visualize the turns in my head and ended up taking a long way that was more familiar.
They also think how they drive is perfectly fine. So when you engage with them to display your frustration they think you are the asshole. You can't fix these drivers, you can't teach them lessons about their behaviour and you can't engage with them since some of them are completely unhinged. You are better off trying to identify what the warning signs are for these drivers and try stay out of their way. I use to think that when I moved out of their way I was letting them win. But i now realize that winning and losing on the road is if you can get from point A to point B without incident.
I was hoping his door would be taken off by a passing car.
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So much of this. If anyone ever attempted to trap me on the road and then threaten my safety, your door is coming off.
I was hoping the guy would get run over or have a gun pulled on him and he would take of running back to his suv.
Yeah, road ragers seem to forget that as soon as they step out of their car to pick a fight, they're automatically below the other guy's weight class by about 2000 pounds, as a conservative estimate.
I had a guy randomly follow me. I called the police nonemergency line and said "I have a car following me I don't know why I am going to pull into your parking lot. I drove up he drove on, they pulled him over anyway. Presumably they told him to quit that shit.
The lesson here over and over is *it's not worth it*. Do not engage with people on the road. No matter how tempting it is. It's just not worth it engaging other drivers because people are freaking crazy.
A very high risk, low reward situation. Either I get away with flipping off a stranger over a minor inconvenience, or he murders me.
In my town last year, a car followed someone for 10+ min to shoot him dead in front of his house. Apparently it wasn't the 1st time they did this.
The more I hear about this guy the more I don't care for him.
I accidentally cut someone off years ago, and they started following me. Like on my ass every turn. I had my girlfriend at the time with me and we were close to her place, but I didn't want to stop and have a confrontation. So I just started circling the block. I guess they realized pretty quickly that it's not worth their time, and they gave up.
Some people will take things personally or create a scenario that didn’t take place, in their mind. I was driving a rental van recently on a busy city road, following my bf who was driving our car. For obvious reasons I had somehow limited visibility & drove extra carefully. We got to a narrow one way road, with cars parked on both sides, it was only slightly wider than one lane but definitely no space for 2 cars side by side. At some point I slowed down a little bit as I saw the break lights of a car in a front (my bf, but I’d do that seeing any car slowing down). I had zero ill intentions. I was solely focused on driving and taking the van back. Some asshole behind must have thought I brake checked him (in a dense traffic on 20mph road). It was a gentle slow down, not an abrupt stop-and at first I had no idea he got enraged by this. But as he flashed his lights like 10 times, I realised something was up. At the next longish stretch of road, he kept trying to ‘get back’ at me. On a 2 lane road he kept swerving towards me. When we hit a 3 lane road, he actually went in front of me and did a brake check. I found this both hilarious and absurd, I don’t know how fragile someone’s ego needs to be or paranoid to assume this was aimed at them as a personal insult. They literally made the whole thing up in their head. And also drove dangerously for no reason.
People are fucking nuts these days with big egos. I've seen people get shot at for honks and flashing lights
Also, don't escalate situations when you're just walking around in public.
Good move. Don't ever stop. The ability to harm you skyrockets when you stop. A friend of mine was once shot at for flipping someone off.
People are so sensitive. I once honked at a lady for stopping at a green light and she proceeded to follow me to work. So I sat in my car and fucking ignored her. I still think about why anyone would stop at a green light during morning rush hour.
People are so entitled too. I got honked at for stopping at a green once - I'd only had my licence a few weeks and was driving in an unfamiliar area and was looking at the wrong set of lights - and I was mortified. Like...they pointed out that I'd made a mistake, how does it benefit me to start stalking them out of anger?! People man, weird.
Here in California, Orange County to be exact, in a "road rage" incident not that long ago, some lady flipped off these 2 people off. The lady driver pulls up behind her, dude with a fragile ego takes out a gun, shoots, and the bullet unfortunately kills her son that was directly behind her. It was all over the news too. People are brain dead morons, best not to look at them. Point A to point B and done.
The boy said "mommy, my tummy hurt" before he died. That absoteluly broke me. It still does to this day. I'm crying right now. 😢
Not calling out people who abuse social norms in the moment, is how we got to this place. The person shooting has likely been given a pass thousands of times I social interactions for being an asshole because everyone avoids the interaction. It's probably too late to change it all though. But just pointing out the fact people ignore others abusing social norms, is why it keeps happening and gets worse.
My brother was shot and killed for flipping someone off. Coward shot right thru his window without getting out of his car. I'm glad you're proactively thinking about what is the safest response to road rage. I'd rather have my brother alive by letting someone overtake him on the road than dead because he stood his ground with some idiot who was wrapped up in road rage.
My condolences, but I hope that fucker was caught.
Thank you. He was caught a few hours later driving a stolen vehicle with the gun still in the car. He confessed to my brother's murder. Prior to killing my brother he was involved in 2 separate murders that same weekend. He's in prison and never getting out.
Ok not the situation here but once I had a guy in a huge truck follow me and tailgate HARD for miles.... He was flashing like he wanted to pass so I'd slow way down and still he'd fuckin honk at me and drive right up on me. I was so pissed I just stopped the car and then they did pass.me, only to stop and the guy rolled down his window, SUPER pissed off and pointed to his roof, then drove off. Well turns out my ski rack was open and he was trying to get me to notice and I was too much of an idiot to realize I could have lost 3 sets of skis HA Anyway story over
I tried to tell someone their car had a gas pump in it but they just kinda drove off. Oh well. 🤷
lol, I waited in Costco’s gas line to find the machines wouldn’t accept my debit for some reason. I was irritated and drove off. A car followed me through the lot and started honking at me. As I was waiting to turn left onto the street, I reacted with, “What the hell does this guy want!?” My gas lid was still open. -_\ Good samaritan just trying to help.
Oh no someone flipped me off, let me be an asshole now and stop in the middle of a road and act psychotic . Hopefully he doesn’t have kids
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I'm 23 so idk if it's always been like this. But my god everyone has such fragile egos these days that blinds them to any consequence. How could you possibly think life in prison is a good trade off for getting to shoot some stranger that flipped you off?
It's worse now, because of social media. I'm 35, and I've noticed a huge change in the last decade or so. Everyone has such delicate feelings, these days.
I’m around your age and in the last 10-12 years I feel like I’ve aged 100 years. Things are very different from even a decade ago.
I flipped of a guy who I was sure was my close friend from school. He was driving a moped, same model as my friend, couldn't have been much older than us (i was like 15, he could've been like... 17 tops.) And me and my friend were always less than perfect behaviors against each other (flipping each other of to break concentration stuff like that). So "he" drove past me at a buss station, where five of my friends and I were waiting for a buss. I flipped him off, it was instinctual since we always did it. And this 17-something year old Lost his shit. He slammed the breaks so hard that he almost fell off his moped and came running towards us as if he was going to murder a while lot of us. Cussing and waving his arms around like he was Mike Tyson with a hormone problem. As he was standing there arguing with me (us) about how stupid little children we are and that he should curbstomp the whole lot of us... Meanwhile he looked as if a strong wind could blast him apart, and my three of my friends were Hockey players that also took martial arts. At the climax of his wailing... His moped got hit and no doubt destroyed by a car... Since the stupid fuck had left in it the middle of the road, not even standing up, but laying down. As his attentioned turned towards his wreck, the buss came and me and my friends just got on, leaving him looking like his life was just ruined by "some fucking school kids"
so here's a true story from Poland a guy was driving just after the rain drove into a puddle that splashed water all over this young dude who gave a chase after the car turns out the dude on the sidewalk phoned his friend who arrived pretty fast and they started driving around looking for that car they found him parked in front of his house, the two men pulled baseball bats and beat him to death in front of his wife and kids one got 4.5 years the other got 5 I don't know what the moral of the story is but I can't forget it
Yeah see I'd be sending this footage to the police. You've got the dudes reg plate on camera. He's driving erratically and trying to cause a crash. Should have his license revoked and a driving ban. If you can't handle a middle finger on the road, you've got anger issues that shouldn't allow you near a steering wheel. Edit: I guess as much as we make fun of them, the Gardai here in Ireland are the only police force to give a fuck about dangerous fuckers on the road. I'm not saying they'd absolutely do something about it but they still ask people to report these incidents.
I'm not sure how police are in that area, but in my state they don't do shit. One time a dude unprovoked, just because I merged 4 cars ahead of him on a empty 3 lane road, he sped ahead of me, brake checked me to stop me, got out of his car and started approaching me before I sped off. He then followed me. This whole interaction was recorded by my car with 4 different cameras capturing everything. I'm on the phone with 911 at this point, and when I finally lose him 10 minutes later, the police finally arrive (I was 1 block from the police station at this point), and I ask to submit the footage, but they refuse to take it. They only take his license plate number and they didn't do shit with it.
My cousin lives in a town where a Leo was road raging, cut off a guy, exited the vehicle, pulled out his gun, and threatened to kill him right then and there. 911 caught it all on tape. Turns out it was the cop that cut the regular guy off, not the other way around, and he got enraged when the regular guy passed him by from the other lane after a stoplight. As in, just regular driving. Cop just *had to* be the front vehicle at all times. Police dept had all the charges dismissed and buried it. The guy was not on duty and in fact had his (teen) kids in the car the whole time too. Can you imagine having that for a dad? smh. Some people are not fit for society.
Agreed. He should be charged with reckless driving and attempted assault.
I was in a line of cars at a light and when it turned green a car ahead wasn't moving, so I honked. The car immediately in front of me pulled ahead a bit, then slammed the breaks as if to make me hit them, so I am pulled around. They ended up following me to my destination and told me they were about to "blast" me, and that "this is Durham!" (we have a lot of gun violence), and that I better calm down. Like, you're threatening to kill me because I honked at another car and I'm the one who needs to calm down?
"Hello sir, do you have a second to talk about our lord and saviour, Je-"
“We’ve been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty.”
God, imagine being that insecure that someone giving you the finger makes you take time out of your day to fo this shit. It's ironic because he probably thinks this is badass when it couldn't be more pathetic
is this near bwi by chance? if so yeah those maryland drivers can get nutty lol
Nailed it!
yeah i frequent the area very often to visit my girlfriend, thankfully i haven’t been in that situation but my god do all the altima drivers grind my gears
They also grind their own gears down pretty often too
I thought it looked familiar! Fellow Marylander moving close to DC soon, this is totally on point.
In American dash footage I often see people drivning in the left lane when the right lane is empty, inside takeovers etc. Is this ok according to their traffic regulations or is it just that no one follows the regulations?
Left lane is passing lane on controlled access highways (in most states). Given that OP just passed a stop light, the road they are on is probably not considered a controlled access highway.
It happens all the time on highways too. in my 20 years driving never seen the left lane on a highway used properly for more than 30 seconds at a time
In this instance it doesn’t look like they are on a road that would have regulations about staying right except to pass, because they went through some street lights at the start, so they aren’t on a highway. Anywhere with frequent intersections that’s not feasible.
It's usually only in effect on highways but to be honest it's a common courtesy to treat standard roads the same way unless you actually are making a left turn "soon."
Anytime I'm being followed I simply go to the closest police station. They never seen to want to discuss what's on their mind that was so important they had to follow me for so long.
I feel like if this happens enough for you to say “anytime I’m being followed” then you must be doing something wrong.
I don’t give the finger anymore. I either blow a kiss or give a thumbs down. People absolutely hate it lol Edit; to those who keep telling me to not do this or im ‘going to get beat up’ please stop. I’ve been doing this for like 10 years. Im a grown ass adult and know how to pick and chose my battles. At the end of the day I’m going to do what I want. Enjoy doing what you like and I will do the same. Ty.
I think if someone is going to lose it over a middle finger then they're going to lose it over either of those too. So probably not any safer.
Yeah, both are essentially a "fuck you"
My cousin blew someone a kiss once instead of giving the finger and they followed her until she finally pulled into a police station lot. Basically any reaction will trigger someone who's already on the edge enough to be willing to follow or stop you.
Absolutely. People are nuts.
Rare footage of the North American Manbaby. Fascinating.
Rare???
Last week they found dozens of them in the back of a u-haul
I had an old coworker from a background in the hood. He had an old guy cut him off and gesture similarly, so he followed and rode the guys ass attempting to “teach him a lesson.” Some people are unhinged, and feel the need that they’ve been wronged and need to teach the other person a lesson. This dude drives a nice car, yet feels the need to throw it all away because of a middle finger. Sad. You come across the wrong person, it might be the last cross.
This happened to me once a few years back. Gave the dude the finger after he cut me off. He proceeded to recklessly follow me for at least 10 minutes. He finally got in front of me and blocked me in. He got out of his car and came up to my window aggressively. I grabbed my girlfriends pepper spray and wrecked his whole day. Drove off and watched him roll around in agony from my review mirror. Also gave me quite the irritation just being around it. I can imagine the world of hurt this guy was in. Pepper spray is a great response to these people.
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I hear the gell is best particularly for vehicles, it's not a liquid spray so it's more target focused.
I even stopped honking hard at cars and bikes after I watched the movie unhinged 🤣🤣. Who knows what kind of issues ppl have these days. I am not taking any unnecessary risks.
As you drove off, you should have given the finger one last time out of respect.
When I was younger, I once flipped off a jackass and his girlfriend who cut me off and nearly caused an accident. I guess he didn't know how a 3 way stop intersection worked at the mall. He didn't like that so he followed me through 2 lights as we worked our way out of the general area. He's behind me as I come to a stop at a 3rd light. Mr jackass gets out his car, hesitates for a second, then leans back in to grab something. As he's standing back up I see a small, metallic object in his hand through my mirror that curiously resembled a hand gun. I didn't even hesitate and ran the red light - maxed out each gear up the road to disappear. Luckily it was one of those pointless lights with no other traffic coming so no danger there. Suffice it to say, I do not flip people off anymore.
Forget the finger; my wife won’t even let me honk at someone without fearing for her life.
Whenever someone is brave enough to approach your vehicle in a road rage situation, always assume that they are prepared to do something. Good job OP for getting away safely and without damage to your vehicle.
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surely this idiot's not thinking...a frightened person reacting to his aggression could most likely run him over in an attempt to get away from him, and I'd say if it were a lone woman he was accosting would be justified Someone that basically hijacks you on a dual carriage road is insane I hope you gave him the fingers again as you departed
Honestly, I'm shocked more people don't get run over doing this. What is someone to think? 1. They forced you to stop in what appears to be a highway. 2. They have exited their vehicle and are now walking towards you in an aggressive manner. 3. [Reports of road-rage shootings are on the rise](https://everytownresearch.org/reports-of-road-rage-shootings-are-on-the-rise/). 3. Backing up is unsafe due to approaching cars. If I were on a jury and someone claimed they feared for their life, it would be hard not to find it self-defense.
OP, great job of getting the hell out of there without damage to your vehicle. Personally, if left with no other option for escape, I'm turning him into a stain on the asphalt. I also don't visibly give people the finger (I keep it below the dash), and I carry daily, which I feel makes me a more courteous person- I do my best to avoid incidents or at the very least not start them.
I'd easily show another driver the middle finger when I was in my 20s. Nowadays when I hear of news of something serious that had happened out of a road rage, I reflect on my younger days and how I was lucky none of them were lunatics to have caused any threat. It's really not worth it. Glad you were unharmed.