Terror on the road

[kopfhorer1]

Under the heading of WTF was this guy's problem anyhow, I was driving down a rural road when this redneck in a pickup truck tailgated me so closely that he was practically in my trunk. Having learned long ago that the best thing to do about aggro drivers is to pull over and let them pass, I pulled off the road as best I could (not much shoulder but I did my best). Anyway, he passed me but about a half mile up, he pulls off the road. I sensed he might do what another aggro driver did to me last year and get behind me again, this time following closer with high-beams going full-tilt. So I pulled off the road about 100 feet behind him.

He got out of his truck. I didn't know what he wanted but I didn't care to find out. As I passed him by he pitched a lit cigarette at me. He then started toward me, so I found the nearest side road and not wishing to get dead-ended by this loser, did a 180 and headed back the way I'd come. I was afraid he might T-bone me for revenge, but that didn't happen.

No point calling the cops since it was night and I didn't get a good enough description of his truck or his license plate, and anyway it would be his word against mine.

Needless to say I was and am still upset.

 

[Dave2112]

People are fuckin' stupid, for the most part. Add alcohol to a redneck, and the IQ drops below its usual 45 or so.

On Monday, I had a road stupidity episode of my own. I had to go to the nearest city for something, or I wouldn't have even been out. It was snowing like a bitch...a heavy, wet, sloppy mess that was piling up on the roads like crazy. Now, I'm in a big-ass 4X4 and I'm being cautious. Sure as shit, some 20-something in a pimped-out red riceburner decides he can just whip around everyone, pass all of the "slow" cars on the road...driving like an idiot. So, I'm thinking to myself "Yeah, I'll see you in a bit...."

Sure as shit, two miles down the road, there's FastandFurious nose first in a ditch. My evil side wanted to drive by, give him the finger and point...but that lasted about two seconds. I wound up pulling over and yanking him out with my tow strap...and couldn't resist giving him the lecture while he's standing there in a T-shirt. The whole "you're in a wind-up toy during a blizzard without even a coat. They find people dead on these back roads from this shit, dude."

Stupid fuckin' people.

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

The tension level seems to be amped up of late, for sure. I myself have been alot more aggresive than usual at work, and hope to come up with some sort of "count to ten" way of avoiding an out-and-out blow up at some idiot co-worker.
The only possible upside to my own aggressiveness of late is that I at least seem to be taking it out on the deserving these days, as opposed to the past, when I'd let anger build up and then take it out on those close to me.

Anyway, lotsa people are feeling stressed these days, and you did the right thing from the sounds of it, kopfhorer.

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

This is another reason I am terrified to learn to drive,I can't believe some people can act this way.

 

[kopfhorer1]

...Add alcohol to a redneck, and the IQ drops below its usual 45 or so. ...

45? I think that estimate is far too high! I hope the next driver he pulls that crap on is a cop in an unmarked car! A few years without a license would mend his manners measurably!

I hear ya, QueenBeeBeeMarie! But remember, 90% of the drivers that I've shared the road with have shared it with me. That is, they know they're not the only driver on the road, they don't do anything outrightly stupid (well, not too stupid anyway) and they keep their road rage, if any, in check. The other 10% are the kind of assholes like the one I encountered the other day, people who've not yet gotten it that a 4-ton SUV is not a Tonka toy, people who turn into 3-year-olds the minute they start their engines, and people who multiply the posted speed limit by 15 and behave accordingly (where are the cops? Ticketing some guy for going 30.001 in a 30MPH zone).

And this time of year, I make certain there's a coat in the car and that my cell phone has adequate minutes and juice.

Oh yeah, I forgot another category of asshole - drunks. I'm writing this from the comfort and safety of my living room on this New Year's Eve, because I don't wanna be on the road after the ball drops. You know that's just askin' for it!

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Oh yeah, I forgot another category of asshole - drunks. I'm writing this from the comfort and safety of my living room on this New Year's Eve, because I don't wanna be on the road after the ball drops. You know that's just askin' for it!

They don't call it "amateur night" for nothin'... 😉

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

This is another reason I am terrified to learn to drive,I can't believe some people can act this way.

Some people become...different... after they climb in their cars. I had an old room mate who looked and acted like John Lennon the majority of the time. Get him behind the wheel, though, and his aggressive side came out with a vengeance. Honking, yelling, flipping people off, tail-gating, the works.

 

[liquidsquid1]

I live in a Rural place, and I have to drive a narrow, crooked road with lots of hills to work almost everyday. And someone right on my ass the whole time is just unnecessary, and pretty unsettling. Overall, it's stupid--they're not getting there any faster, and I'm surely not speeding up. The worst is someone trying to cut a tight curve by coming into my lane down a hill. Usually a someone in a big pick up like an old seventies Dodge Ram, or somebody else who doesn't know the road well. Yes, that'll make yer butthole pucker. I Never encountered any road rage out there, but it would be a bad place to deal with someone crazy.
People seem kind of dumb about driving this time of year in heavier traffic. Shit like pulling out in front of me at the last second, and sometimes just doing it only to go a few yards to another turn off or entrance (like McDonald's) or riding the center lane to get back into traffic, blocking anyone that needs to turn. And people flying through an intersection right as the light turns. That and the stuff that's already been mentioned; tailgating, impatience, etc. To them its "me, me, me." They're the only person on the road that matters, and everyone should look out for Them.

I don't let it get to me, though. I like showing people that They lost control while I stayed calm. 🙂

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

45? I think that estimate is far too high! I hope the next driver he pulls that crap on is a cop in an unmarked car! A few years without a license would mend his manners measurably!

I hear ya, QueenBeeBeeMarie! But remember, 90% of the drivers that I've shared the road with have shared it with me. That is, they know they're not the only driver on the road, they don't do anything outrightly stupid (well, not too stupid anyway) and they keep their road rage, if any, in check. The other 10% are the kind of assholes like the one I encountered the other day, people who've not yet gotten it that a 4-ton SUV is not a Tonka toy, people who turn into 3-year-olds the minute they start their engines, and people who multiply the posted speed limit by 15 and behave accordingly (where are the cops? Ticketing some guy for going 30.001 in a 30MPH zone).

And this time of year, I make certain there's a coat in the car and that my cell phone has adequate minutes and juice.

Oh yeah, I forgot another category of asshole - drunks. I'm writing this from the comfort and safety of my living room on this New Year's Eve, because I don't wanna be on the road after the ball drops. You know that's just askin' for it!

Sounds like you need a stun gun too

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

Some people become...different... after they climb in their cars. I had an old room mate who looked and acted like John Lennon the majority of the time. Get him behind the wheel, though, and his aggressive side came out with a vengeance. Honking, yelling, flipping people off, tail-gating, the works.

that is too funny,he must have been a pretty cool guy

 

[kopfhorer1]

Sounds like you need a stun gun too

One of these would be better!

 

[Journia]

One of these would be better!

"Stick THAT in yer' pickup nigga!" I'd say that to the redneck, just before I run him over after flicking the cigarette at me.