So something interesting happened this morning. I was just taking my normal route on the way to work, when I see this guy tailgating me, and he's literally a foot away from my trunk. This being a NEIGHBORHOOD street, the speed limit was 30. Since there was another car in front, it's not like I can go anywhere else or speed up. So as the other car was braking, I tapped my brake also, hoping he would get off my tail. Instead this outrages him more, and he gets out of his car, throws his hands up and challenges me to come out and fight. I thought nothing of it and I just drive away calmly, and here's where it gets even worse. I turn on to my main street, and was driving for a couple minutes, when I see his SUV speeding up the road trying to catch me. I first think, are you seriously mad about me braking? So I try to turn into a parking lot to try and lose him but he turns hard and tries to cut me off, so I just pull a u turn. He then speeds up again to catch me, gets in front, and tries to cut me off again, in which I maneuver and pull another u turn and then lose him, and he's yelling at me while I drive the other direction. I thought about calling the cops and having him follow me until they arrive, but that didn't come up at the time, and in hindsight should have done that immediately. I've had a little road rage before, but not enough to get mad enough to get out of the car, so I just thought this was an interesting morning. How do you guys/girls deal with road rage type drivers? I know its not worth getting all worked up over it, and I did my best to keep it cool, but what else is there to do. I wasn't about to put my life on the line and future in jeopardy for some punk kid that was pissed off this morning. Anyways, just thought i'd share my story, although im sure thousands have the same story. Its a crazy world out there.
You probably made the right call. The number of people who are upset enough by minor traffic squabbles to stalk you for several blocks likely correlates highly with the number of people who carry unlicensed firearms in their glove compartments. Not worth the confrontation, though it would've been nice to know why he was angry. I do keep the tire iron within reach while driving, in the driver's side door compartment, for such occasions; not much good it'll do me in a Landry-type situation, though.
Yeah I had a mini-aluminum baseball bat ready and a box cutter, but didn't want to escalate any situation, considering firearms may be involved cause you know never know how people are these days.
I've never had anything like that happen to me. I'm not sure what I'd do. Probably something stupid and get myself stabbed. Congratulations on not being killed though! I wonder what he thought you did, to react like that.
A couple of weeks back I was getting into the HOV lane and I see this silver mercury in the distance, I speed up to get in and I look back and he's still pretty far off and I assume 45 mph speed limit in that area, no problem. Right as I'm merging in I look back one more time and he is right on my ass and hits his breaks and honks at me. Maybe it was my fault, but from my vantage point he sped up like hell to beat me but just didn't make it. Anyways, he tailgates me the whole way, Exits where I do at Edloe but I turn right towards bissonnet and he looks like he's going to re-enter the HOV or turn right towards Richmond. Instead after I'm down that ramp where Edloe and Westpark meet, he turns right to follow me and he honks and he and his meth head buddy (I assume they were meth heads because they both had all kinds of piercings and what not) curse me out and flip me the bird. My sister was with me and she got on the phone and called the police. I guess they saw her on the phone because they drove off after that.
I will gladly make this b**** move everytime if it saves serious harm or risk getting shot or stabbed. If I'm a b**** then I'd like to be an alive one.
I hate people who tailgate but ignore the fact that there are cars in front and to the side...meaning you can do nothing to get out of the way. This guy is one of them. I was once a passenger in a car on a residential 30 mph road. We were driving behind a lady (approx. age - 40 years old) in a car and she was going under 20 MPH on a 30 MPH road. We weren't riding her bumper like happened in this poster's case. There was about a car length between us. What does she do? Instead of just pulling over to the side and letting us pass...she stops in the middle of the road, gets out of her car, and starts whining and literally crying about "why are we tailing her?" My driver friend said "look lady...you're driving over 10 MPH below the speed limit". We then just drove around her. Talking about stupid. She must have been mental or something. I see old folks driving really slow on residential roads all the time and even they have the common sense to let faster cars pass them.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/cowardly%20lion" target="_blank"><img src="http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l91/kidsmom_01/coward.jpg" border="0" alt="COWARDLY LION Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a> Just Kidding. You made the mature move. I would have got myself shot.
this is us nearly everyday on the way home. we're going 75 on the westpark moving with the traffic and some dip**** is right on our ass trying to do that swerve between lanes thing to let us know he wants to go faster. only problem is, dip****, there's a full line of cars ahead of us. oh AND WE'RE ALREADY GOING 75!!!!
My normal response in residential neighborhoods when someone is tailgating me, is to slow down to about half the speed limit. So in your case, I would have been going 15 mph. If I'm on the highway, and someone does it to me, I dont care, and just keep driving. Then, when they try to pass, I speed up, and get next to a car in the lane they just got in. Then when they get behind me again, I slow down. Its pretty much a rule of mine. My take on it is this. There aren't a whole lot of people out there on the road that have any life-threatening illnesses at the time they are driving. And none of them are generally late for a million dollar business meeting. So I have fun with them. Besides, I either do the speed limit, or go under it. I'm not the person who says lets go 5 miles over. In my opinion, a speed limit, is just that, a limit on how fast you can go. If a coupon says you get 5 free meals, you dont get 10, because there is a limit. So if the speed limit is 65, I'm going 65.
People like you cause accidents. If someone is trying to pass you on a multiple-lane road, swallow your pride and let him pass you. There is no need to agitate the other drive and escalate the situation.
