Road Rage

My road rage potential has disappeared since moving away from Dallas - and I moved to SoCal. Dallas is the selfish, ******* motorist capital of the world. I've never been to a worse place about seeing a blinker and speeding up in a lane to block someone out rather than backing off the gas and letting them over. I've never seen a worse place about just pulling out in front of an oncoming vehicle at a fraction of their speed. You cannot commute from downtown Dallas to McKinney and not see a wreck or three. "Drive Friendly, the Texas way!" What a load of *********.
 
As a very young driver I would occasionally eclipse 100mph. As a younger man I would pay very close attention to what stunts others were hoping to pull and would outfiend them just for sport. NOW? I realize that a possible traffic advantage almost always gets wiped away by a traffic light or a stop sign. In the end it's better to embrace the Tao that it's just the river. You may or may not win the fight on the road, but just engaging in the fight means you probably lose. Maybe your life, but certainly your serenity.
 
Ok- Confessional time.

Last night I was walking on a sidewalk in a very busy area. A guy leaves a parking lot with his girlfriend in the car, windows down, he's mid- 40s, balding, fat- and nearly shoves me and another guy with his car because we were on the part of the sidewalk he wanted to drive over. I was so close I could have reached inside the car- I was inches away as he was driving.

Because traffic was bad, it was easy to see him at the stop light, so I walked over and told the girlfriend she married a #$%^, #$%^ who happens to be a #$%^&& driver, and good luck with that.

I don't care how much counseling or kumbaya I am given- I will never not be pissed off when someone thinks they can risk other people's lives so they can shave 10 seconds off a drive- that pisses me off so #$%^ much.
 
I thought of another ******* story from 7 years ago. This dude that looked about my size sitting in his Jeep Wrangler cut me off on Kirby in Houston, right at the Westheimer intersection. I was heading north on Kirby, and got the guy back by cutting him off myself right about the time we got to the light in the left hand turn lane to get on Westheimer. At this point, we were honking at each other and generally comparing dick sizes. I was seething, and decided instead of turning left onto Westheimer, I'd pull into the shopping center at the NW corner. Why, I don't know, but I was not in a good frame of mind.

He followed me, riding my ***. Which only pissed me off further. Once in the parking lot, I put the car in park and got out. Now, I thought this guy was about my size. I'm 6'4'' 215. As soon as I turn toward the Jeep, a guy about the size of Dolph Lundgren is sprinting at me with Teddy Lehman speed. Seriously, the guy was a few inches taller than me, at least 250, completely ripped in a smedium shirt (I'd like to think he had a barb wire tat), all-out sprinting directly at me with clear 4.4 speed. I exited my car prepared to assail him with M'erF'er bombs, and I turned to face a combo of Ivan Drago ready to break me bearing down on me with the speed of the fastest LB'er ever to play college ball.

I did what any honorable person would do. In a sobering moment of self-preservation, I turned back to my car like a complete vagina, threw it in drive, and peeled out in the parking lot. I was able to do this because when Drago exited his car, he left while I continued driving. So I had just the amount of time to get back in my car. As I peeled out, the guy's hands were reaching out on my Tahoe's taillights. After peeling out, I thought the problem was left in the dust. But this guy, kept chasing, and it became clear to me this was the kind of guy who'd throw his fist through my back or side window, or my front window. It was 10 or 11 on a weeknight, without much traffic, but I still floored it onto Westheimer without looking. The distance from my peel-out to the lot exit was about 75 yards, and this guy was to the side of my rear window the entire time. As I executed the turn, this guy actually dove onto Westheimer after my car. He was literally in the right hand lane of Westheimer, sprawled out, as I drove away. Yeah, I completely pussed out, and it was the smartest decision I had made that day and one of the smartest of my life. The whole ordeal toward the end was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.
 
Rex, all I have to say is, "wow."

My wife always says, "what if the guy has a gun"- and I joke- what if they wonder if I do? But secretly, whether it's a gun or a NFL D-Lineman it's a huge risk to have road rage and I am as guilty as you are for occasionally losing it.

That being said, it really pisses me off when you get shoved with a car or have your life put at stake so someone else can shave 10 seconds off their drive. Grrrrr..
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Someday I'll move to the country so I can chill out..
 
I was the recipient of a shotgun blast on Hwy 16 between Bandera and Medina (totally random I think) so the country is perhaps more likely to be either armed or a goat roper who needs love too.
 
No.

I get mad when people don't make any effort to make a light, but I would never communicate that to the other driver, who has a right to drive as they desire so long as they do it safely.

I will honk at someone who does something dangerous, i.e., cuts me off or comes through a stop sign without stopping, but I won't do anything more than the horn.
 
Actually if you do nothing more than the horn as Buckhorn said- you are of a similar mind set as me and some of the other road ragers. Like me, you're wanting to convey to an idiot or dangerous driver what they did was really bad, you're upset about it, you don't want your car's paint or your health risked because they made a mistake- it's just that in addition to the horn sometimes I've given the finger or comment with windows rolled down.

I fully admit that most likely my venting may likely have zero effect on whether or not the other driver realizes what he did, why its bad and whether or not he'll improve in the future- however I still sometimes do it because as flawed as it is I want to feel like there's either a chance he will realize the mistake and improve- or at the least understand that the road involves other people who hate his style of driving.

Honking is simply level 1 of road rage
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One of my best friends has road rage issues and has had at least three incidents become physical confrontations. This last time, my friend (I'll call him "Paul") was coming out of a parking lot and yielding to another guy who was driving down main road. But instead of continuing to go straight, the guy pulls into the parking lot without using his turn signal. This pisses my friend off because he had to wait, when he could have just pulled out onto the main road if the guy had used his turn signal, so Paul rolls his window down and flicks the guy off right to his face as he passes right by.

The guy then stops his car right there and gets out of his truck, and Paul does the same. The parking lot was pretty busy and already there are cars pulling up behind both vehicles and getting blocked, so those cars start honking at them. The guy walks right up to Paul and starts yelling at him, but Paul is so enraged he can’t even process what the guy’s saying, and when he gets close enough Paul clocks the guy right on the jaw.

It’s a clean hit and at this point Paul expects the guy to be pretty ****** up but he shows no effect. He also sees that this guy’s face looks pretty ****** up to begin with, as if he had been in a lot of fights before, so he starts thinking he may have made a big mistake.

Paul is just about to hit him again, when the guy puts his hands up defensively, cowers back, and says “Wait!! Hold on a second”. He then calmly walks back to his car, opens the driver’s side door, flips his turn signal switch in both directions, and… nothing.
 
I had some road rage last night. I have to confess. Last night I rolled my eyes a couple of times!

I use cruise control and love it. There are always those cars not using it and it's obvious. You pass them. They then pass you. Your speed has not changed and you pass them again. Wait, they now speed up in the lane to the right. You cannot pass now unless you floor it. Hang back, get back in lane so others can pass you as they are going much faster. Don't want to be that guy.

Hey look, it's that guy again now going ten under the limit. Pass 'em. Three minutes later they creep up again. So I roll my eyes as this game goes on. My speed never waivers. Why can they not make it easier on themselves? I guess they don't have cruise control or know how it works?

Well, I showed them.
 
Oh they just got rolled! Had they seen my eyes roll they would have lost control of the steering wheel. I have mad skills.
 
I have graduated to a new stage of road rage reaction. I used to shoot the finger at the guilty parties. But I eventually decided there were people with guns, wackos, retaliators, drunks, the mentally ill, and aggy behind the wheel, so why antagonize them.
I switched to the milder response, honking at them. Then I evolved further, aided by extensive readings authored by the Dalai Lama. Now I don't honk at anyone. But I flash my bright lights.
So if you cut a car off in traffic and they flash their lights at you, they are really shooting you the finger, but in a peaceful, gentlemanly way. I hope you appreciate the gesture.
 
ME TOO!!! Trust me, just pass him. He does not like you lingering next to him any more than you do.
 
I SO miss the days when this was the norm for vehicles in this state, and the half-cocked, hair-triggered driver was the rarity.

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