At age 17, I rec'd my first speeding ticket and got to take defensive driving. Cool. The instructor asked folks in the class if they passed people on 2 lane roads. Just about everyone raised a hand. He then asked how many people did not like to get passed and about 3/4 raised their hands. That seemed odd to me as I never thought anything about it. It is simply logic. The fasster drivers pass the slower ones. Then came the question that floored me. He asked how many folks would re-pass a person just because that person passed them. It was about 60% of the class. I was young and naive and figured I must not understand something critical in driving. No, I understood. Somehow for some reason, being passed is something people find insulting. Then again, I always figured the fast guys that pass me are the ones most likely to be tagged for speeding and I see it is as a benefit if they pass me.
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Critique...
You passed a guy and it pissed him off. It bothered you that he stopped close to your car. That is stupid. If he didn't touch your car, don't sweat it. If anything, his car was hindered by being that close, not yours.
You knew the guys was upset by his actions, so you made a rude gesture. I think you will find that in virtually all classes with de-escalation techniques, the notion of insulting a person who is obviously mad at you and mad over trivial matters is frowned on as it is not a good way to make the other guy feel better about you.
he then proved his insanity by trying to force me off the road.
I swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid a collision and tried to get out of there (I was only over the curb for a half a minute, but thank God no trees or kids were there) I sped up to leave and he started following me, I drove around in circles but being a residential neighborhood I decided to pull over because we were near a rec center and children were all over the place.
WRONG! He did not prove his insanity and even if it could be proof of insanity, you apparently failed to comprehend the significance of the events.
What did you fail to comprehend? You failed to comprehend the threat! But wait, you failed so many more times in this manner as well.
You drove in circles in a neighborhood where you were run up on the curb by the guy tailing you and then because of your care and concern for the children, like you were Sally Struthers, you pulled over and stopped?
I guess since that you were concerned for the children that you felt you could not drive at any speed what-so-ever to put distance between yourself and the children, even if just 5-10 mph. So you stopped, because of your concern for the kids, thereby negating a critical means of self defense, being in motion. Not only that, but the other guy stopped as well.
So, since you are concerned about the kids, you and this guy that you have deemed crazy and who has already tried to run you off the road...y'all are both stopped near the rec center with kids around. Great. That means you are now keeping the mad man close to the kids. Did you think for a second that maybe after he tries to kill you or succeeds, that he might need to speed away from the area, running over kids? In other words, the idea that you stopped was out of safety for the kids does not hold water. You could have driven away at 5-10 and put enough distance between you and the kids in a minute or so, leading the angry guy slowly away, but you didn't.
Contrary to what you might think, you were not increasing the kids' safety, but decreasing it.
I stayed in my car and unzipped my fanny pack (where my sp101 lives) and called 911
I always like it when people say stuff like how you unzipped your fanny pack where you SP101 lives. That shows you are ready for battle. Oooh Ahhh. At the Tacoma Mall, McKown drew his gun that he carried for the protection of others, then reholstered it as he realized he would have to make a head shot and could not risk it and was in fear for breaking the law on brandishing.
Okay, so you are stationary (for the children), on the phone with 911, and your gun is ready in the unzipped fanny pack)
As he approached my car I saw that he didn't have any weapons in my hand
Uh, you could see that as he approached your car that he didn't have any weapons in HIS hand(s), right? Well obviously if the guy who ran you off the road after following you some distance is approaching your vehicle and doesn't have any weapons in his hands, he must be safe. Right? After all, why would he be walking up to you empty handed?
Wait a second! You had a fanny pack with a gun? Did the guy know you had a gun? Not that you indicated. Being as he didn't know you had a gun in a fanny pack, how did you know he didn't have a gun tucked in a back pocket or inside the waistband of his pants? You didn't. This is a critical mistake. You assumed his empty hands meant that he was not a threat, but your hands only held a cell phone. Were you a threat? Yes. He appears to have blundered as bad as you in this case. Both of you did crappy jobs of assessing the opposition,
and I got out of my car so I could see the street signs and tell 911 dispatch where I was
So, you were followed by a guy angry at you, ran you off the road and you stopped your vehicle to save the children, saw the angry guy advancing on you with no weapons in hand and you got out of your vehicle so that you could see the street signs to tell the 911 operator where you were??? All that time driving in circles and you didn't bother to note where you were?
Okay, so the guy gets out of his vehicle and walking toward you. Would it have been possible for you to drive away, safely? No doubt that even in a school zone, you would drive under the posted school zone speed and still be pulling away from a gun on foot. Why would you NOT take advantage of the 150 hp under the hood? Why would you let a man who ran you off the road approach you like that? Why would you get out of your car with an angry man approaching you? The last physical barrier of safety was the metal and glass of your vehicle and you voluntarily gave that up because you incorrectly determined the guy was not a threat since he didn't have a weapon in his hands. That sort of sounds like McKown at Tacoma Mall. With gun holstered, McKown stood up from behind cover/concealment and told the shooter to drop his gun. The shooter dropped McKown with 5 shots that struck him. McKown did not have a weapon out and failed to make use of available cover...just like you.
... he was yelling enough that the ispatcher heard him the guy finally realized I was on the phone with the cops when I was telling them his plate # and truck colors model
Yep, and the dispatcher might have been the last person to hear you speaking while you were alive as the 911 tape could have recorded the sound of the man charging you and drawing a knife that he used to stab you multiple times or recorded the sound of gun shots as he drew a gun you did not see and started shooting you. 911 dispatchers are not known for being able to appear on site to provide protection. How soon did the police arrive? With your information to 911, were they able to for a perimeter around the area and catch the guy? No. That doesn't happen often. I can, but you can't count on the police being on the next street when you need them.
I think my two mistakes were engageing the nitwit and when I got out of the truck I zipped my fanny pack closed because he was unarmed (but it got his attention and he didn't get near me ) I think he got a hint I was armed because of the fanny pack and the NRA and gun bumper stickers all over the back of my truck
Do you honestly believe that the guy put 2 and 9 together and figured out you were carrying a gun? The guy tailgated you over some distance and tried to run you off the road. Your NRA sticker didn't mean a thing to him.
Oh, but wait, being the well informed and reasonable thinking man that he was, he became scared because you zipped closed your fanny pack for which he identified as maybe having a gun because you have an NRA sticker? Outside of the gun culture, few people associate guns with fannypacks. The folks I worked with for 2 years knew I was a shooter and I took several shooting. The look of surprise was wonderful when they saw me draw from my fanny pack, the one that I wore to work most days. Simply put, fanny packs don't register as a gun item to non-gun people.
If he is that smart, then he decided you DON'T have a gun because what gun toting NRA guy would who has been chased and run off the road and is now outside of his vehicle with no protection would close off access to a firearm when the pissed off guy is closing ground on foot???
More likely, he thinks you pulled out your cell phone from the fanny pack, saw him coming and closed the fanny pack because it probably still contains your wallet or money for your pizza job. You weren't convincing him of your gun when you closed the fanny pack, but convinced him that you were securing your valuables. In short like a ship, you were battening down the hatches before about being slammed by a big storm.
2 mistakes? No. You made more like 10 mistakes, a couple of which were chronic and could have been lethal. These were the ones where you decidedly downplayed the threat potential of the guy even though he did repeated numerous things that blatantly demonstated his hostility to you.
Even in your own assessment, you referred to the guy as a nitwit. A nitwit is a person that does something mindless like leaving books or a briefcase on top of a car and then driving away. A nitwit is a person that might try driving and reading a map at the same time. No, the other guy was not a nitwit, or even if you want to call him that, you still seem to completely miss the fact that the guy tried to do you harm and after that, you still assemed that when he was walking up to you that he had no hostile intent.
You really might consider getting instruction on threat identification. A gun and NRA sticker aren't going to do you any good if you so completely fail to identify a threat as a threat that you don't take appropriate action. You very well could have been the dead pizza guy with a gun in his zipped up fanny pack talking to 911 when you were killed that perplexes everyone who knew you and the fact that you carried a gun for self protection.
Take a look at the following video. Realize of course that I am not suggesting your nitwit guy was carrying 30 odd guns on him. However, take a look at how much this kid has and ask yourself that if you saw him standing there with open hands, would he be a threat? No, but he didn't try to run you off the road either. He didn't chase you. He didn't advance on your position. Are your sure your nitwit wasn't armed?
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/821/
). 
. I have one and in it is my emergency tear gas grenades to through in the windows of road rager’s, my Strip O'Spikes which I thrown down in front of tailgaters to blow out all tires, my oil slick gun and smoke screen. I also have an assortment of mustard, chlorine and nerve gases as well as a few patriot missiles. 
