Road rage about to go wrong?

[finnerandr]

This happened a few weeks ago, but it has been bugging me and thought that I would run this scenario past you guys and see what you think. I was traveling westbound on Kellogg(Hwy 54) through east Wichita. There is a ton of construction so naturally I was in among a bunch of other cars and it was stop and go traffic for a while. A white Cadillac Escalade got behind me and was riding my back end. He got so close that I no longer could see his grill(I drive a small 4 door saturn). I mean I was actually afraid he was going to make imminent contact. Even when we werent stopped, he was right on my butt. Neither one of us could move because there was construction on the left, and a line of cars on the right. He couldnt pass and I couldnt yield the right of way. Anyways, the construction ends and the road opens up into 3 westbound lanes instead of two. I get in the far left lane and he gets in the middle lane. He pulls up along side my car and it is a middle aged rough looking hispanic guy. We make eye contact. I never made a gesture of any kind, never mouthed anything obscene, nothing. Just looked at him. At that point he drops back into my blind spot and just stays there(Roughly my 4-5 O'clock position). He stayed there for a couple of miles and I was getting uneasy and I would speed up to pass or slow down to let him pass, but he kept pace with me the whole time. I couldnt get behind him because now traffic was pretty heavy again. So I floored it to get in front of him and take the next exit because I was getting scared. I did not cut him off, I made sure there was plenty of room. Im in front of him for roughly 20 seconds before I get on the off ramp. He zooms up onto my butt again and follows me onto the off ramp at which point I punch it and swerve back into traffic on the highway fast enough that he couldnt react and he was stuck on the off ramp. Before I pulled this manuever I made sure the lane was open that I swerved back into. I never put anyone in danger. I never instigated anything with this hispanic fellow. But I sure was scared by the time I made it to where I was going(the gun range!). Anything I should have done different? Should I have let him follow me and just called the cops? Or let him follow me and invite him trapping me at the next light and having a showdown? At the time I feel like I made the right decision, but now a few weeks later I am second guessing myself. Telling myself I over reacted and all that crap. Anyways, sorry for the long post, but let me know what you think. And feel free to share your road rage incidents as well so that we may all learn from them.

 

[TwitchALot]

I don't think you overreacted. You could have done what you suggested- let him on you and call the cops, but I wouldn't say that's a much better move than what you did (so long as you didn't endanger anyone else with your maneuvering, as you say you didn't). Next time, don't even make eye contact. I never look at anyone when I've driving, even if I've made a mistake and I know the other guy is cursing at me and giving me the bird. To me, it's just like escalating a situation, even if you didn't mean it that way. A lot of people, especially when driving, just take everything too personally. People make mistakes when driving, and often enough, other people interpret it as intentional, hostile, action. Just let it go.

 

[Crunker1337]

You did not overreact. Tailgating for a few minutes can be brushed aside as just negligent driving, but if you think he's actually threatening you, it would be best to call the cops. That, or pull in at a gas station or rest stop, anywhere where there are people and find a distraction.

DO NOT try to "trap" him by giving him an opportunity to harm you. That's a good way to get killed.

I think you did well--proof is the fact that you walked out of this little situation okay.

 

[TwitchALot]

I think you did well--proof is the fact that you walked out of this little situation okay.

No proof at all. Sometimes you get lucky. Most of the time, you did okay, but could do better. We should always try find ways to improve our responses. "He's okay" doesn't mean anything except that. The important question is "what could he have done better"?

 

[Cougfan2]

I think you did OK. Not having been there to experience exactly what you did I really can't second guess you.

 

[WayneConrad]

We make eye contact. I never made a gesture of any kind, never mouthed anything obscene, nothing. Just looked at him.

There's being looked at, and being looked at. One might be a glance, the other might be a challenge. There are ways to look at someone without looking at them. Did you make eye contact?

 

[finnerandr]

I did look over at him when he came up along side me. I always look at other drivers wether they irk me or not. Its amazing to me how many people at a stop light or while driving just keep their head and eyes straight forward and never watch their surroundings. I swear sometimes my head is on a swivel. Im always looking. But that comes from years of being in the military, being a Sheriffs deputy, working in a jail and trying not to get shanked, working for an armored car service and trying not to get robbed, etc, etc. Its second nature to check out everything around me. I did look to see what he was doing, yes. I noticed him staring intently at me so I did a double take just to make sure he was staring me down. He was. I did not hold the stare though. I dont think I looked at him in an unusaul way other than just being aware of what was going on. I didnt want to continue off the exit with him behind me because at the end of the off ramp is a light and a busy city street. If I got stopped at a light who knows if he would come up behind me and get out of his car. Then where would I go? I would be trapped. I could have just continued straight on the highway and let him follow me and call the cops, but I decided I would just get off the highway and let him go on down the road. But when he followed me again that changed everything. I was not about to get stopped somewhere and be defenseless(I had guns with me, but they were locked up and the ammo seperate as I dont have my CCW yet, waiting for the AG to mail it to me still. Been 41 days and counting now!). So I decided to use some of my defensive driving techniques to evade him and thats what I did. After hearing some of your opinions I think I did the right thing. Noone got hurt and I lived to drive another day.

 

[WayneConrad]

I agree. Seems like you played this situation out as best as anyone could. I do apologize if my question was too pointy.

 

[Devonai]

I would simply add that it is better to safely evade and call for help then stop and precipitate an incident, no matter how justified force may be if you do.

Three random right turns in succession is enough to confirm being followed for me, and if that happens I will call the cops and try to arrange a meeting, or better yet, drive to the nearest police station. If the other party wants to follow me into the parking lot of a police station then he deserves whatever he gets.

 

[igpoobah]

You got out of the situation w/o a possible confrontation, sounds good to me!

Making eye contact alone is enough to piss some people off. Growing up in a rough area of so.cal, I learned to keep my eyes on my own business, or suffer the consequences.

 

[ready4shtf]

I would have just ignored him. People do that to "mess with" other people all the time. I myself have been guilty of that, in a calm manner. You should have let him follow you to the gun range, and then enjoy the look on his face when you exit your vehicle with AR-15 in hand.

 

[edman]

You will probably change your tactics after you find out that the cops aren't coming to your rescue. They might come after there are shots fired, but not before.

How do I know this?

Been there done that multiple times. The cops really have more important things to do, and most likely will NOT be there when you need them. That's just life.

No I am not bashing cops, just stating a fact.

 

[Dustinthewind]

finnerander,
I think that your only mistake was getting onto Kellogg in the first place. I avoid that road like it is the plague. Road rage is all too common on that mess. My brother drives it every day and actually had one guy throwing beer cans at him in a road rage incident.

 

[devilc]

You did all you could.
Honestly -- That sounds like my morning commute into DC.

 

[gyp_c2]

hmmm...

...why did you go to the far left lane?
Is it not considered the "fast lane" in your area?
If I was in a hurry enough to stay close to another vehicle during heavy traffic, I would want immediate access to the far left lane if I needed to move faster than the traffic...
...just a thought, might be considered a blocking maneuver to some to move to the far left instead of maintaining the speed limit in the center lane...

 

[karz10]

You did ok, but I might have done different....

I get irritated w/ people and have many times in the past, right or wrong, floored it as I usually have more horsepower than most, or than most are willing to use, create some space, slow down, and keep on my way, 99.99% of the times I've done that, it's worked out quite well, and makes me feel better, but I don't recommend anyone break the law openly, I'm just sayin'

This scenario above is highway related. Other situations, on and off the highway, I've done similar as you, in the sense that I made some kind of maneuver to shake someone.

Either way, if they continue to follow you, you know something's up, otherwise, you may never know if you do lose them, if something was up, but for the moment you don't care because you created space, either w/ a maneuver, or speed, or some combination thereof.

W/ wife and kid in tow, and or w/ a schedule to be at point B by a certain time, I may not have time for these tactics, or may not want to upset the misses w/ too radical of a move (she gets upset w/ my normal driving, so...) and I've had a couple of instances where someone did something stupid, but somehow got it in their head that *I* was the ******* and decided to tailgate, follow, and despite minor maneuvers continued to do so, in which case I called 911 and explained the situation and stayed on the phone w/ them until it was no longer an issue. These instances were pre gun ownership / CWP status, so I'm thinking I would be even more likely to call 911 early on in a situation like this now, so that if it did come to a head, I'd have even longer of a recorded evidence to support my case, whatever that may be...

So, I would say if you felt as you described, I'd call 911 sooner. I hate that it has to be this way, and use any resources like that for something that may be nothing, but I don't feel we can take any chances and the system has set itself up to be used this way, and if you don't use the system, you may regret it later.

Other than that, I concur w/ above, I wouldn't move to the far left lane, unless I planned on going faster than everyone around me, or unless I wanted to piss someone off, because that's a sure way to start trouble w/ some...

Karz

 

[finnerandr]

I truly appreciate all of your insights. I chose the left lane because I planned on going faster than everyone else. I say planned because no matter what I did this guy kept pace with me. I ended up not being able to get behind him because other cars had caught up to us by then. If he wanted the fast lane to get around me then all he had to do was speed up when I slowed down and then get in front of me. I wasnt trying to block him in any way. But I do agree that I should have got on the phone with 911 as soon as I got scared of this guy. I will keep that in mind and will do so if it ever happens again. Thanks all! And dont be afraid to share your stories, Id love to hear them and I know we can all learn from them.

 

[gyp_c2]

hmmm...

...I see...It's hard to avoid anything with it on yer' six...Always better to be able to see...Hang in and stay aware, take whatever initiative is required to avoid the loons...There are more of them, and they're multiplying...Don't wait for a reaction, stay 3 steps ahead...you've survived, learn from it and move ...

 

[Erik]

If it bothered me for what ever reason as it apparently did you, I would call the police. I wouldn't engage in any "creative driving" given the circumstances you described.

 

[SGT. SHLITZ]

That's why I have ICE on speed dial on the cell.