Road rage. What would you do?

He used to. In recent movies, he uses a Walther P99. I definitely agree that the PPK is a sign of good taste, though .

 

A few months ago I was on a major highway at night in the left lane passing a large line of trucks and slower vehicles in the right. A car came up behind me and at 75-80mph was behind me so close I couldn't see their headlights. Not having an ideal spot to pull to the right lane (nor wanting to, as I was travelling at a good pace passing people) I had this car pushing and pushing behind me for a good 5 minutes.

Finally we came up to a tractor trailer in the left lane and when I finally saw good opening I ducked to the right lane and gunned it to 92mph+ around the truck. The car stayed behind me and then after clearing the truck sped up alongside me. Sure enough, it was a highway patrol.

They just pulled up alongside me for an instant, and then sped off on the next off-ramp. I'm sure they were laughing at my, "oh, crap..." facial expression as they passed.

 

not to get into a gun debate with you , but my understanding was that most citizens cannot legally own ANY handguns in the U.K. i am fuzzy on the rifle / shotgun issue. so what you are saying is its easy for folks to get "ILLEGAL" guns? i was under the impression the gun laws ther were very strict and did nothing but disarm the people and arm the criminals. again, i am just asking........

 

also here in GA you can carry a gun in your car with NO PERMIT. if you are pulled over it is strongly encouraged, ( but not " law" ) that you let the officer know there is a weapon in the car. you can also carry a weapon on your person BUT NOT CONCEALED with no permit required. but! the rules for where and when you can have one with out rent a cops following you are a painfull thing to interpret. the whole point of a concealed weapons license is to have it, hope you never need it, and no one else know ya got it in the first place. i am not going into any detail , but you would be very surprised to learn how many trouble making wise ass's become very nice when you ' SURPRISE" them with a weapon. I AM NOT CONDONING ANY RECKLESS OR ILLEGAL ACTION. only stating that the presense on the weapon " SOMETIMES" is enough to stop something before anyone gets hurt.

 

I can not speak for his story, but I have been shot at on the freeway as well. My situation was a simple one. Got on the freeway at 1.30am and no one was around except for one Buick Century, White, with 4 ******** Males (for sake of argument, race had nothing to do with it). As they were about an 1/8th of a mile ahead, I gently accelerated to up over 100 mph just enjoying the empty highway, and had passed them as I was approaching 90. Briefly looked over and never thought anything of it. As I was getting off at the next exit, 2 miles down, still ~100mph, I noticed headlights flying up behind me and started slowing. Thinking I must have passed a cop hiding on the side, I slowed and then noticed it was the Buick. As I was approaching the off ramp, they passed me and then slammed on the brakes to match my speed,~60ish. I then saw the front passenger drop his hand out the window and a muzzle flash. Thinking to myself in that instant, that could not have been what I thought it was, I just kept driving as the off ramp was pulling me off the freeway. Once it clicked, I turned to look at the car and another flash pointed in my general direction. I then proceeded to a friends house (after stoping at the Hospital that happened to be right there) instead of my intended target of Taco Hell, and woke my friend up and called 911. Something had hit my front left tire and was causing air to leak out. The CHP did not believe the story at all until we popped the bead on the now flat and dismounted tire and pulled out what the discovered to be a 9mm bullet. Luckily for me, the bullet must have hit the ground before the tire and flattened out so it did not put a hole in the tire but rather a slice, and hence a slow leak. BTW, wheel works does not cover bullet holes on the road-hazard program, at least in San Jose CA.

BTW, what did I do to invoke this? Still ask that every-time I drive that stretch of road............

 

in texas you are also fined for being a poor shot. LOL.

 

A few months ago I was on a major highway at night in the left lane passing a large line of trucks and slower vehicles in the right. A car came up behind me and at 75-80mph was behind me so close I couldn't see their headlights. Not having an ideal spot to pull to the right lane (nor wanting to, as I was travelling at a good pace passing people) I had this car pushing and pushing behind me for a good 5 minutes.

Finally we came up to a tractor trailer in the left lane and when I finally saw good opening I ducked to the right lane and gunned it to 92mph+ around the truck. The car stayed behind me and then after clearing the truck sped up alongside me. Sure enough, it was a highway patrol.

They just pulled up alongside me for an instant, and then sped off on the next off-ramp. I'm sure they were laughing at my, "oh, crap..." facial expression as they passed.

 

Here is a nice simple law for you, STOP at STOP SIGNS. I don't care if you are out at 12am and there is no one on the road, cars stop at the stop signs and the red lights and you damn well better. I don't buy any of this "we're exercising and shouldn't have to stop" excuses. Cause hey, I'm out driving for fun, stop signs impede my fun, therefor I won't stop. That is the logic your using and it is bull****.. You want to exercise and not need to stop? Fine take it to a designated bike path that is free of cars, or a track.

I have zero problems with most cyclists on the road because I just drive around them, giving them about half-lane to an entire lane when possible. I don't stop next to them, I don't ride up as close as possible behind them, and I give them a wave when they are courteous and try to give me as much room as possible to make the pass.

If you would only commit your crime and run stop signs when no cars were around, no one would care. But it is because bicyclists do this all the time, regardless of whether or not cars are there is the problem. In fact I have talked to many bicyclists who actually think that the law doesn't apply to them and that they don't need to stop at stop signs. Essentially the problem boils down to bicyclists being a generally arrogant group that refuses to follow the same laws as the rest of the world, by doing such you should damn well expect the motorists on the road to be pissed off at you.

 

If I'm really in control, I'll speed away as fast as I can without even acknowledging the road rage driver.

 

Now that is an excellent piece of advice!!!!

I would like to add to that, never underestimate the anger, sanity, size or choice of weapon of the other guy.

 

I've had a friend of mine from Italy give me that very same piece of advice back in 98' when I was almost run off the road by a lunatic in a hot rodded Camaro. Seems that he got upset as I was trying to merge onto the right lane in my beat up 85' Tercel and wasn't able to go faster than 60MPH...and that cramped his 100MPH speed.

In many cases, a cup of coffee may not suffice. Might I sugggest adding a little Sambuca to it...LOL!!!

 

Maybe this is why I drive my 308 like a friggen Grandma, it was the two drives in Art's shifter kart! DANM!

 

I'm not entirely sure what the law is here either. Until fairly recently( about 5 years ago) you could own a handgun as long as you were a member of an official shooting club. The rules for keeping them were extremely strict e.g. the police would visit your house before issuing a permit to ensure that the gun was kept in an approved safe. The ammunition also had to be in a different place from the gun.

After the Dunblane massacre in which (I think) about 16 kids were shot at a school by somebody who legally owned a gun( he was a member of a rifle club) they tightened it all up and I don't think it's legal to own a handgun at all now. You've certainly never been allowed to carry them on your person under any circumstances.

You can still register shotguns but there's a strict vetting procedure for these also. It tends to be mainly farmers who own them.

Of course criminals don't care about the law and will always manage to get hold of one if they so wish. Although gun crime is on the increase I've still never seen a gun or heard of anyone who's ever come into contact with one.

You only have to look at the statistics to see what owning guns does to society. In Bowling for Columbine he quoted the number of handgun homicides in the UK which I think was a couple of hundred a year, whereas it runs into tens of thousands in the US.

Although America is a magnificent country, (been to many of the major cities, loved em all)speaking strictly in terms of the risk of being shot, I know which country I'd rather be in.

 

Standard or PPK/S? As much as I love the original, the /s fits better in my big american hands. (taken from when I asked a Wather collector why they made the /s..apparently for our big american hands)

 

ive had a few instances where less than civil interaction was the outcome but now the laws can easily screw you if one smacks up an idiot and besides youre rolling a Ferrari! enjoy the drive ...ive learned to turn up the music,give my own sign language about their moms last meal and move on.....
perhaps the guy has lousy depth perception or under medication that could effect how they saw you in the mirror,combine that with your cars speed approach and suddenly all the can see is this fast moving blurs gonna hit them!!.....

 

Me too. (Gets comfy in the seat) I was turned off to OZ after they went stupid too. Sucks since I always loved OZ.

 

one or two? If it were one or two I wouldn't care. Try something closer to 20 or 30. And I'm not talking about a California stop, I'm talking about them taking the turn full tilt and leaning so they can make the turn.

And I'm not talking about empty four ways, I'm talking about blind T-intersections.

 

Most bicyclists I come across, commuting or pursuing fitness, show little regard for traffic laws. And they are completely intolerant of cars, no matter how well-meaning the driver, or how wide a berth he gives them.

Several times I have had them threaten to report my license plate when I risked my life by moving partially into the oncoming lane to give these focks more room. What is their beef?

 

The only issue I've had with a cyclist happened less than 2 weeks ago. It was a competitive or fitness cyclist who, on a 4 lane rode.. one turning left, one going straight or left, the right two lanes were turn lanes, they pulled to the front of the crosswalk right at the line that begins the open intersection in between the two lanes going right. My car is only a couple inches shorter than a 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck in length. In order to complete the turn, I had to creep into a small intersection watching out of my right, crank the wheel to full lock and then creep again to clear traffic waiting to turn left and head the opposite way I came and avoid clipping the cyclist. Was this just someone being dumb, was it legal, or did they have the two wheel mentality of "I can sit at the light on the line that marks the beginning of the intersection or in the crosswalk ahead of everyone else, even if there are pedestrians."

My issue is with these people who blatantly disregard the rights of a pedestrian and motorcycles who take off slow sometimes weaving a bit at first impeeding traffic behind them.

I've never given less than 1/2 a lane distance on a 2 lane road or never had a problem. I've been in a few Ferrari's going down a very busy boulevard where we pulled over cleanly and idled in neutral on the side of the road and were passed by bikes who flipped us off, made faces, or called out profanities because someone in the group pissed one of them off or they were tired of playing "leap frog" because the frequent traffic lights split the group up.

I drive a 2 ton beast and change, I'm painfully aware what that does to regular cars let alone a cyclist.... eek.

Sunny

 

Me neither. I would enjoy riding as a passenger more if other people fully stopped.

It was one of these "California stop" idiots here in California that pulled out from a blind intersection and then fully stopped. It was hit them or swerve, I swerved and they turned into me. Not only was it blind, but they had no idea that there was oncoming traffic.

It drives me nuts when my friends coast or sometimes go through at 10mph or more. Especially after my accident where wonderful Allstate (their insurance) says its my fault because conditions didn't warrant the speed limit posted on the street. Its total bull****.

If you like to California stop, I'd like to take a moment and say thank you.

Sunny

 

So, my shooting incident occurred quite some time ago, '81 or '82, on the Pa. turnpike, which is a notoriously bad highway. (At one time, it was one of the first, if not the first, "high speed" highways in the country, back in the days when even in the US, it was envisioned that speed limits were largely unnecessary). Driver of a Porsche got into a little game of block me, and at one point, i was forced to stay in the right lane, and bring my speed down considerably to avoid backending another, much slower moving car ahead.
Shortly thereafter, i managed to get into the left lane again, and i got past him. Then, being just as big an idiot, i decided to stay parallel with a car in the right lane being driven by the proverbial little old lady. Well, after a few miles, that pissed off the Porsche driver mightily. Then, hearing what sounded a little like backfires, my then wife said, "Oh, **** he's got a gun!" I just drove like hell, figuring the worst that could happen was that i would get pulled over by a State trooper. No such luck. Not a cop in sight for another hour of driving, at fairly high speed. When we finally got to an exit ramp-cautious to make sure the P car was nowhere in sight- we reported it. Several hours later, a message was awaiting us at our destination. It seems that the State boys had no problem finding the car, based on my description, and the driver was treated to a takedown party of four pairs of state cops, shotguns aimed; we learned about this from one of the arresting troopers at the guy's arraignment a day or two later. He looked like a grizzly, gaunt mofo, and said he was on a hunting trip in Pa. The cops established that his Magnum handgun had discharged twice, and he had a highpowered rifle in the passenger compartment as well. He apparently admitted to the cops that he did shoot at us, but only to scare us. Don't know whatever happened to him....

 

Get off your high horse. The rules are the rules and nobody has any right to break them, regarless of whether they are "small" or not. I ride bicycles and motorcycles in addition to driving my car, and the rules are the rules, and that's that.

Around here, it seems most (way more than half) of cyclists completely ignore stop signs, and most of them also ignore red lights if they don't see cars going the other way. They also tend to ignore many other rules of the road by riding 2 up in packs. Before you tell me that's legit, it is illegal around here to have 2 vehicles side by side.

It aggravates me for three reasons. First, its just disrespectful. Sort of "screw you, I'll do whatever I please and you can just deal with it". Second, because it can often freak you out when you're waiting for a light to go green to turn right and a guy whizzes by on a bike just as you were about to make the turn. And third, because whether the bike is 18lbs or not, it can still damage my car, which is unacceptable. If some bicyclist slams into my car, or cuts me off while on my bike, he's going to get an assbeating.

I don't care what happens to the cyclist, but I don't want to have to deal with the cops when he turns himself into meat paste and I need to give an explanation. And I don't want dings or dents on my car because of them, and I don't want to be buzzed at stoplights or have to hit the brakes hard because a dufus cyclist assumed nobody was coming the other way.

You ride a bike, then respect the rules of the road. If you don't, then don't whine when others don't respect you. Simple as that.