Road Rage

[Stomski]

Have you been a victim of road rage, and if so, how did you deal with it??

I ask this as this morning someone made a rather crude hand gesture to me. He was then stuck behind me down an A-Road tailgating occasionally.

When we hit a 40 limit 5 minutes later, I slowed to 40 and he overtook on a solid white line (GASP!). Unfortunately this made me laugh, which I'm pretty sure he'd have seen in his mirror as he sped off at 60.

This also allowed me to see that his Renault Megane (lol) had been modified to have boy racer white glass on the brake lights. Fancy.

We seemingly had the same route and 20 minutes later his manoeuvre had only gained him a 1 car advantage on me and we hit the outskirts of a small town. He took this opportunity to pull over.

Did he think I was following him??

So I had a few options-
1. Drive on by and ignore.
2. Drive on by and give him the hand gesture back.
3. Pull over, walk to his car, gesture he wind the window down and politely ask what it was I did to warrant such abuse and if asked explain why I drove the way I did as as far as I could tell I hadn't driven in any way poorly.
4. Pull over, pick up a rock and throw it through his window yelling who's the "W***ER NOW BITCH?".

Oh what to do, what to do... Obviously option 1 is the clear one to go for, but having read the recent exploits of another Hubber (which I endorse btw)...

[grahamthomson]

I find that the slow-applause gesture is enough to piss off any idiot driver when they think they've somehow "beaten" you in their "race".

The whole point of road rage is absurd. Are we all going to the exact same destination at the same time when we're in our cars? Do these people think someone else is going to beat them in a race to their own home if they drive courteously?

All drivers should be re-tested properly every 12 months, and lose their licence if they fail.

[Andy Turnbull]

Sounds like a bit of a twat. I agree with G on the fact that drivers should be routinely reassessed, I'd say every two years given the amount of drivers on the roads.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I luckily rarely experience road range on account of having no desire whatsoever to drive.

Some of the behaviour on the roads is ludicrous though. Some people do seem to forget they are moving big chunks of heavy potentially deadly metal about.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Wow, as a non-driver I thought I was radical for thinking people should be re-tested every ten years, but if you guys reckon every 1-2 years you'll get my vote.

Martin

[Shockprowl]

Nov 21, 2008 10:35:57 GMT @grahamthomson said:

All drivers should be re-tested properly every 12 months, and lose their licence if they fail.

This is genious. But it'll never happen. (and the government would turn it into a cash making excerise!)

Vehicles on the road are lethal weapons. People think they're invincable on the road. Indestructable (beleive me I know- more on that later).

(And the police? They sit on minor A roads waiting to zap folkes who (yes, wrongly) edge over the speed limit INSTEAD of getting the sons-of-bitche-family-killers who overtake on solid whites. Or boy-race in built-up areas. Why? 'Cos they get the Brownie points for the collar.)

You can't reason with these people (road-ragers). They're not like you and me and us. They're not reasonable and they dont' learn from their mistakes. You gotta back down, before they kill someone. Heh, in a way I suppose by doing that you may be saving someone's life!

But you know what's scary? (confession time) How easy it is to do silly things in a car. When you drive alot. I'm not talking about overtaking on a solid white, that's just unbelievable. But I'm taking about pushing it, about letting yourself believe you're invulnerable. Just after we got pregnant, Mrs Shockprowl had a threatened miscarage. I was at work 50 miles away. I just wanted to get home, suppose I freaked out a little. And on the way home I pushed it. I overtook when I wouldn't normaly overtake, I exceeded the speed limit. I wasn't stupid- I didn't do dangerous things. No bloody way I overtook on a solid white, for example. But I pushed it. After everything was ok (thank God), I thought about what I'd done. I looked at the time scale and realise I'd only taken 10 mins off the travel time. Ten minutes! What had been the point? Powerfull leson (and Mrs Shockprowl wasn't happy).

And then there was the time I decided to crash my car into a tree. I'd finished a night shift late. I was tired. I just wanted to get home. I came up behind a landrover. He wasn't going slow, but he wasn't going fast. I was greedy. I wanted to get home to bed. I thought I was invincable in my little metal box. I didn't concentrate. I'm a trained response driver, overtaking is a piece of cake! I began to overtake. The landrover seemed to edge ever-so-slightly into my path. A sway. Normaly, ease off the gas, and it'd be ok. But, not concentrating, not being switched on, thinking I'm invincable, I broke to hard. Hit some mud. Couldn't tell you how many times I spun or in which direction I spun, I just remember horrible noises, and then BANG, tree in the boot. I got out, unhurt, and took in the damage. Trees are very strong. They don't often loose in such battles. The tree penetrated nearly two foot into my boot, bending the car around it. If that had been the drivers side of the car...

Well. Learnt the hard way.

Good job I hadn't hit anyone else eh?

What I did was stupid, and I've never repeated it and I never will. But I'm a resonable, educated, trained person, and look at the mistakes I've made! Bad enough. But the type of person Stomski encountered, these people that road-race/rage, overtake on solid whites people, they are different. You can't reason with them and you can't understand them. Stay out of their way, report them if you can, and should one corner you and you have no choice, kick the shit out of them.


ian

[karla]

I don't think I have this thing called 'road rage'
BUT...I hate larger vehicles how think they can always bully you out of road space, speed limits, and anything that slows me down. I just love that rush of speed I get, but my engine is so small I have to push it in the lower gears just to get a little push
The one thing I always have in my head as i'm driving is 'what can you do?' and 'everyone's a dickhead'..ok thats two, plus a big smile

noooooooooo don't re-test us! I won't go back

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Brave of you to 'fess up, Ian. Was there any fallout at work from you crashing your car, what with you being an ace ambulance driver and all?

Martin

[Shockprowl]

Nov 22, 2008 21:07:57 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Brave of you to 'fess up, Ian. Was there any fallout at work from you crashing your car, what with you being an ace ambulance driver and all?

Martin

No. They don't mind as long as it's not one of their Ambulances (and no prosecutions).

Just wanted to share in the hope my cyber chumbs wont have to learn the hard way like I did not to be stupid. Ohh, I sound some old wise person! Eee, when I wer' a lad...

[kayevcee]

Having experienced the uniquely Glaswegian phenomenon of 'bus rage' in recent days, I think I took to my first driving lesson yesterday more enthusiastically than I would have otherwise.

I'm quite a speedy pedestrian but I can't see myself driving fast. Every minute I sat in that car my mind was ablaze with things that could go wrong. Just after I'd started up on my second straight 5mph run (feels a hell of a lot faster when you're doing it) a car came up from the warehouse just ahead and started indicating and inching out. I moved out to avoid him and asked the instructor if I should stop and let him past, to be told "nah- he's just an asshole. Keep going."

It'll take me a while to get the hang of the exact etiquette of the road, I think. I can't help wondering what dark thoughts were going through that chap's head as he sat waiting for this L-plated eejit to crawl past him.

-Nick

[Dark Stranger]

Wait until some twat tailgates you, it's extremely nerve wracking for a learner. Best advice I got was to completely ignore the buggers, keep your cool, do your thing, and let them overtake you if they're that eager.

[legios]

The first few lessons can be quite nerve-wracking, I remember it well. The good news is that the confidence comes with time. The best thing to do is remember to drive safely yourself, and just be aware that - as your instructor so wonderfully put it - some other folks on the roads are just "assholes".

I remember well when five mph seemed like a pretty high velocity to me as well, but your brain adjusts over time. These days I am even approaching comfortable up around 65 - 70.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

Nov 25, 2008 22:46:17 GMT Dark Stranger said:

Wait until some twat tailgates you, it's extremely nerve wracking for a learner. Best advice I got was to completely ignore the buggers, keep your cool, do your thing, and let them overtake you if they're that eager.

I've had the afore mentioned assholes tailgate me -ON RED! Yep, when I'm responding to an emergency, or returning to hospital with a poorly patient, overtaking traffic that's pulled over, driving at speed, these assholes follow, overtaking after me. What kind of shitty person does that?!