Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
I had a guy try to run me off the road recently in the Golf. I don't necessarily care about my cars, and when it's just me in the car, I don't worry too much about safety, either. I "stand my ground" and let them get as close as they wish to me. The second they touch my car, my intention is to steer directly into their car to control the situation as best as I can and get them stopped. Then, if they're lucky, I won't beat them to within an inch of their life and steal their wallet and insurance card.
In my case, I carry a handgun in plain view while in my car (unless it's holstered still), and the average person is looking at you while they're trying to intimidate you to see how you react (bad idea, if anyone reading is "that guy"), so they usually see it there and back off immediately. The worst part is, I'd never even think of using it in that situation because of the potential risk to others.
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Actually I was coming back from a gun show (not mentioned previously) and had my legal carry gun, a H&K P7 with two spare loaded magazines, total of 24 rounds. I also had a 1909 S&W New Century, the first gun to use the 44 special cartridge in 1908.
As I said before there was no traffic in either lane for at least 100 yards in front and behind me, until the other driver decided he was entitled to ignore the posted speed limit by at least 25 MPH and risk a reckless charge and a $500 fine. Instead he chose to come so close behind me I though he might ram me. At that point I had made no signs, signals, or reacted in any other way except to check that the loaded pistol was where I though I had put it.
Any advice about when I changed lanes is ludicrous, the act was well planned and presented no hindrance to the flow of traffic whatsoever and in fact I was going 7 over the limit and flowing with all of the traffic except one idiot.
Any move by me from my present location and speed would have potentially created one hell of a wreck, and anyone who advocates such an action is a worse driver than me.
By the time the Idiot was all over my rear end, I was less than 15 seconds from the exit. I didn't build the road gents. I could have exited on 143 West several miles earlier but that costs me a fraction of a MPG and more potential danger than the Interstate under normal conditions.
I quoted Christ's response because it seems to be similar to how I would respond, but I have a virtually perfect car, and I am older, so the thought of a physical confrontation would mean a somewhat different response.
I generally stay off this section of the Interstate on my bikes and in the future I will probably avoid the same section, since there is little benefit in the choice.
Apparently the Idiot was satisfied when I changed lanes instead of hitting his stupid arse in his old piece of junk. I guess he thought I was deserving of retribution for not matching his 10 MPH over reckless pace until I reached the exit.
One of the reasons for this thread was to show that the actions of other drives may not necessarily be due to hypermiling actions on your part. The only hypermiling action I took was to coast in neutral after I reached my exit.
The bottom line is the incident was an example of the mental state of other drivers. You never know what is going through their minds. I as actually surprised by only one action, which was why the Idiot did not just blow by me in the right lane instead of creating an incident that had no rational justification. He is very lucky he did not decide to escalate his stupidity. In order to prevent that I did not turn my signal on indicating my intentions until he had passed the exit and could not turn off in front of me. Had I signalled earlier and he exited in front of me, I would just have continued on the Interstate.
It's interesting to see the responses here , especially those that seem to think there was some contribution to the incident on my part. I have seen drivers flipping out in cars at traffic lights, when my only "mistake" was to be the car that was behind them. I have seen the same driver put his car in reverse and act like he was going to back up into me intentionally.
A good friend had this happen to her. The other driver jumped out of her car and threatened to report the "accident" unless my friend gave her several hundred dollars. Instead my friend called the police and reported the incident to her insurance company.
Further investigation showed that the other driver had been engaging in this type of willful extortion and apparently many other drivers had paid the money knowing that when they were alone and the instigator had a witness they would loose the case in court.
The other driver had 17 such "incidents" in the last 18 months. The insurance company and legal authorities pursued and arrested the driver for extortion.
thymeclock, any time you are near eastern Virginia, you are hereby entitled to one free driving lesson, Son.
. Of course that means you must also prepare yourself for a serious dose of humble pie, something which the evidence here shows you may have trouble swallowing.
regards
Mech