Have you ever been so mad at another driver that you got into a verbal or physical confrontation with them?

Yes, I followed a lady once, who ran a stop sign, almost causing an accident.

I yelled out the window at a man in a giant SUV a few years ago who almost creamed us in a parking lot. His puzzling response, “I didn’t see you.”

I also used to use the universal gesture of disapprobation.

I have now stopped all of that behavior, because too many nuts have guns or engage in road rage or both. Life is too short.

Nothing is worth losing your life over…you never know what nut might be the driver of the other car..also by you letting them get to you, you dont gain anything… just let it go. There are inconsiderate and just idiot drivers out there the nest thing to do is to get as far away from the as possible

Almost. My mother and I went to Philly for my great grandmother’s funeral. We were looking for my pop’s house and I stopped at a stop sign (which apparently is a no no in philly). A man in a large truck honked at me as soon as my vehicle stopped rolling. I opened my door and began to get out when my mom grabbed my arm and said “don’t”. She knew exactly what was fixing to happen. If it wasn’t for her, things probably would have ended badly that day. So I shut my door and gave the good man the classic bird as I drove off, still beat red and angry. That was my worst ever case of road rage.

No.

When I have a very serious problem with an incredibly rude driver, I avoid public confrontations, at all costs.

I just make note of the car license plate, along with the make, model, year and color(s) of the car being driven, plus I also write down (on the paper pad next to me, in the car) a complete description of the driver of the car.

After several months has passed (to give the offending driver plenty of time to forget about me and “the incident,”) I just wait until I hear on the news about a horrible crime that has been committed in my area, and I dial the Secret Tips telephone line from a payphone, and say something like, “I was in that area when the crime occurred, and wrote down this information about a guy who was driving away from the scene of the crime, very fast. I don’t know who he is, of course, but I have seen him around town on occasion, photographing little girls at the park, while hiding behind some trees…”

I then give the description I previously wrote down, about the rude driver.

I end the call by saying, “No, that’s OK; I really don’t need a code number, because I don’t believe that good citizens like me, should accept a ‘reward,’ just for doing their civic duty, according to scripture…”

September 5, 2008, 1:56 AM EDT

then of course some poor sod is beaten into signing a confession by the police.

That’s what happens, to those who are rude to me, in traffic.

I don’t get angry, but I do GET EVEN.

Eventually…

September 5, 2008, 10:04 AM EDT

This morning a bastard almost sent me to heaven (or hell, I still don’t know where we all exactly go)
The guy didn’t respect the stop sign and I don’t know how I avoided the crash, the man ran away, I wanted to step out of the car and hit him against the pavement….
Once I did, I was very stressed, waiting in the lane for a parking space at the movie theater and this !@#$% came and put his big bad car (rav4) in front of mine (ar 157) without respecting the line, he almost hit me so…
Me: what the f*(I step out of the car)
Me: *shouting Hey you, what d’you think you are doing, eh!
Guy: I’m in a hurry, F* off
Me: What did you say???
Guy: You heard me
Me: Oh, I heard you… apologize, move out and I’ll pretend this never happened
Guy: Oh really, I’m not moving out f*
Me: You are f* with the wrong person
Guy: (pulls down the window completely) Oh really?
Me: really (one step closer, grabbed his head and started to hit his face in the wheel) shouting* Yes! With the wrong person!
Guy: I’m going to kill you
Me: (opened the door and took him out of the car) Kicked him a couple of times, grabbed his head again and whispered –I told you, wrong person b*, now get the f* out of my sight, if I ever see you again, you’ll end up in your trunk, o.k.
Security guys –to me—: (they know me well) Please Sir, we will take care of this (they called the police and told them that the other guy started, which was totally true, and that I drove off for security reasons as the other person threatened my life)
Security guys –to the bleeding guy—: Get up and leave before we press charges

The all black attire and the Italian car gives ideas to other people, but is something I’ll never do that again, I was having one of my worst days of my life, and I unleashed everything I had inside with that man, later my friends made me realized that if the guy was armed, I wouldn’t be here…

You are correct. If the guy HAD been armed, the confrontation would have ended differently, perhaps.

Because it is so easy to obtain and use firearms in this country, I generally refrain from public confrontations with anyone.

I prefer to run over them, in a parking lot.

September 5, 2008, 11:03 AM EDT

Jackadams;
thanks for wasting the time of our civil servants by having them chase your vengeance instead of those who actually committed serious crimes. I wonder how many murders and rapists have gotten away because of stunts like yours.

Prior to venting your anger at me, Judi, please give consideration to the possibility that my post MAY have been facetious in intent, and even apocryphal in nature.

Sometimes, the intent of a post of mine, is to get the reader to smile, chuckle, or even exclaim, “OH MY GAWD!!!!”

One never knows with me, which is probably why I’m single (for the moment).

September 5, 2008, 11:19 AM EDT

Sorry Jack. I guess I found you believable. Please forgive. I have relatives who have been arrested and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. I’m a little sensitive on the subject.

I have been falsely accused of wrongdoings, also.

A lie cost me one of the best jobs I ever had.

No offense was taken by your post, Judi.

You continue to be someone whom I respect and admire, and I welcome the opportunity to read your posts, because they contribute (for the most part) to the improvement of my miserable life.

September 5, 2008, 11:28 AM EDT

@flameboi What a horrible experience! Sorry you had such a bad day. It is scary to think of what would have happened if he had been armed.

I got into a shouting match once with an idiot over a parking space. I pulled though one so my car was heading out and was parked with the engine off, when some jerk pulled up and yelled at me…“Hey, I was waiting for that spot!!” Me.. sorry bud, but there was no one around whjen I pulled in. You’ll have to find another spot. Him… “No! dammit, MOVE!”

I just started to walk away and let him figure out that the spot was taken, when I heard a crash. I turned to see him bumping my car with his van trying to push it out of the way. I ran over to him and yelled, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” “Parking!” he said, then backed out and took off. Later on when the cops caught him, they called Sears, his employer and he was fined and fired in addition to having to pay for my damages.

Wow, scamp! What an idiot jerk! I can’t believe there are people out there that are that dumb. That’s pretty scary.

I know! and to think he did that in his work vehicle! It plainly had Sears and the truck number all over it. Even if I didn’t get his plate, it would have been easy to track him down. People like that are scary. This happened a very long time ago when I was young and dumb. I don’t think I would confront someone like that today.

I have a bunch of them. Here’s the blog entry of the incident that got me off the road and onto the train for my commute, five years ago:
—————————————————————————————————————-
Crazy bastard driver

Whew. I’m still shaky.

Okay, here’s the story. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I borrow my parents’ car and drive Sebastian up to spend the day with them. You see, my parents live only a couple of miles from where I work.

That way, Teri gets a couple of days off, and my folks and Sebastian get to have some fun together. It’s a long drive (90 minutes to two hours each way), but it’s worth it.

Incidentally, the reason I don’t drive one of our cars is that the Neon isn’t trustworthy enough for a long drive with the baby, and the van gets lousy mpgs and is also probably not dependable. Plus, parking in Boston is ridiculously expensive.

Eventually we’ll probably try to get Sebastian used to riding on the train with me, but we’re not at that point yet.

Anyway, I was driving with Sebastian this morning. We were close to our destination, only fifteen minutes away. The trip had been a good one; I’d guessed right on what route to take, so we’d made excellent time with relatively light traffic. And Sebastian had stayed cheerful throughout.

So we’re stopped at the light where Cypress St. crosses route 9 in Brookline. There are, of course, many cars stopped ahead of us; we were in line. Suddenly I felt a heavy BUMP and our car lurched forward. I looked back, and a black minivan had made solid contact with our rear bumper. I looked at the driver. He was older, probably in his sixties, balding, with grayish hair and a small mustache. He looked at me and made a face like “What’s your problem, asshole?”.

I pulled forward a little (not that I had much space to do it in), and a second later he rammed me again, harder. Not enough to cause damage, but it was definitely a hard hit. I opened the door and looked back at him. “What’s your problem?” he shouted.

”You’re HITTING me, you crazy bastard!” I shouted at the top of my lungs (I can be surprisingly loud). He made a “eh” face and ignored me. Then he hit me again.

Sebastian was getting a bit upset. He started making faces, and talking about a “stinky truck” that needed “diapy on”. I tried to calm down and say some relaxing things to him.

At that point the light turned green, so I stepped on the gas and got moving. The minivan ran the red light behind me and came after me. He got pretty damn close to me a few times, but eventually I reached a light where I got in lane to take a left turn, and he went straight. As he went by he screamed something at me, but I couldn’t make it out. I didn’t even give him the finger.

I swear, until this guy started ramming my rear bumper I had no idea who he was. I hadn’t cut him off, hadn’t made eye contact, wasn’t even aware he was there except as a car behind me. And I was driving totally normally.

Anyway, I got his license plate: 214 GMV, a standard green MA plate. He was in his late 50’s to 60’s, balding, gray hair with a bit of black, and a relatively small mustache – not Hitler style, but kind of like the Dunkin’ Donuts guy. Normal weight range, slightly longish face. No beard that I could see. He was driving a black Dodge minivan, a relatively new model. Last seen heading down Cypress St. towards downtown Brookline and Boston.

I called the Brookline police when I got to my parents’ place, and they were spectacularly unhelpful, as the police so often are in these situations. There was nothing they could do, since he hadn’t caused damage. I suggested that the guy was a menace to other drivers, but “there’s nothing we can do” is a favorite catchphrase with the police. Finally they said they’d keep an eye out for him (yeah, right) and that was it.

Sebastian’s fine. I’m still a little shaky and pissed off. What a psycho!

@Scamp,
I’m sorry you had that experience, people is crazy out there! The day of my incident, I exploded for the first time in my life, I know what I did was wrong, but sometimes you just can’t control what happens to you or how you react…
@Peter
I still can’t believe that!