Road Rage, revisited.

[Jstpssng]

While on my way home from my mother's house today I observed a vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, with a white (Ford?) pickup in front of it which was partially off the road with the driver’s side door open, so that the lane was almost completely blocked. The driver was apparently back talking to the occupants of the first vehicle.

This was on a hill on the main artery approaching town, in a spot where visibility is limited. I slowed down to around 30-35 mph and straddled the center line; then sounded my horn to remind the driver that he was blocking the road. He immediately jumped up and ran toward me, screaming. At that point my dog went on alert and started barking in a manner which says don’t mess with me. I thought briefly that I had made contact with the other motorist but when I looked in my mirror he was giving me a one finger wave. When I looked back the next time he was standing by his truck, with the door still open.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized he had hit the side of my truck with both hands or fists, putting two small dents in it.

I contacted the PD in that town, just to make sure that a complaint hadn't been filed against me. So far they haven't heard anything, but took my information.
It still could come back to bite me. I probably shouldn't even post this, but haven't done anything wrong except blow my horn at the wrong person. I think that I'm going to disconnect it tomorrow.

 

[Doughknob]

Y would u worry if he hit Your truck? Don’t fix the dents for a while.

 

[MossRoad]

While on my way home from my mother's house today I observed a vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, with a white (Ford?) pickup in front of it which was partially off the road with the driver’s side door open, so that the lane was almost completely blocked. The driver was apparently back talking to the occupants of the first vehicle.

This was on a hill on the main artery approaching town, in a spot where visibility is limited. I slowed down to around 30-35 mph and straddled the center line; then sounded my horn to remind the driver that he was blocking the road. He immediately jumped up and ran toward me, screaming. At that point my dog went on alert and started barking in a manner which says don’t mess with me. I thought briefly that I had made contact with the other motorist but when I looked in my mirror he was giving me a one finger wave. When I looked back the next time he was standing by his truck, with the door still open.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized he had hit the side of my truck with both hands or fists, putting two small dents in it.

I contacted the PD in that town, just to make sure that a complaint hadn't been filed against me. So far they haven't heard anything, but took my information.
It still could come back to bite me. I probably shouldn't even post this, but haven't done anything wrong except blow my horn at the wrong person. I think that I'm going to disconnect it tomorrow.

Bummer. But I agree with your horn usage concerns. I was very well versed in horn. But I found myself also yelling and shaking my fists at folks. January of 2021 I decided to do something about it, and made a new year's resolution to not use my horn in anger. That lasted 3 days. So I reset my horn meter and tried again. That lasted about 6 days. Reset and try again.

I have to say that this is the only NY resolution that I've ever kept. I just keep trying to make a conscious effort to not use it in anger, and only use a quick double tap to gain someone's attention if needed. I do use it in emergencies.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I like my idea better. Unplug it, and I can pound on the thing in frustration all that I want.

 

[Root Cause]

I have a camera on my wife's car and have been thinking about adding one to mine. Problem is, you need at least 4.
After 2020, I figured we would all be wearing body cameras by 2021 to CYA as we keep seeing random acts of violence.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have a camera on my wife's car and have been thinking about adding one to mine. Problem is, you need at least 4.
After 2020, I figured we would all be wearing body cameras by 2021 to CYA as we keep seeing random acts of violence.

My employer is in the process of installing cameras on all company trucks but we aren't there yet. This is the third incident in 2 weeks. Last week I had to pull over to avoid a head on with a car, after it pulled out to pass a tractor-trailer He was 50 feet away when he pulled back in. Luckily there was a wide shoulder on that part of the road.

I've also been thinking about getting one for my truck. If anything had come out of it, it's my word against his and the occupants of the other vehicle.
Plus the dents in the side of my truck.

As I told the officer; after he attacked my truck, there's no way that I was stopping. Had I thought he'd been injured, I would have called 911 and driven to the police station.

 

[ruffdog]

People are so quick to go into angry crazy mode nowadays.

 

[ultrarunner]

I try to never give a reason because life is cheap and seems cheaper the last 30 months.

Road Rage and Side Show are reality.

I often think of my time driving in Washington State compared to SF Bay Area and night and day as far as those ignoring traffic laws and my LEO friends know one traffic stop gone wrong could be career or life ending.

Horn or flipping someone off is all the excuse some need...

Be safe out there...

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Road rage has no boundaries.... When I was a paramedic, while responding lights and sirens, used to get yelled at, cut off, and on a couple of occasions, followed to a scene, then yelled at!

One time I was in the supervisor vehicle. It was an early Saturday morning (around 06:00) and the 3 lane road was almost deserted. My navigation / computer had to be rebooted, but I was actually enroute to a scene (non-emergent). I was in the center lane, doing about 25-30 mph in a 45 zone. The only other car was behind about 3-4 car lengths in the left lane.

I was "covering the brake" while attempting to reboot the computer. Unbeknownst to me, the brake lights were flickering on and off. The lady driving the other car finally pulled up alongside, was yelling???, and gave me the finger multiple times.

When I cleared from the call, the other supervisor on duty called me and asked what had happened. I told him nothing that I was aware of (thinking about the call). He told me some crazy woman called the office and said "one of your supervisors kept brake-checking me any I wasn't even behind them"

We both got a good laugh out of that one. I was surprised when I first became a supervisor.... I would get 4-5 calls a shift from the general public complaining about where units were parked at scenes, going too slow, going too fast, 'they blew their horn at me', etc... If you can imagine a complaint, we heard it.....

People just don't have respect anymore!

 

[CalG]

Horns should be removed (or disabled) They really can't do much good, and are responsible for a lot of bad.

I've always wanted a horn that would make a deer in the headlights jump away!

But the best horn I've "seen" is one that runs a loop tape that sounds like gun fire. EVERYONE clears out when that button is pressed!