[PonchoV8]

Are you prone to road rage? Do you find yourself intimidating other drivers and reacting aggressively to them? Making fun of them is great sport.

I have a certain friend and when we were just a little younger we would always be on the lookout for road rage drivers to mess with. Once he spotted a guy blowing his horn, swerving his car and screaming out the window at a women. When the guy was done making a complete spectacle of himself against a defenseless woman he started to go on his way with a left turn off the main road. My friend got right beside the guy as he turned and laid on his VERY loud car horn at him. The guy went into orbit slamming his brakes in the middle of the road, sticking his body out the window and throwing his hat in the air with his veins popping out. It was hilarious.

Another guy whipped past us on the interstate and then cut back in front of us and slowed down for a corner that I don't brake on. Interstates are built for comfort at 80 most of the time and 45 doesn't cut it. So I was on his bumper at 45 and he started his road rage routine. He was blustering and waving his arms around like a maniac while I kept my proximity to him tight. All the while glaring at him. This guy finally had to let me pass him on the right when we hit 3 lanes. As we went by you could see his red face was all ready to flip us off and scream out the window and we just laughed at him and pointed as he gave his best war face. He realized he'd been had.

[My442]

A friend of mine got a .45 automatic stuck between his eyes doing that. Thanks God the guy did not shoot him.

Too dangerous today.

[PonchoV8]

Agreed. Even then you had to pick your battles.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by My442

A friend of mine got a .45 automatic stuck between his eyes doing that. Thanks God the guy did not shoot him.

Too dangerous today.

That happened to my Father in Law as well....He said he never saw a gun that looked so big as that one did when it was pointed between his eyes.

Originally Posted by The Boss

I swear one day I will slam on my breaks for one of them - unfortunately (or fortunately) there's always somebody else in the vehicle with me when I'm tailgated, and I won't do it then.

I actually did that to a guy once...sort of...I just bumped the brakes...HE slammed his. It was years ago, I was in a '68 Beetle and wasn't going fast enough for this guy behind me. He was right on my bumper. He had plenty of room to pass...three lanes at least...I tapped the brakes once hard and he actually bumped me pretty good at about 55 mph. Scared the living sh!t out of him and his buddies! Probably was his Daddy's car as he was pretty young.
Didn't damage either car but the guy was going ballistic when he passed me...and I was lmao!
Now, I wouldn't do that again but one of my favorite things to do to a tailgater in that situation is to slowly reduce my speed while glaring in the rearview....

[PonchoV8]

I lost it one day. In my 20s I drove fast. All lanes that were available in one direction were free for the taking in my eyes. I didn't cut people off and I didn't brake on them (once I got out of my teens I didn't). Someone in a 3rd gen Firebird ran through the beginning of a red light and pulled out in front of me one day when I was hustling about 20 over the speed limit on a business boulevard. I piled up behind him because that's all I could do to keep from hitting him. He didn't see me until I was on his bumper and he slammed his brakes on thinking I was doing it on purpose. I waved him on as if to say, yeah, what ever, get on down the road now--and I was backing off due to speed falling from where he pulled out in front of me. He saw me wave him on and slammed his brakes on almost coming to a stop and that's all it took. He ran the light, violated my right of way and he's going to be an ass too? When he sped up and changed lanes to make his turn at the next light I got beside him with my right 1/4 on his left fender and swerved and hit him. He tried to avoid me but got hit and went up on the curb. Is that what you wanted butthole? And then I thought to myself, "Why'd I do that? Now my car has a dent."

One week to the day I was driving my boss down the exact road. I had to do the speed limit with him. It was at the same time of day, and behind me flies up what looks like the same Firebird and he's right on my bumper this time. I just went on my way doing the speed limit pretending that I wasn't who he thought I was and he just made his turn at the same place he was going when I hit him the week before. You'd have thought he would learn that I wasn't afraid to hit him once, I might do it again.

[bird72]

True story from the "old days". Like Age 19..... El Paso.... I had long hair (for the time in west Texas) in it was 1974 that year I believe. I was stopped at a red light on a four lane in the right lane. For some unknown reason either road rage or a redneck / "hippie" thing, I suddenly have this guy who got out of a car next to me at my door trying to open it, screaming he is going to kill me. Reaction was floor it. Old Country Squire sedan, haha. The damn fool hung on to the door handle until his feet couldn't keep up. I was freaked out, but I did get to watch his face go from homicidal rage to sheer terror. Watched his dumb @ss bounce off the pavement after he finally let go. Ah the good old days, hehe...........

[axle]

What pisses me off are arrogant drivers who cut me off on the fwy and refuse to use their turn signals.

[Steve Barcak]

As I have matured it has made me realize not to be a dick behind the wheel. Try to think how you would act if that person was next to you while you were walking. How would you treat them then? Would you walk 2 feet behind him?
Sure, there are idiot drivers out there, be glad you are, alledgedly, smarter than they are.

Also rememeber this- No matter what state you live in-
The term 'speed limit' is just that. It is a LIMIT, NOT a requirement. That is the fastest you are allowed to go in ideal situations. If it is dark, if it is raining, if you are towing, etc. It may not be wise to drive at the LIMIT.

I have had people yell at me for driving 5 or so under the limit. They yell, 'the limit is 45!" Yup, I know that, I also know what is prudent.

When people flash their brights, or leave them on, I simply, and prudently, slow down even more. It is very distracting to have very bright lights shining on the backside of your head and dash, etc.

It all has to do with consideration. don't be a dick behind the wheel.

What do I do when someone is tailgating me? What else can you do? If you speed up, they simply drive at the faster speed and still tailgate you. The answer is to slow down 5-10-15 mph. The will be become more frustrated and pass you.

Many people prefer to tail gate than pass. I think women mainly but, some men do it too. If you want to drive fast, I do not really care, just do not ride on my butt. If you do, you will find yourself driving 5-15 mph, or more slower as long as you are close. A lot of this even applies to driving on multilane roads. People who drive fast often want to ido it in the right lane. why? If you want to drive fast, get in the passing lane.

People are nuts these days and I think a lot of it has to do with the 'late model' car mentality. People now have their dark tinted windows so they can be anonymous to others, impersonable, inconsiderate. They also have their anti lock brakes and their wind bags, etc. They develope a sense of indestructabillity so they drive more dangerously. We will not even get into texting...
Just the other day, I was making a left turn in my GTO with a green arrow, A gal in a minivan , on the phone, just blew through the red light. If I was not paying attention my GTO would have been t-boned and my passenger could have really gotten hurt.
I've been driving for 37 years now. Been driving high performance Pontiacs mostly the whole time. People do indeed drive more darinly than in the past. headlight are much brighter too. Many alledgedy 'low beams' are brighter than my high beams. It takes a lot of fun out of night driving with these bright lights behind you. I have progressivly seen people drive in a more inpersonal mode behind their tinted windows, etc as the years have gone on. Women especially. The only thing that is really better today than in the past is there are less people driving drunk and amen to that. Otherwise, it is worse.

When you drive an older car, i think you are more considerate of others, i think you tail gate less and you are a more aware driver.

With all this said, I do enjoy driving very fast when it is safe to do so. I may kill myself but, I do not want to hurt others.

[GT182]

I wouldn't say it's road rage but it sure pisses me off on the amount of idiots on the highways that don't deserve to have a license to be out there, or don't have one at all. Tho it is rage worthy that the cops don't do anything about them... cell phone to their ears, texting, no signal lights, tailgating, no brake lights, running red lights, left turns on red, left lane Louies, and passing you on the right shoulder. Southeast PA, New Jersey, and Northern Delaware are just plain nuts out there. I thought we paid taxes to pay the state and local cops to do a job. It's not all about crime, as I've been told it is here in our County.

I was taught there is a right way to drive responsibly, and maybe that is wrong these days.

[Steve Barcak]

Originally Posted by GT182

I wouldn't say it's road rage but it sure pisses me off on the amount of idiots on the highways that don't deserve to have a license to be out there, or don't have one at all. Tho it is rage worthy that the cops don't do anything about them... cell phone to their ears, texting, no signal lights, tailgating, no brake lights, running red lights, left turns on red, left lane Louies, and passing you on the right shoulder. Southeast PA, New Jersey, and Northern Delaware are just plain nuts out there. I thought we paid taxes to pay the state and local cops to do a job. It's not all about crime, as I've been told it is here in our County.

I was taught there is a right way to drive responsibly, and maybe that is wrong these days.

Your point is well taken and I agree.
Think about this. In Arizona when you apply for your drivers license, you get it for some stupid amount of time like 30-40years! How dumb is that? They want you to renew your plates every year or so but, your license? event several decades.

That is one of the core problems on the road IMO. Not sure if other states do this stipid thing or not.
Why is it stupid? Well, laws change for one thing. How does one learn of changes? I get some of my info from the local news but, not everyone listens to that. Also, it is not the news medias job to keep drivers up to date on the laws.
The police and hiway partrols job is enforcement, not education.

IF Arizona, and other states, had an annual ( as an example ) required drivers license test, people would be more aware of the laws.
They could be reminded about how important courtesy is.
They could be reminded that driving is a privlige.

People should be shown movies with examples of how to drive each year. Then, after the movie, should be tested on it.
The the states focused on the 5 main reasons for accidents ( I would bet speeding and tailgating are in the top 2 ) during these annual required tests, I bet people would become more aware of their responsiblity behind the wheel.

[arbys]

Are you sure that the "certain friend" wasn't you?

[PonchoV8]

Yep.

I have a certain friend and when we were just a little younger we would always be on the lookout for road rage drivers to mess with.

It's not as funny when you're alone. Nobody can appreciate it. It became like fishing. "Get'eem, get'eem, geteem'."

[Engine-Ear]

I wouldn't call it road rage but "road SCHOOL"... you pass me and hang in the left lane and I then need to pass some jamoke who's going 10 under and you're in front of me, you have about 10 seconds to wake the F up and get in the next lane to the right... you sandbag me and I am on your rear bumper...still sandbag and the brights are on...STILL sandbag and, well... I turn into Mr. Richard Cranium.

[PonchoV8]

I see your point, E-E, but I don't bright light myself. I just violate their space a little after my pass.
That and people who don't signal a turn while you're waiting for them to go by. If I'm at a stop sign and the person is approaching from my right and looks like they're starting a turn onto the road I'm on, I creep up preventing them from making it. I pretend like I'm getting a head start to fall in behind them as they go by. Once I see that they're trying to turn on my road, I go ahead and turn in front of them and make them sit and wait for me like I had to for them.
If I'm yielding so I can turn left onto the interstate on ramp and an oncoming car isn't signaling but looks like they're slowing to turn onto the same interstate entrance I try to do the same thing and make them wait. Most of the time the person has a cell phone to their ear and it makes it all worth while to let them know they could've signaled and avoided "misunderstandings". There's an old billionaire with an office across from my neighborhood. He never signals and drives slowly. So you sit and wait for him to pass and he ducks to your left while you wait and watch. Last time he did it I laid on the horn. He started waving like I knew him and we were friends. Then he looked really confused when he realized I was giving him the WTF? look with my hands facing palm up. I almost felt guilty.

At my office, apartment dwellers nearby use our parking lot to shortcut to the main road. They NEVER signal and you sit there and wait for them to go past but instead they turn left right in front of you--being rude while breaking the law. So I memorize their cars until the time when I'm in the same situation and wait until they're right at the turn and then pull my old truck into the oncoming lane at the last moment to turn first in front of them. Several have gotten the idea and now signal. And they drive really cautiously when they see my truck.

[Deadhead]

I had a guy in Northern VA who went into a rage on me. He was some kind of Middle Eastern guy. He sat at a green light for about 90 seconds. Finally, I went around him in my '66 Bonneville, figuring there was something wrong. At the next light he was behind me, waving and hollering. I had apparently threatened his masculinity. He threw a tomato sandwich onto my deck lid. I knew that was going to screw with the paint. My rear bumper had recently been dented when some uninsured bimbo rear-ended me at a red light my first day of work up there. Still peeved me, so without thinking, I threw the mother in reverse and floored it. At the last instant I chickened & jammed on the brakes... but it was too late. Bam! Right into that Tempo. It was rush-hour on Rt. 50 in Alexandria/Arlington. He was pursuing me at 70-75 as I weaved through dense traffic. Did not really phase me since I had a well heeled driving youth. At the next light he approached the car hollering some kind of Farsi Jibberish. When he put his hand on the window sill of the door and pulled it open, I nailed it with a rubber hose that had a 3/4" piece of steel stuck in it. Right about that time, light turned green & I stomped it. That massive door caught him in the torso on its way shut, & I left him in the intersection. I went a block or so to my apartment complex & a fine upstanding American in an old F-150 with a ball cap got out with a big grin and said, "Just followed you in to make sure you were all right. I saw the whole thing." We both laughed pretty hard. That was my one bout with road rage.

Now I keep .45 on the seat in a holster. Eliminates both rage and concern over the same.

[NBF823]

I'm definitely not in to it. Real bad thing.

I don't tailgate - Ever. We crash, it's my fault.

I don't tolerate tailgaters, the closer they get, the slower I go - in this car, it's still in production and parts are easy to find so I'm not as mean as I am with my 25 year old Datsun, and it's not fast like my Datsun. And It's real bad, cause my vehical is a base model compact station wagon, and I'm always getting tailgated by trucks and SUVs - They always seem to think some old woman or a teenager is driving. I just go passed two days ago in town at 6:45 by an SUV, I was doing the speed limit(25), which wasn't good enough for them, so they went on the wrong side, the outside on a right hand curve - They went the rest of the way down the road with my high-beams on them.

But my datsun - brakes are getting slammed and if they don't back off, we're fighting for sure - they pass, I'm flooring and I will keep them in the wrong lane untile they piss them selves or die. Either way, I don't tolerate it, it's a threat to my life, and I will treat the offenders accordingly.

I had some simpleton try to pass me in wrong lane in a Beretta once, two lane blacktop, blind hill, for sure a bad wreck if there was oncomming. Soon as I saw his fender next to my door, I floored it. I'll neverforget the look of his passengers as I held them in the wrong lane for well over a quater of a mile for as fast as he wanted to go.

Another time, I had this snot in a BMW 330 tailgate me on the highway - I slowed to like 35 staring at this moron in my rearview through my rollcage, then he gets an opening on the right and tries to pass - what a fool. I held him in that lane as fast as he wanted to go, till he nearly rear-ended a pick up in the slow lane. He looked over with this look of anger, and I looked back with no mercy - He spiked the brakes and made an abrupt right turn off of the highway.

I have some good truck ones too - strangly, they treated the Datsun better, but they treat the Kia way worse. I did have a woman in a SUV tailgate my Datsun when I first got it, before it was boosted - I let her pass on the next straight cause I just couldn't compete with her power at the time and I wasn't going to be forced to speed, then I did tailgate her in the corners to watch the SUV flounder, making sure I had my inside light running right down her door at her sideview mirror. Like I said, I changed my tactics, and don't tailgate anymore though.

I always stay a safe distance, I'm always early, and I try to treat people with respect. But life has been cruel, and when I get bullied - Something happens to me - It's not good.

[HaloMedic]

Not anymore I dont I now just adjust the volume on the stereo and cruise.

Now the rest of the story. Living in San Diego while my wife was serving in the Navy, She was stationed at the Sub base in Point Loma a 18 min drive that turned into an hour due to all the Aholes cutting lanes and such

Well one morning i had had it my 383 equipt 1981 242GT Volvo slowly crept up to the bumper of one of those a holes and when the light turned green i floored it pushing him thru the light he stayed on his brakes due to other aholes in the intersection who were running their light in a right turn lane only Smoke was so thick that there were few witnesses, but the tickets and the sr22 fileing and the huge insurance rates i dont do that anymore, i started at an early age with me Bright light runners behind me got a Louieville slugger

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by NBF823

I'm definitely not in to it. Real bad thing.

I don't tailgate - Ever. We crash, it's my fault.

I don't either and it is one of my biggest complaints about driving - simply leave a safe distance and everyone will be fine. I've actually put my truck in park, gotten out, walked back and introduced myself to the people behind me, explaining to them that if the only thing I can see when I look in my rear view mirror is the top of their windshield & roof - we're going to be meeting soon anyways.

I swear one day I will slam on my breaks for one of them - unfortunately (or fortunately) there's always somebody else in the vehicle with me when I'm tailgated, and I won't do it then.

[dstryr]

Originally Posted by Engine-Ear

I wouldn't call it road rage but "road SCHOOL"... you pass me and hang in the left lane and I then need to pass some jamoke who's going 10 under and you're in front of me, you have about 10 seconds to wake the F up and get in the next lane to the right... you sandbag me and I am on your rear bumper...still sandbag and the brights are on...STILL sandbag and, well... I turn into Mr. Richard Cranium.

Yep. Some people know what they're doing and like to exert control over others in some cases. Others are just stupid.

Its the guys who put their cruise control on 1/4 mph faster than me then sit in the hammer lane. Ok, I'll play and speed up and not cut that person off, jump in the left lane and get around the slow guy, then back in the right. A mile later, its the same thing, Mr. 1/4 mph faster is once again next to my rear quarter, and we're coming up on a slow vehicle... 2nd time I'll just pull over; you can either put your brakes on or put the gas on. C'mon, you can still use the gas pedal when the cruise is set.

Maybe not many people drive like I do, but I do speed up if someone's coming down the ramp slowly so I DON'T get stuck or have to do the brake/gas dance trying to figure out who's going to go first when the idiot is at the end of the onramp stilll going 50mph.

I pass 18wheelers quickly and then don't pull back until I've given the truck the 2-second rule space. Same with most cars/trucks. Knotheads cutting in front truckers 30-50' after they've passed has got to be irritating. I look for open spaces to drive. 55mph? Who cares if 20 guys are all playing bumper tag on two lanes? I'll take my chances with speeding ticket rather than play games with a bunch of idiots who only up the stakes 1mph at a time. You want to go fast? Then GO FAST. Put up or shut up.

[Greg Reid]

This thread reminds me of something I saw one early morning on my way to work on I-85 just south of the Atlanta airport.
VERY light traffic on this 4 lane stretch at 4am. Anyone could pass anyone else with no effort whatsoever. Speed limit in that area is 70.
I'm in the slow lane, where I drive mostly, doing about 65~70. There are a couple of cars in the fast lane passing me...I'd say doing about 75~78 or so and they've got decent distance between them. Nothing unusual going on.
Some guy comes up the fast lane behind them doing probably nearly 100. Rather than blowing right by them on the two wide open lanes between us, he runs right up on the rear car's bumper flashing his lights like crazy, like, "I'm king of the road and you WILL move your ass OVER!"...and the rear driver does move over immediately. 3 seconds later he's on the lead cars bumper doing the same thing...flashing his light like crazy.
Suddenly the lead car flashes HIS lights right back....and yeah, they were mounted on the package tray.....and yeah, they were BLUE!
It was hilarious how fast the speed demon backed off of that guy...lol