Crazy Road Rage Today

[jdoublehcubed]

Had a crazy road rage incident today I thought I would share. This happened in my mini cooper, not the M.

I was driving home on surface streets, 35-40mph zone. Pull up to a stop light, waiting to turn right. The guy in front of me is just sitting there, no traffic, so I give a little honk to get him to move along (right on red). Nothing. Another little honk. Nothing. Light turns green, we both go, whatever.

He's in some riced up Mazda p.o.s., and he burns out just after pulling away from the light, and speeds up to... 35 mph. I'm laughing, and I pass him at maybe 40-45. No big deal.

All of a sudden he pulls up next to me on the right, window rolled down, and is literally screaming something about turning at the light. I used to live in Philly, so I flick him off, don't even turn my head, and pull away. Still, not a big deal, that kind of shit was not that unusual.

I stop at the next light, and he stops behind me, like 10 feet back. I'm looking in the mirror, and he gets out of his car, and starts walking up to my car. At this point I'm like, w.t.f, some fucking lunatic is behind me. Oh and he's still screaming something about turning at the light. So I roll my window down, and go what f**k are you doing? get back in your f**king car before I run you over. And I'm seriously freaked out at this point that the guy actually got out of his car. So I pull into the left turn lane and up a car to get farther away. The guy next to me (since I'm in the left turn lane; he was originally the guy right in front of me in my lane) has his window down, and he's looking around all freaked out, and is like what the hell is that guy doing? And I'm like, look out, he's f**king out of his car and freaking out. So I pull up even farther, and that the guy next to me pulls into the turn lane, spitting it with the travel lane, and blocking the lunatic from pulling up further.

So, yeah. wtf. Felt like I was in New Jersey for a minute.

[Efthreeoh]

Maybe he was going straight and did not want to turn at the light.

[inTgr8r]

Crazy..... You never know what's going to push someone else's button.

As an aside, there are some jurisdictions where right turn on red is illegal.

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Crazy..... You never know what's going to push someone else's button.

As an aside, there are some jurisdictions where right turn on red is illegal.

Excellent point. Was the guy local to the area? Was it a right turn only lane? He may just not have known if he was legally able to turn right on red. His reaction was of course completely uncalled for.

[itdnwiwbp]

I wasn't there so I don't know what the surrounding traffic was like (I believe you when you say there was none) but I REALLY hate it when someone honks at me or my wife to turn right on red (especially since I almost always wait for a big gap in the M cause I have to take any parking lot/driveway/street transition slowly). If I'm sitting first at the light it's up to me to decide when it's safe to go based on what I can see, not the guy sitting behind me. Glad things didn't escalate any further and everything turned out alright for you.

[Huz-Z]

Getting honked at may be annoying but the reaction was far in excess of any reasonable response in my opinion. I'm just glad that it didn't escalate to a physical altercation and that you were not harmed by this nut job.

[MZHammer]

Originally Posted by itdnwiwbp

I wasn't there so I don't know what the surrounding traffic was like (I believe you when you say there was none) but I REALLY hate it when someone honks at me or my wife to turn right on red (especially since I almost always wait for a big gap in the M cause I have to take any parking lot/driveway/street transition slowly). If I'm sitting first at the light it's up to me to decide when it's safe to go based on what I can see, not the guy sitting behind me. Glad things didn't escalate any further and everything turned out alright for you.

I'm ok with a polite, short honk, but someone leaning on the horn in that situation would irritate me for sure.

[spiceyxi]

You never know who you are dealing with. Some people are complete jerks and some people have bad days. It is probably better not to honk and deal with the minor inconvenience. I had a similar situation (not as bad as yours just an exchange of words) last week. So, there are plenty of people out there that can't handle a honk (even if they are doing something wrong).

[yousefnjr]

I saw a guy get out of his car once, and the truck he walked up to sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. Dude hobbled back to his car and drove off, I wish I followed him to see what happened next

[Diesel_d66]

i dont see a problem with giving a little honk at right turn at a red light, assuming it's not illegal or posted no turn on red. i do have an issue with the middle finger. 'fuck off' or 'go fuck yourself' can have a visceral reaction. being a philly guy i think you would know that. im an east coaster too and have been to philly, nj, nyc plenty of times to know that the finger can lead to aggressive behavior.

[GP20]

Stories like this is the reason I just ordered a Blackvue dr650-gw last weekend. Well, that, and somebody backed into my front bumper while my M was parallel-parked and of course just ran. Increasing stories of insurance frauds and bad Vancouver drivers are the other reasons.

[NickyC]

Stuff like this is why I don't like keeping a gun in my car. I want it for the obvious situations where you're in peril, but I'm afraid some BS like this would escalate into me pulling it out.

People are nuts, and as times get tougher for the vast majority of people in this country, they are only going to be become more unhinged.

[dreamingat30fps]

They do that here all the time (not turning on red) even though it's perfectly legal unless posted. Pisses me off, but I usually wont honk. One of my favorite though is when you get a super slow sob when making a left turn. I remember I was behind this one bastard that was sooooo slow it was just him and me behind him making a left and I got caught in the middle of the freaking intersection when it turned red because of how slow this guy was going.

Speaking of road rage I have a friend who told me he use to get really bad road rage. Then one day he starts going off at this guy on the highway. They both ended up pulling over and my friend gets out of his car to confront the guy, out comes this HUGE sob! My friend said the dude beat the shit out of him and drove off. He was with his gf at the time and said she started laughing at him when he got back in the car for being such a moron.

I've personally only had one lunatic encounter and to this day I don't know what the dudes problem was. However me and a buddy were in my car and this dude pulls up next to us yelling all kinds of shit. He kept trying to get us to get out of the car, fuck that shit, I didnt even roll the window down. As soon as traffic cleared a bit I hauled ass and gtfo of the area.

[Pheonix]

I would only give a quick honk or two if we are in a Right Turn ONLY Lane (and no posted sign). Because you don't know if the person in front is turning RIGHT or not (unless he/she has the turn signal ON).
Road Rage is not worth the trouble! I usually laughter my ass off at those idiots (and that only made them much more upset

[funkle]

Reminds me of this. FF to about 1:10:

[jdoublehcubed]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

I would only give a quick honk or two if we are in a Right Turn ONLY Lane (and no posted sign). Because you don't know if the person in front is turning RIGHT or not (unless he/she has the turn signal ON).
Road Rage is not worth the trouble! I usually laughter my ass off at those idiots (and that only made them much more upset

We were in a right turn lane, otherwise I agree, I wouldn't honk.

I think me laughing while passing him after turning is what set him off.

[sipman]

You can take John out of Philly, but you can't take Philly out of John