Threatening gestures while driving...?

krunchykrome

Lifer
Dec 28, 2003
13,413
1
0
I was driving to work this morning and I was getting off of a ramp to merge onto the highway. The roads are still a mess from the 30 inches of snow we got over the weekend. I'm not driving slow, but I am driving with caution and I'm definetly driving under the speed limit. There's a chevy cavalier tailgating me on the ramp. I noticed it and I was irritated, but I kept going and ignored it. As I was getting off of the ramp, he continues to tailgate me. I think there was 1 clear lane out of 4 (the other lanes still had snow on them). As I try to merge into the other lane, he's trying to merge over before I do. I end up cutting him off, not intentionally though.

He then gets into another lane and passes me. He slowed down next to me and made some gesture at me. I assumed it was a middle finger or something. Then he passes me and gets in front of me. He turns on his lights inside the car (it's early morning, and still dark outside) and starts waving his hand in the shape of a gun.

The guy was obviously crazy - should I have called the police on him with his tag? It's one thing to give someone the finger, but to make a threatening gesture about a gun...?
 
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Call the police and tell them he pointed a gun at you.
If you're lucky, the cops will show up at his house. :)
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
If a guy was making a gun like motion and I couldn't get away from him, I'd call the police. If I thought it was a gun, I'd call the police.

Otherwise, I'd just accept that people are assholes and move on.
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Brandishing a Firearm is a felony... so yes, it is serious.
But... there is no proof, so he couldn't be charged.

He would never be charged, but would probably be investigated.
 

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2001
7,714
31
91
I probably would have turned my interior lights on and made a jack off motion. If he liked that and got even more squirrely then I would call the cops on his ass and follow him till they caught up to us.

I had a maniac cut me off this morning for no reason that I could even figure out. I was trucking along in the right hand lane of a three lane road with no traffic within 300 feet of me. Speed limit is 40 and I was doing just about 40, maybe a little faster. The next car in front of me is a utility line truck probably 200 feet away and he's coming up to a red light.

Out of no where this late 90's Accord cuts me off missing my front bumper by a foot. They were doing about 55 I'd guess so I didn't even have a chance to react before they were in front of me and pulling away. They flew up behind the line truck and slammed on their brakes since the line truck was doing about 30 as it came up to the light. Then swerved into the right turn lane and pulled into the Home Depot plaza.

I still have no idea why they would bother coming that close to me. All they had to do was wait an extra second and they would have been able to pull into the lane in front of me with plenty of room between us. What a giant retard. It was one of those moments where you wish there was a cop parked nearby and saw them pull the stunt. That never happens for me though.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
If a guy was making a gun like motion and I couldn't get away from him, I'd call the police. If I thought it was a gun, I'd call the police.

Otherwise, I'd just accept that people are assholes and move on.

wwhen i was 17 a guy sitting at a stop sign next to me and a few friends saw a toy cap gun we were playing with. he called cops and told them a band of ruffians were driving around pointing a gunmetal grey revolver at passing cars. i was met at my house 30 min later by 3 cop cars. for one, the cap gun was plastic, black and had an orange tip on it. even with that in mind, the cops arrested me for brandishing a weapon. even tho i had never actually "brandished" it. the guy that called was a retired dps officer, so he insisted on charges despite the cops telling him it was a black cap gun toy.

i had to attend a 2 week "behavior" class with the first 4 days being TASC program for drug awareness and prevention. i didnt even do drugs at that point in my life, was funny.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,756
600
126
I probably would have turned my interior lights on and made a jack off motion. If he liked that and got even more squirrely then I would call the cops on his ass and follow him till they caught up to us.

I had a maniac cut me off this morning for no reason that I could even figure out. I was trucking along in the right hand lane of a three lane road with no traffic within 300 feet of me. Speed limit is 40 and I was doing just about 40, maybe a little faster. The next car in front of me is a utility line truck probably 200 feet away and he's coming up to a red light.

Out of no where this late 90's Accord cuts me off missing my front bumper by a foot. They were doing about 55 I'd guess so I didn't even have a chance to react before they were in front of me and pulling away. They flew up behind the line truck and slammed on their brakes since the line truck was doing about 30 as it came up to the light. Then swerved into the right turn lane and pulled into the Home Depot plaza.

I still have no idea why they would bother coming that close to me. All they had to do was wait an extra second and they would have been able to pull into the lane in front of me with plenty of room between us. What a giant retard. It was one of those moments where you wish there was a cop parked nearby and saw them pull the stunt. That never happens for me though.

He was probably just from Quebec. Did he use a directional when he cut you off? If not, he's certainly from Quebec.
 

Kalmah

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2003
3,692
1
76
This is what happens when you have 2 douchebags switching lanes without using turning signal. You're both idiots.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,359
9,879
126
I'd have retaliated to try to get him good and pissed. He'd then be likely to lose his mind, and end up in a ditch. I'd then drive by nice and slow, so the image of me giving him the finger would be burned into his brain forever :^D
 

SandEagle

Lifer
Aug 4, 2007
16,809
13
0
a few years back i was driving in canada and some canadian asshole kept tailgating me. every time i switched lanes to let him pass, he switched over too. went on for a few miles. once he pulled up next to me, i showed him my phone to let hin know i'm going to call the police. he then called the cops and told them i had a gun. 7 canadian cops pulled me over and had shotguns and guns pointed at me.

i kept telling them what happened but they wouldnt hear it. after 30 minutes they found nothing and told me to head back to the usa. i asked why and they threatened to arrest me if i didnt leave. they said the other driver told them he was a doctor and they believed his bs story over mine. they escorted me back to the border too :(

could i have taken legal action here? farkin canadians
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,103
13,546
126
www.anyf.ca
I HATE tailgaters. Especially when the roads are not in good condition to speed. I purposely slow down to the speed limit when someone is tailgating me, and I make sure they can't pass either. It's people like that who cause accidents.

Calling 911 would be advisable, but I imagine that would be a challenge to do on a highway while staying safe. The guy could also just report you for using a cell while driving.
 

SphinxnihpS

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2005
8,368
25
91
I was driving to work this morning and I was getting off of a ramp to merge onto the highway. The roads are still a mess from the 30 inches of snow we got over the weekend. I'm not driving slow, but I am driving with caution and I'm definetly driving under the speed limit. There's a chevy cavalier tailgating me on the ramp. I noticed it and I was irritated, but I kept going and ignored it. As I was getting off of the ramp, he continues to tailgate me. I think there was 1 clear lane out of 4 (the other lanes still had snow on them). As I try to merge into the other lane, he's trying to merge over before I do. I end up cutting him off, not intentionally though.

He then gets into another lane and passes me. He slowed down next to me and made some gesture at me. I assumed it was a middle finger or something. Then he passes me and gets in front of me. He turns on his lights inside the car (it's early morning, and still dark outside) and starts waving his hand in the shape of a gun.

The guy was obviously crazy - should I have called the police on him with his tag? It's one thing to give someone the finger, but to make a threatening gesture about a gun...?

You could get him expelled from school!

First of all, half of you posting in this thread are road raging morons yourselves. Second, call the cops over a guy giving you the finger? You fucking pussies!
 
Last edited:
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,849
146
Brandishing a Firearm is a felony... so yes, it is serious.
But... there is no proof, so he couldn't be charged.

He would never be charged, but would probably be investigated.

Having the police pull them over, have them spread out and cuffed while they search their car should be enough of a scare for them to stop being such a dickhead in the future.

Calling 911 would be advisable, but I imagine that would be a challenge to do on a highway while staying safe. The guy could also just report you for using a cell while driving.

Its not that big of a deal and you could just say you wanted to be sure to get the license plate correct and were afraid that if you stopped they would stop as well. If I'm not mistaken, you can only be punished for driving while using a cell phone if they actually see you do it.
 
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PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,756
600
126
I HATE tailgaters. Especially when the roads are not in good condition to speed. I purposely slow down to the speed limit when someone is tailgating me, and I make sure they can't pass either. It's people like that who cause accidents.

LOL. Really? This is logical to you?
 

krunchykrome

Lifer
Dec 28, 2003
13,413
1
0
A cavalier, in 30 inches of snow, trying to speed past you/tailgate?

Let Darwin take this one....

there wasn't 30 inches of snow on the road; a lot of the snow was cleared to the side. He was driving in a lane with at least 2 inches of snow that had been compacted down.