What would you have done?

[pookguy88]

Ok so I'm driving down this 2 lane road that will eventually merge into a single lane. I'm driving down this road on the left lane and there's a Yukon on the right lane. I speed up to try and pass him so we don't end up side by side at the merge point. He speeds up too so I figure I'll just slow down so he can get in. Now normally the right lane ends (i.e. merges into the left lane) but there's been some construction going on in the area and there's pylons at the merge point and it's hard to tell which lane merges into which. Anyways, he gets in front of me when we merge. After the merge he waves me to go past him... I do.

At this point he just tail gates the h3ll out of me with lights flashing and all. I'm near my house so I decide to pull over to see what the problem is, I don't want to try and lose the guy in a residential zone, especially my own neighborhood. He gets out of his car, goes to his trunk and pulls out a driver (golf) and starts yelling at me saying I tried to race him blah blah blah. I calmly explain (with my windows rolled down and still in the car) that I don't know what he's talking about and just say sorry to try to get him to settle down. He does eventually and we go our separate ways.

I tell this story to my GF and she says I should've tried to lose him (i.e. just keep driving). Maybe in hindsight that would've been the better action but my position was that I didn't have time to drive around all day and who knows when he would've (if ever) let up. I understand it could've been a very dangerous situation but I live in a small city in Canada and most people don't own guns...

So I ask, what would you have done?

Cliffs:

1. I let a guy merge into my lane
2. He gets mad, says I raced him
3. Tail gates me for awhile shaking his fist
4. I pull over and he gets out with a golf driver
5. I calm him down
6. We drive away

 

[mundane]

We need a crudely drawn MS Paint diagram, stat!

 

[xanis]

Normally I would say that trying to reason with someone would be the best bet, but considering the amount of wackos on the road, I wouldn't trust anyone. I probably would have tried to lose him or drove to the closest police station.

 

[paulxcook]

I think you did fine. The guy definitely overreacted and is an idiot, but you handled him well and no one got hurt.

 

[hanoverphist]

personally i would have toasted the yukon at the merge, so he would have been behind me. but if i didnt do that (more likely, im not very aggressive on the road anymore) i wouldnt have assumed he was waving me past him and stayed behind. if he had come at me with a golf club, i probably would have tried to calm him down before whipping out my bigass flashlight and beating him with it. or id pull out my bazooka and take him ass out before he got close enough to swing. of course, this is what most people think of americans, so its naturally what i would do.

 

[Turkish]

I would have let my buddy sitting in the passenger seat deal with it.

 

[alkemyst]

you don't try to pass at a merge. You should have passed him if you wanted to way before it. Next time fall in.

I would have gotten out of the car before he had a chance to get in his trunk though. WTF would you have just sat there?

 

[Baked]

What do you drive, a riced out civic? You should've pulled your AR15 from under your seat and waved it at him.

 

[OdiN]

If nothing else and he seemed really irate and following me....then I'd just drive to the police station and pull in. Most likely he'd just leave.

 

[darkxshade]

Well seeing as he got out of his car with a golf club, I prob would've got out of mine with a gun and start yelling at him.

 

[dmw16]

I would have tried to lose him. Just keep turning till he gets bored.

Alternatively, today I am going to the range after work so my Glock 19 is in my trunk.

Seriously tho I wouldn't pull a gun on someone. I'd just have kept driving till the a$$hat gave up.

 

[meltdown75]

I think you did the right thing. What a lunatic. Was he a tourist or on meds? It's hard to imagine that scene playing out in small-town Alberta! Good on you for not escalating it further and becoming practice for his golf swing!

 

[Vonkhan]

I would've slept with his wife

but that's just me

 

[montanafan]

I would have checked to see what brand the driver was. If it was a nice one, I'd figure he was just bluffing because there's no way a golfer would take a chance on damaging a good driver.

But seriously, if he kept following me, I'd go to a police station.

 

[spidey07]

Pull out my weapon, aim, demand he stop and drop his weapon. If no listen to orders, fire.

 

[soulcougher73]

I say wait till you are doing about 15-20mph while he is tailgating you and just slam on your breaks. Just tell the cops you saw a squirrel run acrossed the road so you hit the breaks. He will get the ticket and insurance hits. Only way to teach some people

 

[Genx87]

Wait until he gets everything out of his Yukon then speed off leaving him looking like the idiot he is.

 

[krunchykrome]

I wouldn't have pulled over. People are crazy, and you never know what someone like that might do. I would have driven to the nearest police station, parked the car right in front of the building, and then got out of the car to ask him why he was following me.

 

[PingSpike]

"Tried to race him"? First of all...what does that mean? And you let him go in front of you so that he "won" the race and he still has to wave you around to tailgate you and intimidate you?

Sounds like some one's giant gas sucking cock extension isn't working as well as he'd hoped. What a d-bag.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: soulcougher73
I say wait till you are doing about 15-20mph while he is tailgating you and just slam on your breaks. Just tell the cops you saw a squirrel run acrossed the road so you hit the breaks. He will get the ticket and insurance hits. Only way to teach some people

my dad did that one time in his toyota truck. some punk kids were pissed that he passed them on the freeway and started tailgating him. when he ignored that they came up next to him and swerved into him a few times. im surprised at his restraint at this point, since hes a biker that carries a 45 and a ccw. hell, he pulled it on his neighbor over a stupid noise argument one time, and he liked that guy. these kids didnt stop, got back behind him and started the tailgate thing again, to which he slammed the brakes (not the breaks) on. they rear ended him and totaled both vehicles. the kids tried to tell the cops he did it on purpose, but my dad told the cops that he was so preoccupied with their threats and aggressive actions that he didnt realize traffic was slowing faster than he thought. there were a few witnesses to the kids stupidity so he won. got a new truck out of it too lol. i dont condone it, but damn ive always wanted to do that.

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I wouldn't have pulled over. People are crazy, and you never know what someone like that might do. I would have driven to the nearest police station, parked the car right in front of the building, and then got out of the car to ask him why he was following me.

There had been 2 cases of road rage homicide in the past 2 months where I live. 1st one involved a man getting executed on the shoulder of highway w/ 2 children in the back seat. 2nd one involved a man and his 2 teenage sons murdered on local streets after an argument about who had right of way at a 4 way stop intersection. I wouldn't stop my car if some guy went loco, police station is the only way to get crazy people off your back.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I wouldn't have pulled over. People are crazy, and you never know what someone like that might do. I would have driven to the nearest police station, parked the car right in front of the building, and then got out of the car to ask him why he was following me.

There had been 2 cases of road rage homicide in the past 2 months where I live. 1st one involved a man getting executed on the shoulder of highway w/ 2 children in the back seat. 2nd one involved a man and his 2 teenage sons murdered on local streets after an argument about who had right of way at a 4 way stop intersection. I wouldn't stop my car if some guy went loco, police station is the only way to get crazy people off your back.

I cannot begin to understand why someone would pull over with children or family members in the car. People and their egos

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I wouldn't have pulled over. People are crazy, and you never know what someone like that might do. I would have driven to the nearest police station, parked the car right in front of the building, and then got out of the car to ask him why he was following me.

There had been 2 cases of road rage homicide in the past 2 months where I live. 1st one involved a man getting executed on the shoulder of highway w/ 2 children in the back seat. 2nd one involved a man and his 2 teenage sons murdered on local streets after an argument about who had right of way at a 4 way stop intersection. I wouldn't stop my car if some guy went loco, police station is the only way to get crazy people off your back.

I cannot begin to understand why someone would pull over with children or family members in the car. People and their egos

QFT...outside of that though people like to play the badass. People have ended up in disasterous situations coming up to my car at a light.

 

[buck]

I would stop, then when he got out and started walking toward the car, I would have pulled away, if he kept after me, I would have called the cops. Who wants to risk their lives with some of the stupid fucking idiots on the road today?

 

[captains]

Originally posted by: soulcougher73
I say wait till you are doing about 15-20mph while he is tailgating you and just slam on your breaks. Just tell the cops you saw a squirrel run acrossed the road so you hit the breaks. He will get the ticket and insurance hits. Only way to teach some people

depending where you live, its illegal to break for animals