IC3

Twice today i almost seen people rip eachothers heads off for whatever reason, Once in a mall parking lot and the other in a plaza parking lot.

I come walking out of staples (Computers, Office supplies etc etc) with my new Logitech Surround sound speaker set..with a kick ass sub ..And all I hear is this guy losing his mind on these two girls, He was standing with his door open and it looked like he was using the door to keep himself from leaping at them..I didn't really understand what the guy was saying as he was of a middle eastern decent..But something these two girls did really pissed him off and i just kinda watched to see if he was actually gonna do anything because i honestly thought he was going too...After a few minutes i just continued on with thoughts of the abuse this sub is gonna take.

Then...

Earlier this evening I drove my stepfathers, Girlfriends son too the computer store to get his computer looked at..We come walkin out and these two middle age couples are almost fighting eachother. From what i could see they both apparently tried to pull out of thier parking spots at the same time and one of them probably got a scratch or a little dent. Now these people were a good distance from where i was standing and i could hear them perfectly "I'm gonna fuckin break you in half" "Fuck you asshole" and yadda yadda yadda. I could hear one of the ladies on the phone to who i assumed was 911 saying that her husband is being threatened. I didn't stick around to see the outcome of it.

So what the hell is up with some people? What would you honestly do if you accidently tapped somebody and dented or took some paint of thier car and they wanted to "Break you in half"?

I don't know what my reaction would be..I'm a pretty calm driver but i know there is alot of "back breakers" out on the roads..I think i'm gonna start driving with something hard beside me..Cause i'll be damned if some freak who has no patience or snaps at the littlest thing is gonna threaten me and i wouldn't hesitate for a second to take a swing at some road rage goof with a blunt object. Only if i felt in danger that is, Cause canadian laws are so fucked up that i would probably get charged for defending myself.

I think drivers like the ones i just talked about need to realize that they are not perfect and nobody else is.

I have been rear ended once in the winter time, And i clearly seen her coming but sitting at a light i wasn't gonna drive into traffic, So i just kinda braced myself. She wasn't paying attention for like 2 seconds..when she tried to stop too late and she slid in the snow and hit me..I got out look at my bumper looked at hers and kinda waved it off. I was kinda pissed that she wasn't looking, But i don't know a person who doesn't take thier eyes of the road for a couple seconds..Shit happens.

__________________
"To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead" -Musashi

Lockjaw

I'm not sure exactly what I'd do. I'd like to think I'd keep my calm and try to calm them down as well but then again if somebody says the wrong thing to me I'm liable to go off as well. But in this day and age just too many people with questionable mental health. Just my luck I'd have some 150 lb weakling yelling at me I'd get tough with him yell back and I'd end up getting shot or something. I guess the best situation would be try to calm them down and if they persist hop in your car and try to leave and put some distance between the two of you. That or sucker punch them before they expect anything and run away.

This is yet another reason why I want to get a camera system set up on my car so if anything like this every went down I could get in my car and leave and have proof of the other person threatening me.

guthmund

I've had a guy come at me once.

It really wasn't that bad (it took out the front driver's side fender), but this fellow comes hopping out screaming and bellowing. The fact that my door wouldn't open as it was smashed shut was the only thing that prevented him from yanking me out. Once I slid across to the passenger side and grabbed the tire tool from behind the seat, he calmed down quite a bit.

I've been in a few accidents some my fault, others not. The vast majority of them handled quite politely. Quiet exchanges of insurance information, making sure no one was hurt and waiting for the police to show up.

It was an accident and accidents happen.

I see no reason to get all upset and give in to the baser, and largely testosterone driven, impulses.

__________________
No signature. None. Seriously.

Carno

I've never seen any road rage. The worst I've ever seen was people yelling from inside their car with their windows up, or giving the finger, or honking.

EDIT: but I wouldn't classify that as rage. More like brief anger.

ObieX

While I'm usually a calm driver and am mroe embarassed than angry when in an accident (have only been in one) i DO keep a black baseball bat on the floor in the back seat incase some fuckwad thinks he's a gladiator in the pits. I wouldn't attack unless absolutely forced to and would only take out the bat if i waspositive i was in danger. If some numbnut wants to stand there and yell like a moron he can waste all the breath he wants, but if he gets violent he's gonna lose some teeth in a jiffy.

__________________
We Must Dissent.

IC3

Those are the people who i really laugh at

__________________
"To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead" -Musashi

Phaenx

I tried to pick a fight with two guys down on campus a few weeks back. I was parallel parking and messed up, so I pulled out and backed in again. While I was doing so some guy walked by and said something to me. I don't like strangers to begin with, so I got hot under the collar and jumped out of my car.

They were down the road a ways and I yelled, "Hey! You got something to say to me, pussy?"

They looked back and started walking a little faster. I turned around and was like, "yeeyeah!" and started off towards my girlfriends house.

__________________
"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Lockjaw

You must have a death wish.

IC3

I don't look for fights..Just cause i don't like to fight, But like i was saying..If somebody who can't control themselves behind the wheel or anywhere for that matter ever threatened me and made me feel i was in danger..I wouldn't hesitate for a second to bash him in the knees, head..wherever..as long as it puts him down.

__________________
"To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead" -Musashi

spived2

I think most of the time that people get angry and want to fight is because their lives were interrupted by someone elses incompetence and now they have to change their plans, deal with insurance, whatever. Anger management is hard when you don't quite know how to react to a certain situation and instinct takes over.

Remember, if they strike first, after that it's self defense and you can't get in trouble. Tire Iron away!

__________________

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

drakers

My mom is a slight road rage mom, with a long middle finger and a sharp mouth. It got her in trouble about 7 years ago. When she was at a light this truck wasn't turning left when he had the chance and she honked her horn. The dumbass driver start going a little and then stop abruptly when no car was coming. Of course she was following a little too close and she hit the back of his pickup and it ended up being her fault. That is what you get for being impatient.

__________________
Friends don't shake hands, friends 'gotta HUG!

StanT

Last Saturday, I saw a couple of 30 something ladies trying to pull into the same parking spot. They were both out of their mini-vans yelling at each other and calling each other dumb cunt and stupid whore. I parked 10 spots or so away and walked past. Got me what was so attractive about that particular spot.

Lockjaw

Eh human beings are just very territorial animals. There was nothing special about the spot other than both people claimed it as "theirs". Usually as one gets older such things that aren't even a permanent possession won't garner another look if somebody takes it. But when two immature people who think anything they lay their eyes upon is entitled to them lock up over something the situation gets tense very quickly. I mean I've seen two grown men(well they were early 20s but still) almost come to blows over a chair in an office. One guy took a chair the other guy used to just prop his feet up in and sat down in it. And a rather ugly arguement ensued. Makes you question the whole aspect of ownership though.

tspikes51

What gets me is when a guy in his mid 20s in his $8,000 dollar Civic or $12,000 Mustang with a muffler tip that he bought for 20 bucks at Auto Zone gets a scratch on his car and goes absolutely ape shit on someone. I can't understand why you would get so upset over a something that A) could be easily fixed for next to nothing; B) was an accident; and C) is on a car that isn't that great. I could almost understand if somebody did it to a Porsche 911 or a Ferarri 360, but not to a floor model mustang or civic.

__________________
"I'm telling you, we need to get rid of a few people or a million."
-Maddox

Schwan

Funny thing I found this thread. I rear ended a car today. I was going too fast, and that's the bottom line. Anyhow, I hit a car in front of me real hard. It was similar in size to mine - a four door sedan - and I was sure when I was getting out that I'll find most of my car's front gone. I got out, so did the guy, and we found no damage whatsoever. We just laughed and went back to our cars. Now I'm sure that my car's overall geometry is going to be screwed up, and I feel like a sack of potatoes that's been thrown around a bit, but I'm sure glad that we managed to end the whole thing in a civil manner.

braisler

I don't let it get to me, but there are a lot of people with questionable driving skills "parking" cars around here. The quotations are to emphasize that the cars are placed in park, and that's about all the driver seems to have gotten right.

I don't see too much conflict over parking lot behavior. There is certainly cause for some frustration since our university has sold 2000 employee parking permits for somewhere around 700 spaces. Nothing like paying $280 per year to park over a half a mile from where you work and still have to struggle to find a space.

__________________
---
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
- Albert Einstein
---

Squishor

I don't understand these driving rage displays, at least not when they get to the point of anything more than muttering angrily to yourself about the incompetence of others. I was raised to believe that open displays of aggression were uncivilized and distasteful. The shame of being seen acting like a barbarian would be a deterrent to getting out of my car and screaming at someone over something like a parking error, at least for me. I know that sounds like I think I'm all superior and everything...who knows, maybe I do...but what I'm trying to say is I just don't get it, I don't understand what makes people think they can act like that and it's okay. There must be a role model somewhere yelling his apoplectic head off.

warrrreagl

My wife is normally the only one in the car with brains, but she becomes Dr. Jekyll in parking lots. Last week, we had finished eating at our favorite Mexican place, and I was backing out of our parking space. There was a car waiting for my spot (since the place is usually packed) and I was trying to back out at an angle that would make it easy for him to pull in. Suddenly, two blonde college Barbies appeared in my rear view mirror; they had just walked out of the restaurant's door and they were walking toward their car. Instead of stopping or walking around my little area, they both walked straight to the bumper of my car and one of them kicked the bumper and muttered something. I stopped and waited for them to walk around my car, and then continued backing out. Luckily, it didn't register with my wife what had just happened until I'd backed all the way out, because that's when she went ballistic.; "Did they kick our car? Did that bitch say something? Stop the car!" and all kinds of stuff like that.

She would have killed them if I'd stopped.

__________________
Living is easy with eyes closed.

IC3

I understand that pedestrians always have the right of way, But if somebody kicked my car..I would have got out and said something..It would have nothing to do with the fact that they may have dented or scratched the car..Just the fact that they kicked it would be enough for me to get out.

If i'm backing out of a space and see people coming and they are close enough that i would be cutting them off if i pulled out..I will let them go. But not all the time you can see and sometimes i will be backing out and see somebody and i think..Well if i'm backing up this person will walk around the front of my car..Nope, They have to walk behind the car.

I am usually kind enough when i am walking back to my car to let somebody back out or pull out of thier spot, I will either walk around thier car..or wave them to go.

__________________
"To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead" -Musashi

irseg

Assuming they appear to be physically capable of breaking me in half, first I'd try to get them calmed down and handle the situation maturely by giving them my insurance info, etc. Failing that, grab my cell phone and start calling the cops. And if that doesn't make the person stop, ram my 4000-pound American car into their front wheel in hopes of making their car undrivable (they won't be able to give chase with a broken tie rod or bent axle!) and then get the heck outta there.

raeanna74

For one thing it's amazing what that shot of adrenaline will do to ya when you get into an accident. We ended up T-boneing a black woman driver in a beat up rust bucket because she pulled out in front of a line of cars at a stop light and across the 2 right hand lanes into a third lane beyond us. Because of the line of cars we never saw it. The woman and a man who was in the car were both dressed in what I picture as being "getto" attire. They both jumped out of the car and started swearing at my husband. Then I got out of the car 8 mo pregnant (5'5" and went from a 26" waist to a 35 or 36" one at that time) the two took one look at me and just about swallowed their tongues. They knew they were screwed. Hubby got back in the car and when the cops came we discovered the other car was not registered in their name, the woman was not liscenced, and ends up after the officer let us go we found out that the man got taken in for something else he was in trouble for, the car got towed, and the woman got taken in for the accident and driving without a liscense. Had apparently lost it over driving while under the influence of SOMETHING. Quite a mess.

I said all that to say this. People who get angry over accidents are most often scared they're going to get into big trouble over it. Those who are calm are those who either made an honest mistake but are insured or those who are confident that they didn't screw up and still are insured. One excellent reason to be insured (comprehensive is such a lifesavor) and another reason to pay attention to all the dumbhead driving out there - including ourselves.

__________________
"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.