ROAD RAAAGE!!!

 

I just watched an insane police video where a road rage incident resulted in a guy getting dragged out of his car and having his finger bitten off! People are absolutely NUTS these days! 

Sharon and I live half a mile from overcrowded Highway 17. We have to use it to get almost anywhere we want to go. Practically every time we go out on it we see dangerous or aggressive driving, sometimes even before we get turned on to it at the light. We're surprised and relieved if we don't. 

Once we turn off of Highway 17 back onto our own road, we half-joke, "Our chances of getting home alive just went up exponentially". We just drive defensively and lay low. 

Nothing is worth being part of one of these crazy road rage incidents. You don't know who they are or what they're on. Even if they are at fault, just LET IT GO and move along. Don't make eye contact and don't make offensive gestures at them. If they are already an aggressive driver, they may be aggressive in general. Anything, no matter how little or justified, could set them right off. 

Another thing to consider these days is, if they are a, let's say, 'newcomer', they're not apt to be held responsible, no matter how responsible they may be. If they manage to flip it on you, your goose is cooked. It just isn't worth it. 

I think that video is vividly clear proof that you shouldn't EVER be in your car in public anymore without the doors locked. That's not paranoia, that's common sense. Don't get out for anyone you don't know personally and feel comfortable with. Those days are over. 

We had an incident in Ottawa on Hunt Club Road in the spring of this year. We call it 'The Little Green Car Incident'. 

I was tired from going in to work in the wee hours of the morning to pack orders, so Sharon was driving and I was in the passenger seat. I had been sleeping before and now I was just idly looking around as I was waking back up. 

A small neon/lizard barf green car was following us in the heavy traffic, dodging in and out in a jerky motion trying to pass where there was no room to pass. We were in the slow lane and it was both lanes solid. I watched him in the mirror making his continual aggravated motions to pass where he absolutely couldn't. And it would have been pointless because the traffic was just as heavy ahead of us as behind us. 

The light ahead turned amber, and then red as other cars ahead of us stopped for it. Sharon, driving cautiously in the heavy traffic, stopped a car length behind the one ahead of her, providing herself with room. There was no place to go. The guy behind the wheel of the Little Green Car blew his horn loud and long at her. She moved forward half a car length, but there was nothing more she could do. "He's an idiot, Sharon, never mind him". 

The light changed and we drove another few lights with him continuing his dodgy antics. A light turned, and we stopped behind several cars. Apparently that was his intersection, and being so close but stopped only made him madder. He suddenly dove into the bike lane, nearly hitting the passenger rear corner of our car, and went past us close to our mirror on the right and out the off lane ahead. Sharon, startled at his reckless, aggressive driving, blew her horn at him as he went by. She had a legitimate reason to use her horn. He was a friggin' menace. 

Now the road rage incident took place. He slammed on his brakes, put his car in reverse, and backed out the off lane and back up beside us. He rolled his window down and started screaming swear words at us. The guy had grey hair! I thought it would be some young hothead, but no, he was old enough to have grey hair! Wild, electrocuted dust mop grey hair, but grey hair nonetheless. Way too old to not be mature. 

I looked at him through my closed window as he ranted at us through bared teeth. Nonplussed, I blew a raspberry at the moron to watch him spazz out even more. He couldn't even open his door he was so close to us. The light changed and we just drove off and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He put it back in Drive and romped it even more recklessly back out the street he was taking. I feel sorry for whoever he came up behind next in that state of mind.

He drove half of Hunt Club doing everything he could to pass people where he couldn't and endangering them because he was in such a hurry. But he was not in so much of a hurry that he didn't have time to stop and back up and curse and swear and point his finger and shake his fist at us for blowing the horn at him like he did at us. 

If he could have gotten out, would he? I was a little groggy at the time for getting into a spontaneous fist fight on the side of the road with someone of who knows what capability. But would it have been only a fist fight with someone that aggressive and out of control? What if he had a knife or a machete or a steel pipe or a baseball bat? Or a firearm? He was obviously an extremely aggressive individual. And he didn't seem hesitant in acting the way he was in the slightest, so it could have been habitual behaviour. Maybe he had gotten away with the likes of that before. Unchecked aggressive behaviour only results in more aggressive behaviour. He was obviously aggressive to anyone watching, but was he bat crap crazy, too? His hair and eyes certainly indicated it. What else would he have done if he could have? We have no way of knowing. We were just sorry a police officer hadn't been nearby to witness such a clear cut case of road rage. 

I shouldn't have blown the raspberry at him. That is for certain. I did that on purpose to make an angry butthole even angrier. To trigger him. It was the wrong thing to do, and I only did it for my own idle entertainment purposes. It definitely worked, but it was totally the wrong thing to do. It was a STUPID thing to do. In fact, it was the very WORST thing I could have done! In hindsight if that raging lunatic had a gun I could have gotten myself shot point blank. Then maybe Sharon also when I slumped over. That second thought just sends chills up my spine into my scalp. He couldn't get out of his car but bullets for sure could have gotten into ours. 

Don't be stupid. I was. Lesson learned. Move on and let morons be morons. Do NOT engage them!

We now always remind each other to "watch for Little Green Cars" when either of us goes anywhere. It's a half joke and a dead serious warning out of love and concern for each other to be cautious and on the alert at all times.

The word, 'stranger' is taking on a whole new meaning these days. 

If someone tries to break into your vehicle to get you out it won't be to give you a Girl Guide cookie. If they are using a weapon to try to gain access to your vehicle with you in it, get AWAY, even if it means damaging your own vehicle or any other, or running the assailant over or crushing them between your car and another. Your car or truck is a potentially DEADLY weapon. Self defense experts call things like cars and trucks or any other kind of impromptu or purposeful weapons 'force multipliers'. We are so accustomed to being so careful to avoid scratching the finish or denting our vehicles. It is ingrained into us right from childhood when we were told not to scratch Daddy's truck or Mommy's car with our tricycles or bicycles. In a life threatening situation, throw that nonsense out the window and RAM your vehicle into ANYTHING you have to to get away to safety! Use your vehicle itself to your advantage if it comes to that. Turn it into a force multiplier against an attacker for your own survival. Having to argue self defense in court is only an option if you are still alive to do so. 

Another thing to consider in these perilous, erratic, topsy-turvy times is what is called 'tactical parking'. Always try to park where you can DRIVE OUT. You don't want to have to reverse out into a lane first before you can go forward. Drive through any dual parking lot space to the one ahead. ALWAYS choose a parking space you can drive straight out of, even if it is further away from the business you want to visit. Parking like that saves precious seconds when there is a personal attacker, an active shooter situation nearby, or any other life threatening situation, natural or manmade. You are ten times more likely to get bottled in when you have to reverse and everyone else is too. Being able to drive out tremendously increases your chances of getting away from a dangerous situation because of visibility, control, and, most of all, time. It is just easier in general. Practice it now, and if you ever REALLY have to get away, you've already got that on your side. Every moment counts when every moment counts. 

These are different days, and we have to act in different ways.

Back to the road rage idiots: If someone does something stupid behind the wheel, LET IT GO. Just let it go. Forget it. It isn't worth it. Tomorrow will bring its own new challenges. Today's challenges will be forgotten in tomorrow's if you don't escalate them when they happen and just let them pass. Don't let something current and passing ruin your day or especially your future.

It only takes a moment to permanently change your life, and these crazy days that is more so than ever. Be alert, be careful, stay calm, and act sensibly with a thought to potential consequences at all times.