My encounter with a road rage driver

[AKguy1985]

Okay so i thought i'd share my encounter with an angry idiot driver. This happened thursday after my meeting at work. I was coming home on 169 northbound minding my own business and went to get off onto hwy 20 as usual. I had a white cadillac in front of me exiting as well, by the time i got to the light to turn right the cadillac was behind me but i thought nothing of it. I continued on my way down hwy 20 towards claremore with that same cadillac behind me. I didnt think much of it until i turned off on old 88 and the cadillac was still on my tail. Once i got down near lowry road he was 3ft off my rear bumper. My gut told me something wasnt right and this joker was following me. Well needless to say I decided to lose him if you know what i mean. That didnt work all that well considering he had a northstar V8. Well i get to where 450rd crosses 88 and i turn right on 88 and head towards claremore, he stays with me the whole way, then i turn right on lowry road and get back on old 88 with mr cadillac behind me the whole way. I decided I didnt want to lead him to my house so thats why i headed back towards town, i get on blue starr and call RCSO, dispatcher tells me to call CPD, Claremore dispatcher tells me to come to the police station and i do so. When I pull in the police station parking lot mr cadillac parks in the street 100 yards down from the police station and waits for me, never pulls into the parking lot. Once I pull out to leave then he pulls up beside me, i whip around and pull into the police station again and call the police back. Officer Isaac i think it was came out to talk to me, the guy in the cadillac was a big burly biker looking guy wearing a tshirt with cutoff sleeves and sunglasses, coulda passed for larry the cable guys brother. Well he tells the officer i was driving wrecklessly and tailgaiting people and so on and soforth and speeding and he didnt like what i was driving either. I didnt get a word in edgewise but he didnt stop to think I was trying to get away from him! Thankfully officer Isaac ran the guy off and told him to leave. God only knows what would have happened if i went home or pulled over on the side of the road ala kenneth gumm. I'm assuming judging by his body language and how he looked at me that he wanted to assault me. I was also unarmed, i had absolutely nothing in the car to defend myself with except my car, i've had my carry permit for over a year and here i was rolling around unarmed. Well needless to say the M&P .40 came out of pawn friday.

I guess the take home from this is always be aware of your surroundings and who is around you even if its on the road. And carry wherever you can legally. And be careful of people on the road who think they know whats best for you.

 

[_CY_]

OK... let's hear the details about what pissed him off in the first place?

 

[AKguy1985]

OK... let's hear the details about what pissed him off in the first place?

I really dont know, he didnt like my car for one because i drive a retired ohp car. I didnt talk to the guy, he just gave me looks that'd kill, he talked to the officer for a minute and then was told to leave. I wasnt "driving like crap" by any means. I realized that i was being chased and i decided to lose the guy, if i would have tried harder i could have done it but thats dangerous and not the smart thing to do.
I dont know if he wanted to beat me or rob me or shoot me. I had no idea of his intent towards me.

 

[gerhard1]

I have had angry people tailgate me as well. One time when I was a Kansas PI, I was coming home from the Sedgwick County jail where I was visiting a client, and this young Hispanic guy pulls in behind me. We were on a four lane street and he could easily have passed me, but he gets right on my rear bumper. I am talking maybe three or four feet away, and just stayed there. When someone is tailgating me, I find that the best thing to do is to slow down. 99% of the time, they take the hint and either back off or they pass me. I did this, but this ass is still right on my rear.
I slowed down even more and instead of passing me, which he could still easily have done, he remained right on my bumper. We did this for four or five blocks and finally I entered the freeway going very slowly and this guy is still on my tail.
I drove along at the minimum speed for about a mile or so and it apparantly dawns on the idiot that he is not going to force me to speed up, which is what I think that he was trying to do, so he passed me cussing me out, and calling me every vile name that he could think of.
Like I said, it appears that for some unfathomable reason, that this guy was by God going to make me go faster. It must have been a matter of pride to him or something.
That was before Kansas got RTC, but being a PI, I was armed. And in this case, I am glad that I was.

 

[Sanjuro82]

That sucks man, but you were smart to pull into the Police Station. BTW I've never had a problem like this, I bet the main reason is the nice big "Protected by Glock" sticker I have on the back of my truck.

 

[HMFIC]

It's amazing to me just how much craziness there is on the roads. Good job being aware of the situation.

 

[Glocktogo]

Most road rage drivers I've encountered either think they're there to police everyone else's driving, or they're driving stupid and you encroach on their zone of stupidity.

 

[ripnbst]

There are so many times I wish I had a plate frame that had a ticker style digital readout on it that was able to be updated live with a handheld controller somewhere in the car. The messages I wish I could send people.

I saw a plate frame the other day that made me smile, it read on top "The closer you follow" on bottom "the slower I drive"

 

[kriket1911]

One thing I think needs to be addressed is "weapons dependence". So many times I here things like "I was unarmed" or "i didn't have anything to defend myself with", WTF WHAT IF this man did attack you? What would you have done if you did have a gun? What did you do to defend yourself before you had a gun?. Remember no matter what there is always going to be a need to enter a NPE (Non permissive environment) at some point and time, then what are you going to do?. Now don't take this as some kind of rag on you or anyone for that matter as I have been guilty of this myself at times. As many have said before self defence is all about layers. And the most important layer of self defence(other then situational awareness,avoidance, and de-escalation) is you hand to hand combat. I'm not talking about some kind of Steve segaul[sp] type martial arts, just some basic realistic street self defence. Like boxing,bjj,wrestling,krav maga,ect. You don't even need to be a master, just get some basic understanding of the fundamentals and a few techniques down and you will be far better off. In conjunction with that invest in some quality pepper spray(I carry the fox 5.3) pepper spray is a strong deterrent, and if your attacker is still insistent on harming you, you will have the upper hand in employing your h2h techniques. Other things to consider for self defence is a high quality flash lite for use as a pain compliance device. I carry an E1b backup from surefire. The com-tac stinger is also a great pain compliance device.a tactical pen is a vary handy peace of equipment to have and is permitted almost anywhere. Remember your gun is your absolute last resort, so haveing several options available to you will only enhance your ability to LEGALLY DEFEND yourself. training is vital in all aspects of self defence, and IMHO we need to spend far more time then most of us do on our h2h skills. Because we a far more likely to go hands on before deadly force is required then we think.

 

[deja]

I had an issue on 35 northbound a few weeks ago. I pulled in front of a guy in a merge lane because there wasn't really room behind him, apparently sparking his very short fuse. He proceeded to repeatedly chase me up I35, get in front of me and slam on his brakes and stay in front of me when I tried to get out from behind him. Looked like he was trying to pull me to a stop. Got around him both times because of breaks in traffic. If I'd have been forced to a stop and he got out of the car it would have been ugly. I was on the phone calling OHP the second time I saw him coming, which I think is what made him veer across the highway and exit.

Yes, I was carrying. And I'd have been on a hair trigger if someone stopped me on the highway and got out of their vehicle within 7 yards of me. I was pretty worried until he swerved off the highway.

A few years ago a guy who was doing god-knows-what at 11pm tried to motion me to pull over. One car got in front of me and put his blinker on and started slowing down while another car was behind me. I just went around them and ignored them. They pulled up next to me and motioned something (couldn't tell what, it was dark), and did the same thing. Just kept going around them. That was just bizarre. Didn't call the cops because I didn't really feel in danger. Eventually they got bored and sped off in front of me and I didn't see them again.

Maybe 8 years ago at OU a guy tried to cut me off at a part of town where the road merged. I didn't let him. He started following me around tailgating me. I drove to the police station. He took off.

General rule is if I'm in my car, I'm definitely carrying, with my experiences. If I'm walking around, there's a 50/50.