Crazy road rage incident!! Did I do the right thing? LONG!!

[mtemm]

Kids ride bikes in the street, following the rules of the road, just like adults. You practice in a driveway, empty parking lot (churches on weekdays are usually good) until you are skilled enough to ride. And a two year old has no business riding in the street.

I agree with this, this is how we do it. my question was for those who say kids shouldn't be allowed on the street at all.

 

[shrubber]

I agree with this, this is how we do it. my question was for those who say kids shouldn't be allowed on the street at all.

I think a big part of it is that 2 and 6 yr olds should not be playing in the street at all.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think a big part of it is that 2 and 6 yr olds should not be playing in the street at all.

My kids do with adult supervision when they are using wheeled toys: Bikes, scooters, power wheels, or simply walking (we do not have sidewalks at all).

All perfectly legal and safe with adult supervision.

They cannot do this without an adult b/c we do not allow it.

We keep other games in the yard for safety reasons.

Didn't notice what the OPs kids were playing--but they were not unsupervised.

 

[BellvilleDad]

my husband was playing with my kids, 6 and almost 2, outside in the street. I live in a resort area, so, this time of year is quiet so we take advantage of the situation and ride bikes and play ball in front of my house.

I was actually asking about your story, in which you confronted a father who yelled for you to slow down. Not the OP's.

 

[DawnCt1]

First your husband shouldn't have said anything, because there are the unstable out there amongst us. If it bothered him that much, he should have gotten the license plate and called the police.

But since the man stopped, you and your husband should have hustled your family into the house and dialed 911. You don't stand up to people. Your children could be without a mom or could be orphans this morning.


BTW being filled with tattoos does not make everyone a bad person, or a psychotic.

If you notice, the police arrived. She reported that he got out of his car, which is a threatening gesture and the POLICE STILL DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. What would they have done if her husband called in a report? More of nothing. They all did the right thing, and sure there are crazies out there but if good people stand around and do or say nothing, the "crazies" win.

 

[shrubber]

I was actually asking about your story, in which you confronted a father who yelled for you to slow down. Not the OP's.

Oh, sorry, I was being a little satirical, I posted that as to what the drivers point of view might have been.

 

[BellvilleDad]

Oh, sorry, I was being a little satirical, I posted that as to what the drivers point of view might have been.

Oh, I see.

Ours is a small town, and we live at the intersection of a state highway, and a small, no-through-traffic street. We do ride our bikes on the side street, but we'd never let the kids play out there.

 

[sbell111]

If you notice, the police arrived. She reported that he got out of his car, which is a threatening gesture and the POLICE STILL DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.

Perhaps the police found that the mere act of exiting one's vehicle is not a 'threatening gesture'. At least I hope it's not. I got out of my vehicle today, twice. Heck, yesterday, I did it while brandishing a loaded infant.

 

[wdwfan16]

You DH should have taken the 22 month old into the house and you should have gotten the other son and went into the house. I would never have confronted him. He might have tried to prevent your DH from leaving but I still would have tried.

 

[disykat]

Yeah, I'm sure "aiden's dad" jumped out of his car and "came at" this family cursing because of his concern. Concern would have been if he'd suggested they keep their kids out of the street. There is no excuse for this man's behavior.

It doesn't matter if they were in the street. It doesn't matter if the dh yelled "hey, slow down buddy." Neither should have inspired the kind of rage where he couldn't control himself from threatening this family.

 

[shrubber]

Yeah, I'm sure "aiden's dad" jumped out of his car and "came at" this family cursing because of his concern. Concern would have been if he'd suggested they keep their kids out of the street. There is no excuse for this man's behavior.

It doesn't matter if they were in the street. It doesn't matter if the dh yelled "hey, slow down buddy." Neither should have inspired the kind of rage where he couldn't control himself from threatening this family.

Just where in that story was the driver threatening anyone?
The only one threatened was the driver, who was being harrassed driving on his way to the beach.

 

[doxdogy]

Even if you do live in a resort town, kids have no business playing the street. Especially your youngest. Second if though the guy was wrong for jumping out of his car and confronting your husband, cooler heads should have prevailed. Your husband should have gathered up the kids and walked away. I would never confront anyone in this day and age.

What if he would have had a weapon? Would you want your kids to have the memory of someone either pointing a gun or attempting to shoot you? Sorry to be so blunt, but not a wise move on your part.

 

[shrubber]

The whole ordeal could have been avoided by not hollering and screaming at motorists as they drive by.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I have to agree that kids playing in the street really annoy me. We have no sidewalks here so kids do have to ride their bikes and scooters and such on the road, but it is a wide road with few cars parked on it. Most of the kids are really good about staying to the side or moving over.

But I can't stand it when they use the street as a playground. When we lived in our first house we were on a main street that lead through the neighborhood. There were tons of side streets that had very little traffic but ours was not one of them! It wasn't busy, but most cars going a certain way to their street had to come down ours.

The neighbor boys (elementary school aged) decided that it was the perfect place to play hockey on roller blades everyday. Only one of the boys lived on our street-- all the others were from these quieter streets. They would start playing and decided they owned the street-- they just wouldn't move when cars came. In the beginning they didn't have goals so they would steal my newspaper and use it, then leave it in the street to get run over. After many threats to them they finally got their own goal net. Then they would leave that up in the street! When a car came they wouldn't move it, and when they got done or wanted a break they would leave it in the street!

They trashed my lawn with garbage and the final straw came when one of them brought a huge dog and tied it with a long rope on to MY mailbox. They were never anywhere NEAR where the kid on the street lived! They were 1/2 block away from his house. I had a toddler at the time and as soon as that dog started to "squat" in my yard I went ballistic on the boys and told them if they ever set foot on my yard again I was calling the police and several other nasty threats. Yep. I was "that" woman!

The most annoying part? From my house you could SEE the large park 1/2 block down the street! It had a concrete basketball court they could have used!

The street is not a playground. If you are on the side actively supervising your kids on their bikes or they are old enough to behave that is fine. But play ball in your yard or in the park.

reminds me of a story.

I was driving to the beach down what is a pretty busy road the other day to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
I noticed a couple of kids in the middle of the road, one couldn't have been more than 2!. . . .


The police actually did come and after they calmed the woman down I believe they mentioned something to her about a busy road not being a playground, and said I could go and had, of course done nothing wrong.


The nerve of some people. I hope that they learn a lesson from this so we do not read about some tragic story in the newspaper.

Do you have a son named Aiden?

 

[shrubber]

Do you have a son named Aiden?

Actually his name is Nedia, That way I can read it in the mirror.

 

[disykat]

Just where in that story was the driver threatening anyone?
The only one threatened was the driver, who was being harrassed driving on his way to the beach.

Seriously? I can see how someone might think it's harrassment to have some words shouted at them while they are driving in the safety of their moving motor vehicle, but how does that make reacting by jumping out of the vehicle and lunging toward people while screaming obsenities okay?

Personally, I can see how the driver might have felt momentarily harrassed if he felt it was no one's business what speed he was going, but he certainly wasn't threatened. He on the other hand definately threatened the OP's family.

 

[SydSim]

reminds me of a story.

I was driving to the beach down what is a pretty busy road the other day to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
I noticed a couple of kids in the middle of the road, one couldn't have been more than 2!
Luckily, I was able to avoid them as they were darting in and around traffic. As I was slowing down, trying to manuver around the kids some guy' who turns out to be the kids dad no less, yells at ME from the top of his lungs 'HEY SLOW DOWN !!'
I couldn't believe it! the nerve! He lets his kids, babies almost, run around in traffic and yells at me to slow down.?!?
I stopped my car I was so angry. These kids could be killed and the Dad yells at me?!
I admit I was upset and got out and hollered at the Dad something like ' Are you blanking kidding me? You have playtime in the middle of the blanking road and you yell at me?'
Well, all of a sudden out of nowhere some lady, turns out to be the Mom, comes running up to me at full steam, screaming at me to "GET AWAY" " GET BACK IN YOUR CAR" waving her arms in front of here, pushing and herding me back.
I have never witnessed such a display in all my life.
I was incredulous. "What the blank are you thinking letting your children play in traffic for blank's sake?' They could be killed, thank god I was able to stop "

She continued to holler at me and said that they had called the police! and I had better leave.
They called the police on me? I would think that child endangerment alone would prevent these people from calling the police.
"Fine, Call" I said
The police actually did come and after they calmed the woman down I believe they mentioned something to her about a busy road not being a playground, and said I could go and had, of course done nothing wrong.


The nerve of some people. I hope that they learn a lesson from this so we do not read about some tragic story in the newspaper.

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

I do not agree with your assessment of the husband's actions or those of the OP.

i agree with you. you just DONT say a thing. you can write down the plate, keep your kids out of the road, but you DONT say anything. There are people in this world who dont think twice about stabbing someone or smashing their face with a bat. I had the displeasure of knowing a guy about 10 years ago, he was a friend of a friend. This guy was very similar to the guy you described, way to angry and just a knucklehead. He had the angriest short fuse temper i have ever seen. I have seen him pick up a beer bottle and smash into a persons face just for "disrespecting him" as he put it. If you would have stepped up to this guy you would have lost badly and would be really hurt. You NEVER know what the crazy person is willing to do. And this crazy person knows where you live, NOT good.

My girlfriend saw 2 guys swerving all over the place cussing and flipping each other off in a road rage indecent a few years ago also, when they reached a red light, one guy got out of his car and went over and PULLED the other guy out of his car and beat him badly. he smashed his face up real bad, he was bleeding all over the place. who knows how bad this guy was hurt. people got out and helped him thank God and the other guy sped off. who knows if the police ever caught up with him. Was it REALLY worth it? i hardly think so....

let the police be the police, you can report things to them, but DONT get involved when you really dont need to be. you just dont know what people are capable of. 99% of people probably wont do anything, but if you get that 1% you could really end up hurt or your family could. next time just pull the kids off the road and get inside.

 

[Scurvy]

Just where in that story was the driver threatening anyone?

Well, the OP did say that the man "came at" her husband. And then later in the post she said he was "violently going after" her husband. Those descriptions do sound sort of threatening, so I can see how people have that impression after reading the post. But the OP also sounds pretty worked up about the incident and could be interpreting the incident differently than the guy would be if he was here to share his side. To me, "violently going after" someone involves actual violence - but it doesn't sound like the guy actually attempted to hit or otherwise touch the OP or her husband. In fact the OP says she intentionally got into the guy's personal space, but she doesn't mention him getting into their personal space. She just says he "came at" them. It seems possible to me that he was coming toward the husband to talk to him, not necessarily that he was going to try to hurt anyone.

As for the language, I do hate it when people curse around my child. For that matter, I don't like it when people curse around me! I think it's crass and tacky. But there are people who talk like that all the time, even around their own children. As much as I dislike that, it's their right to talk that way if they choose to. And if the man suddenly realized that he almost hit a child in the street and that the parents of the child were angry with him for driving instead of being upset that their child was in the road to begin with, I can see how he might not have reacted very well. Plus, as others have said cars can appear to be going much faster than they really are when you are standing still. Maybe he really wasn't speeding, or at least not as much as the OP believed that he was.

Recently I almost hit a toddler who darted out from a yard into the road. I was going under the speed limit and stopped the second I saw him, but it was still close enough that I couldn't stop shaking for 10 minutes afterward. The parents were in the yard and ran out and grabbed his arm and scooped him up. They looked horrified, but they didn't look angry at me. If they had yelled for me to slow down I would have been furious, especially if they were actually allowing (or encouraging) the child to be in the road. If they hadn't appeared to appreciate the seriousness of the child being in the road, I would have been tempted to stop and talk to them. And if I were the cursing type, and they were angry with me when I had just been using the road for it's intended purpose, I probably would have had a few choice words for them!

Clearly the OP felt threatened, but it isn't clear to me that the guy was actually threatening them. Maybe the OP was just emotional and assumed the worst when the guy got out of his car, especially since she apparently found his language to be objectionable. If that's the case, she could be unintentionally blowing some of the encounter out of proportion because she is attributing her interpretation of the guy's motives to him instead of actually knowing what was going through his mind. Maybe the guy really was threatening them, and maybe he a lunatic who drives like a reckless speed demon everywhere he goes. Obviously the OP does believe that, but I agree that there is nothing in the OP's story that makes me certain that he was.

 

[DawnCt1]

Perhaps the police found that the mere act of exiting one's vehicle is not a 'threatening gesture'. At least I hope it's not. I got out of my vehicle today, twice. Heck, yesterday, I did it while brandishing a loaded infant.

She described his behavior as threatening.