Driving Confrontations - Whats Your Worst??

[PlainJane]

I know I've had more, but one in particular comes to mind.

I was driving home late ay night on the highway, and this guy in an SUV creeps up on my tail. Then he proceeds to come up on my side, he stays there for a while, all while honking his horn. Next he gets in front of me and slows down so I have to slam on my breaks. He then moves to my side again and then gets in back of me. He continues to box me in until my exit a couple of miles later.

I assume he was bored and drunk.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Oh wow, scary stories! Its really scary because you just never know - people could be drunk, have a knife or a gun... you just never know. I have another one.

I was on a busy road with only one lane each way. There were a lot of cross walks (the road was on the beach), and the woman in front of me stopped to let someone cross. This would have been no problem other than the fact that she waited to long, and slammed on her breaks, making myself, and the 5 cars behind me go into the sholder and the other side of the road. I don't remember what I did, I think I probally had an angry face, and said something (not that she could hear me, but read my lips probally) and she got mad. I wasn't close behind her or anything, but she kept slamming on her breaks after that, just to be nasty. After about 2-3 miles we got to a light, and she GOT OUT OF HER CAR to yell at me. I refused to roll down my window or say anything to her, I just simply lifted up my pepper spray that my friends father gave me (whos a cop) and motioned for her to get back in her car. Ofcourse I would never have used it since I had my baby in the car with me!

 

[manning]

I kind of miss the days of the manual choke and carburater.

The horn blower.

I would shut off the engine, at a traffic light, set the choke to flood it. and then try to restart the engine. Of course the guy would be out of his car yelling what the heck. I would look at him and say the engine stalled and I can't get it started. Of course while talking to him I have stopped cranking the engine and have the gas peddle down to the floor draining the gas from the carb. Then I would start the engine. The guy would go back to his car feeling like a jerk.

 

[tuckerkeys]

This one isn't too scary, but funny...

I was driving on a 4 lane divided road and some hot shot guy came right up on my bumper. He obviously wanted to pass me, but I was keeping up with the car on my left, not intentionally, but I could see in my mirror he was mad b/c of this. I kept up with the car for a few miles, then decided to see what he would do so i slowed down, allowing him to move over and pass me....

When he passed me he flipped me the bird and was yelling inside his car....My 4 year old son was watching the whole thing and said " Mommy, that guy gave you the finger!" and he held up his INDEX finger while saying so.....So now when my son gets mad to this day he says " I'm gonna give you the finger " and holds up his index finger.... anyway, we think it is cute.....

 

[agnes!]

I was driving my DD to school and going through a neighborhood that has no sidewalks. A lot of people live there because of all the trees, it's used to be a bird sanctuary/neighborhood, etc., but then they insist on walking in the middle of the road with their dogs wasndering on long leashes (as opposed to 'heeling') or they have their kids in strollers, etc. But I digress...

So, earlier this week I was driving her to school and this guy comes sauntering down a road in that neighborhood walking his dog on a long leash and taking up a lot of my lane. He motions for me to slow down, as if I were going 40 in a 25 zone. I stopped the car and got out and said "I WAS going the speed limit. Why don't you save that for the people who drive 40 mph down this street." got back into the car and drove off.

I was so mad, yeah and STOOPID to get out of the car, but I hate it when I'm following the rules of the road and some moron who should be walking on the shoulder and *isn't* motions ME to follow the rules.

schmuck.

agnes!

 

[Camicar]

Years ago we lived in Town A. It seemed like every time we drove out of our garage, there was some sort of driving confrontation. I asked a cop about it once and he told me that the town was notorious for its high incidence of drunk drivers and that was, he thought, the reason for all the confrontations. It was one of the reasons we moved. We were seriously afraid that one day we'd be hurt or killed in one of these crazy situations.

One I remember very clearly bec we called the cops, involved us driving down a major road but without any shoulder -- just a water-filled ditch. This was before cell phones. A guy in a conversion van starts to pull out of the side driveway right in front of us with no warning. My dh can see the guy is looking the other way, slows down and lightly taps on the horn to warn him to stop. He zooms ahead of us, we have to SLAM on the brakes, fishtailing all over, and then we stop behind him at a stop sign. I'm in the passenger seat and I can see him via the sideview mirrors on my side and I realize he's pounding on the steering wheel and screaming/yelling and I said to dh, "Holy crap, he's gonna get out of the car! Back up back up back up!"

Dh is slow on the uptake and doesn't move. So I hit the auto locks on the car. Thank god I did that. Because the guy storms out of his van comes back and yanks on our doors trying to open them -- including the door of my little dd (2 years old in a car seat). He is BEATING on the doors and windows, screaming obscenities at us, throwing himself on the hood, etc. My dh did not move -- he was just in shock. So I yell at dh to MOVE IT and he finally does. We then backed up and drove around until we got to a public building and called the cops.

The cops told us not to report it bec the guy might have checked our plates and in this state anyone can look up your plate info and if we reported him, they were afraid he'd show up at our house and attack us and THEY COULDN'T HELP US.

That was one last nail in the coffin for living in that town, lemme tell ya. And this is one reason why I generally do the driving.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I almost was involved in an accident this morning and it scared me half to death.

The road behind DS's school is under construction right now (they're widening/repaving) so you HAVE to take a detour through a subdivision that is under construction. So, naturally, there are a lot of flatbed trucks and other construction vehicles around, parked on the streets, etc.

I was going down X street, which leads to Y street which goes straight back to my subdivision. On X street, there was a big pickup parked on one side and a flatbed parked on the other side, which made it very difficult to get past them.
I'm going fairly slowly (about 10 mph) because of this and the fact that people around here tear around corners and down neighborhood streets like they're at the drag races. Around the corner of X and Y comes a mom in an SUV driving hell for leather. She came very close to running into me as I tried to pass the truck and the flatbed and I could see her mouth "Get out of my way!". Now whether that was directed at me or at the drivers of the two trucks, I don't know. Hopefully not at me, but at the morons who were nearly blocking the road with their trucks.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I once had a driver of an 18 wheeler follow me for about 20 miles and try to run me off the road.
VERY scary... This was before cell phones were prevalant.

I had something similar happen, also before cell phones were popular or affordable. I finally drove to a police station and ran in, telling the officer at the desk in two seconds flat that this guy was following and threatening me. The cop stood between us while the guy ran in yelling. They kept him there while I drove off. After that, DH had a cell phone installed in my car.

A dangerous one was one night on the highway I "merged" into the high speed lane with another group of cars coming from the left. Everyone was taking turns nicely, every other car, etc (I know, unusual in Boston ). I merged in order, but next thing you know, I had a maniac beside me on my right in the high speed lane, he'd apparently shot in from behind me on my right, I never even saw him. He was screaming at me, giving me the finger, etc, all while there are two of us in one lane doing around 60 in heavy traffic (I had a cement barrier inches from me, and he had cars beside him.) I carefully just slowed down and let him go ahead, but he was more interested in yelling at me than driving safely, so it seemed to take forever. He then played the jamming on the brakes game for a while. What a moron.

I had a fun one a couple of weeks ago. Had a nice peaceful drive to work enjoying my coffee and music, not running late, etc. I stopped at a stop light in front of the hospital minding my own business, when I notice something out of the corner of my right eye. I looked over to see a cab driver foaming at the mouth screaming at me from the "cab lane" (calling me some choice names) and I had absolutely no idea why. Now if I had done something I would have mouthed "sorry" with an apologetic face. But I hadn't. So instead I mouthed something back that I shouldn't have. This infuriated him and he proceeded to hang out his window and spit a Louie all over my car. Nice.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I refused to roll down my window or say anything to her, I just simply lifted up my pepper spray that my friends father gave me (whos a cop) and motioned for her to get back in her car.

Very smart.

 

[java]

Dh was driving and we were getting on the Cross Bronx Expy- with my newborn in the car.
This jerk rear ends us. We get out of the car and he gets out starts screaming at us and pulls a KNIFE!!
We got back in the car and drove away.
It was the scariest thing we ever have been involved in. And I was mad that he hit us and bullied us to get out of dealing with it(thankfullly it wasn't anything major. And I put the whammie on him so I felt better )

 

[delilah]

I have had lots of somewhat scary confrontations, usually variants on the same theme. I am a female physician, and I have to drive by myself to the hospital/office at all hours of the day and night. The physician parking is behind the hospital, not visible from the main road, not really monitored, and a bit scary on weekends when there might not be any one else in the area. My office has been broken into, and whoever did it battered the door frame and our safe with a crowbar. So, I always keep my eyes open to be sure that nobody is following me too long and not going the same way I am.

Labor day weekend, I was on call. Saturday morning, I was followed almost the entire 10 miles from my house to the office by a fellow in a red pickup truck. He followed closely behind me all the way to the hospital parking lot. When we got to the lot, I let him go first, but he was driving so slowly, stopping and looking, that I finally drove around and parked where I usually do. He pulled into the space right next to mine. All of the spaces where I park are for doctors. At this point, I was silently panicking, because I didn't know he was, I knew he wasn't a doctor, and I had to go inside and see the patients in the hospital. So, I went over to his truck, and told him he needed to park somewhere else, because these parking spaces are for doctors (even though, had he not frightened me so, I wouldn't have called anybody on it on Saturday). He said he had an appointment at the Cancer center, and I told him that he should park in one of the handicapped spots instead. He told me he didn't have a handicapped plate. I told him he didn't have a doctor tag, and he could be towed for that, also. Then, I went inside, and called security, who checked the guy out. The crazy fellow was back on Sunday, but the oncology clinic was closed. He looked harmless enough--he was about 60 years old, weighed about 300 lbs, about 5'10", walked slowly with a cane. But, he should know not to frighten women like that.

 

[java]

This infuriated him and he proceeded to hang out his window and spit a Louie all over my car. Nice.

Ok that's gross but I am Isn't it a Loogie?

 

[agnes!]

...So instead I mouthed something back that I shouldn't have. This infuriated him and he proceeded to hang out his window and spit a Louie all over my car. Nice.

Ok that's gross but I am Isn't it a Loogie?

Actually, I think the technical term might be "hawked a loogie" .

agnes!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Sorry, I couldn't think of the term "hucked" when I posted, but around here we say "hucked a Louie" (maybe Lewie???) (Have never heard it called Loogie, LOL.) And yes, it was nasty.