Man got out of his car to yell at me yesterday for not making a left fast enough!

[MELSMICE]

I was waiting to make a left hand turn on to a busy street yesterday. My DD17 was in the car with me. During rush hour & other busy times of the day I will sometimes pull in to the plaza next to this intersection & go out by the signal to make the left. This was the middle of the day & I didn't anticipate much traffic so I planned on making the left.

After waiting a bit longer than normal I said to DD, "Gee, I guess I should have gone to the signal". We waited a little longer & she said, "Maybe you should make a right & turn around." I told her at this point we might as well just wait.

We waited a bit longer & a car pulled up behind us. The traffic was pretty much non-stop the entire time we were waiting - especially to my left. After a few minutes the car behind us beeped. I pulled up a bit to let him know I was attentive & waiting for it to be clear. Traffic was still heavy both ways. The guy beeped again. I gave a wave to say I knew he was there & I was watching the traffic.

A few minutes later I see the guy get out of the car & start heading for us. I immediately told DD to lock the doors. The guy starts yelling. I put my window down a bit & said, "I'm waiting for the traffic to clear so I don't cause an accident." He's ranting that I should pull in the median! First of all, if I could have, I would, second, I'll drive how I want to keep myself & the people in my car safe, & you drive how you want to!!!. I shut my window & watched him continue to rant while he walked back to his car.

WTH!!! I know how to drive!!!

 

[jfoofj]

That is scary. Did you get his license plate #? My friend had a really scary road rage episode (the person waved a gun at her) and a passenger in her car took a picture of his car to get the license plate #. They called it in, but she was traveling across the country and never followed up with it. People can be nuts!

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Wow, that is wacko!

Did you know that in some areas of the country it is illegal to pull into the median or the turning lane? We have a small town near us that just did a huge crack down on people who turn into the turning lane and then wait to move over into traffic. Tickets were given out and it hit the front page of our paper.

 

[ols386]

That guy was a jerk, and that is a perfect example of road rage. I think I would have pulled out my cell phone right then and there, and in visible sight, where he could see me dialing 911. In some states road rage is a felony. People like this guy are dangerous. To think he was so outraged that he felt he had to get out of his car and approach your car to yell at you -- that's scary.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

OP good for you for keeping the safety of you and your DD, as well as others, your priority. A few months ago my parents and DS were making a left hand turn, with a left green arrow and a lady in the oncoming traffic made a right in front of them. This caused my dad to have to swerve hard right and land on the curb, barely missing a metal pole. My parents and DS then turned into the gas station to get some water and then the lady that made the illegal right in front of them, shows up, jumps out of her car and starts screaming profanity at them. My dad told her politely to go away and stop speaking to them, which caused her to get louder My mother told her if she didn't go away, she would call the police. That quieted her down and then my dad reminded her that it was possible that the gas station was recording her on video and pointed to one of the cameras and that was all the police would need to see. At that point she got in her car and left.

It wasn't 2 wks later I saw an accident at that intersection, a car turning right slammed a car turning left w/ a green arrow.

 

[2binak]

That guy was a jerk, and that is a perfect example of road rage. I think I would have pulled out my cell phone right then and there, and in visible sight, where he could see me dialing 911. In some states road rage is a felony. People like this guy are dangerous. To think he was so outraged that he felt he had to get out of his car and approach your car to yell at you -- that's scary.

I did this once and it worked - the guy blocked me in a parking lot and then pulled away as soon as he saw my phone.

OP - I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know how shaken up you must have been. I'm glad he came to his senses and got back in his car and that you kept your DD and yourself safe.

 

[Heidict]

There was a road rage incident in CT early this month that had a rather interesting ending.

Apparently, some 21 year old was mad at some guy. Who knows for what, I'm sure it was for something stupid.

So, he follows the guy home and sees where he lives. He then returns and approaches him with a ski mask on and a gun.

Needless to say, the guy was scared for his life so he pulls out his own gun and shoots the masked idiot in the hip. Masked idiot jumps into his truck and drives down the road to a fire station. He later died from his injuries and it was revealed that he had a BB gun the whole time.

One more idiot out of the reproducing gene pool.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I was waiting to make a left hand turn on to a busy street yesterday. My DD17 was in the car with me. During rush hour & other busy times of the day I will sometimes pull in to the plaza next to this intersection & go out by the signal to make the left. This was the middle of the day & I didn't anticipate much traffic so I planned on making the left.

After waiting a bit longer than normal I said to DD, "Gee, I guess I should have gone to the signal". We waited a little longer & she said, "Maybe you should make a right & turn around." I told her at this point we might as well just wait.

We waited a bit longer & a car pulled up behind us. The traffic was pretty much non-stop the entire time we were waiting - especially to my left. After a few minutes the car behind us beeped. I pulled up a bit to let him know I was attentive & waiting for it to be clear. Traffic was still heavy both ways. The guy beeped again. I gave a wave to say I knew he was there & I was watching the traffic.

A few minutes later I see the guy get out of the car & start heading for us. I immediately told DD to lock the doors. The guy starts yelling. I put my window down a bit & said, "I'm waiting for the traffic to clear so I don't cause an accident." He's ranting that I should pull in the median! First of all, if I could have, I would, second, I'll drive how I want to keep myself & the people in my car safe, & you drive how you want to!!!. I shut my window & watched him continue to rant while he walked back to his car.

WTH!!! I know how to drive!!!

Oh, wow...WHAT A JERK!!

 

[dislaney]

That would have really freaked me out. Road Rage seems to be becoming more and more common these days. Scary!

 

[RitaZ.]

That guy was a jerk, and that is a perfect example of road rage. I think I would have pulled out my cell phone right then and there, and in visible sight, where he could see me dialing 911. In some states road rage is a felony. People like this guy are dangerous. To think he was so outraged that he felt he had to get out of his car and approach your car to yell at you -- that's scary.

ITA. I would have called the cops.

 

[Carly_Roach]

Wow, that is wacko!

Did you know that in some areas of the country it is illegal to pull into the median or the turning lane? We have a small town near us that just did a huge crack down on people who turn into the turning lane and then wait to move over into traffic. Tickets were given out and it hit the front page of our paper.

I don't know if Melsmice lives in Michigan, but it's legal here. You can pull into the LHTL, but you cannot use it to speed up and merge. You have to stop and wait for traffic to clear, then merge right into the travel lane.

 

[hulagirl87]

My mom had something like that happen to her not too long ago. She was at an intersection where she had a green arrow to turn left, but an oncoming car wanted to turn right and honked at my mom when she took her left on green. I guess she tailgated my mom and followed her to her house where she rolled down her window and yelled at her for cutting her off really people? can we not let it go? Road rage is the worst. People get so angry!!

OP I'm so sorry that happened to you.

 

[Free4Life11]

I'm confused....was he trying to make a right-turn and couldn't squeeze by you?

 

[DebbieB]

I was on a bridge last night going home and traffic was bumper to bumper. If I didn't move up the split second the car in front of me did, the guy behind me would beep. He did it to me twice. Where am I going? Moving up a couple of feet?

There was just a major accident here in suburban Pittsburgh and the police are cracking down on people using the center turn lane to merge. People are also sometimes using it as an extension of the left hand turn lane when coming to an intersection, that is also illegal. You can only use it to make a turn, you can't travel in it.

 

[Darsa]

I think that a lot of this stems from the "Right on Red After Stop" thing, that so very many people seem to drop off the "after stop" part of that and assume that since they're turning right they have absolute power. Must stink for them to learn the hard way, with a ticket, a banged up car, or a hospital stay.

OP, I'm sorry this happened to you, I don't think you could've handled it any better given the situation! Amazing how many wackos there are behind the wheel nowadays!

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I think there are some people that are wound so tight that it just really doesn't take anything at all to set them off!

I had an incident a few months back that still makes me shake my head in wonder and amazement. I was sitting at a red light, two way traffic in my direction, and one-way traffic going left to right in front of me (would be a legal right turn for me, but I was going straight). Well, the lady across from me, coming at me, decided it was okay for her to make an illegal left turn onto the one-way street, from her two-way lane, during a red light (with traffic barreling at us).

So I beeped my horn at her a little, and tried to motion that she can't do that. Well apparently this was a HUGE no-no according to the woman BEHIND me, who must have thought I was beeping my horn at HER (why on earth would I beep my horn at someone BEHIND me? ).

So she starts honking at me, and flipping me the bird, and cussing me out so much I can read every word on her lips in the rearview mirror! I pointed at the road in front of me to let her know I was beeping at the person up there, not at her.

Well, apparently THAT was the wrong answer, because she got even worse! I threw up my hands like this and shook my head, and dang if I didn't think she was going to get out of her vehicle and come at me! Thank goodness the light finally turned green!

Of course a block later when I turned right, she "showed me" by making a really aggressive left turn with pedestrians still in the crosswalk!

 

[Robinrs]

Let him blow off steam (pretty much used to it here in Atlanta) no one pays my insurance premiums but me so he's wasting his breath. Road rage is a daily give and take here and I've given it and taken it. Not worth a second thought.

 

[MELSMICE]

I don't know if Melsmice lives in Michigan, but it's legal here. You can pull into the LHTL, but you cannot use it to speed up and merge. You have to stop and wait for traffic to clear, then merge right into the travel lane.

No, I live in NYS. Honestly, I don't know if it's legal here or not. I have pulled in to the turning lane/median when it is safe, knowing I can pull into the driving lane immediately after a car passes. In this incident, I did not feel safe even doing that. There was too much traffic going in each direction. I couldn't just sit in the turning lane as he, obviously, thought I should have!

I'm confused....was he trying to make a right-turn and couldn't squeeze by you?

No, he was also making a left. I'm not sure where he thought he was going if the road wasn't clear enough of traffic. As soon as I made my left, he immediately gunned his engine & was right on my tail. I had pulled in to the left lane (which is what I learned you're supposed to do). When it was clear, I moved to the right lane, as I was turning right at the next signal.

Funny thing is, we both "met" at the signal at the same time. I made my right on red & he was still stuck at the signal going straight.

 

[cm8]

That guy was a jerk, and that is a perfect example of road rage. I think I would have pulled out my cell phone right then and there, and in visible sight, where he could see me dialing 911. In some states road rage is a felony. People like this guy are dangerous. To think he was so outraged that he felt he had to get out of his car and approach your car to yell at you -- that's scary.

agreed!

 

[yoopermom]

Carly,
There's a reason why they call those "suicide lanes" here in Michigan! They scare me half to death. Luckily we only have two town big enough in the U.P. to warrant having them.

And, OP, I agree with you, I'm a bit of a left-turn chicken, and would prefer either a light or to go right and loop around.

Terri