View Full Version : Road Rage to Deadly Shooting: The Aubrey Bowlin Interview
Zundfolge
08-20-2018, 18:58
Didn't think I'd seen this posted here, but an interesting interview with a woman who used a gun to defend herself in a road rage incident. (a little NSFWish for language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdrVbtr6YK4
What really angers me is people in traffic saw this happening and did nothing. This is a reality all of us need to expect. No one is coming to save you. You are the only one responsible for your safety and security. I pray none of us ever have to face a deadly force encounter, but if you're smart - you'll train as if you will.
Zundfolge
08-21-2018, 09:27
What really angers me is people in traffic saw this happening and did nothing.
That bugged me too, but the truth is that if most folks saw some "guy" in leathers on a sport bike getting beat by a middle aged man, they would assume the biker deserved it (not saying that's a good thing, but its a thing).
Of course seeing someone bashing someone's head (even with a helmet on) into a concrete barricade would probably get me to stop and draw on the basher and suggest he desist his shenanigans.
Great vid, thanks for posting. I remember when this happened.
Guy was clearly in the wrong (stepped out of vehicle and put his hands on her) and intended to seriously hurt her. I'm guessing he wanted to remove her helmet so he could start punching her.
On a bike you have to be super aware and it sounds like she was but then didn't change her behavior before the encounter and didn't use the advantage of the bike to get away from him. Once he got out, and she went kickstand down, her options were limited. She could have blasted the shoulder and been exits away from him the moment he opened the door. Of course she may not have known this would lead to a physical encounter either.
Getting away from a rager to deescalate as a first step is always a good idea and would help should something go to trial.
I have seen riders here in CO, in the passing/left lane, holding up traffic. Not 100% sure that was happening here but she said she was leaving a lot of room so she didn't have to work the gears. This isn't smart because it does lead to aggression and then it's you on two wheels vs car. I'm not saying that justifies his behavior, just that as a rider you are always going to lose a contest of mass, so I always try to avoid provoking one.
I do think lane splitting should be legal when traffic is stopped and can be safely done. She mentions that a lot of other riders in WA do this which gets them out of stop/go traffic.
mattiooo
08-21-2018, 10:22
I have seen riders here in CO, in the passing/left lane, holding up traffic. Not 100% sure that was happening here but she said she was leaving a lot of room so she didn't have to work the gears. This isn't smart because it does lead to aggression and then it's you on two wheels vs car. I'm not saying that justifies his behavior, just that as a rider you are always going to lose a contest of mass, so I always try to avoid provoking one.
People don't leave enough room as it is. I can't tell you the number of accidents I've seen on my commute in stop and go traffic because people are following too close. Calm down, people. You're all getting there at the same time.
People don't leave enough room as it is. I can't tell you the number of accidents I've seen on my commute in stop and go traffic because people are following too close. Calm down, people. You're all getting there at the same time.
As a rider you really shouldn't be leaving so much space that people think they're being held back. And if other cars are cutting in than the person behind you thinks he's been held back while you're not driving.
All while you have a smaller visual footprint making it appear that there is more room than there is.
The left lane is for passing, not for leaving enough space so you don't have to shift.
mattiooo
08-21-2018, 11:02
As a rider you really shouldn't be leaving so much space that people think they're being held back. And if other cars are cutting in than the person behind you thinks he's been held back while you're not driving.
Agree to disagree. You should be leaving exactly enough space as is required to stop safely. If people get lit about that, they have issues.
Agree to disagree. You should be leaving exactly enough space as is required to stop safely. If people get lit about that, they have issues.
Agree with the stopping distance.
She said she was leaving enough space so she didn't have to shift. Totally different. Assuming the rager isn't a rider, all he sees is smaller vehicle holding him back in the fast lane, with a lot of space, while engine braking in stop/go traffic.
Again, doesn't justify the assault and the rager is in clearly in the wrong. Just not a provocation I would start on a bike. There's nothing wrong with getting over if you want to ride that way.
Agree with the stopping distance.
...all he sees is smaller vehicle holding him back in the fast lane
From what? Getting there 10 seconds earlier than he would've? It was already mentioned they were in grid lock traffic or stop & go at the least. She wasn't holding him back from anything. She was riding in a way where she was maximizing energy efficiency. Have you rode a motorcycle in grid lock traffic on the highway? I do...4 days a week. It sucks. Fortunately I don't have to shift on my bike. When I did have an R6, I would try to leave enough room to minimize having to constantly shift & work the clutch. If people get heated about that, that is their problem. If they get stupid like the guy in this situation did, they are likely to end up with the same result.
Zundfolge
08-21-2018, 11:30
From what? Getting there 10 seconds earlier than he would've? It was already mentioned they were in grid lock traffic or stop & go at the least. She wasn't holding him back from anything.
Agreed. This wasn't a case where she was in the passing lane with nobody ahead of her going too slow (even then not justification for violence). I hate to say it, but based on the way he reacted to an imagined inconvenience (and the way his family reacted afterward) the world is actually a tiny brighter place with this guy in the ground.
I'm guessing he wanted to remove her helmet so he could start punching her.
Yeah, I bet he thought she was a he and was probably pretty surprised when he realized he died at the hands of a girl (gotta wonder how much of his violence the wife in the car had been on the receiving end of over the years). Again, its a brighter place now.
One thing she said that I find interesting (because I've read it so many times in these accounts of armed self defense) was "All of the sudden I remembered I had a gun."
On the one hand that's a good thing (our gun shouldn't be the first thing we think of in a conflict) but on the other hand I wonder how many CCWers have died and their last thought was "wait a minute, I've got a gun!".
From what? Getting there 10 seconds earlier than he would've? It was already mentioned they were in grid lock traffic or stop & go at the least. She wasn't holding him back from anything. She was riding in a way where she was maximizing energy efficiency. Have you rode a motorcycle in grid lock traffic on the highway? I do...4 days a week. It sucks. Fortunately I don't have to shift on my bike. When I did have an R6, I would try to leave enough room to minimize having to constantly shift & work the clutch. If people get heated about that, that is their problem. If they get stupid like the guy in this situation did, they are likely to end up with the same result.
The rager acted on what he perceived. He was probably tired of slamming on his brakes every time she got off the throttle while she left what he might have thought is too much room she left. I'm saying the same thing over again, but why ride that way in the left lane? Get over if you don't want to shift and maintain the flow of traffic.
She is actually lucky he didn't use his vehicle as a weapon. Making her a skidmark would have been a traffic infraction, "I couldn't stop in time."
There's a reason I don't act like "it's their problem" as you said. Laws of physics say they can make it my problem. And your CCW isn't going to help you in or after a TC on a bike.
It was stop & go traffic. It wasn't like everyone in front of her was going 65. That would be a different story. If the top speed of everyone on the road is under 10 mph, you should have plenty of time to stop for any vehicle in front of you.
***EDIT: If safely able to do so, she should've split the lane and just left him in the rear with his panties in a wad.
It was stop & go traffic. It wasn't like everyone in front of her was going 65. That would be a different story. If the top speed of everyone on the road is under 10 mph, you should have plenty of time to stop for any vehicle in front of you.
***EDIT: If safely able to do so, she should've split the lane and just left him in the rear with his panties in a wad.
She said she doesn't like to lane split and I'm not sure it's legal in WA but she said everyone does it. I would have just blasted the shoulder and got back into traffic when safe.
I can only assume from the interview, but when I hear a rider say they are leaving room to avoid a shift, I'm thinking she is disrupting the flow of caged traffic and thus he lost it. You let off the throttle on a bike, in 2-3 on most, and your engine brake is enough to require a hard brake in an SUV depending on the rager's following distance. He looks up and sees plenty of room and gets more aggressive.
I leave extra room behind a bike for this reason. But I shit you not, 9 out of 10 times a car/truck/SUV will fill that gap completely unconcerned with the following distance. Again, use the bike to get away from that and stay safe!
I want to be clear: Doesn't justify the assault one bit. He was 100% in the wrong for making this an altercation and won his prize.
She said she doesn't like to lane split and I'm not sure it's legal in WA but she said everyone does it. I would have just blasted the shoulder and got back into traffic when safe.
I can only assume from the interview, but when I hear a rider say they are leaving room to avoid a shift, I'm thinking she is disrupting the flow of caged traffic and thus he lost it. You let off the throttle on a bike, in 2-3 on most, and your engine brake is enough to require a hard brake in an SUV depending on the rager's following distance. He looks up and sees plenty of room and gets more aggressive.
I leave extra room behind a bike for this reason. But I shit you not, 9 out of 10 times a car/truck/SUV will fill that gap completely unconcerned with the following distance. Again, use the bike to get away from that and stay safe!
I want to be clear: Doesn't justify the assault one bit. He was 100% in the wrong for making this an altercation and won his prize.
100% agree. I do see a lot of bikers ride recklessly and as a rider it frustrates the crap outta me. Many bikers fail to understand the point you mentioned about being turned into a grease spot by an SUV. It's happened, I'm sure many of us have seen the videos. Car vs. bike, car wins 99% of the time. A lot of people ride like they are invincible. I lost a friend who had that mentality.
It sounds like WA has a pretty serious road rage problem from what I've read. I'm glad this young lady is okay. One of the questions I had about this, was what was the suspect's wife doing the whole time this was going down? There really wasn't any mention of it.
Kinda unrelated but i really hate other riders sometimes. Had one in jtown on the main 45mph strip come rossi'ing around a turn just tearing it up, full orange race suit and all. Not that bad , i mean on my v1000 I spiritedly get up to speed+5 for sure. But comes on the tail of a close one.
Amost got creamed going s bound on colorado a few weeks ago. I was a car length or two from a under limit minivan waiting for the passing markers.
Van suddenly jukes right and im sorta tracking right with it, along comes shithead squid on his 600 of some kind overtaking traffic in his lane in a blind hill non passing lane, and instead of coming down the center hes a couple bike widths into mine. Way too close to a head on. Im not a traffic rager but if i thought i could get turned quick enough Id have ridden him down and probably some actions taken if not apologetic.
Yes, you will always lose on a bike. I've had too many close calls to count, don't ride much these days for various reasons. Very important to keep your head on a swivel and stay safe!
The problem with ragers is they can pop up anywhere and surprise you. You might not have even known you did anything wrong! There is also an increasing amount of attitude on CO roads. But you can try to read other drivers and she read him before he got out of his car.
This is why I just get over and stay out of the way unless I'm passing.
I like seeing that helmet cams are becoming more popular.
My experience with riding in traffic is that if you leave adequate following distance(1 car length per 10 mph), some jackass will inevitably jam his f**king SUV in there without looking while f**king with his phone, before jamming on the brakes to narrowly avoid parking in the trunk of the car in front. Rinse and repeat every couple of hundred yards from 225 to 25 every morning. If I had a remote airbag activator, the highway would be littered with these idiots.
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