Traffic wars

[Ranger]

Tweety, try not to take things so seriously. Consider that you posted a thread that you wanted input on, and you got it. I don't think people are judging YOU but trying to tell you that if you were to do that there would be consequences for you. I'm no expert but that was my first thought too that if you sprayed antifreeze on them, they get into an accident and die then not only would you be liable but wouldn't you feel pretty bad for the rest of your life thinking you did that to someone for simply tailgating you?

I've thought of scenarios like this often, especially when I'm pissed off and then I take a breath and realize that my actions could change the course of someone's life, least of all mine.

I used to brake check tailgaters but then read about people who did that and got into some serious legal issues as a result. Do I want to spend $100K in legal fees to defend myself against the guy who tailgated me? Nope.

So, Tweety, I'm not judging you (had you actually done this I might) but putting my $0.02 worth as you asked. I don't know you from Adam but in reading your replies you do seem to be pretty pissed off (whether at this thread or in general I have no idea), and there's few things on this board that should really get under you skin IMHO.

In the words of Jack Nicholson in Anger Management: goooooosfraaaaaabaaaa .

[Byte Stryke]

Not going to address the antifreeze thing, not even worth getting into.
But picture this scenario:
Guy's riding your ass and you slam your breaks on to avoid the "whatever-it-is" in the road as you put it in your other post. Guy slams into you because he's following too closely, and assuming he isn't a complete idiot he understands what you did ("break checked" him). You both pull off to assess the damage and do the normal accident crap, he's pissed cause he was already in a hurry (thus riding your ass and trying to pass you) and now you're asshatery is going to cost him a decent chunk of time and money so he's even more pissed, and becomes confrontational. You don't seem like the type to try to de-escalate a situation, or say you try and it doesn't work, and things keep escalating. He starts pushing you around and it gets ugly, and you have to resort to deadly force (I'm assuming that being a member of this forum, you carry on a regular basis). Fast forward to court, where a jury decides that had you not intentionally caused the accident, the altercation would never have happened and someone wouldn't be dead. You're now spending the rest of your life behind bars. Was it worth it?
Or maybe you don't have to use deadly force, but you two are fighting on the side of the road and here comes the cop to do the accident report (or maybe you/he didn't call it in, but someone calls the cops on two guys beating the shit outta each other). Still gonna get some jail time.... still worth it?

and then what if a giant meteor falls from the sky crashing into the earth and sending billions of tons of dust and debris into the atmosphere and causing the earths orbit around the sun to change , causing us to move milions of miles away from the sun sending us into a permanent ice age and everyone DIES..... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
/sarcasm


You missed your calling Brother, you seriously should have been a TV Writer. your what-ifs play out like a TV Cop show.

[ZombieKiller25]

Are you serious? I'm getting my ass handed to me here (you're accusing me before the fact of attempted manslaughter, and another guy suggests that I might wind up shooting somebody) because I tap the brakes (sometimes pretty hard), yet you're condoning messing with their heads as badly as I am?

Good grief. I'm actually a less aggressive driver than many of you appear to be, since some are supposedly suggesting that it's OK to tailgate if you're in a hurry.

If you don't want my brake lights in your face, BACK OFF! It's really a pretty simple concept. Late for work? Not my problem. Go around me. If you can't go around me, riding my ass isn't going to get you there any sooner; in fact, it might slow the whole process down a little bit.

Tell you what. I'll keep the hell outta the left lane on the interstate unless I'm passing (always have, anyway), and you keep the hell off my rear bumper. Deal?

It's idiots like you on the road that do exactly that....cause road rage because you want to act cool and brake check someone. Are you 10? Grow up already.

[Monky]

Me? I absolutely HATE tailgaters. When someone is riding my ass and won't go around, I figure I have no choice except to slow down to reduce the severity of the impending accident.

I'm thinking an old windshield washer tank mounted in the trunk, plumbed to a jet in the trunk lid and wired to a switch on the dashboard. Then, fill the tank with antifreeze.

You know what comes next.

Haven't done it yet. Got the idea from my brother who DID. Sounds like it results in an instant rainbow on the tailgater's windshield when they start the wipers. And my car is so old, it wouldn't be unusual for it to leak antifreeze by itself anyway . . .

My brake lights won't cause that problem, though. I've been known to be pretty aggressive trying to stop for that "whatever-it-is" in the road in front of me when someone's too close behind me.

Are you serious? I'm getting my ass handed to me here (you're accusing me before the fact of attempted manslaughter, and another guy suggests that I might wind up shooting somebody) because I tap the brakes (sometimes pretty hard), yet you're condoning messing with their heads as badly as I am?

Good grief. I'm actually a less aggressive driver than many of you appear to be, since some are supposedly suggesting that it's OK to tailgate if you're in a hurry.

Your posts contradict each other.. a few of the color changed areas should give you an idea of why anyone would gather malicious intent. You asked for ideas.. you got them.

[Irving]

I think someone with such thin skin should really avoid booby trapping his car.

[Ronin13]

I think someone with such thin skin should really avoid booby trapping his car.

I'm just getting an image of an old man (took the thin skin comment literally) doing some mythbusters type construction project on his car....

I don't brake check if I'm being tailgated, but I am one of the worst road rage people on earth. Yes, I just admitted I have horrible road rage, but I've gotten better, not measurably by most, but to people that know me well say I handle things behind the wheel better now than I used to. I don't think carrying changed that at all, if anything it just made me less afraid of some guy getting pissed off because I'm not going fast enough (I don't instigate, I'm a subtle asshole). If someone is on my rear bumper, and they're too close (like if it's a car and I can't see their headlights, they're too close) I just pull my foot off of the gas, or I cruise at -5MPH under the speed limit. If they don't go around their problem, I just drive normally cursing them under my breath (or as more common, aloud but not to them). If they flash their headlights they're usually too close for me to see so I just ignore them. I've been waiting for a long time when that [insert object, animal, child, etc. here] comes out infront of my car and I do actually need to use my brakes. They hit me, and being a disabled veteran with a SCD spinal injury, I get the chance to retire early on their dime. No I'm not advocating the sue happy America, I just run a bigger risk of being paralyzed than your average Joe and being at higher risk I would bring up civil suit for irresponsibility and endangerment because I am at higher risk. My life as I enjoy it could end much too quickly (if I don't die) and I would probably spend the rest of my life dreaming of those days when I could do the things I enjoy today.
/Rant

[ghettodub]

When people ride my ass in any lane other than the fast lane, I just slow way the hell down and ignore them. Then I pleasantly speed back up to 5 over when they pass. Now that I ride the train to work every day and drive less, I notice I get more irritated with idiot drivers...

[mcantar18c]

and then what if a giant meteor falls from the sky crashing into the earth and sending billions of tons of dust and debris into the atmosphere and causing the earths orbit around the sun to change , causing us to move milions of miles away from the sun sending us into a permanent ice age and everyone DIES..... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
/sarcasm


You missed your calling Brother, you seriously should have been a TV Writer. your what-ifs play out like a TV Cop show.

Unlikely, sure, but not impossible... I've seen more than a few instances of road rage that turned into news stories.
Its also pretty unlikely that your gun will go off when you don't intend it do, that somebody will break into your house, that you'll win the lotto, or that you'll be hit by lightning... yet we still use safeties, lock our doors, buy lotto tickets, and nobody in their right mind will go stand out in the open in a lightning storm.
As a CCWer, we need to think about the "what if's" and avoid situations that could put us in a position to make somebody's day take a very bad turn, no matter how unlikely. There's a line I heard once.... "when you carry your gun, your middle finger stays at home."

[Ronin13]

There's a line I heard once.... "when you carry your gun, your middle finger stays at home."

Ok now this has me confused... I can't (or shouldn't) speak my mind via my hand gestures just because I'm carrying? If I'm driving and a person cuts me off, I give them a honk, they flip me the bird, then I return the bird, I'm wrong because I'm armed? He was in the wrong to begin with by being a d-bag and flips me off, but if I return the gesture I'm wrong? Someone please give me some fidelity here, because I thought because I'm armed I'm more easily able to defend myself and others from serious threats, not disengage my road rage chip in my brain. I wouldn't ever use my gun in a road rage incident that I started (although I don't start them, I usually am not the one to make the wrong move) unless the guy follows me, confronts me with a tire iron or some other tool that can be used as a weapon, then I just draw down. But I have never had anyone confront me over road rage- if I do something dumb, like not see a guy who's been camped in my blind spot for 10miles and I make a lane change and he beeps at me I was and mouth "sorry", usually they flip me off and it ends there. Or if someone drives like a jackass around me and I beep at them if they flip me off, I flip back and that's pretty much the end of it there too.

[ghettodub]

Ok now this has me confused... I can't (or shouldn't) speak my mind via my hand gestures just because I'm carrying? If I'm driving and a person cuts me off, I give them a honk, they flip me the bird, then I return the bird, I'm wrong because I'm armed? He was in the wrong to begin with by being a d-bag and flips me off, but if I return the gesture I'm wrong? Someone please give me some fidelity here, because I thought because I'm armed I'm more easily able to defend myself and others from serious threats, not disengage my road rage chip in my brain. I wouldn't ever use my gun in a road rage incident that I started (although I don't start them, I usually am not the one to make the wrong move) unless the guy follows me, confronts me with a tire iron or some other tool that can be used as a weapon, then I just draw down. But I have never had anyone confront me over road rage- if I do something dumb, like not see a guy who's been camped in my blind spot for 10miles and I make a lane change and he beeps at me I was and mouth "sorry", usually they flip me off and it ends there. Or if someone drives like a jackass around me and I beep at them if they flip me off, I flip back and that's pretty much the end of it there too.

They said that in my CCW class as well, and how since you're carrying a firearm that you should be the bigger person. I agree with this, because flipping someone off can escalate a situation quickly...