I understand now. I wasn’t aware that safety feature existed, but I assume that it would probably take a fairly serious collision to activate it. I drive a full-size truck with steel bumpers, so I’ve never thought about it. Other than being on the receiving end of gunfire, especially rifle fire, there are very few reasons to get out of the vehicle.
Originally Posted by HCountyGuy
Three years ago on Memorial Day Weekend I'm driving a 10-hour trip solo to visit friends in a neighboring state. The holiday predictably went with very dense, fast, crowded cars in each lane, with little space to exercise normal traffic maneuvers because of the crowding and speed. A big, "slowish" semi is ahead of me and I wish to enter the faster, leftmost lane. By necessity, I blinker left, pull into the left lane, ahead of a little red but fast convertible, perhaps a Cooper sports car, much lighter and smaller than my Avalanche 2500 (used to tow a boat), weight over 6000 pounds. I drive along in the dense but faster left lane for a time (maybe 10, 15 minutes). Suddenly, the little red sportcar whom I pulled in ahead of to join the left lane, is riding in the next (right, middle) lane and looks angry, and talking at a rapid rate, though I can make out nothing of what he is saying. I immediately apprehend what seems to be the only explanation: he thought I had cut him off when I slipped into the left lane ahead of him (I had thought my blinker would have conveyed that I had not intended to slight him, assert any dominance or issue any challenge, and as I looked through the passioner side glass, made a "What could I have done differently" kind of gesture." Unmollified, he kept me company veering in a few times. I had an impression that his intense aggrievement might not dissipate and that perhaps he was an unusually "hotheaded" person. He proved me right a few minutes later when he swerved left and ran into my vehicle; I barely felt an impact because I think, of the weight disparity and the fact that both of us were traveling at simiilar speeds. The "caulking" encircling the lower third of those early 2000's Avalanche 2500's if some kind of flexible polymer and does not dent. what concerned me was not damage, but rather the fact that I had become involved with a man who could not control his rage, and that he might continue his ramming of my vehicle and eventually succeed in a "pick" maneuver, causing me to lose control. (None of his rammings (there were two more from the left side as he drove along the left shoulder); I had been trying to dial 911 while this was happening; several times I called (this occurred in southwestern Virginia a little south of Roanoke) and got no, "911, fire or police" from a live person. Of four or five attempts (with my fear-clumsy fingers needing twice the number of attempts), I came close and did for a brief few minutes get a young woman on the phone, explained what was happening, gave my approximate location, and asked for help. She said that the emergency calling system was not operating well because of the dense traffic and holiday weekend, but that she would try to get an officer to call me back. (I was armed but never had a thought of shooting at the person ramming me: the highway was crowded, the windows were closed, and the chances of mitigatioin by that option were low). The guy in the red sports car (older guy, by the way, white hair, but a fast, fearless driver and aggressive) again rammed me from the left shoulder, but then this time slowed and stopped on the shoulder and through my left side window saw him pointing at me, doubtlessly saying something like, "What? You hit me and are refusing to stop?" I am interested in self-defense in a dangerous world and there was no way I was going to stop after have been rammed in a vehicular assault like that. I knew that he would probably call the state police and tell a story in which the actions and actors were reverersed. Apparently, that just what he did, and I received a call from a state policeman who seemed credulous of the older man in the red sports car, and asked in an irritable, "He did the right thing and stopped; why didn't you?" I then told him emphatically that what he had been true was factually incorrect and that he had rammed me several times for reason unknown although perhsp because he felt "cut off" and had proceeded to become enraged and being a ramming me. I recall saying, "No way would I stop under those circumstances." He seemed to reconsider the now more balanced rendering of events and said that he would have an officer meet me. I gave him my location and he told me to pull into an exit and wait for the officer. This I did, and it wan not too long before the state police office stopped and I went over the course of events. He seemed credulous and unsurprised. "This happens a lot," he explained, particularly on holidays. We don't do anything about it when neither vehicle is damaged; we just don't have the manpower or time." (Incidentally, he knew that I had a CC permit in Virginia and asked where my pistol was, and when I told him, impounded it temorarily, only to return it to me at the conclusion of our meeting. I was shaken up by the course of the day's events: I had never been attacked in that manner before, and reviewed events in my mind several times, asking my friends to comment after I arrived at my destination. They were in a celebratory mood and really weren't interested in hearing about someone trying to possibly run their friend off the road.
So, I ask you, gentlemen and ladies, has this happened to any of you? What could I have done differently? Should I have stopped for the road-raged operator of the red Cooper? (I did check into whether any videorecordings may have caught the incident or whether any witnesses may have been calling when I had been. I checked the cameras--no help there; too far apart and too far away.I wondered whether the driver who rammed me was intoxicated, delirious and/or demented; he appeared to be in his seventies (as am I, almost). I will tell you, not completely in a kdding way, that that was the first time I was glad I was driving a vehicle that weighed 6000 pounds and got 12.5 miles per gallon; I could well have felt a control-compromising impact had I been driving my wife's Toyota.
Comments, suggestions, criticisms, ostracisms? Many thanks in advance for your feedback.
Jack R (a recent joinee)
You did the right thing.
Sometimes there's not a lot you could do to de-escalate in a high traffic situation. But you didn't let stupid pride take over and really kitten things up.
Had you stopped, the moron would have probably done something even dumber than trying to ram a large vehicle with a tiny one. Best if you didn't interact directly with him.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
Around here Road Rage has been brought to an Art Form... Anyone who drives on Highway 98 knows what I'm talking about... If possible I try to keep my vehicle so I have an avenue of escape. So I'm driving away if possible. If the cars on fire, un ass the vehicle and the area. If I need to fight, I'm fighting from inside the vehicle to use what protection it offers me, unless the situation changes to one that makes that tactically unsound. As in most situations, it's impossible to give concrete answers to these situations. As others have said, you can't beat the Ballistic Coeffecent of a vehicle.
Be Aware-Stay Safe. Gunfighting Is A Thinking Man's Game. So We Might Want To Bring Thinking Back Into It.
I’ve heard of two incidents lately, one near my home town and one here in metro ATL, where road-rage incidents ended up with one party following another all the way to their home and the physical altercations ensuing from there.
Good reminder to pay attention and be wary of any vehicles following you.
“Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”
It's a sad commentary on human nature that none of the witnesses could be bothered to call in and report the guy.
I've stopped a couple of times for accidents I witnessed where the people involved were telling very different stories. The officers involved seemed to enjoy having a disinterested witness.
Anybody else here ride motorcycles, and do we have any motor officers? I’d be curious to hear some fellow riders take on this subject.
I’ve got a few thoughts and experiences after 14 years of riding in a medium sized city with the last five years having a motorcycle as my only motorized vehicle that I’ll share when I get some time later today.
"Anybody else here ride motorcycles, and do we have any motor officers? I’d be curious to hear some fellow riders take on this subject."
I had a bike for a few decades, including commuting in heavy traffic. A bike is going to come out on the wrong end of any collision. A bike's only advantage is agility - in an emergency you can split lanes, go down narrow shoulders or sidewalks, etc. If I'm on a bike and someone is trying to assault me with their car, I'm going to do whatever it takes to be somewhere else, then call the cavalry.
And of course, try as hard as possible to not set off whackos in the first place, but that's true regardless of vehicle type.
I always defer to the wants of cage drivers when riding my motorcycle.
Even if I'm completely right, I don't want to be "Dead Right". I can spare the extra 10 seconds.
In the car, I follow @daggaboy philosophy... Any conflict I'm involved with is, by default, an armed conflict., and should be avoided whenever the option to do so is available.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
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