So this happened yesterday morning around 6:30am. I run most days, usually while it’s still quiet out. There’s this one intersection I pass through regularly — it’s a standard city intersection with a crosswalk, and I always wait for the walk signal before crossing.
Anyway, I had the walk signal, started jogging across like usual, and a car turning left on green just blasts through the turn like its wheels screeched and engine roared, cutting right in front of me. Like, easily within arm’s reach. If I had been half a second faster, they would’ve clipped me.
Similar situations have happened a few times before but never this close and this morning I was kind of in a bad mood and just thought man fuck this so I smacked the back of the car with my hand hard as it passed. Not hard enough to damage anything but clearly the driver heard it. Car screeches to a halt, driver rolls down the window and starts yelling at me about “touching their f***ing car”. I just kept running while flipping the finger, and continued on.
Told my friend and he said I was “asking for trouble” by hitting the car and that I should’ve just let it go. I guess it’s a safety risk and escalating is never a good outcome, but personally felt justified in this instance.
AITA?
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So this happened yesterday morning around 6:30am. I run most days, usually while it’s still quiet out. There’s this one intersection I pass through regularly — it’s a standard city intersection with a crosswalk, and I always wait for the walk signal before crossing.
Anyway, I had the walk signal, started jogging across like usual, and a car turning left on green just blasts through the turn like its wheels screeched and engine roared, cutting right in front of me. Like, easily within arm’s reach. If I had been half a second faster, they would’ve clipped me.
Similar situations have happened a few times before but never this close and this morning I was kind of in a bad mood and just thought man fuck this so I smacked the back of the car with my hand hard as it passed. Not hard enough to damage anything but clearly the driver heard it. Car screeches to a halt, driver rolls down the window and starts yelling at me about “touching their f***ing car”. I just kept running while flipping the finger, and continued on.
Told my friend and he said I was “asking for trouble” by hitting the car and that I should’ve just let it go. I guess it’s a safety risk and escalating is never a good outcome, but personally felt justified in this instance.
AITA?
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> 1) Smacking the back of a car
2) Potential damage to someone’s property
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. You had the right of way- they just got angry about it
Obviously NTA. Next time carry a brick.
NTA. Screw that driver. Chances are they are going to get karma butt-punched real soon.
He’s right. You can be annoyed, sure. But, you have no right to put your hands on someone else’s property. YTA
NTA. I don’t think k your reaction is out of line by any means, but your friend is still right. Your choices were to do nothing and move on or escalate a potential altercation. Again don’t think you’re wrong but there’s some batshit people out there that will shoot you for less. So pick your battles I suppose
NTA at all, you had the right of way. Your friend wasn’t wrong though, it wasn’t a safe thing to do.
NTA, although I agree with it being a safety concern. I’m VERY mindful about flipping people off, honking the horn, etc. and I remind anyone I ride with to do the same because people get shot over that shit all the time. My exes mother had a gun pulled on her in a very similar situation to this one so even though they deserve it, it’s better to hold yourself back and be careful.
Obviously YTA. Nothing happended to you, but you molested someone else.
NTA The person in the car was clearly in the wrong. Although he is kinda right because things can escalate very quickly and you never know if someone is gonna get trigger happy.
ESH
I don’t blame you, they were driving like an AH, but all in all probably better to just ignore it and move on.
NTA but you don’t know who’s driving. Could’ve stopped the car and confronted you. I wouldn’t make slapping cars a habit.
[should have done this]
(https://youtu.be/KW2Uq3mOs48)
ESH: you made a bad situation worse. People who drive aggressively are also aggressive people in general. People get crazy about their cars. If this is in the US, you could have been shot over this.
Sure, he’s the asshole, but you escalated the situation. You could have taken note of his plate and reported him; you could have done plenty of other things as well. Hell, you could have been more cautious and situationally aware in the first place.
He’s the bigger asshole. But you still contributed shit to the shit pile.
NTA because (a) there was no way your palm was ever gonna damage a vehicle, (b) it was a knee-jerk response that your hand performed before your brain could have stopped it, and (c) let’s face it, you weren’t wrong.
On the flipside, as a general rule, it is never a good idea to go human against machine when the only information you have is that the machine in question is piloted by a bonafide shit-fer-brains aggressive AH.
Not the asshole. When you smacked the car – you should’ve yelled “I’m walking here!”
ESH…it’s natural to lash out and I don’t blame you…I admit I did it myself last December. My husband advised me that it was a dangerous thing to do here in Florida which is a stand your ground state and personal vehicles fall under ground that can be protected when the owner is threatened.
Man, what are you complaining about, the sound you heard was you hitting me with your car!
NTA. You slapped a car, what damage is that going to do? None. If they had hit you with their car, you could be dead or seriously injured, and they could go bankrupt from lack of insurance and having to pay your medical bills out of pocket after being sued for everything they have. So like, not hard to have some perspective in that situation (the driver) and just say “Sorry, bruh!”
NTA – There is a certain subsect of drivers who fail to grasp that their car is a deadly weapon when used recklessly. They deserve any and all responses to their carelessness when it comes to other people’s lives and well being.
Now for your own safety your friend is right, this subect of drives tends to be generally unhinged so doing anything to hold them accountable for their terrible driving does put you at some risk. But spoken as someone who has slammed both hands forcefully on the hood of an F-150 who turned right on red right into me – I’m willing to take the chance.
NTA
I did that with an umbrella. Nice scratch all down the side of the car.
Fuck it, they need to learn somehow before they kill someone.
NTA. but it will escalate, that person was in the wrong as the pedestrian has the right of way at the light with the cross walk giving them the right to walk. I did something similar in college when some assist tried to make it through the crosswalk at a stop sign, they didn’t want to wait for me despite being halfway through the street. so I kicked the vehicles backside as it passed me. Did they stop the car? yes, did they get out? no. This is florida and fuck it.
We have this happen to us often at a local intersection. One day the driver nearly took out my three year old grand child. My very upset daughter, screamed an obscenity at the driver who then had the nerve to pull over and chastise her for crude language. People get away with too much of this stuff.
INFO: How dark was it outside and how visible were you?
I’m a runner as well and I don’t run before sunrise or after sunset without a headlamp – for others to see me more-so than for me to see them.
If it was dark and you weren’t wearing anything reflective or light-producing, then you can’t be mad if a car doesn’t see you.
You usually run early and you say you’ve had close calls like this before. I’m wondering if maybe you’re just not visible enough to cars.
What my dad would do in such instances when walking home from work was slam his briefcase into the car and when they popped out he’d say, it’s okay, I’m okay, you don’t need to call 911 in a mildly panicky voice.
You weren’t totally out of line, but your friend was right as well. Of course you should not escalate things like that, but I understand how it probably just happened before you even knew what happened. NTA
YTA only because if you did damage, you’d be liable, regardless of the situation leading up to the slap. Also, yes, you put yourself in further danger by provoking an already worked-up driver. Use your finger next time, and keep your hands off other people’s stuff.
NTA. Your reaction was reasonable. Unfortunately, other peoples reactions can always be unreasonable.
I had a similar situation, a car honked at me while I was skating so I flipped them off. They ran me down in their pickup, and sped off while I was on the ground. Luckily their honking drew attention, so somebody else was able to get the plate. He ultimately got like a month of house arrest and a suspended license for a year, basically fuck-all.
And no, I didn’t get thousands of dollars out of the deal or anything despite him pleading guilty. In actuality it really ruined my mental health, I’m like a tightly wound spring ever since then. So it goes.
You should have an expectation of safe passage when crossing a street with the walk signal in your favor. The operative word is should, unfortunately.
Something similar happened to me a number of years ago. I was walking my dog on the sidewalk and a driver blew out of a parking lot and came thisclose to hitting us. Like you, I slapped the back of his car and went on my way. The driver slammed on his brakes, popped out of his car and started screaming at me. I told him he was at fault for almost hitting us and moved on. He got tied up in traffic, but I saw him a couple of minutes later trying to find us. Fortunately I was in an area where I could safely hide, which I did. I watched out for him and he drove around looking for us for a good 10 minutes. This was in the days when people were still relatively sane! I doubt I would risk it today with the unhinged responses people now have to even the smallest events.
NTA. “And Hey!… let’s be careful out there.”
NTA but there are plenty of crazy people out there OP. Could have ended a lot worse.
First, if you’re ever going to touch someone else’s property you do need to expect that there might be larger issues that arise. My brother got a gun pointed at him for smacking someone’s car (yes they were found pulled over / ticketed for brandishing a weapon, but he also apparently had to pay to repaint that spot on the car 🤦🏼♀️)
Second, as long as you’re prepared for the possibility of a fight then by all means smack the car, kick it if you want! I would if it almost hit me, and I’ve definitely threatened it. Shit, keep broken pieces of spark plugs in your pocket and throw it at the windows of those who do actually almost hit you 🤷🏼♀️ ok that’s bad advice but it will work. Maybe make sure there’s no kids in the car before you throw it 😭
ESH.
>I guess it’s a safety risk and escalating is never a good outcome
Yeah don’t poke the bear. Road rage is a thing.
NTA for what you did but I would caution you against doing that in the future. You never know who’s crazy out here and looking for a fight where one doesn’t need to be had. You also never know who is armed and will use their weapon over nothing. What they did was wrong, yes, but let the proper authorities sort it out on the other side if need be. It’s just safer that way.