Every time I honk the horn or flash my lights, my gf gets upset thinking I’m going to spark some road rage. The other day I’m driving her car and flash a guy in front of me for doing something stupid as I’m turning off the main road to head home.
We’re getting close to her house, talking about something she forgot to buy, when I see the guy absolutely flying after me. He’s tailgating, flashing, flipping me off. We get to a stoplight and he pulls up next to me in the turn lane with his window open, yelling and waving wildly. The light changes almost immediately and I take off thinking he’s gone, but he cuts off the car behind me and is right back behind me again.
Amazingly, my gf just kept talking, totally oblivious, but we’re getting close to the last turn home and there’s no way I’m going to let him find out where we live, so I drive on past. She’s like “what?” and I said “well, I thought you wanted to go back to the store for that.” I’m dying for a couple seconds, but she says “ok.”
I take the next turn back, and then another and the guy is still following me. Now I’m sweating bullets, thinking I really do have to tell her, when suddenly he veers off and is gone. I can’t even tell you how relieved I was. We went back to the store and everything was fine.
TL;DR: GF has warned me about sparking road rage and she was right. We almost had an incident but somehow she didn’t realize what was happening. Had to get this off my chest because I won’t admit it to her even on my deathbed, I’m taking it to the grave.
Comments
Don’t instigate something you’re not willing to finish. Simple as.
I hope part of your realization here is to stop doing the petty horn honking / light flashing. Really isn’t worth it because you never know when it’s going to be someone crazy who reacts the wrong way.
But if it happens again, you should find a nearby police station and pull in there.
Hey, tell you gf she was right
You’re with a woman you can’t admit you’re wrong to? You think that’s manly? Try again
now never do it again! i trust you’ve learned your lesson after that one! lol
Control your emotions.
Everyone should be forced to watch that road rage movie with Russel Crowe before theyre allowed to drive
I don’t think you even really know what a bad day is
Do this shit when you’re alone, not while you have a loved one in the car. Get yourself killed and not your SO that tried to warn you. Absolutely disgusting and selfish imo.
Half of all drivers are below average and a non trivial number of them are armed or willing to commit violence. If you see someone driving poorly there’s no benefit to honking at them out of frustration but you could get yourself hurt. She’s right, let her know that.
How old are you? I’m not sure your relationship’s going to make it. If you can’t, tell your girl the truth.
you’re the one with road rage
Well I hoped you learned your lesson.
In the minimum – refrain from doing it in HER car. I would also refrain from doing it in your car while she is in the car and also just in general because, as you found out – they could follow you home.
Or they could kill you.
Or they could take your license plate number, find your address and just fuck your life up (depending on how unhinged they are).
So yeah, maybe not road rage.
Question: is flashing your lights commonly used to tell ppl they’re driving like an asshole? I’ve only seen it used to let someone else go, letting ppl know they have their high beams on, or there’s a speed trap ahead
Yup, a good rule of thumb is, there’s probably always someone angrier or crazier than you at that current point in time. No offense to my fellow citizens, but especially in the US, it isn’t worth the hassle of trying to let people know they’re in the wrong, because folks have done the absolute worst for less reasons than just having lights shined at them.
As the old country music song says: “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.”*
Glad you were aware enough to eventually evade him. No way you lead him home..!!
*Billy Currington, “People Are Crazy”
Had an incident getting on the local highway.. the speed limit for the on ramp is 30,but it’s also pothole paradise so most people take it slow .. one morning I was getting on the highway and this dude in a white van is tailgating me.. there’s a turn mid pothole that I always brake for, no real way to avoid it .. this sets him off.. get on the highway and he zooms along side me and tries to ram me off the road .. I slow down , he gets in front and tries to brake check me .. get to the next exit and I get off .. he backed up on the shoulder to take the ramp.. I watched him from the overpass and took off .. he’s the reason I have front and rear dash cameras .. it was 5 am so nobody was on the road and rush hour isn’t until 6 , so who knows how long if something would have happened to me
I had a guy follow me to a crowded grocery store parking lot and he was surprised when my wife and I both pointed guns back at him when he pointed his at us
You’d rather lie than be wrong. You’d have her in a situation where she’s actively in potential danger and won’t even know it’s coming cause you’re scared to speak up until it’s too late. If that’s somebody you care about, think about whether they deserve that.
There’s always a crazier person out there brah.
You could of died
You would be surprised on how little it takes to set some people off.
There was this one event I know of where this guy was overtaken normally as you would, but this guy got angry and when the car that overtook him stopped he got out opened the other guys door and started to beat him up. Guy was a nut, same guy also beat the crap out of KFC staff in a drive through, got out, went around and attacked the staff.
Can’t imagine what a guy like that would be like in USA where everyone has got a gun.
Be safe.
I ONLY use my horn when it’s obvious the person ahead of me isn’t paying attention and even then it’s just a quick little beep and I’ll give them a friendly wave.
That or if it’s night time and someone accidentally forgot to turn their lights on, I’ll give them a quick flash to let them know. I don’t want them getting a ticket haha
People have done that for me and I appreciate it!
A sarcastic thumbs up is all I give now. Gets my point across without escalating
It’s bad enough you put her in danger, but not telling her, she was in danger while it was happening…is very bad form.
How would you like it?
Yea this won’t be the last time. Just likely the last time we here about it. Keep it up road warrior.
Flashing the brights at another car isn’t where you fucked up.
Letting your GF yap away unaware that a potentially serious situation is brewing is where you fucked up. Why did you keep her in the dark about it? And then did another trip to the store just to stay stuck in a lie?
That math ain’t mathing, I suspect your own driving more directly pissed the guy off than you are admitting here.
It happened to me as well. I was minding my own business, blinking when moving in and out of lanes, slightly over the speed limit, not hanging in the breaking-the-law lane too long. Then the road work started and I was headed for the one lane road. Out of nowhere this lunatic comes flying over, cuts me off, and all I did was raise my hand in the universal WTF signal. He flew into a rage, swerved at me furiously until I struck a traffic cone, then as I got in line behind him slammed on his brakes so hard I had to as well. The semi behind me.barely had time to stop. These f-ers are just out there, loose, ready to explode. Menaces to society.
lol there’s a horror serial killer type movie about this, anyone remember which one it was
I carry mace. Let em fuck around, they can find out. They’re not the only ones full of rage. Hope they brought a gun and more of a will to live than me.
There’s a road rage related shooting literally every day in the US. It’s not even remotely worth it. Speaking as someone that was followed and threatened after flipping off an obnoxious driver, unless you’re down to clown as a result I’d let some other lunatic take one for the team.
I must have read a different post from everyone else in the comments because from what I see, OP flashed his lights and the other guy follows him around for miles, gives him the finger and yells at him yet somehow OP is somehow the one with road rage issues and getting dogpiled?
I get so annoyed when my wife honks like 4 seconds after the event happened just cause she’s frustrated. Just keep everyone in front of you, merge appropriately, don’t honk unless you’re about to have an accident cause people lose THEIR FUCKING MINDS when driving.
“Amazingly, my gf just kept talking, totally oblivious”
I lost it here 😂
“and there’s no way I’m going to let him find out where we live, so I drive on past. She’s like “what?” and I said “well, I thought you wanted to go back to the store for that.” I’m dying for a couple seconds, but she says “ok.””
and then again here 🤣 🤣 🤣
I mean, definitely take the measures to protect yourself by not inviting violence from potentially crazy people. Always a good idea to keep your head down and take the high road. But the bulk of the responsibility always falls on the person acting threateningly over something so petty. Not your “fault” necessarily.
That said, tell your girlfriend she was right. Smh. Do you know how much joy and pleasure that would give her.
Luckily, your dishonesty saved you from your anger issues! Close one! /s
FYI in the future, just drive directly to the nearest police station. Once they figure out where you going they’ll disappear real quick.
I seriously slowed down, didn’t even tap my brakes and it triggered a guy so much he followed me, cutting me off and tailgating for miles, then pulled up beside me blocking traffic, when I was stuck at a light to scream at me. My kids were in the car and were terrified. I will never use my horn again. People are nuts, OP. It’s not worth it.
Your girlfriend deserves a real man, not one who can’t bear to be wrong.
Self-defense training teaches that you should avoid problems on the road. Let the idiots fade in the distance.
If you do have to defend yourself, you can not be the person who caused an argument or fight.
Jesus what kind of manchild are you that’s can’t tell your girlfriend she was right and that you may have learned something from her? Best of luck to her.
There are insane people out there. Tell your gf she was right.
Had some loon do something similar many years back… so I let him follow me… right to the local police station. 😂
I parked and got out, ready for some sensible, grown up discussion to help us resolve our differences of opinion… yet strangely, considering he’d just followed me for several miles, he must have change his mind as he turned his car round and drove away… 😏
Pull into a police station the next time someone follows you like that.
And it’s weird of you to be so desperate to keep this from her. She warned you, you kept on and then hid the fact she was in danger because of your actions.
There is always someone crazier than you. I’m glad you learned that before it got worse.
When you know you’re wrong but insist that you’re right -> You’re wrong.
But when you know you’re wrong and can admit that you’re wrong, at that monet you’re always right, and it shows characters.
It’s your choice really, you don’t really need to tell her, but be sure to learn from that experience and be wary of your own biases.
OP next time something like this is happening literally just call 911 and tell them someone is following you with their vehicle yelling threats and you fear for your safety, then drive to the nearest cop shop and watch the amusement unfold as this road rager gets his just desserts.
I ran someone off into the ditch once that was road raging and tailgating me like that. I was driving my Dodge Neon that my father-in-law had given me, and I had no plates on it yet. I had taken the backroads home because it wasn’t licensed yet. I’m driving the speed limit, and he’s flashing and honking and flipping me off. He keeps almost hitting me, and there’s this sharp curve coming up. I sped up just a bit, and he zoomed up to try and bump me, and I swerved into the other lane and hit the brakes hard. He ran off into the ditch, and I kept on driving. He could’ve passed me at any point, he just wanted to be an asshole. Thankfully, I never ran into him again, but that was a wild ride.