Road Rage
OK, three stories.
Once, I was turning right onto the freeway on-ramp, and was behind a bunch of cars, and other cars were coming across the road from the other direction into the same on-ramp, taking a left across our side of the road.
So all the cars on both sides are merging. I merge just like all the other cars did, and the car from the other direction goes up on the curb around me. I move out of his way so I don't get hit, and lay on my horn for several seconds. The dude stops and gets out of his car and yells at me about yielding. I yell something back about merging. He keeps yammering and tell him to get his ass back in his car. He obeys my command and drives off.
Another time, I was in the fast lane on the freeway (three or four lanes going our direction) at commute time and a minivan is tailgating me. I tap on the brakes. They back off. Happens again. I tap again, he backs off. There's some room for him to go around if he really wants to, but I am not speeding up because all the traffic in front of me is going my speed, and I am not pulling over because that is stupid, because ... all the traffic in front of me is going my speed.
So he does it again, and this time, he is a mere few inches from me. He obviously wants to screw with me. He is too close, really, for me to attempt tapping my brakes this time. So ... I take my foot off the gas. If he won't back off, I will slow down to a speed safe enough for his distance (I could change lanes, but then he will just do it to the car in front of me; I won't put another driver in that sort of danger). Pretty soon we're going about 45, down from 65 or 70, and he finally backs off. I speed up. He does it again. I slow down again. This time we are going 25 before he decides he is done playing and he whips his van around me. Oddly, he decides to drive safely from here on out. I think I scared him straight.
I decide I am going to mess with him and I follow him. I stay in his lane. He changes lanes, I change lanes. I keep a very safe distance, sometimes a few cars away. But I stay in his lane. And then I hit the jackpot: he gets off on my exit. And he makes about two or three turns that I need to take. I think he was probably totally freaking out by that point. Finally he turned a direction I was not going, and we parted ways.
OK, last story. Technically not a road rage story, but a meta-road rage story. I got called for jury duty in MA. They have a stupid thing there about wanting diverse juries so they force you to commute to some other courthouse. I could drive 10 minutes away to the local one, or drive over an hour in heavy rush hour traffic. I write in that I can't go to the one they want me to go to because I have road rage. They re-assigned me to my local courthouse. Sweet.
Unfortunately, my jury duty got cancelled, though.
Once, I was turning right onto the freeway on-ramp, and was behind a bunch of cars, and other cars were coming across the road from the other direction into the same on-ramp, taking a left across our side of the road.
So all the cars on both sides are merging. I merge just like all the other cars did, and the car from the other direction goes up on the curb around me. I move out of his way so I don't get hit, and lay on my horn for several seconds. The dude stops and gets out of his car and yells at me about yielding. I yell something back about merging. He keeps yammering and tell him to get his ass back in his car. He obeys my command and drives off.
Another time, I was in the fast lane on the freeway (three or four lanes going our direction) at commute time and a minivan is tailgating me. I tap on the brakes. They back off. Happens again. I tap again, he backs off. There's some room for him to go around if he really wants to, but I am not speeding up because all the traffic in front of me is going my speed, and I am not pulling over because that is stupid, because ... all the traffic in front of me is going my speed.
So he does it again, and this time, he is a mere few inches from me. He obviously wants to screw with me. He is too close, really, for me to attempt tapping my brakes this time. So ... I take my foot off the gas. If he won't back off, I will slow down to a speed safe enough for his distance (I could change lanes, but then he will just do it to the car in front of me; I won't put another driver in that sort of danger). Pretty soon we're going about 45, down from 65 or 70, and he finally backs off. I speed up. He does it again. I slow down again. This time we are going 25 before he decides he is done playing and he whips his van around me. Oddly, he decides to drive safely from here on out. I think I scared him straight.
I decide I am going to mess with him and I follow him. I stay in his lane. He changes lanes, I change lanes. I keep a very safe distance, sometimes a few cars away. But I stay in his lane. And then I hit the jackpot: he gets off on my exit. And he makes about two or three turns that I need to take. I think he was probably totally freaking out by that point. Finally he turned a direction I was not going, and we parted ways.
OK, last story. Technically not a road rage story, but a meta-road rage story. I got called for jury duty in MA. They have a stupid thing there about wanting diverse juries so they force you to commute to some other courthouse. I could drive 10 minutes away to the local one, or drive over an hour in heavy rush hour traffic. I write in that I can't go to the one they want me to go to because I have road rage. They re-assigned me to my local courthouse. Sweet.
Unfortunately, my jury duty got cancelled, though.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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