A Little Road Rage

[Imagebuffet]

I guess I made someone upset at me tonight. I pulled in front of this guy, and he turned his high-beams on me, beeped his horn and tailed me until I shook him off by a police SUV.

YouTube - Road Rage 10-12-22-00.avi

[Patti Edens]

Eeeek. Something similar happened to me once when I was driving a Toyota MR2. I still don't have a clue if I did something to make the guy mad or if he was just trying to car jack me. He followed me right on my tail with his bright lights blinding me. It was very late at night and I was almost home - no cars anywhere in sight. Instead of going home, I just drove straight to the Missouri City Police Department. He veered off when he realized where I was going. Scary thing.

Is that video cam installed in your vehicle? I want one. Actually I want four - one looking each direction. Wish you had one looking back at the guy - course I guess all you'd see would be the blinding lights?

[regal89cdk]

I was on a highway between Austin & San Angelo about 10pm one Sunday coming home and had a guy flashing his brights at me, honking, tailgating and such. Even slowing down from 65mph to 30mph he wouldn't go around. I for sure wasn't going to stop unarmed with no light. Went on for about 20 miles till I hit Brady and stopped at a gas station where DPS was stopped and the guy was gone.

I try not to travel at night, but still, with the time change and having a 4 hour drive home, it is hard to avoid.

[hawkskater500]

You are supposed to move the other way for emergency vehicles.

"a driver must either vacate the lane closest to the stopped emergency vehicle if the road has multiple lanes traveling in the same direction or slow down 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. (If the speed limit is below 25 mph the driver must slow down to 5 mph."

[donlfaulkner]

I can't remember experiencing road rage since leaving dallas 10 years ago. Unfortunately Longview is growing.

[donlfaulkner]

OK, I watched the video twice. Where is the road rage? Maybe I'm just getting too old to see it.

[hue-e]

wait, so you were talking on your cell phone and driving... did you by chance cut him off and couldn't tell because of the cell phone distraction?

I get cut off all the time by people talking on their phones while driving.

[brewercm]

I thought maybe he just drives around all the time with a dash cam going and color commentating as he goes along.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by Patti Edens

Is that video cam installed in your vehicle? I want one. Actually I want four - one looking each direction. Wish you had one looking back at the guy - course I guess all you'd see would be the blinding lights?

No, this video was shot from my Pentax W60, which I had strapped to the passenger-side sun visor. This arrangement causes my camera to capture mostly the objects to my right.

I would also like 360° video coverage, actually, a hemisphere of coverage. Among other things, I like to recreate my trips when I get home, and maybe see things that I missed while I was paying attention to my driving.

Originally Posted by hawkskater500

You are supposed to move the other way for emergency vehicles.

Normally, that is true. However, if I needed to stop and talk to the officer on the side of the road, I wanted to park on the same side of the highway as he was parked. I drove next to the police cruiser intentionally, because the other driver was acting in a threatening manner.

Originally Posted by donlfaulkner

OK, I watched the video twice. Where is the road rage? Maybe I'm just getting too old to see it.

Tailgating, turning on high beams (especially while tailgating), honking one's horn and pacing another vehicle that is trying to evade you are all examples of road rage, and can result in a ticket or jail time in some localities. These are threatening behaviors. In fact, I'm going to check if there is still an wanted poster out for the vehicle that was involved in the road rage incident on Central Expressway a few months ago: I might have found him.

Originally Posted by hue-e

wait, so you were talking on your cell phone and driving...

No, I was not talking on my cell phone at all. I keep a video diary when I drive. I was talking to the camera.

Originally Posted by hue-e

did you by chance cut him off and couldn't tell because of the cell phone distraction?

I did not cut him off. You can see how much room was between vehicles when I changed lanes.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by brewercm

I thought maybe he just drives around all the time with a dash cam going and color commentating as he goes along.

That is correct. I try to have a camera always recording any time I drive my vehicle out on a public road.

[SCone]

Using the video you shot yourself, there does not appear to sufficient room to change lanes. I base this observation on the distance between the two cars from about 1:12 to 1:20, they appear to be going about the same speed with about a second between them. At 1:24, you make your move speeding up and then change lanes at 1:32. Unless the other car slowed for you to change lanes... he's still there.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by SCone

Using the video you shot yourself, there does not appear to sufficient room to change lanes. I base this observation on the distance between the two cars from about 1:12 to 1:20, they appear to be going about the same speed with about a second between them. At 1:24, you make your move speeding up and then change lanes at 1:32. Unless the other car slowed for you to change lanes... he's still there.

I had room to pull in front of him and he had ample time to slow down or change lanes or otherwise accommodate my maneuver as needed. My turn signal is not a request for permission; it is a notice of intent. Texas drivers don't yield, so if one is to navigate traffic, one must simply go. It's on him if he chooses not to allow me to merge into his lane. Many localities (I forget if this is a Texas state law) list as an offense the refusal of a driver to yield a lane.

[srwatters]

And driving around aggressively (by your own admission above) with a video on all the time could be considered "looking for trouble". Just sayin...

[SpeedRacerSlots]

Originally Posted by SCone

Using the video you shot yourself, there does not appear to sufficient room to change lanes. I base this observation on the distance between the two cars from about 1:12 to 1:20, they appear to be going about the same speed with about a second between them. At 1:24, you make your move speeding up and then change lanes at 1:32. Unless the other car slowed for you to change lanes... he's still there.

I will agree with this one based on what I saw as well, combined with apparent rate of closure to the car in front of you on the highway.

I would also be willing to bet that if you started back and the beginning and noted:
* the rate of closure between your speed and the other cars coming up to the intersection.
* Changing lanes behind the SUV and tailing him up to the corner.
* Rolling the corner without coming to a stop (the light was still red up until it went out of frame and the cars beside you were still stopped, therefore I will assume its still red. Which in the state of TX still means stop)
* Tailing him up the access road and changing lanes behind him

I would say the move on the highway was actually more icing on the cake.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by SpeedRacerSlots

I will agree with this one based on what I saw as well, combined with apparent rate of closure to the car in front of you on the highway.

I would also be willing to bet that if you started back and the beginning and noted:
* the rate of closure between your speed and the other cars coming up to the intersection.
* Changing lanes behind the SUV and tailing him up to the corner.
* Rolling the corner without coming to a stop (the light was still red up until it went out of frame and the cars beside you were still stopped, therefore I will assume its still red. Which in the state of TX still means stop)
* Tailing him up the access road and changing lanes behind him

I would say the move on the highway was actually more icing on the cake.

So, tell me how any of this justifies the other driver tailgating me with his high beams on?