Road Rage Incident

[terryg]

Yes, calling 911 is a good idea, BUT your first priority is to keep yourself safe, and you pretty much did that. Call 911 as the situation allows, but I would not substitute fiddling with the phone and/or its recording functions to collect "evidence" at the expense of keeping on top of the situation. You mentioned the "tunnel vision;" a lot of things are competing for you limited attention/focus at a time like that, fiddling with the phone should be well behind keeping an eye on the threat and dealing with it.

Yep here. If calling 911 would pose even a minimal distraction, I think it would be best to wait until the confrontation is over. Once he climbed back into his truck, then dial the three digits.

[LikesShinyThings]

Yep here. If calling 911 would pose even a minimal distraction, I think it would be best to wait until the confrontation is over. Once he climbed back into his truck, then dial the three digits.

Whoops... my "don't call 911 if it isn't an emergency" training just bumped into the logic of "call 911 so you get it reported". I'm having trouble mentally justifying the call to 911 (as opposed to non-emergency) after "the threat is past". Once he's back in his truck and gone, how can I justify the "this is an emergency" call to 911 and justify taking up their time when someone could be having a heart attack but can't get thru because I was calling?\

I'm a little sensitized because of recently reading about how people will call 911 when it isn't really an emergency. After the guy is gone, I'm no longer feeling the need for the police to show up, so what would 911 do? Or am I being over simplistic in thinking this would no longer be an emergency?

Thoughts?

[LarryH]

If you have the police non-emergency number programmed into your phone, that would be an option.

Since many of our members drive through several LEO jurisdictions on a typical day, it seems that 911 is the most viable for many of us.

[VoiceofReason]

No offense, but I find it hard to believe you could shut the door on someone and not know it.
I've done that when I saw someone passing on the shoulder, and acted like I was oblivious, but i knew what I was doing, and I knew it could provoke someone.
If you know you are dealing with an aggressive driver who is now fixated on YOU, the very last thing you want to happen is let them get in front of you.
I'd probably be videoing the guy on my cellphone with my free hand.

I don’t know what this says about my driving, but on more than one occasion I have not seen a car driving on the shoulder to get ahead of traffic until he was even with the car behind me.

I suppose I was watching the guy cutting me off from the left to get in my lane and didn’t expect a car to be driving 30 mph on the shoulder passing traffic.

That guy is a nitwit and if he doesn’t change his attitude he will eventually threaten the wrong person.

There are a lot of non CHL holders out there that carry in the car and are not as reluctant to show it or use it as most CHL holders.

[rdcrags]

If no weapon was seen and no injury or damage, and the other guy (or gal) has left, I would not call 911 or other official number because doing so would obligate me to stick around until a LEO arrives, wouldn't it. I doubt that I would want to wait for that.

[KD5NRH]

"OnStar. What's your emergency?"
"I'm being attacked. Send help!"

I think GM would make a ton of $$ offering this service/device to other manufacturers.
They should definitely spin it off...

Only if it's like the airline depressurization response; a little door in the ceiling opens and drops a GP-100 in your lap.

[ELB]

Calling 911 to because you can't find you can't find your car in the megastore parking lot, or your significant other won't commit to marriage...not valid.
Calling 911 to report a near violent encounter with a nut driving 3000 pounds of death... valid.

[ELB]

Calling 911 to because you can't find you can't find your car in the megastore parking lot, or your significant other won't commit to marriage...not valid.
Calling 911 to report a near violent encounter with a nut driving 3000 pounds of death... valid.

And on the lighter side, the OP could have used one of these:

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KD5NRH]

Calling 911 to because you can't find you can't find your car in the megastore parking lot,

Not to derail the thread, but this one's easy to fix these days:
http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemI ... &k=XX23159" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shoot Straight]

Only if it's like the airline depressurization response; a little door in the ceiling opens and drops a GP-100 in your lap.

Please ensure your seatbelt is fastened and your 1911 is in the cocked and locked position.

[cougartex]

He then proceded to get out, to reveal an enormous man made of basically all muscle.

He could have had roid rage.

[ELB]

Calling 911 to because you can't find you can't find your car in the megastore parking lot,

Not to derail the thread, but this one's easy to fix these days:
http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemI ... &k=XX23159" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OK. "Calling 911 because you can't find your Keychain GPS Cartracker to find the car you can't find by yourself in the megastore parking lot = Not valid."

[esxmarkc]

He could have had roid rage.

I gotta agree. I have had a case of hemorrhoids severe enough to make me jump in front of a train.

[fickman]

In Fort Worth, the non-emergency number and 911 go to the same operators. They get an indicator on the screen that tells them which line the call came in on, but they are essentially treated the same. Both are recorded.

[PeteCamp]

Not to derail the thread, but the guy who blocked the road with his pickup and got out is extremely lucky he didn't live in my town. The nut jobs on our streets would have run the guy and his truck down in a heartbeat, slaughtering at least a dozen innocents in the process.

Good job staying safe. Watch those hands.

- Pete