Road Rage WWUD?

[tbrown]

Some idiot

the idiot driver,

this idiot

the idiot driver

I see.

[HankB]

I grew up and learned how to drive in Chicago, lived and worked in Minnesota for a number of years, and have been in Austin for over 15 years now. Since moving to TX, it seems that about once every 5 or 6 years, some road rager takes exception to something he thinks I did and tries to make something out of it.

I don't respond in kind - I smile, shrug, wave, and make the idiot think I'm apologizing for whatever he imagines I did. Up to this point, it's served to de-escalate the situation, and he drives off thinking he's Alpha Male King of the Road.

And I don't have to shoot anyone.

Good outcome in my book.

And if there's anything at all to the concept of karma, eventually he's going to encounter some other hothead just like him. And neither driver is likely to enjoy the outcome.

[alvins]

most road rage i see comes from people driving too slow,changing lanes suddenly without looking, making left hand turns and cutting off the person beside them also making the same turn at lights.

[cubbyjg]

most road rage i see comes from people driving too slow,changing lanes suddenly without looking, making left hand turns and cutting off the person beside them also making the same turn at lights.

This is what I typically encounter in Houston. I will add people talking on the phone and texting makes it an even bigger problem. I like any human being gets frustrated with bad or inconsiderate drivers. All I can do now is avoid confrontations and tell myself, "I can't control what the other person does. I can only control what I can do". Honestly we all make mistakes now and then and if you do, a simple wave tells the other driver you messed up and that you realize you made a mistake. When something like that happens to me, I just wave back and my anger/frustration goes away immediately. I feel most people get into these road rage incidents because either one or both parties feel they did nothing wrong.

If I am able to drive away from any sort of situation, that is the best plan. Dial 911and be a good witness. A reasonable person would do whatever they could do avoid any violent confrontation and that is especially important if you are carrying legally.

[Justinbhutto]

agreed, avoid the confrontation. change lanes if your in the fast lane, and slow down. they will get bored and move on.

[alvins]

you shouldnt even be in the fast lane if your not passing people.you would think after 20 people go around you on the right they would get the hint.lol

[bigbang]

you shouldnt even be in the fast lane if your not passing people.you would think after 20 people go around you on the right they would get the hint.lol

Drivers who are drunk or high often drive inappropriately slow. I encourage people to be a good citizen and make the call to help keep the roads safe.

[texanjoker]

you shouldnt even be in the fast lane if your not passing people.you would think after 20 people go around you on the right they would get the hint.lol

You would think they would get the hint but...........

Problem is say the speed limit is 70..dude is doing 75 in the #1 lane.......why are people needing to pass

[Abraham]

Coming home yesterday, my wife and I came upon a two vehicles just ahead of us doing 45 mph in a 60 mph area.

The car immediately ahead wouldn't pass the much slower lead vehicle. Also, the lead car was not quite weaving, but not holding her steady either...the traffic behind me started quickly building.

When it was safe, I passed them both and noticed the guy in the lead was in an animated cell phone conversation.

I didn't hit the horn or do the one finger salute, (I'm older and wiser) but I can certainly understand those would and for all I know eventually did...

[seamusTX]

The bottom line is that if you are a LEO with a citation book, you can write tickets for violations of statutes. If you're not a uniformed LEO, strangers typically do not appreciate driving lessons, even if the lessons are free and delivered with appropriate gestures.

Call me preachy, but this is where the "sheepdog" mentality goes off the rails.

I've called in apparent drunk drivers a few times. Other than that, live and let live.

- Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

I guess living in Texas road rage is a common sight.

I take exception to this statement. As a professional driver,

I've driven across the country, lived in California, and Florida, and I have seen some very ignorant driving. But the drivers in the DFW area, are a special breed. The best I can say is they're angry. When you say a "professional driver" does that mean a semi? I have no problems when I drive my square body suburban. but I can tell you on a weekly basis I can find at least 10 people that drive angry. and this is a 30 mile commute.

In fact the litany of people on this post, and the high number of views would lead me to believe they agree with my statement.

Actually, I lived in California most of my life. I saw more road rage there than here, but I think that was a function of total years spent there. I think the rate is about the same here as there.

What I DID notice when I first moved here is that 35E in the metroplex has very short on-ramps.....much like the old Pasadena Freeway into downtown L.A. which I used to have to navigate daily.....and that guys in lifted monster trucks moving 15 mph over the flow of traffic which is moving at 65-70 like to use the right lane as a passing lane, RIGHT when I'm trying to merge into traffic at a speed that matches the flow of traffic. Then, when they find themselves thwarted by a puny SUV, they get mad and run right up onto my bumper with their lights flashing. There's no place on either side to escape to, and I can't speed up because the guy in front of me is going the same speed I am, so exactly where do they think I'm going to go?

Yeah.....those poopyheads.

[The Annoyed Man]

Dashcam.

I got mine for $70,

Where does one get a $70 dashcam? is it forward and rearward?

And how have you used it? Can I produce it as evidence?

Mine is forward and audio only, but there are models that do both, as well as track GPS position and speed, but after long hard thought, I didn't need all that stuff.
Even if the camera is simply looking forward & recording audio, it is usable to show what you were doing, even if the other car isn't visible. Eg, if you get sideswiped, and the other driver claims you changed lanes into them, the camera will show you were just driving straight when you got hit, etc.

I have not personally done this yet, but I know a friend of mine who had some guy hit him while he was driving, and tried to start something when they pulled over. My friend pointed at the camera, and told the guy 'dashcam', which shut him up immediately and caused him to back off.

You can produce anything you want as evidence in court, if it gets that far, but the real beauty of it is, if I'm ever in an accident, and the officer comes to me asking what happened, I can go "here officer, let me SHOW you what happened", since it has a display, and can instantly playback whatever it just recorded, right there, on the spot. In addition, it makes a nice submission to any insurance claim, and I'm sure your insurance company will love you if you can produce video clearly showing another party at fault.

Mine is the first one on this page, the DVR027:
http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I bought it via Ebay from one of the sellers with thousands of positive feedback.

I got it via a recommendation from a friend of mine who had one.
I have two, one for my car, one for the Wife's. Since I bought mine, two other friends of mine have bought the same one as well, and many others are considering one, and none have any complaints, all from the same place.

EDIT: I pulled a small part of my drive home from work from my camera for ya to see it's quality.
[youtube][/youtube]

First of all, nice music choice. Boston is the best thing to come out of Boston since the Revolution.

$70 seems a very reasonable price, and the video quality is pretty good. But for those who can't afford even that but who have a smart phone, there are several iPhone/Droid dashcam apps that turn your cellphone into a dashcam, with a number of features. I bought one called "DashCam" (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dashcam ... 87757?mt=8) for $1.99. The product description says:

Have your own black box/dashboard camera, at a fraction of the cost.
This application can be used with cars, bicycles, motorcycles, boats, anything that moves.
Record videos of your driving, track your location, speed, average speed, and distance.
Store the videos on your device.
Use the videos with all of the information to fight a traffic ticket, in case of an accident, learning purposes, or personal entertainment.
Play the videos showing all data within the application or via AirPlay enabled devices.
Share the videos via YouTube, Facebook, Email, AirPlay enabled devices, or just save them to your Photo Album.
Use the application in all portrait and landscape modes.
Use the application while playing iPod.

Requires iOS 5.0 or later, iPhone 3GS or later. Not recommended for iPod touch or iPad.

Features include:
Video recording
Route tracking on the Google Maps
Speed and Average Speed Tracking
Distance Tracking
Start time, End time, and Date stamp of the recording
Screen recording
Storing the recordings within the application
Playback on the device within the application
Playback via AirPlay enabled devices
Sharing via YouTube, Facebook, Email, Photo Album, and AirPlay enabled devices
Video format allows you to export the video to Photo Album and use that video with iMovie for iOS
Loop recording
Screen recording
Option to turn off audio recording
Video resolution settings
Memory size allocation
Speed tracking either in miles or kilometers
All Landscape and Portrait mode support
Allows you to listen to iPod while using the application

The app records up to an hour of video incrementally, in either 6 10 minute increments, or 10 6 minute increments....I don't remember which, but whichever it is, the increment being recorded is overwriting the oldest one. The videos can be archived. It also uses the phone's internal GPS to record the trip (if you want it to....the feature can be disabled) as part of the total information it records; as well as other trip info like timestamping, and other info.

The downside is that it requires A) a bracket to hold your phone which you have to choose and buy separately; and B) even with the phone connected to a charging source, it exerts a net drain on the battery. All you can do is slow down the discharge rate by connecting it to the charger.

I bought the following items from Amazon to support it:

1. A windshield/dashboard mount to hold the phone: $19.95 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007FH ... UTF8&psc=1
2. A PowerGen dual USB charger which plugs into the cigarette lighter: $10.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088U ... UTF8&psc=1
3. A 6' long USB data cable to connect the iPhone to the charger: $3.84 (for three of them) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00741 ... UTF8&psc=1

So my total outlay was $36.77 plus tax. All of the Amazon.com items were "Prime," so there was no shipping charged. For comparison purposes, that's a fungible number because someone else might spend more or less on mounting brackets and power accessories, but it is a good ballpark number. There is a potential downside, and that is that incoming phone calls may interrupt the recording. However, that could be a good thing, as your phone use while driving can't be used against you as evidence that you were not paying attention.

That DVR027 you bought seems very reasonably priced, and I might have gone that way instead if I had known about it. But using a smartphone app might be another way to do this.

[chuckybrown]

Dicion....thanks for the information. I just ordered one per your recommendation.

I put about 4,000 miles a month on my vehicle, and this will give me peace of mind....