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Had a little road rage incident today.

Went to Bass Pro in Pearland today with my nephew (7yrs old) to get a bow for his birthday, I got out of my truck , got the nephew out and started walking towards the store when a little Acura pulled up in front of us The guy got out of the car and
Proceeded to tell me how I cut him off and called me every name under the sun. He stayed on the other side of the car from us.
I got my nephew back behind me and apologized for whatever he thought I did, trying to diffuse the situation. He got back in his car and took off after calling me a few more names and saying "You're lucky I'm a nice guy".

After all that I didn't want to go in the store and to come back to my truck vandalized so I told the nephew we would come back tomorrow for his present. I never saw the car, let alone cut anyone off, but I decided apologizing would go farther than arguing with the nutcase.

Now that I think about it, I really should have put more distance in between us and the car, so that if a weapon was produced Or he started coming after me i would have had time to react or draw my weapon and clear the holster in time.

Lessons learned:

Increase the distance between yourself and potential attacker/ get clear of the situation all together

Carrying my HK p30sk with in king tuk holster and shirt tucked in I probably would not clear gun from holster in time if the man started closing the distance, will look at other carry options while dressed in my work clothes. Also, more training/possibly a micro gun to pocket carry

Did not have a knife Handy, left it in the console

Altogether kind of a scary event especially with my nephew present

I think you handled it well.

Good job. Ended well and that's the goal alright.

John Galt wrote:I think you handled it well.

You did fine.

You did the absolute best thing you could do. De-escalate the situation by apologizing, ignore his further attempts to escalate the situation for more profanity, get back in the car and leave.

You had a young child to protect. And you did.

Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum! Glad to have you with us.

Congrats. Cant argue with success.

I would have ignored him and kept walking. If this guy was fearless he would have come straight at you. Instead he kept behind the car & was talking himself up and taking your measure. Some bullies may be emboldened & feed off an apology, perceiving you as being submissive. Silence and indifference project confidence & strength.

But the bottom line is your response was successful. No criticism from me.

Welcome to the forum.

It might be painful to apologize, but they're coming at you all wound up intending to get into a shouting match, and in my experience most people just completely deflate and feel silly when they get an apology instead

I was pulling into a restaurant a few years ago, and was following a guy through the parking lot. He turned right, and there was an empty space to the left, so I pulled into that one. When I was almost to the door I heard him shout at me, turned around and he had backed up and was yelling about how I'd stolen his parking space (apparently he intended to back into it).

I snatched my keys out of my pocket, apologized, and started walking back to my car to move it. He mumbled something about not worrying about it and drove off in a hurry

Road rage incidents are to me good examples of why having a dash cam can be beneficial in being able to disprove your having "started" things in the event it goes worst case and you need to prove that you didn't cause the incident.

Always better to take the high road as a start. I had a confrontation a few years ago at a restaurant (long story) and a guy and his son wanted to get into a shouting match or more with me. I pointed my finger at the two and said in a firm voice "go away." Repeated that a couple of more times and they left in a huff. Recently I was at a gas station pulled head-in to face another vehicle head-in and to my amazement the guy says "how am I going to leave now" (or something like that.) Nobody was behind him - I said "your vehicle does have a reverse gear doesn't it?" I turned around and ignored him (I felt safe turning around.) Never have figured that one out.

I've found that most loud people are blowhards, maybe 90% are, but I'm not smart enough to ID the other 10%.

Glockster wrote:Road rage incidents are to me good examples of why having a dash cam can be beneficial in being able to disprove your having "started" things in the event it goes worst case and you need to prove that you didn't cause the incident.

have one in both my wife's car and my truck.... thinking about putting on on the back window..... had a incident the other other day when a SUV was so close to my back end that i could have counted the pimples on his face... brake checking wouldnt work because he couldnt even see my brake lights


think you handled it fine...

Jim Beaux wrote: I would have ignored him and kept walking. If this guy was fearless he would have come straight at you. Instead he kept behind the car & was talking himself up and taking your measure. Some bullies may be emboldened & feed off an apology, perceiving you as being submissive. Silence and indifference project confidence & strength.
.

I think I would tend to react the same way. However, having a young kid to protect changes things dramatically. In that case, I think I would have apologized as well; whatever it took to get him to go away.

Good lesson for the nephew as well; many times it takes more strength to walk away from a situation, even (especially) when it makes you "appear" weak. In the words of Dalton - "Be nice ... until it's time not to be nice."

mloamiller wrote: I think I would tend to react the same way. However, having a young kid to protect changes things dramatically. In that case, I think I would have apologized as well; whatever it took to get him to go away.

Good lesson for the nephew as well; many times it takes more strength to walk away from a situation, even (especially) when it makes you "appear" weak. In the words of Dalton - "Be nice ... until it's time not to be nice."

Good post.

After retiring in 2007 I took a job driving a parts truck - still do it part time. Somewhere between 200 and 400 miles a day back and forth in megamess. I am sure I have cut folks off and committed other egregious errors while driving. Most drivers will just dismiss it as daily hazardous driving in the DFdub. Some have cut me off, wanted to ram me, cussed me, gave one finger waves, and yep, followed me someplace to provide a little more personal challenge. I did as you did, apologize, play the old man card, whatever it takes. But I always make sure I didn't allow them to ever get in my personal space or leave me no escape. You did well - and welcome to the forum. BTW - when I am driving I keep a smaller handgun in pocket carry (cargo pant/shorts). Easier to get at than a tucked weapon. I switch to large bore and OWB with cover shirt soon as my tour is over.