Road Rage on the Tollway

[age_ranger]

Today as I drove to my morning appointment, I was driving on the Dallas Tollway from Plano. Traffic wasn't slow and heavy but was pretty tight as it moved along. I had passed a car in the hammer lane and was continuing along at about 55mph......about as fast as I could safely drive behind the truck in front of me. As I checked my left mirror, a silver 2 door Mercedes pulls waaaay left and flashes his lights. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to go. He was tailgating, and I was boxed in. Slowing down would irritate him and there was a line of cars in the #2 lane, so I decided to simply continue on. As soon as we passed under the toll booth at Beltline, I noticed an opening in the #2 lane just ahead so I moved over as soon as I could. The guy in the Mercedes flies over to the #3 lane, swerves in front of me and hits the brakes. As I lock up the brakes and hit the horn, the guy speeds up. Good riddance.............or so I thought.

The driver of the Mercedes decided to mess with me further. As I slowed and changed lanes into the #2 lane to allow him to drive off, he slows in the #2, so I move over to #3. Then, he swerves, almost hitting me and again I have to lock up the brakes. Last thing I need is to get into an accident in my work truck on the way to a customer, so I decide to exit and end it all. I'll be late, but it's better than having an accident. As I pull off the highway, I am cut off again. This time, we're at the light near the Galleria. It turn red as we approach. GREAT. This guy gets out of his car and starts immediately towards my truck...........yelling and pointing while walking towards me, he stops to get an umbrella out of his trunk. What is wrong with people?? As I sit in amazement, I try to find my cell phone, but it had gone flying from hitting the brakes, so no luck there. He's drawing closer and now I have other things on my mind. I had my loaded PX4GSD beside me and I move it under my right leg at the ready. he approaches and proceeds to call me names and hit my window with the metal tip of his umbrella. I keep wondering when it's going to break and he was wailing on it pretty hard, but it never broke. The light turned green and I started honking my horn. Luckily, he got back in his car and drove off. I turned left and took another route to 635W.

All things considered, I learned a valuable lesson. Although I couldn't control this guys actions, I should make sure my phone is securely on or about my person so that I can access it and it won't go flying around of anythign should happen. Also, when confronted by an angry motorist, a firearm can be very comforting. Especially when it's Umbrella vs. Beretta. As I said my prayers with my daughter before bedtime, we prayed to find the man patience. As a daily traveler, I see too much of this and with holidays coming up, it will only get worse.

Take your time, leave early and be patient. We all want to get to where we're going safely. If you see others "raging" on the highway, try to give them room to get out of your way and avoid confrontation. I'm thankful I returned home safe. My heart felt like it was going to pound through my chest all day today. If anyone learned anything from this, it was worth the long post.............

[LAYGO]

Someone forcefully trying to enter your vehicle, with an umbrella, a tire iron, or a whiffle ball bat, is justification for use of deadly force. Period. Besides that, he's already attacked you with a deadly weapon: two ton car. The guy has already shown he has little respect for anyone's life on the road. You attempted to avoid it & it kept coming.

I would've had no problem drawing on him because once the glass breaks, it's too late. I would have "encouraged" him to stay put while you're calling the police or told him to get on down the road. From that point, it's his decision what happens next.

Read my posts on "Reasons I'm pursuing my CHL" to read why I'll no longer put up with people charging my car.

[Purplehood]

Next time you get that kind of behavior, hold up your phone in front of you like you are taking a pic or a video. Amazingly enough it has caused road-rage idiots to immediately get out of my vicinity.

[lonewolf]

Nasty situation all around. I spent a good bit of time (years) driving a service van around the Metromess and encountered many IQ deficient drivers. Just getting to and from the jobsites was often more dangerous than the work itself, which was plenty hazardous. The difference was that on the job I could reasonably control the hazards, whereas on the road I was relying on my defensive driving and the abilities of others (often questionable...)

There will be a bunch of "I would have....." comments on the board for this one, but you never really know until you are in this situation.

Be safe, keep your head on a swivel, and survive! From your vivid description it sounds like you did your part well, anticipating the danger and adjusting to it. The other driver will no doubt run across someone not as patient as you, much to his dismay....

[TexasGal]

I'm glad the OP didn't have to resort to deadly force. The guy with the umbrella is one lucky lunatic that the glass held, but I bet that is not the last time that he will do that to someone.

I don't get why so many people in the DFW metro are so incensed by the slightest traffic problem. I had a guy in a one ton high profile truck practically run over me the other day with lights flashing, horn blaring, and profanity. I was already going 10 over the speed limit and I was boxed in so I had no where to go at first. He still seemed to think I could miraculously disappear if he threatened me enough. It seems to be common behavior. I heard on the news DFW got rated second as the worst area for road rage in the US.

[lonewolf]

Some folks out there would like DFW to be first worst. They'll probably make it a point to be more obnoxious than ever. Gotta be in first place, after all.

I can't count the times these fools are so close to my rear bumper I can only see their windshield in my rearview mirror. The old Star Trek teleporter would be real handy in those situations. Not to remove me, but rather to send them along to a place they would really enjoy.....

[Purplehood]

I have rarely driven through Dallas (once?), but consider Houston worse than Japanese traffic. And that is pretty bad.

[suthdj]

Great job, What was the license plate number, did you remember to look at it or did the heat of the moment take over? Not being critical just some thing go right out the window when the blood starts pumping like taking a test in school, the mind goes blank.

[jimlongley]

A few months ago my wife and I went to Hawai'i on vacation, and in preparation for the trip and the sights we would see, I bought a Vholdr Helmet Cam. Fun toy.

Since then I have taken to riding with the cam on the dashboard of my car. The impetus for this was the number of times I get cut off by people changing lanes in the middle of a two lane left hand turn. I stay in the right lane because I am going to go north on the access road and not enter the highway, but over and over people driving in their mirrors see me going "around" them and make a NASCAR move to block me. I have multiple videos of different people doing this, and have made many complaints to the police.

The other day I saw one of my other pet driving peeves take place and was glad to get it and the result on video: A gang of bicyclists ran a stop sign near my house, right in front of an Allen police vehicle, and he pulled them over. It made me glad to see that. Unfortunately it happened so far ahead of me that the video is not particularly good, but I know what's happening.

With road rage incident as described seeming to become more common, I'm beginning to think of adding more cameras.

[Purplehood]

A few months ago my wife and I went to Hawai'i on vacation, and in preparation for the trip and the sights we would see, I bought a Vholdr Helmet Cam. Fun toy.

Since then I have taken to riding with the cam on the dashboard of my car. The impetus for this was the number of times I get cut off by people changing lanes in the middle of a two lane left hand turn. I stay in the right lane because I am going to go north on the access road and not enter the highway, but over and over people driving in their mirrors see me going "around" them and make a NASCAR move to block me. I have multiple videos of different people doing this, and have made many complaints to the police.

The other day I saw one of my other pet driving peeves take place and was glad to get it and the result on video: A gang of bicyclists ran a stop sign near my house, right in front of an Allen police vehicle, and he pulled them over. It made me glad to see that. Unfortunately it happened so far ahead of me that the video is not particularly good, but I know what's happening.

With road rage incident as described seeming to become more common, I'm beginning to think of adding more cameras.

Alright! One of those biker-gangs got what was coming to them!

[chasfm11]

I carry one of those digital pocket recorders with me to make notes to myself. When I'm stopped as you were when he cut you off, I grab it and record the license number and a description of the vehicle. In many cases, LE will not act on road rage unless they personally observe it but there is no reason not to try to report it with appropriate details if you can.

I think that you handled the situation well. The key is that you tried to get out of his way at the first opportunity and to separate yourself from him several times. We had a similar incident with a woman in Waco while we were driving our RV. She nearly sideswiped us because she was texting while driving and I tapped my air horn. That set her off. She did the same kinds of things (swerved in front of us and slammed on the brakes). I cannot imagine how stupid a person must be to do that to an 11 ton vehicle. I changed lanes several times to get away from her but she could change faster than I could in heavy traffic. I signaled to take the next exit and, since she was in front of us, she went first. I simply shut off the turn signal and kept on I-35. She couldn't get back to us after that.

While the level of anger in the general population seems to be increasing, apparently driven by our current economic woes, I believe that the number of road ragers, particularly ones like you had to deal with, is very small when compared to the total number of cars on the road. If we can help to identify who these fanatics are and get their information to LE, maybe they will learn the errors of their ways.

[TxA]

Next time you get that kind of behavior, hold up your phone in front of you like you are taking a pic or a video.

Nice!!! I'll keep this tip in mind the next time circumstances allow it. Thanks for the tip PH!

[pdubyoo]

I have rarely driven through Dallas (once?), but consider Houston worse than Japanese traffic. And that is pretty bad.

I grew up and learned to drive in the DFW metroplex and lived in Chicago for 8 years...been to LA, Boston, NY & Seattle numerous times, and Houston traffic is the absolute worst I've experienced. Generally, the drivers are extremely selfish and completely upredictable. I have to deal with it far too often, but would much rather deal with DFW traffic.

To the OP...way to keep a level head! Patience pays off in spades in a situation like that. What was the other driver going to do if the glass did break? As for me, at that point, the barrel of an XD40 would have been pointed at his cranium. The crazy thing is...he was holding you responsible for everything that went wrong for him that morning. It's a good thing that all he pulled out of his trunk was an umbrella.

[Bart]

Since then I have taken to riding with the cam on the dashboard of my car. The impetus for this was the number of times I get cut off by people changing lanes in the middle of a two lane left hand turn. I stay in the right lane because I am going to go north on the access road and not enter the highway, but over and over people driving in their mirrors see me going "around" them and make a NASCAR move to block me. I have multiple videos of different people doing this, and have made many complaints to the police.

You know you can post those videos on youtube. License plate numbers and all.

[jimlongley]

Since then I have taken to riding with the cam on the dashboard of my car. The impetus for this was the number of times I get cut off by people changing lanes in the middle of a two lane left hand turn. I stay in the right lane because I am going to go north on the access road and not enter the highway, but over and over people driving in their mirrors see me going "around" them and make a NASCAR move to block me. I have multiple videos of different people doing this, and have made many complaints to the police.

You know you can post those videos on youtube. License plate numbers and all.

Yup