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Forgive me for posting on this thread so late. It was a very good discussion but I felt that more points could be made about staying inside the vehicle vice exiting it. Based upon what I've seen in police shootings on YouTube and on some recreational shooting at junkers, a car is at best concealment unless you are behind the engine or axle/wheel.

With that in mind, sitting in your car while engaging a hostile means you are sitting in essentially one spot while the tango is free to move, find cover and/or a better angle and continue to engage you from a much superior position. In addition, in the situation the which the OP found himself, by staying in the vehicle, any fire directed at him (if the road-rager was actively hostile and shooting) would be in the general vicinity of his wife and son. And we all know how great a shot most folks are when they've just undergone an adrenaline dump and have the fight or flight response making fine motor control (i.e. aiming) go out the window.

I agree that exiting the vehicle could be construed as more aggressive, but I think in this situation the OP would have been well advised to get clear of the car, find cover or concealment, draw the aggressor's attention (and any fire) away from his family and keep his tactical options open.

If you are in a similar encounter but alone in the car, exiting the car and then using it as best possible as cover/concealment would be the most tactically advantageous.

I think the other lesson that occurred to me is that the OP mentioned that after the truck slowed down to keep pace, he sped up and passed the truck, placing it behind him. Based upon the following events as related in the OP's story, I probably misunderstood but regardless, I think a lesson is in similar situations try to never let the bad guy get behind you. With the bad guy behind you, you have to do some pretty amazing contortions to engage him (unless you exit your vehicle) and he can ram you or try to run you over if you do exit. All around a bad situation. In addition, by slowing down or stopping, if it comes to a shooting you have demonstrated to the cops/jury that you afforded the bad guy every opportunity to keep driving, and that he actually had to stop and/or go into reverse and COME BACK to your position to continue the confrontation.

Finally, this is my first post here, so please don't think that I'm trying to say I'm "all that and a bag of chips" on this tactical stuff. The OP did the best he could under a very stressful situation without about 10sec of time to consider everything. I had the luxury of at least 45min. to read his post, think about it, read all the other comments and think about those as well. So Bravo Zulu to the OP, and I can only imagine the relief at not having to shoot someone.

(edited to correct a typo)