Road rage & human psychology

[Jhony5]

Has this ever happened to you? Some jerk pulls out in front of you so you flip him off. Then the jerk gets out of his car to confront you. What the **** are people thinking when they do this?

About 5 years ago I was coming home from work during rush hour traffic and this guy blatently cuts in frant of me. So I squeel my tires just briefly to let him know I think hes an ass. Well this guy, who is now right in front of me, stops his car in heavy traffic and gets out. He was middle aged and dressed as a busssiness man, suit and tie with no jacket. From the get go he looked pissed and was waiving his arms and shouting. As he walked closer I could hear him saying **** like "get out mother****er. I'm gonna kick your ass...Blah blah blah". Well i'm beyond getting out and fist fighting so as hes approaching i'm telling him to get back in his car and drop it.
He wasn't backing off, he apparently wanted to fight. I couldn't believe it. Traffic was pilling up, horns were sounding off, and this guy was focused with tunnel vision on actualy fighting me over something so trivial.
As this idiot was coming closer I got my glock 45 cal out and kept it low. Well, this dude gets to my door, which was now open, and is directly challenging me to get out and fight. He asked me if I thought I was "bad" and told me "you're getting your ass kicked. You shouldn't have ****ed with me". One more time I asked him to get back in his car and drop it. So the ****er kicks my truck door shut then lunges at me threw the window. So I went from calm and rational to really pissed. I raised my gun and started screaming at him to get in his car now, or i'm going to kill him. You could actualy see the fear drawn across his face as he realised his error.

In a matter of about two seconds he went from bad ass street fighter to a backpeddling coward. He was walking backwards while saying "i'm calling the police". My reply, "dead people don't use phones".

What in the human psychology allows a normaly mentaly stable individual to develope this "bully" mentality. Why in the **** would anyone get out of their car to confront a stranger over a traffic error?

 

[ALLAH IS GREAT]

Yeah man,that's some bad s .LOL

I remember when I was in school.It was during PE.We were playing(trying)to play cricket.My turn to bat.I get the ball thrown at me,so I used all my strength and swung the bat,shame it flew right out of my hands and hit some girl on the ankle.
I was like 'sorry,my bad'.And the b has the audacity to be angry.
I'm puzzled why anyone could act like that just coz a cricket bat caught their ankle.what's all the fuss about?!

Me still puzzled about it.

 

[Gentilhomme]

I think the guy was a ****ing nutcase but flipping him off held no value of rationality either. He definatly trumped you in the ****-head department might i ask wht you hoped to accomplish by flipping him off? Yah, you were pissed, but it's really useless and is kinda like smoking in a room full of gunpowder, eventually somethings gonna blow up.

And again, whts with you people and your guns? The guys wanted to fight, not kill you. It may have ended it quickly but you think he's gonna think twice about carrying aorund his own gun now? Gotta fight fire with fire right, sooner or later everyone gets burned.

 

[Jhony5]

I think the guy was a ****ing nutcase but flipping him off held no value of rationality either. He definatly trumped you in the ****-head department might i ask wht you hoped to accomplish by flipping him off? Yah, you were pissed, but it's really useless and is kinda like smoking in a room full of gunpowder, eventually somethings gonna blow up.

And again, whts with you people and your guns? The guys wanted to fight, not kill you. It may have ended it quickly but you think he's gonna think twice about carrying aorund his own gun now? Gotta fight fire with fire right, sooner or later everyone gets burned.

First off, My early reference to "flipping off" was just hypothetical as an example of how people communicate their anger in traffic. In the example I provided I did not "flip him off". I squeeled my tires after he cut me off and thats what led to this incident.

The guy wanted to fight, not kill you.

And what would have happened if we fought? There are no rules in spontaneous street fights. It happens all the time, a fist fight turns deadly without notice. I have been in so many fights I can't count them. And one thing i've learned is the unpredictable nature involved. There have been times when I thought "this guys a little *****" and end up having my ass kicked. I'm not taking chances that the stranger I met in traffic is gonna just duke it out until someone "wins'. Did you know that just one well placed punch could kill you? I'm not taking the gamble. Therefor I choose to protect myself. No matter how big and bad one is, no matter what professional combat training one might have, my gun has an answer for it.

For all I know my brandishing a firearm in this instance might have saved my life. Don't you agree? That pissed off idiot might have beaten and kicked my head in until I fell into a coma. When grown men fight it can be very scary. There are no teachers rushing up to break it up before anyone gets hurt.

Road rage is what led this guy to challenge me to a fight. My gun led him to drop his challenge and go home safe and sound.

Since you were so quick to frown on my use of a gun, might I ask, what would you do in a situation like this?

 

[Gentilhomme]

Sorry i misread about the flipping him off deal.,

Secondly i was not suggesting you fight the idiot, just find an alternative. I wasn't there but maybe going aorund him was a possability, just clearing through, call the cops yourself or whatever you felt you could have done otherwise. Maybe confrontation was your only option, i don't know, but it is best to avoided. Now had i been in the situation i would have waited until the idiot did something really messy, backing up traffic is one thing, he came into your car is another. I don't know your training (if any) i've delt with a simular situation by just reasoning the guy down, but i've also seen somebody pull a gun for a scare but only scare the other guy into bringing out HIS gun, i'd rather take a potential beating then get shot. Sorry if i came off harsher then i ment, but i just dislike the use of guns for anything non-military, or police or hunting. I don't think sidearms have a place with the public.

 

[Jhony5]

Sorry i misread about the flipping him off deal.,

Secondly i was not suggesting you fight the idiot, just find an alternative. I wasn't there but maybe going aorund him was a possability, just clearing through, call the cops yourself or whatever you felt you could have done otherwise. Maybe confrontation was your only option, i don't know, but it is best to avoided. Now had i been in the situation i would have waited until the idiot did something really messy, backing up traffic is one thing, he came into your car is another. I don't know your training (if any) i've delt with a simular situation by just reasoning the guy down, but i've also seen somebody pull a gun for a scare but only scare the other guy into bringing out HIS gun, i'd rather take a potential beating then get shot. Sorry if i came off harsher then i ment, but i just dislike the use of guns for anything non-military, or police or hunting. I don't think sidearms have a place with the public.

No need to apologise. I don't take anything personaly here.

Actualy this particular incident has stuck in my mind. Everytime some jerk flips me off or what not I always try to remeber that day when I was forced to pull a gun on someone. Its not some macho act that i'm terribly proud of. This guy put me in a position where I could either run or fight. Since my truck was blocked in on all sides I would have had to abandon my vehichle and take off. You're right, he could have went back to his car and got a gun then I find myself in a gun fight. Which is not at all what I want.

The decision to actualy pull a gun is quite surreal. You absolutely must not pull it out if your not ready to distinquish your target as a real threat. Any stranger approaching me and threatening serious bodily harm has just qualified to have a gun trained on him.

What I wish people could realise is that when you get out of your car and approach a stranger over a traffic incident you are quite literaly risking your life to do so. Which seems to defy reason. It begs the question why? What good could possibly come of it? What is important to remember is, in America there are thousands of folks just like me that will put a gun on ya for threatening an asskicking. People say it all the time like its a catch phrase, "i'm gonna kick your ass". Say that to me and you will never be afforded that opportunity. I had my last fist fight when I was 18, i'm retired from that brackett.