Some good lessons re road rage

[ilikegunspdx]

This video explains how a guy on motorcycle was confronted by pickup road rager. Motorcycle guy held gun at low ready and told pickup guy to get back in his truck. Pickup guy got back in truck and told his girlfriend to call 911 and she lied her a$$ off. Motorcycle guy went to jail for the night and lost $25,000 for bail bond which he will never get back. Also his lawyer had to convince DA not to prosecute him. Note that motorcycle guy did not a dash cam.

My takeaways:
- ignore road ragers
- have video (incredibly important nowadays imo) and dashcams are cheap
- assume people will make up bubblegum that did not happen (have had this happen twice personally)
- be VERY cautious about showing the other person your gun
- in my experience when other guy is at fault they will go out of their way to make bubblegum up and act angrily against you even though you did nothing wrong. At least in Portland anyway. Happened to me with a prominent Antifa member. Don't assume others have your same values or regard for the truth. I never ran into this kind of thing at all in rural areas.

View: https://youtu.be/qNqzXblpetk?si=2pIDiXkGVIg2A_x-

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[Andy54Hawken]

Road rage...
A moment's worth of anger / frustration is not worth a life time of :
Damn , that was a stupid move on my part.

Many issues in life can be avoided with a "So What " attitude...
A fella drives poorly , cuts you off , doesn't use his signals , rides your bumper . etc....
So What....why let that action , which you can not control.....control you.

Now this is not to say that I have never been frustrated with how others drive or never said WTF in regards to other drivers and their actions.
However....
Accosting someone over it...nope...don't do that.

If you are accosted :

Be the politest person present....
Situational awareness needs to be fully active....
If you can unobtrusively film or record ...do so ....
Stick to the Three "C's" when communicating....
Clearly...Completely...Concisely....
Do not argue....Understand that you cannot reason with or use reason with unreasonable people....
Call 911...
Be honest with Law Enforcement...again...communicate with the Three C's...
Form a plan for how to disengage with the aggressor , be advised that backing up , may not the only way to leave a hostile situation...

Much more...but , the above is just off the top of my head.
Andy

 

[CountryGent]

One of the most profound and helpful pieces of advice my father gave me in youth was simply "Ignore the idiots." Doing so avoids being entangled in their screwed up little world. Failing do do so, well, never ends great. The whole road rage thing, generally, falls under the category. It is just not worth the waste of time, loss of resources, or one's freedom.

 

[1775usmc]

Leave your pride and ego at the door when you leave your house. Especially if you're carrying a gun. Period.

Keep your emotions in check. They'll get you killed.

 

[Alexx1401]

This video explains how a guy on motorcycle was confronted by pickup road rager. Motorcycle guy held gun at low ready and told pickup guy to get back in his truck. Pickup guy got back in truck and told his girlfriend to call 911 and she lied her a$$ off. Motorcycle guy went to jail for the night and lost $25,000 for bail bond which he will never get back. Also his lawyer had to convince DA not to prosecute him. Note that motorcycle guy did not a dash cam.

My takeaways:
- ignore road ragers
- have video (incredibly important nowadays imo) and dashcams are cheap
- assume people will make up bubblegum that did not happen (have had this happen twice personally)
- be VERY cautious about showing the other person your gun
- in my experience when other guy is at fault they will go out of their way to make bubblegum up and act angrily against you even though you did nothing wrong. At least in Portland anyway. Happened to me with a prominent Antifa member. Don't assume others have your same values or regard for the truth. I never ran into this kind of thing at all in rural areas.

Since the days camera's got so cheap and easy to buy I have tried to tell all no reason to not have one. As always of course we are only getting one side of this story but, it is VERY common for some asshat to do something like was alleged by the one driver then lie of course. I started wearing a cam when walking my dogs decades ago for just this reason. Nothing beats the look on some jerks face who is going Code Red when it sinks into their brain that I said this entire interaction is being recorded. You can see the light go on at that point when they know they will not be able to just lie after.
As for road rage yes, BEST possible thing is ignore them and keep moving if you can. Responding to people who do not want to control their emotions if just throwing gas on a fire. I road a bike for decades and when on two wheels I was FAR more careful. I see an amazing number of video now of guys on a bike responding to cars as if they are driving a tank and can't be hurt.

 

[WillametteWill]

I was working with a group of professional (i.e., commercial) drivers today, and we were discussing avoiding road-raging drivers. Here is one of the many things that sets professional drivers apart from 'regular' drivers:

Professionals use their horns to warn others of an impending conflict.
Others use their horns to vent and show their displeasure.

If you are carrying a gun, you should consider this and never use a horn for the second option.

 

[Lazyfaire]

If I am in that MC rider's place I would have called the police immediately and reported the incident. You HAVE to be the FIRST caller to 911 ! That is what got him in trouble. They just believed the caller who lied to them.
His bail was set for $250K ? And then they didn't take it to court?
Yes, bikers should have cameras on them now. Helmet or hanging on their jacket

 

[Alexx1401]

If I am in that MC rider's place I would have called the police immediately and reported the incident. You HAVE to be the FIRST caller to 911 ! That is what got him in trouble. They just believed the caller who lied to them.
His bail was set for $250K ? And then they didn't take it to court?
Yes, bikers should have cameras on them now. Helmet or hanging on their jacket

YES! If you decide you needed to pull a gun it is best to NOT just think its over if the other party just leaves. If its in public chances are REAL good many people are already calling 911 as soon as they saw the gun. As for the rest I did not bother watching the screwtube video as a HUGE amount of those things are either complete fabrication or a mix of some truth and a lot of fabrication. So no way to know what really happened. Still great point though for those of us who carry. If you draw, call. Not calling just makes it look FAR worse for you if others did call when they catch up to you.

 

[foxface]

This video explains how a guy on motorcycle was confronted by pickup road rager. Motorcycle guy held gun at low ready and told pickup guy to get back in his truck. Pickup guy got back in truck and told his girlfriend to call 911 and she lied her a$$ off. Motorcycle guy went to jail for the night and lost $25,000 for bail bond which he will never get back. Also his lawyer had to convince DA not to prosecute him. Note that motorcycle guy did not a dash cam.

My takeaways:
- ignore road ragers
- have video (incredibly important nowadays imo) and dashcams are cheap
- assume people will make up bubblegum that did not happen (have had this happen twice personally)
- be VERY cautious about showing the other person your gun
- in my experience when other guy is at fault they will go out of their way to make bubblegum up and act angrily against you even though you did nothing wrong. At least in Portland anyway. Happened to me with a prominent Antifa member. Don't assume others have your same values or regard for the truth. I never ran into this kind of thing at all in rural areas.

View: https://youtu.be/qNqzXblpetk?si=2pIDiXkGVIg2A_x-

Another major takeaway: be the first to call 911. Dispatch and officers only have what they have to work with, and they will assume the caller is the victim when headed to the site of the altercation. Good officers will thoroughly investigate, but that doesn't always happen, so your chances of going to jail unjustly as a person defending yourself go down if you are presumed to be a victim acting in self defense upon LE arrival.

 

[cdmontgo]

Don't assume others have your same values

Well said.

 

[pdberry]

Something like this happened to me just over 28 years ago. Road rager followed me up an offramp and got out of his car, walked to mine and put his head into my car through the open drivers door window. I pulled on him and told him to get back in his car and leave. 2 hours later I was arrested at my office, had my carry gun taken and my ccw permit revoked. I was young and poor so I had to borrow money for a lawyer and go to court where no charges were pressed. I then had to sell the guns I had to pay off the lawyer's bill. I was so mad about it I actually got out of guns until last year. I would go shooting with friends but I didn't own or buy any during that period. Last April I attempted to buy a gun and got delayed and am in fact still delayed on that purchase. The reason OSP gave me when I went in person was that arrest. 27 years later, no conviction just an arrest and they were holding things up for it. I had to hire a lawyer again and get the arrest expunged which took for ever and now that it is finally done I have to go back to OSP in person again to see if I can get them to kick it loose as I just called the shop and I am still listed as delay even though I sent the paper work to OSP's email address for delays almost 2 months ago.

In short road rage is not worth it either on your end or dealing with someone with it. You might be dealing with it decades later.

 

[WillametteWill]

Something like this happened to me just over 28 years ago. Road rager followed me up an offramp and got out of his car, walked to mine and put his head into my car through the open drivers door window. I pulled on him and told him to get back in his car and leave. 2 hours later I was arrested at my office, had my carry gun taken and my ccw permit revoked. I was young and poor so I had to borrow money for a lawyer and go to court where no charges were pressed. I then had to sell the guns I had to pay off the lawyer's bill. I was so mad about it I actually got out of guns until last year. I would go shooting with friends but I didn't own or buy any during that period. Last April I attempted to buy a gun and got delayed and am in fact still delayed on that purchase. The reason OSP gave me when I went in person was that arrest. 27 years later, no conviction just an arrest and they were holding things up for it. I had to hire a lawyer again and get the arrest expunged which took for ever and now that it is finally done I have to go back to OSP in person again to see if I can get them to kick it loose as I just called the shop and I am still listed as delay even though I sent the paper work to OSP's email address for delays almost 2 months ago.

In short road rage is not worth it either on your end or dealing with someone with it. You might be dealing with it decades later.

Thank you for openly sharing this valuable information on the forum. Good on you for telling this story.