Would you have fired?

[BlindedByScience]

Maybe the little girl twits will think twice next time before they flip somebody off if they can't back it up. Sometimes there are unexpected consequences.

WAYNO.

....no kidding. Avoid confrontation, when at all possible. I've spent a lot of hours on I-5 and I've seen my share of jerks. It's just easier in all cases to let them fly by, ignore them, get out of their way.....and call the State Police. If I get run off the road and they approach the car, there will be an armed response.

 

[IronMonster]

And it goes both ways, I would not filp someone off without expecting to stand toe to toe with them.


And there are plenty like me that will take you to task for starting it. How many people end up dead each year from flipping someone off? I bet the number is higher than those killed by so called assault rifles.

I don't want to fight, I am not a violent person, But would you poke a bear and not expect a response? Well people are a lot less predictable than a bear

 

[01rednavigator]

If she came up to my car and tried to get in I would have pulled my weapon and told her to back the F%*k up. If she did not back away and continued to try to get in my car and act aggressive then I would smoke the crazy B!%*h with my 45.

 

[IronMonster]

This instance is a perfect example. What set this crazy off was the girl flipping her off. It's that gesture that started the ball rolling. Your saying it's no big deal, well this crazy lady would not have tried to run her off the road if she wouldn't have done it. She was the instigator.

So you are taking the risk by sticking your finger in the air, I'm saying don't do it, keep your head and let it be. If you do, know there could be consequences

 

[CoastRange57]

we keep pointing out the victim flipped off the suspect, as if she started it, we need to clarify that she did so in response to the suspect tailgating here. Completely appropriate response in my book. I don't believe flipping off a tailgater is being an instigator.

I have been involved in 5 rear end accidents in the last 8 years. The last one totaled a perfectly good Ford Ranger, and put me in 4 weeks of PT. Previous ones were people tailgating my commercial vehicles and they were unable to stop in time. The Kia hitting the Freightliner and trailer totaled her car, I felt a small bump. Tailgating is a traffic offense that can result in injury, and after getting butt slammed that many times, I am pretty sensitive to it. Somebody flipping you off does not require a verbal or physical response. You have the option to ignore it and continue on your way. But as Iron Monster points out, it is pretty rude, and more than once has resulted in some a** kickings.

As far as somebody confronting me or anybody else after flipping them off, if you chase me down, and prevent my free movement away from the situation in any way, you are committing the crime of harassment. I will calmly tell you to f the f off and leave me alone, and I will leave the situation. Flipping somebody off is considered disorderly conduct by most LEO's, and is considered as an instigation in most cases, and certainly will not help your position, and is citeable under ORS statues. As a smart a@@ 17 year old, I flipped off a Tri Met bus driver for cutting me off, and promptly got a ticket for that since an LEO saw me do it. I was so fing smart in those days.

If a person persists in preventing that free movement or attempts to assault you, you are clearly in a situation where you need to escalate your force projection to protect yourself. How you do this can be tricky,but in my case, if some 30 something roided out road rager is going to assault me, a 57 year old person, with some physical issues, you are probably going to get a face full of pepper spray at that point and I will make my escape.

 

[freestoneangler]

This instance is a perfect example. What set this crazy off was the girl flipping her off. It's that gesture that started the ball rolling. Your saying it's no big deal, well this crazy lady would not have tried to run her off the road if she wouldn't have done it. She was the instigator.

So you are taking the risk by sticking your finger in the air, I'm saying don't do it, keep your head and let it be. If you do, know there could be consequences

So long as your index finger can back up your middle finger... just saying .

 

[IronMonster]

Exactly right, which is why you don't go around flipping people off

 

[Koda]

This instance is a perfect example. What set this crazy off was the girl flipping her off. It's that gesture that started the ball rolling. Your saying it's no big deal, well this crazy lady would not have tried to run her off the road if she wouldn't have done it. She was the instigator.

I thought what started the ball rolling was the crazy lady tailgating?

 

[orygun]

These girls ran into a person that isn't very stable. (read previous article posted about court appearances) Unfortunately there are more folks like her out there than we'll ever know about.
Many things aren't worth fighting over, let alone shooting or dying over.
While I think the whacko woman should have been run over with their car, I don't see any reason to draw or shoot, especially when they could just drive away. However, had Ms. Whacko caused them to not be able to flee, shots could have been fired. Certainly they were scared of what she was gonna do.

Me? I don't tend to flip off people besides my buddies when we're screwin around, but if I was in these girls shoes (and it doesn't take flipping off to make many people get stupid like Ms. Whacko) it wouldn't take long for me to go offensive with my vehicle.

 

[IronMonster]

Not in my book, it was the response to the crazy lady tailgating. People tailgate all the time, a sane person who is in control of there emotions simply changes lanes and let's them pass, only an instigator flips them off.

When you stick your finger in the window you are calling that person out on their behavior. You are challenging them, you are picking a fight. The crazy lady was not out for these girls, she probably had no idea that these girls took offense to her driving, the girl picked a fight with her the second she put her finger in the window. When you pick fights with strangers sooner or later you'll pick the wrong one.

 

[Koda]

I see your point and agree changing lanes is a better solution but as CoastRange57 pointed out tailgating is a serious offence as well not to mention equally rude as giving the bird. I agree flipping off is not the right thing to do in response and likely escalated the situation but it also seems like it is an equally common response to someone tailgating as is the act of tailgating itself. There's no reason to do either.

 

[The Heretic]

I grew up on a farm.

I also know from personal experience that some people think that someone giving them the finger is justification for physical assault.

But my personal philosophy has always been that everybody is entitled to their opinion, and everybody has the right to voice it. It is called freedom of speech - even when you disagree with it. Start slapping people around because you don't like what they say and you are infringing on that right.

 

[The Heretic]

The crazy lady was not out for these girls, she probably had no idea that these girls took offense to her driving, the girl picked a fight with her the second she put her finger in the window. When you pick fights with strangers sooner or later you'll pick the wrong one.

I disagree - she's crazy and I would assert her tailgating was intentional to provoke the response she got.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

women drivers... just sayin


(its a joke, i love my wife shes a great driver )

 

[IronMonster]

No there isn't, yet it happens every day.

I didn't think about it till right this moment in relationship to this... But when I was 16 I flipped off a guy who cut me off on a Friday night out on the cruise. It was a truck full of guys in there 20's who chased me out of town, rammed by truck and beat the living piss out of me and my friend and proceeded to kick out every window and bash my truck till it was completely totaled. So yeah, maybe that influenced my opinion slightly. I don't take flipping someone off lightly. I ended up with bone sticking out of my face and unable to walk for several days. My truck never moved under its own power again and my nose still shows that break almost 30 years later.

 

[orygun]

No there isn't, yet it happens every day.

I didn't think about it till right this moment in relationship to this... But when I was 16 I flipped off a guy who cut me off on a Friday night out on the cruise. It was a truck full of guys in there 20's who chased me out of town, rammed by truck and beat the living piss out of me and my friend and proceeded to kick out every window and bash my truck till it was completely totaled. So yeah, maybe that influenced my opinion slightly. I don't take flipping someone off lightly. I ended up with bone sticking out of my face and unable to walk for several days. My truck never moved under its own power again and my nose still shows that break almost 30 years later.

This ^^^ would have been reason to shoot.

 

[IronMonster]

I disagree - she's crazy and I would assert her tailgating was intentional to provoke the response she got.

I think that's silly, you think that this crazy person had enough clarity, modivation and desire to go out and pick fights with people and the method she chose was tailgating? Really?

 

[orygun]

A crazy person instigates and responds to things far different than a "normal" person. Any frikkin thing is possible.

 

[Koda]

No there isn't, yet it happens every day.

I didn't think about it till right this moment in relationship to this... But when I was 16 I flipped off a guy who cut me off on a Friday night out on the cruise. It was a truck full of guys in there 20's who chased me out of town, rammed by truck and beat the living piss out of me and my friend and proceeded to kick out every window and bash my truck till it was completely totaled. So yeah, maybe that influenced my opinion slightly. I don't take flipping someone off lightly. I ended up with bone sticking out of my face and unable to walk for several days. My truck never moved under its own power again and my nose still shows that break almost 30 years later.

don't blame yourself you didn't start the fight when they cut you off intentionally.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Nope, she was arrest three days prior and driving crazy before she was flipped off.

http://www.kcra.com/news/road-rage-suspect-caught-on-camera-pleads-not-guilty/30378470