Road Rage Incident.

[Thane]

I must respectfully disagree with the folks who want horns removed from cars. While I try to keep it polite, my horn has saved me from getting hit numerous times, and has been used to call attention to dangerous drivers as well.
YMMV

The problem that I see most often is those people, and there are many many of them, who manage to hit their horns before they even react any other way. The horn is blowing before the foot is on the brake, before the wheel is turned, and many of those even wait to see if you will react to the horn before they even think about driving defensively.

Thus my firm conviction that horns should be removed from cars, or be an extra cost option with ticketing for misuse.

You are indeed correct about that problem, sir. Fortunately, El Paso isn't the "loudest" city, horn-wise. EVERYONE hits the brakes, oftimes for no discernable reason, long before they ever reach for the horn.
I think horn misuse is already a ticketable misdemeanor - it's just that it's not enforced.

[Boma]

First of all thanks for all the comments. I consider everyone on this board a friend and never an enemy.

I did retreat guys!! As he was passing me and I as passed him my head was facing forward and was never pointed towards him at all. He pointed his finger at me when he was 1-2 car lengths ahead of me. I didn't have to turn to the side to see it.

I was ahead of him and knew I was in a bad position and as he passed me I let him pass until he was 20 car lengths ahead of me. I realized that I was in the good position by staying back. I retreated. Gun never left the seat. He was completely on the offensive after I honked; I did not do anything else after.

From my life experiences I think when most thugs and ganster wannabes want to hurt you, they don't just pull a gun on you out of nowhere. A lot of times they stare at you, cuss you out, and give you death looks. Then the guns comes out.

Would this happen?
I honk at them for 3 seconds, then they just keep their face pointed forwards never starring at me, just looking at the road ahead. Face calm no reaction at all. Then they just pull a gun out of nowhere and kill me. Yeah right.

I did what I had to do. The gun would not have come out unless he swerved into me or pulled a gun out at me. I would not pull out the gun just because of him cussing me out and waving his hands at me.

[Flatland2D]

I think your response was completely natural. If some guy was pointing at me like he wanted to kill me and I was in a position to feel for my gun discretely, I would probably do so. I don't think there was anything wrong that Boma did, but things that could have been done better. Some horn control may be in order (myself included, I probably would have honked, too).

As for drawing if he tried to swerve into you, that might get you into a sticky situation. I have no legal experience in this type of incident (or at all for that matter) but I would think you would have a hard time proving you were not able to retreat unless it was bumper to bumper traffic. And while I'd assume most people here would consider swerving into your car "deadly force", that might be a little difficult to prove in court. I really don't know, just something to think about. You would have to draw and fire as he was swerving in order to prevent the attack (which could happen in 1 or 2 seconds). Shots fired afterwards in retaliation would be a serious "no-no".

Thank you again for sharing this so that we all might learn something.

[carlson1]

We can always learn. I am sure there will be someone to attack this, but it will not be the first time I have been shot at
In the late 80's every traffic stopped we made after the sun went down we UNHOLSTERED our weapons and hid it behind our thigh as we approached EVERY vehicle until we felt safe. Of course 90% of our traffic was out in the country. I am not for sure if right or wrong I have had a few cituations as a CHL that I have placed my hand on the grip of my pistol just in case. A fool learns from his own mistakes while a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. That is what is great about this place. No matter how many people bark it is worth reading just for the experience.
Thanks for telling what happened.

[gigag04]

In retrospect I should mention that I make it a habbit to pull my shirt over my holster for easy access in case the doo doo hits the fan while driving.

Just another parctical help.

-nick

[flintknapper]

Did you happen to look "left and right" before entering the intersection, doesn't sound like it.
Flint.

Yes, from the brief description, it does sound like I assumed my way was clear. My post already being longer than I wanted, though ( ), I omitted some details; guess I should have included them.
There were cars on the cross-street already stopped at their red light. The was WAS clear, to the best of my visibility. The Ranger came up behind them in the left-hand lane, about three cars back, swooped over two lanes into the right-turn-only lane, and went straight, all around 60 miles an hour, never slowing down. I've seen drunks do similar things, but this was 3 in the afternoon.

You did everything you could then. Good on ya!

[switch]

First I heard about different ways to use my horn. LOL

Personally, I think a horn should be used to warn someone that obviously does not see you, moving over into your lane (if you are slightly behind them), backing out of a parking space, etc. Someone that runs up on your bumper and slams on his brake obviously has seen you. What does it help to honk at him?

Honking to warn others of idiots on the road? Do you think they do not know the road is filled with idiots? Who said: "Never argue with idiots, bystanders may not be able to tell the difference."

Personally, I think honking at someone is equivalent to cussing or exchanging gestures.

So somone runs a red light a 3PM. Maybe he is taking his 13 year old son to the hospital w/a cut arm. Happened to me.

I think you are kidding yourself if you think most people can even hear a puny car horn, w/ a/c, windows up, radio blaring.

[KinnyLee]

Honking for any reason other than to warn another driver of your position or to otherwise help avoid an accident is likely to incite a negative reaction.

Flint.

I've noticed that my "collision alarm" threshold has increased as I get older. There are times that my Mom ask me why I didn't honk at them, I would tell her that it didn't really caused an accident and simply with the foot off the gas, I avoided the accident. There are instances that people honking at me for no reason. It caused a negative reaction on a few occasions, other times I just gave them the wierd look. I'm working on this slowly but surely.

[Venus Pax]

I, too, think we have an obligation to avoid anything that could turn violent and to even difuse situations.

[kw5kw]

This is road rage:

Friends the person who pulls a gun on the highway will be arrested, tried and most likely convicted of road rage... no matter who started it.

Most of the time I can see people cutting people off, crossing over 3 lanes of traffic before they miss their exit, this is not good... and if they narrowly miss my front bumper by two feet, yeah, I get upset, because they could have killed me with their deadly weapon... their vehicle.

But then, I stop... count to ten (very slowly) and offer a prayer to the LORD Almighty Above to restore my patience with humanity---He always does.

We're not carrying a firearm to cure bad drivers, even those who are rude and run us off the road because eventually they'll loose control of thier vehicle and find out for themselves that there was plenty of time to get to the job or the movie because now they're in the hospital, jail or even worse--the morgue. Hopefully they won't take anyone else with them.

NOW with that being said, why do we have our CHL's?

I got mine orignally to protect my wife and I from our ex-son-in-law who threatened to kill us and physically attacked me on more than one occasion. That threat has subscided, but now... I want to carry to protect other people in case of emergencies... just like that CHL holder in Tyler who took on an attacker outside the courthouse. He was indeed a credit to all of the CHL holders nationwide.

These are just my thoughts,
Russ

[KBCraig]

Y'all remember Sam Kinnison, the late comedian who would break into screaming rants at the top of his lungs? He had a good line: "Guys, don't hit your women. I don't support wife abuse. BUT I UNDERSTAND IT!!!!!"

Once I was driving down the road and came up on a little ol' biddy driving a huge Cadillac. One of those little blue haired ladies who could barely see over the dashboard. She had gone to the trouble to have a custom sticker made. It was probably 10 inches high and 3 feet wide, black letters on a yellow background, and plastered across her back window: "SPEED LIMIT OBSERVED. GO AROUND! ---->"

Yes, she was driving in the left lane, about 3mph under the limit.

I don't support road rage. BUT I UNDERSTAND IT!!!!!



Kevin