Road rage confrontation.

[Skaven]

So I go to the University of Texas at San Antonio. I commute every morning on the fun death loop known as 1604 from my home in Schertz. Probably 20-30 minutes each way. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I grabbed a spot, proceed to disarm into my car safe, and grab my backpack to start walking to class. I hear a commotion to my right, and notice a lady had pulled her car in front of a guy and proceed to read him the riot act. She got out of the car and confronted him yelling that he had caused her to spill her coffee and that he had almost killed her on the road with his crazy driving. The guy was making an effort to walk away but she was following him. I decided that since the situation may escalate, I needed to intervene to keep anything bad from happening. I kept a good distance and yelled "Walk away or I will call the police". It took her a second to realize who said that, and so I repeated it over about 3 more times. At this point she started directing her issues at me. I figured the guy didn't have any de-escalation skills (because he started applauding me because he thought I was taking his side which I wasn't and I told him that so she could hear it as well) so I should try to handle it. I pulled her aside, and repeated to her that she was alive, and well, and she needed to take a breath to calm down. I empathized with her stating that I know how infuriating it is to have someone drive dangerously and not pay attention. But it is not worth risking her safety because she has no idea how this guy may react. I thought of this as great practice in de-escalation because she was obviously seeing red, and not realizing what she was doing. I kept constant eye contact with her to make sure she wasn't going to try anything, and it took less than 3 minutes and she had realized what she had done. She started crying, and apologized profusely for making a scene, and thanked me for keeping her from doing something that she would have regretted. Hopefully it will help her realize the dangers of road rage. Gave me a warm fuzzy for helping someone out for the day!

[McKnife]

Good for you!

[Rex B]

Good job!

[texanron]

Nice work!

[Ed4032]

Your results were great, but your not a cop and just as easily it could have turned on you. You don't know what you are getting into.

[TxRVer]

I'm glad it turned out well.

[thatguy]

Your results were great, but your not a cop and just as easily it could have turned on you. You don't know what you are getting into.

I was not there so I wont say I would have done it differently but if I think something is about to happen where I may need to intervene, I would just call the cops.

I give you credit for doing something. I think sometimes as CHLers we forget that we carry a gun for a reason and I would like to think I would help a person in a dangerous situation.

[steveincowtown]

I think sometimes as CHLers we forget that we carry a gun for a reason and I would like to think I would help a person in a dangerous situation.

Wait for it, wait for it....

Begin Batman discusion NOW...

Glad it worked out for you. Not the choice I would have made but sounds like it worked out.

[Skaven]

I was not even armed, so I was careful. I just felt that the situation was at a tipping point, and wanted to nudge it in the good direction. If anything me shouting that I was gonna call the police stopped the situation, I just felt bad because I could empathize with her, and I wanted her to know that I wasn't on the other guys side. I get worked up about cruddy drivers as well, and I had to go through a lot of work to keep me form seeing red. I wanted to help her out mentally.

[MMac]

Thanks for sharing your story and for trying to help out a bad situation.

[dicion]

I was not even armed, so I was careful. I just felt that the situation was at a tipping point, and wanted to nudge it in the good direction. If anything me shouting that I was gonna call the police stopped the situation, I just felt bad because I could empathize with her, and I wanted her to know that I wasn't on the other guys side. I get worked up about cruddy drivers as well, and I had to go through a lot of work to keep me form seeing red. I wanted to help her out mentally.

I think you did fine. Obviously you saw that the other guy was being non-confrontational about it, if not at least ambivalent, and it was not going to escalate to something violent. If it was an escalation scenario, I would have hoped you would have backed off and just called the police, attempting not to get involved unless absolutely necessary (I don't think there's many of us who would just stand by if some big guy started beating the snot out of some woman, regardless of if she verbally provoked the confrontation. Verbal provocation alone is not legal justification for violence, everyone should know this.)

All you did was, hopefully, educate a motorist how the next guy who cuts her off might not be as nonchalant as this one was, and would possibly react to being confronted as such with a knuckle sandwich to her face, or worse. A lesson hopefully she remembers next time she gets hot headed.

In today's world, you have to learn to let things go. In my experience, outright anger and rash decisions based on anger don't solve anything, ever. In fact, it almost always makes it WORSE.

[paulhailes]

Sounds like you had a good idea of the situation and did what you thought was necessary, glad you were able to talk her down.

[tacticool]

I was not there so I wont say I would have done it differently but if I think something is about to happen where I may need to intervene, I would just call the cops.

[v-rog]

I recommend calling the cops right away if it is that serious. You don't know her- she could pull a gun and surprise you. Could be a psycho that just got out of jail or the hospital. Human behavior is not predictable.

[sugar land dave]

Good job on getting their attention. Sometimes that is all that is required. The male was a dummy for feeling that his driving actions were acceptable social behavior. The female was a dummy for feeling that she could approach and berate an unknown male.

Remember your limitations. You are not a member of the Justice League, and there is no Batman or Superman backing you up. Keep distance and maintain eye contact. Calling police is also a good plan.

Glad this worked out for everyone.