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If you want someone to go nutzoid, just tap your breaks.

dihappy wrote:If you want someone to go nutzoid, just tap your breaks.

I do this occasionally and have never had a problem. It usually gets them to back WAYYYYY off.

or it could incite them to "do something about it."

remember, DE-escalation.

DoubleJ wrote:or it could incite them to "do something about it."

remember, DE-escalation.

Funny. When I took driver's ed, I remember tapping your brakes as a valid way of letting someone know they are following too closely. I looked at the current driver's handbook, and it now recommends against it. Perhaps the advent of road rage has changed things since the early 90s.

Flipping him off was a mistake, but it is one that I have made on a number of occasions, and of which I'm not particularly proud. As to driving, I'm no moonshiner, but I have almost 10 years of closed course roadracing experience in my past, and I'm a very good driver. I'm pretty confident that I could put distance between most people and myself if I had to. The problem is that there are often other vehicles on the road, and driving it like you stole it isn't always the most responsible option. I'm not familiar with the town of Tomball, never having been there (although I do own a Texas Pitcrafters smoker grill, manufactured in Tomball ), but if such a thing happened in my own town of Grapevine, I would head straight for the police station, park outside the front door, and prepare to return fire if the perp continued shooting. My hope would be that he would realize that you don't shoot at police stations if you have any brains left in your head.

That the perp in this particular case was found passed out drunk in his truck does not bode well for the notion that he was a clear thinker, and driving to the police station might not have deterred him. OTH, you would have had plenty of backup.

AEA wrote:Interesting first post.
If the guy shot at me, I would stop and return fire.

I disagree. If you're in your vehicle and the vehicle is running, then that vehicle is a much more powerful weapon than any firearm you're likely to have with you.

Molon_labe wrote:Could that be construed as "escalating" the situation?

Yes. Flipping him off would be escalating the situation.

The Annoyed Man wrote:Flipping him off was a mistake, but it is one that I have made on a number of occasions, and of which I'm not particularly proud.

Yep.


Going to the police station, preferably with GF on the phone telling them he's coming, would be my choice.
Going to the Wal-Mart parking lot was not a bad move, though. A public place where there's almost certain to be witnesses. (And someone who knows how to use a phone.) And there just might be a cop there. (I was just at Wal-Mart buying ammo, and there were two sheriff's deputies in there doing the same.)

And when they say, "He reported that you made a crude gesture with your middle finger."
I say, "The guy was drunk."