A few years ago, I created a thread about ever witnessing a car accident: http://imcdb.opencommunity.be/forum_topic-7719-68523-Ever_seen_a_car_accident_occur.html#p68523 and now I'm creating a new one about road rage. The main reason for this is because yesterday when I was driving to work in the morning, I was involved in a minor incident where a driver road raged at me and it was the second one I have been involved in my life. So basically what happened was while I was driving in my Honda Civic, a driver to my right, who was also driving a Civic but a dark red one, suddenly cut in very narrowly in front of me and was mere inches from side swiping my car. I had to slam on my brakes and then laid my horn at the driver. After that, I changed lanes and then passed by the driver as I threw my hands up in disgust and mouthed what the hell at him. I could clearly tell from the middle aged driver's expression that he wasn't happy at all by my sign of protest. So a few traffic light intersections later, it seemed the whole event was going to pass by without incident until I noticed in my rear view mirrors that the red Civic was suddenly speeding up to catch up to me and he pulled by to the side by my right. He already had his window rolled down and could hear him yelling at me while he was angrily pointing with his finger. I then rolled down the front passenger window and heard him yelling in either a New Yorker or Jersey accent, "PULL OVER TO THE SIDE SO I CAN BREAK YOUR FUCKING NOSE, ASSHOLE!"
I then yelled back to him saying "The reason why I honked at you was because you cut me off and you nearly hit me! Check your goddamn blind spot next time!"
The driver then suddenly pulled to the far right lane and it seemed that he was now trying to avoid me as much as possible, I did the same pulling to far left of the four lane road. Fortunately shortly after that, the driver kept heading straight east while I pulled off north at an intersection. I was a bit shaken up by the incident as my adrenaline was pumping and my heart was beating rapidly, but sighed with relief that the incident didn't escalate any further and was glad that the driver didn't continue to follow me and try to live up to his threats of kicking my ass.
Although it was my second rage incident, it was the first time I had a driver yell threats at me. The first incident I was involved in which was 3 years ago when a similar type of cut off occurred but instead that driver retaliated by brake checking me a few times after I honked at him. After the brake checking, the driver then quickly pulled off to the left at an intersection, and as he did, I rolled down my window, gave him the finger, and then sped off.

Just as a word of advice, I don't really condone or recommend my actions in either incidents and the best thing to do is avoid any confrontations as possibles, because I know there are some crazies out there who will genuinely try to get violent at you and possibly even go as far as pulling out and using a weapon.

So essentially, no matter how much a driver can tick you off when they doing something stupid in front of you while driving, it's usually beset to keep calm and not lose your temper because the other driver may retaliate back by reacting in a worse way.

I had a few cases of angry drivers after a fault from them, but only once one stopped to yell: at a roundabout he didn't have priority, I nearly hit him as he cut me, so I used the horn when braking. A little further he stopped on the side and when I passed he yelled at me; I replied he didn't had the priority there, and then I continued on my way.

Twice I had BMWs that, after a "dispute", tried to cut in front of my and brake suddenly:
- one because I was doing 70km/h on the left lane of a 70km/h way (the cars on the right were driving slower, despite his use of full beam I didn't want to go back to that lane just to let him pass. When I finally could go to the right lane without having fit between two slower cars, while passing me he made signs like "are you crazy?" (yeh, I was obeying speed limit in a city), I gave him the finger, he didn't like that
- one because two lanes merged in one, he didn't like that I passed in front of him (I started quicker at the green light with my little Peugeot) ; I guess he thought I was cutting the line, but it is not my fault if the left lane where I went was empty, despite both left & right lines had arrows indicating they could be used for continuing straight ahead.


One time it was the opposite: I accidentally cut the way of another car in a roundabout (I was distracted), I stopped at the exit of the roundabout, the woman driving the other car started to yell saying I was wrong and shouldn't say anything, then I said that I stopped just to apologize because indeed it was my fault... that directly calmed her, she didn't know what to say

So long it never went further than the usual finger , even if the roundabout in my local Walmart parking lot is sometimes a source of frustration ( a woman took it in the wrong way and an idiot stopped his car right in the middle of it to talk to his ( insert a , or a series of, bad word of your choice here ) cell phone...


But i witness one back in 2002, i remember because i had my Tempo and not much very experience . I was in the McDonald parking lot at the St-Martin/Le Corbusier corner ( i didn't included this year's view as Le Corbusier is getting a major makeover and all we see is blocks of cement and the Palace stopped being the Palace as i know it a few years ago, got a major makeover too.. ) . So i had park at the end of the parking lot, to exit by the street where you can see the Chrysler dealer as i was a little scared of getting out by the midddle exit ( some drivers still read the speed limits in MPH... ) because of the lack of driving experience . then 2 cars on the other side of the boulevard were cutting each other to almost complete stop from St-Martin to the traffic light near the Palace, blowing their horns, yelling at each other . They went in the Palace's parking lot for more yelling ( but still in their cars ) until one drove off and turned right just before the light change ( back then turning right at the red light was forbidden ) i don't know if the other driver caught him later, don't know who started it ( they were already in a pretty bad mood when they came from St-Martin ) so i can't tell how it ends

My road rage incident happened 20 years ago - and it was a masterpiece.

I drove back from a NSU-meeting, where I had participated with my Harlequin-K 70 (a white overpainted car, where I had mounted doors and bonnets in different colours), when I noticed a young bloke in a white Golf I, who drove like an asshole, trying to overtake on the right and so on. I didn't let him pass and when the Autobahn was free, I accelerated, that he couldn't overtake me. When he tried to pass on the right again, I turned directly in front of him - and he evaded on the emergency line and tried to overtake me there.

He overtook one lorry that way and tried to pass me, but this was not possible, because I didn't give spave to the truck in front of me. He came closer and closer - and then I steered to the right and rammed him two times in the classic Hollywood-style, als Bullitt or Detective Rockford

He wanted to stop, but I continued driving. At the next exit he left the Autobahn - and I immediately stopped at the emergency phone, which stood directly besides -it was in the times before mobile phones- and called immediately the police "He rammed me an fled!"

Before the cops arrived, I thought: "Hmm, I'm alone and in the Golf were three people, the bloke and two girls. That's not ideal for me."
When the Autobahnpolizei arrived I told them, that the bloke tried to overtake me on the right, rammed me and fled. I told them too: "Together with many other NSU-freaks I'm on the way back from a large fan-meeting. As it seems, there were several witnesses of that incident. I have to ask around"

Back home I did. I've phoned my fellows - and found a RO 80-driver, who hated the traffic police, a troublemaker, who had dozens of fights at several courts about traffic incidents. A classic stickler for principles.
Together we made a perfect fitting testimony, which he sent to the police and the insurance (which of course denied to pay my demands).

About the damage of my K 70 I went to a valuator, who attested an amount of 2.500 D-Mark (nowadays ca.1.250 €). He tried to make a correct assesment, but he made several mistakes (fortunately to my advantage ). Back in the 90ies the K 70 was alredy extinct, to not listed in the insurance-databases any more, neither in the Volkswagen-spare-parts-lists.
He added some parts of the 1971-MY, which m car didn't have, and the didn't noticed, that the wind was not really damaged. It just had rubber-dirt of the Golf's tires, caused by the fact, that the K 70 has an inner frame in the wing, the Golf not. The bumper wasn't damaged either, just one screw was loose. Finally the only really broken part was one hubcap

After several months we had to go to the hearing of the local court. The RO 80-freak took me with him, so I even had no fuel costs (of course I let me pay the common rate by the court. The loser had to pay them)

The hearing was a kind of bizarre. Before the beginning the policeman told me "Oough, the lawyer is a notorious shyster, who often has celebrities as clients", so I became a bit anxious.
But the joke was, that everything went better, as I ever had expected it

With toy cars -I yelled "I take the RO 80 scale model!" we reconstructed the incident on the judge's table - and I presented photos of the Autobahn-exit, where the bloke left and where the emergency-phone was placed, which caused big eyes at the lawyer. Very bad for his client, because he told the judge, that his client went home (in a town 40km away), because there were no phones on the whole distance.
It became worse, when I snapped to the lawyer "Are you serious with that bullshit? No phones on 40km? On every German Autobahn are emergency phones in maximum 2km distance! And there is infrastructure on the country road either!" - and the judge, an older lady, nodded to my words.

The next deep hit bloke and lawyer got, when I described the situation. That the bloke tried to pass me on the right, even on the emergency lane. When I said "I didn't let him in again and closed the distance to the truck in front of me", the laywer yelled "That is duress!" (duress in the traffic is a crime in Germany, as to tailgate others on the Autobahn without distance and headlight flashers)- and I yelled back "So what? If it was duress, it was to the truck in front of me, not to your client - who overtook me on the right, and that even on the emergency lane!"
The judge nodded again and the lawyer became quiet

A few minutes afterwards he became angry again, when the judge asked for my harm and I said "2.500 D-Mark".
"Bullshit! That old clunker! You aren't serious with that!"
"Hey, this is an official assessment! Yo wanna to dispute that, eeh? Really? Let's try that!"

Then he said, that I have rammed his client and not his client has rammed me (which actually was the real truth ). I replied "No look at the photos. My car has the rubber abrasion from the tires. The reason is the left lock of your client's car!"
Not true, because as said above, caused by the missing frame in the Golf-wing and the stabile K 70-construction. But anyways, the judge agreed again

When the lawyer asked for a break to parley with his client, something really strange happened
The judge, as I said, an older lady, said to me "I see, this is an old Volkswagen. I had one, too. A 1967 Käfer, my first car. Last week I had to give it away, after 30 years. The needed repairs became too much and I cannot make anything by myself" - and she started to cry!

Well, the result of the lawsuit was, that the bloke was convicted as guilty and had to pay 2.500 D-Mark fine.
Also a perfect base to get my demands from the bloke's insurance.


But the story has not yet finished!

The comment of the judge to the lawyer "And the other thing has to run, eeh? Otherwise we will see us again very soon. You got it?" sound very interesting to me

I wanted to read the records of this case. How to get them? No problem in my job, as in the claim departent of an insurance, we have to have them in many cases - but my employer was not involved.
I could coax my boss, a lawyer (in Germany records of cases can be ordered by -of course only involved- lawyers at the prosecutor's office, to order them for me.
I wrote a faked requirement, with a faked file-reference of my company, and that even with using a faked name

The file was marvellous! I read, that after my report of incident at the Autobahn-police, the colleagues were already waiting, when he came back home - and they already knew him. Maybe because of that and by the fact, that "hit-and-run" in traffic is a crime in Germany, they immediately confiscated his drivers license.

And all this was observed by a neighbour, who hated the bloke.

The bloke didn't accepted the loss of the drivers licence and continued driving his car and also his motorbike - and every time he did that, the neighbour noticed that in a list, and after some weeks he gave his list to the police.
So the bloke earned annother lawsuit, a really bad one. Driving without license is a crime in Germany, a crime, which can cause hard punishments (o.k., in the over-smooth German judicature "hard punishment" means not too much - but every single usage of a vehicle without having a license is a new delict!

The final result of the second lawsuit I haven't found out, but anyways, the whole incident was great enough for me at all

Finally, the bloke'e insurance paid lump 1.500 D-Mark (ca.750 €), with a reference to the obscure general process. I wrote complaint, but all I got, was a refusal, as I sometimes write in my job, in polite words a "It's already more dosh as you deserve. Piss off!"
I refrained from more dispute - 750 € for a damaged hubcap is a great deal anyways. Plus ca.150 € I got from the court for my costs to come to the hearing.


P.S. one important quintessence: don't be afraid of mega-arrogant celebrity-lawyers. You can fool them, even when you are just a lonesome, poor boy in torn jeans, who drives a junky 200€-clunker
It's just a thing of callousness and good preparation.


P.S.II My story is not problematical at all for me.
The lapse of time for a false testimony without oath is 5 years in Germany.

Oh a pity i did not know this thread does exist.

Last week i witnessed a very strange occurence. A scooter driver in front of me was driving erratic. At first he was driving very close to the right side curb. Then he started driving all over the road literally. I was taking precautions and kept a big safety distance. As i had no hands-free device for my phone i decided to follow the scooter to see if i can stop him before it gets nasty.

Suddenly a Golf came out of a parking space and almost crashed into the bike. The scooter honked at him and started to tailgate him very hard. At the next red light i stopped in a safe distance from the Golf and the Scooter. The Golf driver opened the door and got out. Now i was expecting that both engage in a Road Rage. But the Golf Driver just said to the Scooter Rider that his head light was not working. As the traffic light went to green, both continued but the Scooter stopped at the next possible location to check his vehicle.

So a Road Rage from the Scooter rider was stopped by a calm Golf Driver. I mean it was obvious that the scooter rider was enraged at the Golf driver.