[SKYVUE]

I know it's silly and after a while I'll laugh about it, but right now I'm upset!
VERY UPSET!
I'm sure most of you had this to happen to you. Here's the shortened story:

Driving home in the Elise, top down, from a nice dinner with my wife (one mile from home), a car tailgates me and when there is an opening, he guns it and swings around me and swerves in front of me with about a foot clearance!!
Then swings around the car in front of him and takes off at high speed.

The problem is I'm not scared, I'm soooo angry! I feel like I was violated! It happened so fast and it was dark so I couldn't se what kind of car it was (but it was LOUD and fast!). Like a hit and run without damage.....well emotional damage. If I was a cop, I would have followed the car, impounded it and thrown the driver in jail for reckless driving.

I don't know why, but I'm still shaking from.....ANGER!!!

Venting...venting.....

--Hal

 

[Appleseed]

They are just wanting to play... I played a little with a girl in an eclipse tonight on my way home from work... They just wanna see what you can do...

 

[Appleseed]

It's inevitable in a car like ours...

 

[Randy Chase]

Serenity now..... serenity now.

 

[RoadDad]

Hal,

The anger is not worth it. Life is short. Be glad you and your wife didn't get hurt. All is well. Kiss your wife and tell her you love her.

 

[RoadDad]

Oh, BTW, I'm glad no one got hurt .

 

[daysineuropa]

Send the boys round Hal! The Lotus mafia will take care of him.

 

[milehitom]

I does happen a lot with our cars, Hal.

I play it this way: I try to notice the occasional tools on the road in advance; then, I try to guess what crazy thing they're going to do and when they are most likely to do it. Then, when they do it, if it's close to my prediction of their behavior, instead of feeling angry, I feel smart! Plus, since I'm on alert, whatever they do usually doesn't take me by surprise. I've managed to avoid many accidents this way in 20 years of tiny car driving.

If something does get me upset, I try to focus on all the people who are driving very well around me. The road is filled with far more of them.

All of this is a lot easier to do when I'm in the car alone. When my loved one is endangered, the "serenity now" chant helps.

Tom

 

[glb]

we can't let things done by those who don't know/have a connection to us perturb us.

We can often feel angry after being so startled, but, really, no damage done. Except a bit to our egos.

Ashamed to admit that in my distant youth, I might have retaliated.

Glad everyone is OK

 

[Elise8206]

Sorry to hear that! Glad that you both okay. It happened to me several times. For me, I will uses my cell and call 911 to report the problem. Hopefully next time, police will be around in the area..

 

[apk919]

Hey Hal... you've got to just let it go. It sounds to me as if someone was a little insecure with their ride and wanted to try and prove a point... and only succeeded in proving that they are insecure. I'm glad (and you should be too) that no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

It's just a reminder that you're lucky enough to be driving a Lotus, and you're going to get both positive and negative attention. Ignore the negative, embrace the positive...

 

[SKYVUE]

Thanks everyone for your wise responses. I'm slowly calming down.
slowly.
Retaliation was running through my head.
You know, driving this car is kind if a superman syndrome.
Although you can crush the offending jerk, you must contain your anger.
Serenity....serenity.

--Hal

 

[Sideoiler]

Don't let him ruin your evening, he's not worth it.

Chalk it up as a close call and don't let him waste your time. Glad you both are safe and your car is undamaged, both good things.

 

[daysineuropa]

Addaboy Hal! karma or Darwin will catch up with the a-hole guy.

You can't take any chances around here. If the other dude does something illegal, call the cops. If he just pisses you off, rejoice, you are smarter than him and nobody got hurt.

I have seen some of the stupidest driving in the world in my six years here. You cannot tell who is carrying a gun or isn't insured, it is not worth trying to sort it out yourself.

 

[Bavarian Motorist]

Oh Hal! rotfl I have to chuckle a bit at your expense I was driving in Manhattan today and this very thing happened to me no less than 4 times from some city cabs. I say just be glad you weren't hurt and brush it off.


Think of it this way: You know the other guy didn't lose a wink of sleep over it, so why should you? He'll learn his lesson one day driving like that.

 

[knucklehead]

Think of it this way: You know the other guy didn't lose a wink of sleep over it, so why should you? He'll learn his lesson one day driving like that.

wise words

 

[proskills]

Having a 30 mile commute each way to work, this sort of thing happens to me all the time. I guess you just get used to it? I know a bunch of people that start raging at bad drivers (sometimes even good drivers -_^ ), but I usually just tell them to shut the hell up and deal with it (not aimed at you OP, just venting). These people are asshats to everyone, you just happened to get in their way. They will do it again to the next car.

 

[Icedog_16]

I know it's silly and after a while I'll laugh about it, but right now I'm upset!
VERY UPSET!
I'm sure most of you had this to happen to you. Here's the shortened story:

Driving home in the Elise, top down, from a nice dinner with my wife (one mile from home), a car tailgates me and when there is an opening, he guns it and swings around me and swerves in front of me with about a foot clearance!!
Then swings around the car in front of him and takes off at high speed.

The problem is I'm not scared, I'm soooo angry! I feel like I was violated! It happened so fast and it was dark so I couldn't se what kind of car it was (but it was LOUD and fast!). Like a hit and run without damage.....well emotional damage. If I was a cop, I would have followed the car, impounded it and thrown the driver in jail for reckless driving.

I don't know why, but I'm still shaking from.....ANGER!!!

Venting...venting.....

--Hal

Were you in Tampa? Daily occurrence here.

 

[Icedog_16]

Oh Hal! rotfl I have to chuckle a bit at your expense I was driving in Manhattan today and this very thing happened to me no less than 4 times from some city cabs. I say just be glad you weren't hurt and brush it off.


Think of it this way: You know the other guy didn't lose a wink of sleep over it, so why should you? He'll learn his lesson one day driving like that.

I like the sentiment and I'll try to think of it that way. However, what irks me is: Would it be acceptable to behave as such if, say, you were waiting in line for movie tickets or at the grocery store or something?

It's amazing how uncivil and discourteous people are behind the wheel. OK, you drive an SUV and my car's smaller so apparently I don't matter. However, outside of the vehicles I'm a smidge over 6'3" and you're 5'2"; tell me you'll behave the same way. All there needs to be is common courtesy and road rage would be nonexistent. Had to vent, sorry!

 

[Bavarian Motorist]

I like the sentiment and I'll try to think of it that way. However, what irks me is: Would it be acceptable to behave as such if, say, you were waiting in line for movie tickets or at the grocery store or something?

It's amazing how uncivil and discourteous people are behind the wheel. OK, you drive an SUV and my car's smaller so apparently I don't matter. However, outside of the vehicles I'm a smidge over 6'3" and you're 5'2"; tell me you'll behave the same way. All there needs to be is common courtesy and road rage would be nonexistent. Had to vent, sorry!

It's not right at all and you have a right to be upset, but my question is: Is it worth it? What do you gain out of being upset? That person doesn't know or care if you're upset. They are happily humming along cutting people off. I swear if I got this upset over that occurrence I'd be in intensive psychotherapy right now.

If at a movie theater, you can easily confront the person and just say you didn't appreciate it. That will likely bum them out for a while even if they think they didn't do anything wrong (especially if it's a woman...).

When on the road, you can take consolation in knowing that person's going to get what's coming to them.