Possibly the most terrifying experience behind the wheel....

[2o6]

I had just got out of one of my Christian meetings, and I decided to hit up the nearby grocery store to get a couple goodies.


One traffic light has a left turn, and I took the yellow light, as did the Jeep Commander in front of me. Suddenly, he swerves violently and then he gets right behind me tailgating me and flashing his brights. He's seriously riding my tail. He's swerving and driving really fast, matching my every move. His windows are dark, and his front plate has a protector; I can't see the numbers. Out of fear for my safety, I decide to drive on past the grocery store and keep driving. I lock my doors and, at the rate and aggressiveness he's going, he really is terrifying the heck out of me. He's driving the same speed I am (nearly double the limit) and keeps following every move I make. I call the police, and they are having trouble dispatching a unit to my location, since I'm right at the Akron and nearby Fairlawn borders. The guy is seriously following me, scaring the crap out of me. At this rate, you would think this guy would give up and go away, but he's still behind me (about two miles, in total) he follows me down every switchback and turnoff (i started distancing myself, his car simply can't take turns that fast) and he's creeping the heck out of me. The dispatcher tells me to drive back towards Akron (the opposite way) or stop the car (which I told her I'm not doing) I don't know if this guy was crazy or what.



I finally lost the guy, and I took a roundabout way to get back home, but I still am quite shaken. I don't know if this guy had a gun, or some other physical harm or anything.




Sorry for the lack of articulation, I'm still rattled.

[2o6]

Is there anything I could have done? I wish I had gotten his plate number.

[hotrodalex]

Is there anything I could have done? I wish I had gotten his plate number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rFvR7Bv9Fk

[Eye of the Tiger]

I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. Well, four times in the past year, anyway. It is a threat to my life as far as I am concerned. You never know how psychotic these people might be. They take anything and everything as a personal insult. I am not out to prove who has the bigger dick. I just call the police with a location, make/model/etc, and try to get the plate number. Once that is settled, I lose their stupid ass. Even the most insane road ragers have a hard time keeping up with me in an economy car, because they are stupid and out of control. Once I have notified the police, I take my free pass to drive as fast as necessary to escape the homicidal maniac. I had a guy get out try to break into my car once. That was before cell phones.  They usually give up, but I've seen other road ragers literally crash into other cars on purpose. The real solution to this problem is beyond me. Perhaps a mass neutering.

[2o6]

Yeah, it was in retrospect funny watching a Jeep Commander try and outhandle me.


But it scared the crap out of me. I honestly feared for my life. I wish I could have gotten his plate number...

[Rupert]

That has never happened to me. I had to lose a guy once because my passenger friend said some shit to him ( ), but that was kind of my/our fault.

[GoCougs]

This has happens to me about once a year (sometimes following me like this, but mostly someone who gets royally PO'd and passes me, brake check me, or w/e). It is unnerving. Apropos to your story, 90% of the time it's a redneck POS in a big truck, usually diesel. I can't believe that a single class of vehicle attracts some many knuckle draggers. Some people just get a thrill out of messing with other people. You pretty much did the right things save for trying to "lose" him. That's probably exactly what he was going for - a reaction.

[2o6]

I dunno, man. I don't want this guy to have a gun or something and I end up hurt or dead.

[MrH]

Is there anything I could have done? I wish I had gotten his plate number.

[Raza]Easy, don't go to Christian meetings.[/Raza]

[Rupert]

[2o6]

[Raza]Easy, don't go to Christian meetings.[/Raza]

[Byteme]

Is there anything I could have done? I wish I had gotten his plate number.

If it happens on your home turf drive to the closest police or fire station (police would be better).  It's always a good idea to know where they are in your local area.  Of course this won't help you much in unfamiliar surroundings.  

[SVT666]

I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. Well, four times in the past year, anyway. It is a threat to my life as far as I am concerned. You never know how psychotic these people might be. They take anything and everything as a personal insult. I am not out to prove who has the bigger dick. I just call the police with a location, make/model/etc, and try to get the plate number. Once that is settled, I lose their stupid ass. Even the most insane road ragers have a hard time keeping up with me in an economy car, because they are stupid and out of control. Once I have notified the police, I take my free pass to drive as fast as necessary to escape the homicidal maniac. I had a guy get out try to break into my car once. That was before cell phones.  They usually give up, but I've seen other road ragers literally crash into other cars on purpose. The real solution to this problem is beyond me. Perhaps a mass neutering.

WTF do you do to people for this to happen so often?

[S204STi]

Dude, in some parts of the country people are just fucked up.  He didn't have to really do anything to cause this.

Personally I've had a few people try to fuck with me in traffic, but LOLturbo helps keep those people behind me.  I sort of figure it like E of the T to be a free pass to speed for a bit, and if I would ever get stopped/ticketed I would fight it on those grounds.

With my job taking me to the land of diesel pickups and rednecks I'm a bit curious to see how that goes.  Already had one guy tailgating me in Cheyenne today after I merged in front of him in traffic.  Sure it was close, but fuck... lighten up a bit.

[Raza]

[Raza]Easy, don't go to Christian meetings.[/Raza]

Damn it.

[CJ]

Damn it.

You weren't wrong...

[2o6]

Anyways, I'm still confused as to why the guy chased me down.

[Raza]

Anyways, I'm still confused as to why the guy chased me down.

It's because you drive a Yaris. 

[Rich]

Probably because he felt you were tailgating him.   People usually don't go bonkers without a reason.  The problem lies when two drivers have a different frame of reference or philosophies of driving.

[Submariner]

WTF do you do to people for this to happen so often?

He drives a pedophile van.

[68_427]

He had a front lip he found and wanted to give to you.

[S204STi]

He had a front lip he found and wanted to give to you.

[Byteme]

Anyways, I'm still confused as to why the guy chased me down.

Maybe he thought you cut him off earlier, or maybe he was just a prick. Who knows.   

[TurboDan]

This has happens to me about once a year (sometimes following me like this, but mostly someone who gets royally PO'd and passes me, brake check me, or w/e). It is unnerving. Apropos to your story, 90% of the time it's a redneck POS in a big truck, usually diesel. I can't believe that a single class of vehicle attracts some many knuckle draggers. Some people just get a thrill out of messing with other people. You pretty much did the right things save for trying to "lose" him. That's probably exactly what he was going for - a reaction.

I agree with this 100 percent in terms of vehicle type, although it happens to me more like once every 2-3 years.

Ironically, the last time this happened to me, the guy was driving a commercial tow truck with the business name, logo and phone number printed on it! His boss got a call the next morning. How stupid can you get?

There was another time 5-6 years ago when the other guy pretended to be a cop, and got in the next lane from me and told me to "pull over" when we were both stopped at a red light. He showed me a badge that was from a local volunteer fire department (you could clearly see the logo). I showed him my own badge, which came in the form of my middle finger. He eventually stopped following me to pull into a liquor store.

The tow truck dude apparently thought I was following too closely, since I was in front of him in a different lane and he cut me off (yes, in a fucking tow truck) to "beat" me across an intersection. The other guy (fake cop), I have no idea whatsoever. I didn't even know where his vehicle came from and suddenly he was following me, swerving from lane to lane and screaming at me from his car. WTF?

[SVT666]

This has only happened to me once.  It was 4:00 am and it turned out that it was a cop in an unmarked car and he gave me a ticket for speeding.  I went straight to the Police Chief with the ticket and told him what happened (took a while to get an appointment).  After he spoke with the officer he called me to apologize and they voided the ticket. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

He drives a pedophile van.

No, it doesn't happen in the van. It happens when I drive my little econobox becuase people in bigger cars think they can push me around. It also happened one time when I was driving a semi-truck. Some guy tried to commit suicide in front of me on the highway.

[Secret Chimp]

Nobody ever messes with brum. People seem more oblivious to my station wagon for some reason. Here I am, giant 17 foot long white refrigerator with windows, feel free to merge right in front of me.

[AutobahnSHO]

People seem more oblivious to my station wagon for some reason.

Anything that the roof is about as high as these tards' windows seems to escape their mirror and swivel check.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Nobody ever messes with brum. People seem more oblivious to my station wagon for some reason. Here I am, giant 17 foot long white refrigerator with windows, feel free to merge right in front of me.

People have no idea how awesome drum brakes aren't.

[Secret Chimp]

People have no idea how awesome drum brakes aren't.

My bigass tow package brakes work pretty well. If I haven't used them recently.