(NAC)road rage...my first experience tonite.. LOCK YOUR DOORS!!!

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Bad scene, Chris.....almost the same as one that happened to me. Yours was 
WORSE. In my opinion,  you are lucky to be alive. What happened to me 
changed my life considerably, and the way I drive. I'll tell you about it. 
Maybe someone else on the list will benefit.

It happened during nice weather, about 9 AM in the morning as I got off the 
turnpike..........I am the 3d car in a line approaching a toll booth where 
cars are paying. My wife is in the passenger seat and we are going to a big 
convention in a nearby city. No cars behind us. An older black Ford cargo 
van with faded paint is sitting off-road in a parking area. As the line 
gets to the parking area I see an outline of a person doing something to 
his own upper arm, like taking a rubber tube off of his left 
bicep......image of drug addict taking off the tourniquet after shooting 
up.....but just an impression....no details.   The van starts up and creeps 
up at right angles to the line, as if cut into the line. OK so far.

I'm the last car in the string, which is creeping toward the booth. 
Everybody is bumper to bumper. I figure the Ford van will pull into line 
behind me, because there is nothing back there. But it doesn't happen that 
way. As the car ahead of me gets to his position, he moves the van forward 
suddenly and aggressively, as if to cut into the line in the three foot 
space between the cars. He is about a foot from the guy's front bumper and 
is reving his engine.

The car ahead ignores him and moves past him. I'm next in line. He does the 
same thing to me.

I look in my rear-view mirror and I don't see anyone behind me.  Why do I 
have to let this guy in? If it were a long line with no breaks, I'd do it 
in a flash, but why do I have to wait while HE cuts in and pays his ticket? 
I'm the last car in the line and am already running late for my meetings 
and time is important to me, also.  Snap decision.....no, I'm not 
cooperating this time. Let him wait another 30 seconds. BAD DECISION!

I creep past him as the line moves. He glares at me, revs his engine, jumps 
the van an inch forward toward my passing fender. Very aggressive and 
nasty. He is obviously very steamed! My car continues, he pulls in behind 
me, and......... SLAMS......... his van unto my rear bumper hard enough to 
jolt me ahead a few inches. This guy IS nuts, I think. I'm 20 feet from the 
booth and the attendant is probably watching this. But I'm not getting out 
to see if my car is damaged. The guy is obviously crazy, and may be on drugs.

The car ahead pays his ticket, I pull forward and pay mine. Then I move 
briskly away toward the off ramp and a stop sign, maybe a eighth mile away. 
The van pays his ticket, floors it and follows on my bumper toward the stop 
sign. We wind down the hill this way. At least he isn't ramming me anymore. 
This is unbelievable.....

I arrive at the entry to the main road that goes into the city, and three 
lanes of traffic are locked up almost solid, everything stopping and 
starting, nothing moving much at all. Combination of morning rush hour 
traffic and probably some sort of traffic control device up ahead........I 
see an opening and dart my car into it and stop. Now the guy will have to 
find his own hole and this will be over with.

The black van pulls off the road and stops beside me! The guy gets out, 
comes over to my stopped car and walks around it shouting and making 
gestures to roll down my window. He tries my locked passenger door, pulling 
at the handle and rocking the car. My wife is alarmed and so am I. He slaps 
the window (just like your guy).......he is in an obvious rage. 
Passenger-wife is becoming terrified. Traffic moves maybe 5 feet and I move 
with it. He walks alongside, shouting and gesturing. This continues another 
15 feet and seems to take forever. Everybody around us is watching as he 
goes nuts. We are eventually 50 feet from his parked van. I'm thinking I 
will need a weapon if he decides to break a window to get at us. He has 
obviously LOST HIS MIND or is under the influence of medications.

I want to be OUT OF THIS SITUATION. I conclude that this is very dangerous. 
If I had been equipped with a cell phone, it was time for 911.

Having no cell phone, I decide to take some evasive action. He is on foot, 
I am in a car. I am sane and he is crazy. I am thinking and he is acting 
emotionally. I have several advantages. RUN MAN, before the guy goes back 
to his van for a weapon!

I pull out of line into the berm lane, which is empty and marked and paved 
and a full lane wide. He stays beside my car, running and shouting. I 
slowly move past the stopped traffic, driving on the berm. He runs back to 
his van, gets in and starts following me. I speed up and we travel this way 
about 3/4 of a mile. Hundreds are watching......

We get to a red traffic light at a major intersection and my traffic is 
stopped. There is no cross traffic, so I run the light and hope a cop is 
around to arrest me. No such luck. The guy in the van gets to the same 
intersection and breaks off the chase, making a right turn onto the 
cross-traffic highway. HE GAVE UP!  I continue into the city and attend my 
meeting, feeling that it was all sort of unreal and impossible.

As the days went by, I relived the situation many times and settled on a 
policy of never getting into such a confrontation again. If I could have 
changed anything, it would have been to let him in front of me back at the 
toll booth. Unreasonable and rude as he was, it would have been 
advantageous to have had him in front of me rather than behind me. I have 
driven according to that policy ever since. It was a life-altering event.

Yes, you are right, there are crazy people all around us. So, let them go 
and stay out of their way. And keep your doors locked. And carry a 
tire-iron. And a cell phone. And track shoes.......

Doyt Echelberger
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 04:19 AM 2/10/01 -0500, you wrote:
tonight i was at the local mall,..snip......ok, no biggie, i lead foot it, 
get out of his way. ........... hits the horn as he passes me.   ok, so it
was a minor inconvenience, and i should have been alittle more careful, my
visibility was limited, but no harm done, shrug it off. ..........this 
"guy"  (punk ass kid describes it better)  looked to be
in his early 20's? who was driving the SUV pulls right up to me (apparently he
did a U turn and followed me!!??!) - fast - hits the brakes - and points his
SUV with Hi-beams on dead on at my drivers door.........he jumps out...   he
runs over yelling ...... outta the car, ...........he then PULLS OPEN MY 
DRIVERS DOOR....
didnt get a plate number.  i was pretty shaken up.
what kind of person would do that?...seriously.
loose cannon.. prolly beats his gf.  dunno.
lock your doors folks, there are alot of crazy people out there.

still shaking...
chris