Re: An M3 ate my Q

["Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt@nwonline.net>]

Great story, Joe.  I will tell one similar in that it involved briefly
keeping another driver from performing some maneuver that he was very
motivated to carry out (but with a different result.)   :-(

Picture me approaching pay booth area where one gets off the turnpike. I am
the fifth car in line. No cars behind me.  The line move briskly and when I
am third in line a black Ford Econoline sitting in the parking area to the
right of the booth moved as if to demand entry to the line by aggressively
driving to within a few inches of my front bumper, at about a 45 degree
angle..  All he has to do is wait ten seconds and I will be past him and
gone. He gesticulates wildly at me to let him in. Remember, there is no car
behind me. I mentally calculate that this is a rude intrusion. I don't see
any reason to be accommodating and this guy is cutting in line.  I don't
like that, any time, any where. So, I ignore him and move past him and
become the second car in line.

He pulls the giant Econoline in behind me and slams into my rear bumper,
which jolts the car but not enough that I think it is damaged.  OK, the guy
is angry, crazy, probably on drugs...who knows. I didn't stop, didn't get
out, want out of there as fast as possible,  paid my ticket  and zoomed
away on the ramp to a nearby major highway.  He is history, right?    

He quickly pays his ticket and follows, pushing the Econoline at full
throttle.  It is a long, winding ramp with trees and rural look. When I get
to the actual merge point I see that traffic is lined up solid and is
stopped on the 4 lane divided main highway. Panic!

I see a space large enough to fit into and dart in.

The Econoline pulls up beside me on the shoulder and parks. The guy gets
out. About 5-8, 30 years old, dark complexion, curly black hair, maybe
construction worker.  Black angry eyes. He walks up to my driver window and
gestures to wind it down. He isn't talking. I ignore him.  He pounds on the
window with his fist. He hits the top of my car.  He walks around to the
passenger side and does the same act for my alarmed wife. This seems to be
taking forever. People in cars around me are watching with open mouths. I
just sit there and ignore him and make no move, figuring he will go away or
traffic will move. He keeps circling the car, hitting it with his fist.

The line finally moves a few car lengths, very slowly. Some cars made a
turn-on-red at the cross road up ahead. I get enough space to pull out past
the guy and the Econoline and I drive along the shoulder with this guy
shouting behind me.  I increase speed and drive about 500 yards to a
traffic light at the cross road. By now the guy is back in his Econoline
and closing on me.  The signal is red.  No cross traffic in either
direction. I run the red light and drive full throttle along the now empty
main road, hoping to be stopped by a police car and catching up to traffic.
 In my rear view I see the Econoline pause at the cross road, turn right,
and give up the encounter. It was over with.

30 minutes later I was still getting over the adrenaline, and I never will
forget the crazed, angry look on that guy's face as he circled my car. I
reported it to my local police when I got home, and they said I was lucky
he didn't kill me. They said that such events of madness are fairly common.
I still have the car and there are several fist dents in it.

This was several years ago, before "road rage" developed a name and media
coverage.

I don't do stuff like that anymore. Some guy wants my place in line? No
problem. I want nothing to do with crazy people and if they want to get out
ahead of me and run, GREAT! That way, they are behind SOME ONE ELSE.

And if you are the guy that was driving the Econoline, I apologize for not
noticing that you were totally insane and not backing my car up so you
could go slam into ANYONE else, etc. Yes, I am shouting.

As you say, life, some days, is good.  Today, yes. Not that day.

End of story. I don't play games on the road with strangers anymore.

Doyt Echelberger


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 07:35 AM 6/11/1999 EDT, you wrote:
>One has to learn to pick one's fights.
>
>1- I'd never go stoplight-to-stoplight with my urS4..........snip........
>3- There are other ways to "get" an M3, particularly if driven by an idiot. 
>Story:
>
>I'm moving along nicely on the FL T-pike, in the flow of traffic at ~75-80 
>mph. I have both my V1 and BearTracker up and running. .snip......
>
>While all this is going on, a SEEMINGLY modified (OK, OK "slammed", etc.) 
>Dakar Yellow (boy, do I HATE that color) E36 M3 roars up behind me and tries 
>to somehow get around me, then goes to the adjacent lane to get around the 
>other car (nondescript Dodge coupe). He flashes lights, honks (!) and 
>otherwise gestures/makes a bloody nuisance of his own damned self. I toy
with 
>him by not letting him pass and let his frustrations build up...which is 
>enjoyable, because he seems to be such a jerk.
>
>Finally, I let him run and run free. Over the next hill I find our hero, 
>having stepped out of the car and having produced license and registration 
>for the local constabulary, in the process of being cited for excessive
speed.
>
>Life, some days, is good.
>
>-Joe in SoFla
>1992 ur S4, ~54K mi.
>