Road Rage - Understanding, Avoidance and De-escalating Situation

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just heard the sad story of a friend of mine.

Moments later, the biker hits him on the head with a hard object. He's knocked out and is in the ICU for 5 - 6 days.

He's back home now and has started walking, but it's a month or two before full recovery.

What on earth is the world coming to? Even right now, we have two active threads on physical violence.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

They start abusing him instead; and by then another bike arrives with 2 more of the same group. A few minutes later, they beat him up - he ends up in hospital with a broken bone and a few weeks of recuperation.

I hope your friend has recovered and filed a FIR. I know of cases where physical assault case (with injuries needing hospitalization) when filed with the help of a good lawyer will leave the criminal begging for mercy after a couple of years.

Since its an assault with serious injuries the passport renewal process will become difficult. Untill the case is going on he will get only 1 year valid passport. A lot of other simple legal formalities will become difficult for him and the cost of lawyer will give him sleepless nights. Its a revenge served cold.

All this if your friend is willing to spend on a good lawyer and attend a few court dates. Also note the person who has assaulted your friend will have to attend all the dates. I have seen a similar case first hand and the 5 minutes of assault will torture him for atleast 5 years. If proven he can get a Jail term from 6 months to 5 years. Personally I would file a case and pursue because most of these people don't have deep pockets for a lawyer and will not be able to defend the case. And this is the correct way to get back to them.

I have had my share of legal battles and I am not afraid of courts so this must look easier for me compared to others.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by tazmaan

I hope your friend has recovered and filed a FIR. I know of cases where physical assault case (with injuries needing hospitalization) when filed with the help of a good lawyer will leave the criminal begging for mercy after a couple of years.

His brother is part of the Mumbai Police.

Unfortunately, while the incident is visible on traffic cameras, there is no way to identify the attacker (even number plate isn't clear).

[Gausum]

Not very proud of myself and regret my actions and the way i handled the situation, however the incidents occurred in the heat of the moment. Both incidents occurred a few years back and occurred in Bangalore.

Incident 1

I was driving and some one cut across me. Incident upset me quite a bit and i cut across the other car.

The other car driver was not happy and came close my my car and asked me via sign language to lower my window. I used to carry a Swiss army knife on me and I ended up flashing the blade to the other driver (no eye contact made / no verbal exchange). The other guy immediately slowed down.

Incident 2

Someone rammed the back of my car, he was driving rashly. When i stopped the car to check for damage he started shouting and told me to move on. Again issue upset me tremendously, instead of apologizing the other driver started shouting and showed no signs of regret.

I ended up breaking his front wind screen wiper arm and used the wiper arm to break his wind shield. Also ended up using the wiper arm on the driver.

Have calmed down significantly now, and in Melbourne people are a lot more considerate.

[Acharya]

Businessman stabs youth to death with screwdriver in road rage - Times of India - http://toi.in/U_3f1Z/a31gj
😱

One must avoid arguments after such small accidents. A simple sorry and promise to bear damage, goes a long way in calming a simmering situation.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Acharya

One must avoid arguments after such small accidents. A simple sorry and promise to bear damage, goes a long way in calming a simmering situation.

For a city like Bangalore, I think it is best not to drive at all.. as this city has the greatest potential for road-rage. The way two-wheelers and autos are cutting me off these days "carving" the car corners with 2 inches spare room, makes my blood boil and almost shakes my emotional balance these days.. just a half second of delayed braking will lead to me hitting them, and all for their fault of surging right in front of the car from the left at 20+kmph.. what next? Should we get out and help them up, apologize to them and promise to bear their damage expenses? The minute they hear an apology they'd jump right on our back and never get off.

I know fighting is not a solution either.. that somehow leads to people taking screwdrivers, tyre irons, helmets or whatever vehicular tools in handy availability and using them to either damage the vehicle or to kill us. Large vehicles like Scorpio, Sumo cabs, 407 etc I don't even dare to overtake (even legally), I even come to a full halt so that they can be on their way.. we cannot survive an assault by such cars or their drivers.

Its better not to drive and my present average is a proof of it - <300 kms a month, I've sometimes even preferred to walk to work if I'm not carrying the laptop as there's a shortcut that shaves off a full km. Its a dreadful situation when people cannot acknowledge their mistakes and instead are willing to gouge a screwdriver into people's bodies and go to jail rather than just swallow their pride and talk it out. Uber and OLA are also a prime reason for road-rage in metro cities these days.

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

For a city like Bangalore, I think it is best not to drive at all.. as this city has the greatest potential for road-rage. The way two-wheelers and autos are cutting me off these days "carving" the car corners with 2 inches spare room, makes my blood boil and almost shakes my emotional balance these days.. just a half second of delayed braking will lead to me hitting them

Fully agree my friend, I too face similar predicament day in & day out in Bangalore traffic. As rightly said, fighting doesn't lead to anywhere and one has too much to lose in an ugly situation (time, money, emotional trauma).
While I would just love to walk or cycle all the time in breezy weather (mostly) of Bangalore, I chicken out due to the traffic scene out here. Two simple things can really help out current & coming generations -
1. Proper foot paths & dedicated cycle lanes all over the city
2. Proper education & test about road rules & driving for new & existing licenses.

Sadly, no one is interested in bringing long term improvement, till then live with Pod taxies & white top road

[hserus]

Guwahati - a person saw a car parked obstructing traffic and requested the driver, a young man with under aged young women also in the car, all apparently drunk, to move his vehicle. They abused him and then ran him down, killed him.

The victim's cousin is saying on Twitter that the car belongs to a coal mafia don and the police were initially reluctant to register a case.

Thread starts here https://twitter.com/geet0212/status/952915732051902465

[no_boundaries]

And so the Road Rage that was blinding me was thoroughly understood, avoided and de-escalated.

So on my way back from work at Hinjewadi Phase 2 I had to pull up at a tricky circle a couple of kms down the road to take a right turn to go towards Infosys circle. Now though the cops are reluctantly handling traffic flow its still the most dangerous right handed turn. No circle etiquettes, nada, Zilch.

So I let the traffic to my right pass and inch over to execute my right turn towards Infosys circle at Phase 1 this cabbie comes blaring down with horn and lights flashing when I have already covered 40% of the on-coming lane to cross over. He stares at me, gestures me with his fist, says "...teri maa ki..." and gestures to get off the cab to fight me. All instincts of mine rushing to sock this guy in the jaw and rub his scalp on the tar road but NOPE, I waved back and told him it was his mistake he didn't budge I said "..jaao... koi baat nahin.." I rolled up my window and drove home with a foul mood and my right leg shivering. I took a cold bath and took a long walk and sorted my investment documents to cool off.

Had I reacted, I'd have been at the hospital may be footing his medical bills or surgery and talking to cops on charges of battery. Thats a long term or permanent harm for a moment's instinct of reaction. God Bless us all with a lot of patience just to not make matters worse and use our anger in a constructive manner.

[luvDriving]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

God Bless us all with a lot of patience just to not make matters worse and use our anger in a constructive manner.

and +1 to this prayer.

Earlier I used to think that if I engage in a calm and composed manner then maybe the other party will not find it offensive that I am pointing out their mistakes.

But nowadays even looking at them in the eye is considered offensive. Everyone is driving with inflated egos. Driving for 2 hours each way everyday has made me a very patient driver. Even then some extreme idiots do tend to get my blood on the boil and that is the exact time when one must smile, keep calm and let go.

The first and last rule is do not engage - no gestures, not even to apologize.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

Had I reacted, I'd have been at the hospital may be footing his medical bills or surgery and talking to cops on charges of battery. Thats a long term or permanent harm for a moment's instinct of reaction. God Bless us all with a lot of patience just to not make matters worse and use our anger in a constructive manner.

As a retired US navy SEAL(who runs a self-defence training institute) says - most human beings aren't capable of handling physical violence. The heightened adrenaline during a physical conflict, the first blows, the pain, the fear of damage to come - this causes a sensory overload that most of our brains just can't handle. Not unless you've been trained to respond to violence, or unless you have the fight in you by birth. I read his answer on Quora on how to handle oneself during a streetfight. His advice was to run after defending oneself initially...

Anyway, my kudos to you if you are this confident of handling violence (the violence in you, the violence in others - both). I just couldn't do it and I fully admit to my discretionary tendencies (discretion being the better part of valour)

The mere hint of physical violence is all it takes for me to have difficulty focusing. My breathing goes for a toss. The arms and legs feel ready to do something in a hurry. Nah, not my scene.

[no_boundaries]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Anyway, my kudos to you if you are this confident of handling violence (the violence in you, the violence in others - both). I just couldn't do it and I fully admit to my discretionary tendencies (discretion being the better part of valour)

I've evolved over years to this by driving day to day in the lousiest traffic with 0 to negative sense of driving. I need me to be 100% efficient at work and at home to entertain my little one.

Such outbursts and violence no matter how much you want to 'hulk' up its just not worth the trouble as the person would continue to behave exactly that way within couple of seconds from the encounter. Had the person been rationale and level headed he/she wouldn't be venting it out behind the wheel.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

I've evolved over years to this by driving day to day in the lousiest traffic with 0 to negative sense of driving.
...
Such outbursts and violence no matter how much you want to 'hulk' up its just not worth the trouble as the person would continue to behave exactly that way within couple of seconds from the encounter. Had the person been rationale and level headed he/she wouldn't be venting it out behind the wheel.

Speaking of rational and irrational people, I myself remember a Tamil Nadu government bus driver who was run over in anger by a truck driver sometime around 2012, near Krishnagiri; the driver had stopped his bus and was walking over to talk some sense into the errant truck driver. 'The Hindu' had published a photo of the murdered driver on the road in the news report. Pathetic way to go.

Even if I were to step out to meet challenges from raging morons, and even if I were capable of fighting the good fight, there's simply no telling if the other guy is going to bring his car/a screw-driver/a stone/a knife/his friends to what we believe to be a one-on-one fist-fight.

Like you say, there's no point in verbally or physically 'discussing' anything with an irrational person good call

[bravo_romeo]

These two are similar incidents where the vehicle going ahead deliberately blocked by way multiple times.Moreover, My friends gave me NO honk Challenge according which I was not supposed to use horn whatsoever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONx_t_uisoA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt0gY86NVi8

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by bravo_romeo

These two are similar incidents where the vehicle going ahead deliberately blocked by way multiple times.Moreover, My friends gave me NO honk Challenge according which I was not supposed to use horn whatsoever.

I rarely honk as well, even in noisy Chennai. But I often end up sneaking up on other motorists and pedestrians since no one pays any attention as I don't honk. Be careful!

In the first video, the Linea definitely had malafide intentions going on. Thankfully you didn't respond. I would have considered stopping for a tea with that moron ahead.

In the second one, I'm not quite sure that the DZire driver was raging. He was just blissfully hogging all the available lanes while also being slow. He didn't even know that you were on his tail, chances are.

[bravo_romeo]

When the family is along I avoid any situation, I was using my headlights though, What irked me was before me overtaking him at one point, he was driving slowly, Once I overtook him this started.

earlier that day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EopK5uT49qE