[Dhillon]

Originally Posted by noopster

Would the police have even bothered filing an FIR if the woman's son wasn't a (presumably well connected) lawyer, as the defence lawyers claimed? If you and I approach the cops tomorrow with a similar complaint (or worse) are they not likely to tell you in a bored tone, "Madam, shettle kara! Aamhala time naahi..." (please settle it amicably, we are too busy to be dragged into petty stuff like this).

Well connected Lawyer + Egoistic - He could have easily let the man go by asking the police to give him a stern warning or maybe make him stand with a traffic police to monitor traffic on a busy signal-free crossing. That would have been enough I guess.

[Pkumarblore]

Originally Posted by drsnt

Suddenly a man rushed towards the zen and shouted " stop, where are you going? You caused the accident"
Here I was thinking of what would have happened to the guy in Zen? He was wrongly held by some elements just to probably exort money.

Hello, I was in a similar situation near Taaza Thindi on Banasahankari Outer Ring Road. There was this hatch in front of us driven by a 50' ish man with some elderly people as co-passengers(maybe parents). Suddenly a rash 2 wheeler came from the left cross road and turned left on the Ring Road without even looking at his right for oncoming traffic. This hatch which was at say 30kmph hit the 2 wheeler and the rider was thrown to his left and the scooter skidded away. The hatch braked abruptly right in front of us and my driver fortunately avoided our Alturas bumping into hatch by swerving to the right. I asked my driver to pull over our car just to check on the scooter rider. He had some bruises with his trouser torn, but he was okay with nothing major. As usual, crowd surrounded the rider with some clicking pictures of him. I then went to the hatch driver to check what actually happened. The driver was visibly shaken not knowing what to do. I asked him to roll down the window, but he was scared to do. When he did, I told him not to panic and asked him to come out of the car and check on the rider, offering him any help even if its not your fault(I guess both were at fault), so that crowd tempers cool down.
Then suddenly some guy stops his 2 wheeler and comes and accuses me of rash driving causing the accident. I looked in his eyes for a few moments when he realized that he got the wrong person.
I was getting late to work and quietly walked away to my Alturas.

[Bhupesh_2628]

I have a story to share.
One day, I was driving my car on a highway. A Chevy Beat was driving behind me for sometime continuously honking and flashing his lights so that I could make way for him.
There was not enough space for me to let him pass through. I was sure he got irritated. Once traffic got cleared a little, I let him go.
Now what he did was, he overtook me and immediately slowed down in front of me and signalled to stop at the side of road.
I had 2 thoughts in mind - either drive past through him ignoring his intentions but that would lead to a bad chase Or simply stop by the side and have a talk.
I parked by the side and he came out with full anger. I knew where this will go.
What I did was - I lowered my window and apologized to him for not giving way due to traffic.
That immediately calmed him down and he went back to his car and left.

Lesson I learnt:
Even if you know it's their fault, no point in explaining/educating them. That's wastage of our time and energy.
Apologizing is enough for the other person to quickly calm down.

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

Lesson I learnt:
Even if you know it's their fault, no point in explaining/educating them. That's wastage of our time and energy.
Apologizing is enough for the other person to quickly calm down.

, even i just apologize whoever tries to do any gesture while I am driving I just apologetically wave my hand and once someone came to my window I just cracked the window and told him I am new to driving and not an expert like you and the guy went back in a jolly mood

[Raghav_Agarwal]

I also have a story to share.
I was on a service road and was turning left to come on the main road. The main road is One way and no cycles are allowed.
So naturally I didn't see the opposite side and all my focus was on the traffic coming from my right.
When I turned, suddenly my car touched a cycle coming from the wrong side. The cycle was being ridden by a guy (25-26 years old ) and along with him there was a lady on the carrier seat. The speed of my car was below 10 km/h. But due to the impact the couple fell down. But there was no injuries whatsoever.
My first reaction was sheer anger on the stupidity of the man and him not slowing down even on the turns. But the moment the guy woke up, he immediately started abusing me and pulling my door handles and screamed at me to come out of the car. I knew that though it wasn't my fault ,it won't be wise to go out and have a debate with the guy who seemed to be in such an anger that he wouldn't hesitate to spare a hand on me. I stayed calm and rolled my windows a little. I maintained a civil tone and explained that he was at fault. But I think to maintain his masculinity in front of a lady, he wanted to have a fight with me which I knew wasn't going to be a favourable situation for me. If for once he was a car owner or even a biker, I would have stepped out but in this situation I maintained sitting in the car. The guy continued to abuse me and threatened me with all sorts of dialogues. He tried to pull the door handle twice or thrice but I didn't open. Now next he started threating to break the window. With nothing more coming in my mind the moment I saw the guy turn to look for something to break the window I pressed the accelerator pedal. Both the guy and lady were on either sides. This led my car go over the cycle and I escaped the vicinity.
Though the fact that I had to escape irritated me but I knew that I saved myself from an unnecessary quarrel and major insults on my self dignity.
After a while when I settled and reflected back on the incident, I felt bad for the guy and the fact that his cycle would have been damaged quite a lot.
But it's all about decisions you take. Knowing that it isn't my fault if I would have stepped out, ready to face anything I think the situation could have gone worse.
P.S. Pardon me for any grammatical mistakes I might have made. This is only my second Post In the forum.

[WorkingGuru]

Don't lose your temper, and buy a bi-directional Dash-Cam. Just came across a piece of news that a young man was sentenced to 6-months prison for allegedly showing middle finger to an old woman during road rage incident.

More importantly, there's no proof of anything, AFAIK it was on the mere testimony of the 66+ y.o. woman that the 32y.o. man allegedly gestured the middle finger at her.

Link

Whatever the truth, that man now has a criminal record & jail time, his career has likely been destroyed by a mere statement by a disgruntled party !

I don't know if such judgements set a precedent as it may be overturned by some appeal, but surely such litigation itself is a punishment.

Just decided ordering a second set of Dash-Cams for bi-directional recording.

[sharkashwa]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

I have a story to share.

While I agree with the apologizing part, I'm quite sure I would check the surroundings and the time of the day to decide whether I would stop my car and have a talk with the other party. Folks are far too brazen these days and I will value my personal as well as family's safety over what the other person thinks. I would most probably slow down and signal to them apologetically hoping to diffuse the situation. However, if they are bent on coming over towards my vehicle, I will probably be on the line with the police.

Maybe I'm paranoid but I have far too many lucky escape stories to be better safe than sorry.

Cheers,
Sharath

[Hulk]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

What I did was - I lowered my window and apologized to him for not giving way due to traffic.
That immediately calmed him down and he went back to his car and left.

I'm not sure if lowering your window is a good idea in these situations. If you want, just apologize using gestures but keep the window rolled up and door locked. You never know how the other person is going to react, so ensure your safety first.

[shankarbn]

Exothermic reaction? Very eloquent way of saying you added fuel to the fire haha. Sure the guy riding without helmet was an idiot but your reaction is probably what furthered the conflict. To be fair, I'm glad you marked yourself as partly responsible.

On the other hand, everyone here sitting around their keyboards and saying you did nothing wrong must deeply examine themselves.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Raghav_Agarwal

This led my car go over the cycle and I escaped the vicinity.
Though the fact that I had to escape irritated me but I knew that I saved myself from an unnecessary quarrel and major insults on my self dignity.
After a while when I settled and reflected back on the incident, I felt bad for the guy and the fact that his cycle would have been damaged quite a lot.
But it's all about decisions you take.

Well, that guy must have thought from his brain rather than down under before he wanted to get aggressive and try to show his strength. I would have reacted in the same manner as well if someone started to bang the car or tried to invade into the cabin as a way of self defence. However maybe not completely stepping on the pedal but beginning to crawl to make way and then shoot off. If he used his brain and was able to predict what can be the result of his actions, probably this would have ended in a peaceful manner. But since he didn't do that, he would have now been poorer by some money to fix his cycle. Hope that teaches him a lesson to think before he acts in the future.

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by noopster

Not sure this belongs in a new thread but here's another reason not to give in to road rage:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/88154538.cms

A bit off-topic...

I never really understood the deal with the finger. I am supposed to be offended cause someone shows me the finger! This Seinfeld snippet echoes my feeling about this.

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

Having said that, abusing an elderly no matter what the situation or using derogatory terms like b*** is simply not acceptable. However I cant help wonder if a 6 month jail sentence is a bit too harsh for this. Fining him heavily for something like 25K enough to dent him a bit should be decent deterrent IMHO. It seems our society in general is becoming a bit intolerant of late. All it takes is one slight misstep to spark a big road rage. In the past I have yelled at crazy idiots who are a risk to other drivers. But of late, I have realized it really doesn't matter. Idiots are just going to be that, they are not going to change no matter how much you yell. The only thing that rises is your blood pressure. So chill, ignore and say 'Serenity now, serenity now' to tide over the nuisance caused by the idiots in the road and move on

[adisan]

Originally Posted by SR-71

I have realized it really doesn't matter. Idiots are just going to be that, they are not going to change no matter how much you yell.

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

Even if you know it's their fault, no point in explaining/educating them. That's wastage of our time and energy.

"Do not give any feedback to others on the road including pedestrians" - is a rule I have for myself as well as anyone who is a co-passenger in my car.

I have felt that trying to give feedback can sometimes invite aggressive responses even when the original incident did not.

[giri1.8]

Interesting to read all the stories, few of which were totally relatable too! Looks like life is already getting tougher for everyone with inflation, loss of jobs, personal loss etc, this does seem to make people a tad more aggressive than before.

I've done few stupid things in the past, which did made me feel bad at the end of it all. I drive about 30k km a year, so one can imagine the number of idiots I meet everyday.

After few bad encounters, I thought something needs to be changed, turning a blind eye wasn't an option for me, this does hurt ones ego, no matter what we say, we are still social apes

Mocking these fools sarcastically has been an amazing alternative (I do it only if interaction is not avoidable or if the other guy starts something first). This feels like win win situation, where if the other guy is dumb, feels that I am actually appreciating him, if he is smart enough he just drowns in shame.

It's usually just a thumbs up with a wide grin on my face to show how stupid they are, slow clap works too sometimes. I make sure it's not offensive enough to escalate the situation. Remember once a guy kept peeping into our car in dense traffic, wife was not happy about it, I immediately waved my hands like I know him, he never turned his head this way again for the next 5 min. Even if he had waved back, I would have asked him if he was some X guy from our native village.

Stay safe everyone.

[Small Bot]

What I’ve learned in the last few years of (probably too much) driving in two metros, and specifically on Road Ragers
- Avoid or take a detour around mad motorists, if possible. Nobody has time for that negative energy.
- Don't feed the trolls. If you try to speed up to pass an angry driver or prevent them from merging in your lane, it only makes things worse and can put your life in danger. Let them pass and leave plenty of room between you and that person.
- If an angry driver gives you the finger or makes another obscene gesture or uses offensive language, be the adult here and ignore it. Responding to such gestures have gotten people physically attacked many times. Um, no thanks. If required, crank up the volume of your favourite music a bit so that your ears stay clean.
- Honk that horn only if you really have to for defensive driving purposes... like if a driver is merging into your lane or coming perpendicular to you or backing into you and doesn't appear to see you. Don't use your horn if you're simply annoyed because you're sitting in traffic. We're all in the same boat (read car). Honking your horn is meant to be used to alert other drivers, not to scold them. Take the high road, engage in polite driving. And please, please don’t lie down on top of the horn and create noise pollution. It helps nobody, least of all yourself.
- If you see a driver with road rage get into an auto accident, be cautious about approaching the vehicle and driver. Aggressive drivers can be unpredictable and it's important to keep yourself safe. Report the incident and stay away, if possible.
- If an aggressive driver starts following you, DON'T go home. Call the police or drive to the nearest police station. You don't want to become the victim of a road rage attack.
- And most importantly, it’s not your job to be the moral compass of society. Nobody needs you to teach a lesson to anybody. Your job is to go home safe to your family and that is it. Don't engage!

[PowerSpike]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

I was witness to a road rage incident yesterday.

Invest in a good go pro camera that records all incidents while riding 2 wheelers. For 4 wheelers, invest in a dash cam. It will save you from lots of trouble in a bind.

In this case, based on your description of the event, I'd say that the auto deserved it. With a dashcam you could have helped the car guy out. Even without a dashcam, you could still have been a witness in case they both filed any police report. Of course, this would cost you time and effort. But it would have made the car drivers life much easier in this incident as he had hit an auto, that too from behind. As we know, in India, it's always the fault of the larger vehicle and the 'poor' auto driver always gets the sympathy vote of the crowd and the 'system', unless someone is willing to step up and fightfor what is right.