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I had a minor road rage incident last Saturday returning home from a trip to mall. This happened at the Saravana Stores junction in Pallavaram. Anyone who knows this place know the reckless driving around these parts. Traffic towards Tambaram was waiting for the lights to turn green and the cross traffic at the junction almost cleared as lights turned red for them and green for us.

Our traffic starts to move and the first 2 line of cars clear the junction and suddenly this guy in a Splendor from the cross traffic (from the clothing store's parking) with his 2 kids sitting in the tank and wife in the back decides to gun across the 3 lanes of traffic to go to the other side even though the light has been red for like 10 seconds or so for him. Lot of cars and bikes had to apply sudden brakes and swerve around to avoid this moron and could have even resulted in a pileup at the junction.

He crossed 2 lanes, and as there were already vehicles sitting in the median gap, he stopped blocking our right most lane just in front of me. I lost it at this point just not because of his antics but his blatant disregard for others safety and even his own kids's. I rolled down the window and asked him what the rush to get to the other side and why can't he ride safely with his kids. He didn't say anything but his wife sitting in the back had the gal to say that basically it's none of my business how his husband rides and how their kids are taken care of. I shook my head, rolled up the window and waited for this guy to clear the lane to proceed.

I was raging for the next 2 minutes to the point of my wife getting worried. After my wife chiding me on why talk to them and get aggrieved, I agreed that it is better for our sanity if we avoid any interactions with these morons in future.

My friend I don't think this was road rage at all, you acted extremely well and were in control of yourself, while trying to be helpful to the splendor fella.

Rage would have meant you storming out of the car - yelling expletives and doing tandav, if at all the fella retaliates then get into a fist fight and then after all that, once you came back to your car feeling victorious clap: - your wife chides you and then the guilt erupts - then a confession would be warranted.

You did well my friend , keep it up!

Cheers!

Ah.. my definition of rage is not that aggressive..at least not yet. I just don't bother with these idiots 99% of the time but this time I rolled down the window and had to ask him a passive aggressive question which is pretty out of the norm for me. Thanks! :)

Well its great this way!! Don't let it get the better of you, because such people can smack you with their ignorance and beat you with their stupidity.

That was more like self-raging than road-raging :) and I recommend it. One has to consume the rage than let it explode. I still remember having had to be separated physically in my teens by 3 classmates and I was still going on in a rumble with another classmate in what was a recreational sports game going on. Tempers flared, names were called and an altercation erupted and neither of us were for the better (specially since a week's suspension followed). I can control my emotions very well but to be brutally honest its just that silly side to us that "men" do not keep quiet or that "men" need to take care of business that such things kick in. Do we learn this from TV? Movies? Peers? Yes all of them.

Even recently while I've never initiated a conflict of any type, I develop this personality-switch in the face of a road conflict by one of those stereotype rules-breakers and rash drivers/riders and I've stepped out more than a couple of times.. luckily unlike Delhi which I've witnessed to be the capital of road rages, Bangaloreans still back-out after a couple of blame-shiftings and I'm glad (I'm a city boy myself).

Now I've mastered the ability to swallow the pride/anger/ego quite efficiently.. I simply assume that I'm talking to seasoned road criminals and no amount of scolding can help them. If they scold me I know its still their fault and I move on smiling on the inside (my driving ability has been proven by the fact that I've not gotten a driving-related ticket till now, only a couple of parking citations and one signal-jump which was more the fault of the signal). Just consider the rule-breakers to be the scum of society, save them for their own mistakes and move on. No one wants a legal problem on their hands.

Happened a bit more than a fortnight back. Me and my friend were taking a roundabout in his i20, with him driving it. While we were about to take a U-turn, there was an ambulance with sirens ON approaching in the direction to which we were about to turn. As the ambulance hasn't approached any near and with vehicles being held up behind us, he decided to take the turn and immediately swerve to the right, i.e, between the central island and the splitter island, so that the ambulance could pass through our left without any blockade. (The 'left most' lane of the two lane road was obstructed with transport buses and parked cars, so that explains why he did make that maneuver, so now basically the ambulance can pass by the right lane of that two lane road.)

What happened next numbed us over. The ambulance driver stopped aside our car, right in middle of the lane, rolled down the windows and with a rather agitated face and both jaws pressed together showed some rude hand gestures and got back into his business.

That left me awestruck, pondering how could someone running with someone's life in hands got time for such rampage.?! :Shockked: I swear that the ambulance didn't have to brake or loss speed owing to us taking the turn, and rather we only did help him by making space to pass through.

Okay, presume we misjudged the distance from which the ambulance was coming and shouldn't have taken the turn before the ambulance swept past. But c'mon, he was chauffeuring someone else's life. He's never supposed to stop right there and express his personal feelings to some random stranger's misdeed. :Frustrati

There might be something that I'm missing here though.

Sharing an incident, which happened between me and my friend who was driving around the city.

We were out on a short drive for some ice-cream at around 9PM. Waiting at a signal, humming Linkin Park tracks (it was the week Chester passed away), a young looking guy in his Pulsar, came from the left and braked hard to enter the gap between our car and car in front. He lost control for a split-second, but managed to balance his bike, using the help of the spare-wheel of the EcoSport in front as support.

This angered my friend, he rolled down the window, and just said this :

"Eta tumar baap'er bagaan?" (Is this your father's garden?)

The poor guy, bemused, just left, as there isn't a comeback for this line.

What a clever choice of words and show of temperament.
Reminded me of Shakespeare way of using expletives in one of his plays, by calling someone else " What? You egg. "

Unfortunately, I am unable to understand the situation from what you have stated.
stupid:

I lost my cool today and became a victim of road rage once again.

What happened:
I was driving home from work and was in bumper to bumper traffic at Madivala, opposite the mall.
I was in the right most lane, as I had to turn right. Suddenly this biker comes and tries to cut me. At first he was not successful, but when the cars started moving again, he cuts me and gives me the finger. I never really did anything to offend him, accept maintaining my spot in the line.
I get pissed. Few moments later he is at the signal and I was right behind him, and he turns and gives me a look.
Thats when I really lost it and rammed my car into his bike, at speed less than 5 KMPH.

There is police station right there, and I thought I would register a complaint against him.
When we both finally turned right, there was a cop there, and I signalled the cop to stop him.
This guy stops suddenly, and this time genuinely, I could not stop and touched his bike again.

We both get down, while he is abusing me, I tell the cop, and he is also telling the cop in Kannada. The cop tells us to go to the police station and file a complaint. He is least bothered.
Also he tells me just because he gives you the finger, will you bang into him..

We both continue fighting, and he threatens to beat me. I tell him you touch me and show. We continue abusing each other, I in fluent english and he in fluent kannada.

We both take each others vehicles photos and start driving.
Now the road we both have to go through is a vegetable market, with no cuts in between.
Suddenly, I feel guilty, not for hitting his bike, or abusing him, but because I just realized I was provoked so easily. He is in front of me, and I start honking for him to stop.

He feels I am ready to have a second round and stops on the left and so do I.
I roll down my window, and apologise. He is taken aback.
I get down and tell him how I feel, and he tells me he feels the same.
I ask him why did he give me the finger when I didn't do anything wrong to him, and he tells me he has had a rough day.
Later on I come to know his father is in the police, and if he wanted, he could have called the local boys immediately from the vicinity to beat me up.
We both realize we are only 25 year olds, and have rest of careers and families waiting for us and part away apologizing to each other.

Reason for writing this long post:
1. I always want to be able to come and read back how I felt on this particular day, so that I cannot avoid losing my cool, at road, work or home.
2. This guys dad was in the police. I could have been in deep trouble.
3. I have seen a lot of kids of the police staff indulge in rowdyism in this area. They are literally waiting to pick a fight. Especially with someone who cannot speak the local language.
Mind you, I can read, write and understand Kannada, but just cannot speak fluently.
4. If I would have not reacted, and this guy would have just turned around and seen me at the signal not giving any attention to him, I would've come across as an educated person, which I am.

Moral: Road rage is easy to indulge in, but not really worth it.
I believe in an honest living, want to be proud of the bread I eat at night. Getting angry on road is not worth it.

I will just switch on the AC, listen to some good music, and remember this lesson. As I never know, how many next chances will I have.

This one is for me, and for everyone who can take something from this.

Thanks.

Not exactly a road rage but faced quite annoying situation while driving back from Mysore to Bangalore last Sunday.
It was raining quite hard and 90% of drivers put on their emergency lights, while continued to drive in haphazard way. Overtaking in water puddle, not maintaining distance and all the usual drama but with emergency lights on.
It was almost dark and emergency lights were extremely irritating to drive with, I don't understand the logic behind it.
During inclement weather one should drive at slower speed and more carefully, not with hazard lights on.

1. An ambulance driver is not doing a leisurely trip with music on, feeling the wind. He is very much concentrated and is doing a high pressure job, as he has to drive as fast as he can in the city traffic.
2. Please do avoid doing any such tricks which will create unnecessary deviations and lose attention. I, under any circumstance, ensures ambulances are given THE MAXIMUM PRIORITY in road. I have seen good Samaritans getting down from their bikes and clearing way in Bangalore traffic.

May be he should not have slowed down, but his act will ensure that you will not be responsible for slowing down any other ambulances in future. :)

Need quite a bit of imagination to visualize the situation in which we were lol:. Guess, my explanation of the scenario is a bit too complicated.

I very much understand how perplexing is the job of ambulance drivers and in no means do we wished to get into their way. Our sole intention was to give way for the ambulance, else we could have sped off ahead of the ambulance with a greater velocity than which the ambulance was approaching, which we did not do here, as it’d have probably caused fuss for the driver.

Why would I do that, mate.! Slowing down any emergency vehicles running for life is one inhumane things one can show up on roads, let alone an ambulance. Maybe, what we did here to make room for the ambulance to pass through didn’t appear amiable to the other driver, unlike we thought it’d be.

Agree, hazard lights during heavy rain and fog is something which I never understand. That is what the rear fog lamps are for which most of the cars come with now.
Some cabbie would haves started it and the herd mentality took over.

Good turn around of events, although I don't believe his cop story .
Anyway, now a days I realized it is better not even not a bat an eyelid, forget the finger. God knows in which way the events may turn to.

Something which I do when someone shows me the finger and most of the times , they are these kids- return a thumbs up.:thumbs up

OT;
The story of the middle finger if known, is not a bad thing like many perceive it to be. In short, it means I can still do what I was going to do, (in the situation) if you take away something from me which prevents me from doing it.
But on the road, it is equivalent to calling someone's whole family or generation a bad name.

I doubt the first statement quoted above because if that was the case and your car actually touched his bike "twice", you would have already been in trouble without him having to tell you that his father is in police and stuff.

I think, the educated folks like us, in a way fear the police not because of the authority but because of what wrong they can do. When it comes to protecting us, they aren't really of any help but when it comes to something like this, they will make sure that we regret not having political connections or having someone from the family as a cop. I completely respect cops for all that they do and the type of duty they need to perform but for some reason, most people these days fear when they see a cop around than feeling safe. That is the irony of life!

Not quite road rage, but a minor confrontation that ended rather tamely.

Unruly evening traffic at Dwarka on a weekday. Marcopolo cluster bus stops on second lane for passenger entry-exit (no one believes in exit first, followed by entry into a public transport vehicle in this country). I wait a bit, find a gap in traffic to my right, turn on the indicator, and swing out carefully. A motorcyclist comes from my left, swoops across 2 lanes of traffic and tries to overtake me on my right - and almost gets caught on the steel bumper of the Thar.

10 yards ahead, he motorcyclist pulls ahead of me, brakes hard right in front of me, puts the bike on the stand, and comes over to my window.In very chaste English, he tells me to watch out when I change lanes, because I almost ran him over.

In equally chaste English, I told him: Please do not ever brake check a big vehicle like you just did, because you WILL get run over. Without another word, the man turned around on his heels, walked back to his bike, and rode away.