3 road rage experiences shared: What we can learn from each

For those who aren't into physical altercations, such incidents can be unnerving.

BHPian shadyrulez recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Saw a Road Rage incident this morning. It left me pretty shaken. This happened at around 8:50 am on Balfour Road, Chennai. I had just dropped my son at school and was heading to the gym when I saw a car driver and autowala fighting it out on the road. I could clearly see the car driver really afraid for his life as he took steps back to avoid jabs and was also trying to be aware of oncoming traffic.

BHPian Jekyl87 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I had a learning experience today. Wish I had a dashcam installed. While crossing a T-intersection with proper functioning traffic signals, I was coming from the bottom of the T to take a right. The signal had just turned green so all the cars along with mine were slowly starting and crossing the road to the right. Suddenly, a guy on a scooter barrels between the cars waiting patiently on the top right of the T for their light to turn green and just narrowly misses driving head-first into the driver-side door of my car.

The surprising this is what happened afterwards. He parked the scooter in the middle of the road and started banging on my glass shouting for me to open it. When I and others told him that he was the one who jumped the red light in the first place, his response was 'Red light jump karunga to mujhe uda doge kya?' ("If I jump the red light, will you run me over?")

I was dumbstruck. My car was crawling through the intersection at 5 km/hr on a green light, and he was the one shouting at me. I just took this as a learning that there are people on the road just looking for a fight and it's always better to disengage even though you may be the one who is in the right.

BHPian Strider24 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So this happened to me last month in Pune, after a long office day I was going to Westend Mall to catch a movie. I started off at 6.30 pm from my home and took the road with least expected traffic toward Aundh via the Pashan-Baner link road.

An old Maruti Dzire car was ahead of me driving at a snail's pace for some time. What was more flustering was that there was plenty of space ahead of it, but oncoming traffic was making it impossible for me to overtake. It seemed that the Dzire driver was talking on the phone while driving leisurely.

After a while I lost patience, I honked and flashed my headlights to draw his attention & this is when all the drama started. He didn't like being disturbed, stopped the car mid-lane and started hurling abuses at me. Taunted me to go ahead and see what happens.

I didn't want to escalate the situation & also there were other cars behind me, so I overtook him and went ahead thinking it was nothing, let's move on, but NO, now he started to honk continuously behind me as if saying 'My Turn'.

What followed after this is captured in the Dashcam Video.

The way this driver chased me without caring for his or anyone else's safety on road was scary. I was sure that he was either a criminal or drunk or both. He was provoking me to stop my car so that he can start a fight or something. However, I was neither in the mood nor in a shape to do so, at the same time, I was also thinking about news articles in TOI where serious fights broke out during the road rage incidents and People were killed.

In the end, I was relieved and happy that I didn't take the bait. Being hot-headed doesn't help in such situations. I have read many times in this thread only how to handle such a situation & I am glad I came out okay.

The only time when I was disappointed in this episode was with my car. When he was trying to overtake from left and I tried to accelerate to outrun him, my car didn't have enough power in the 3k-5k RPM range, it simply wasn't accelerating enough. It made me think, what's the use of 140 PS and 173 NM if you don't have it in a usable powerband? what if it had happened on a highway where the only option was to outrun him towards a police check-post.

I am seriously thinking about going for stage 1 engine tuning soon to be prepared. All suggestions are welcome if Corolla Altis's 2ZEFR NA engine is suitable for tuning or not, so far I haven't found any examples of a Corolla being tuned in India.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

For those of us who aren't into physical altercations, such incidents can be unnerving. My suggestion = don't ever step out of the vehicle. It was the car owner's fault for stepping out, as most people do. Stay in your car. If the other driver gets violent, start recording it on your smartphone (make sure he sees you recording) and drive to the nearest police station. If you are inclined enough to have an FIR registered, he will be visiting courts for the next 20 years. Even if you don't want an FIR, it's best to drive to the nearest police station for safety.

A friend who was in a similar situation with a taxi driver drove into a 5-star hotel for safety. The cabbie didn't even attempt entering the hotel.

Even if your car is damaged, just claim insurance. That's what we pay those steep premiums for every year!

Here's what BHPian bblost had to say on the matter:

GTO's advice is spot on. Do not exit your vehicle. Always keep an escape route open.

In my case, the auto driver was very puny in size. But I had no idea what drug he might be on or what weapon he might have on his person.

Also even if get an upper hand on him in a physical fight, I don't want to expose my young kids to that part of life.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.