Approached By Road Raged Person

[armygrl66]

As I was driving out of my subdivision a lady backed out of her driveway right in front of me, making me slam on my brakes. I proceeded to let her finish backing and in the midst did the what?? hand signal....NOT THE BIRD mind you.
She proceeded to drive and then slammed on the brakes. Proceeded to drive and slammed on the brakes, this time I was about 2 in from her bumper. She slapped it in park and started approaching my car...................as if I were the idiot that cut me off?
I pulled my pistol out from under my thigh and rolled down my window, she was screaming " No one lets me out" I said YOU NEED TO GET BACK INTO YOUR CAR....................NOW. DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER, I SAID... GET BACK INTO YOUR CAR NOW. I stayed in my car with my seatbelt on. I felt threatened as she approached ,but
mind you if I had gotten out.... 1. I could have kicked her butt in a fist fight and 2. if it escalated into something else I did not want to be outside my vehicle as "the approacher".
I have had different insights on what I could have, should have done.
In my eyes I felt I did the best thing, yes I felt she was a threat, but no visible weapons in her hands. If she would have come closer to my window I may have pointed at her...I do not know.
I am just amazed how stupid this lady was to even think, let alone act on doing that. Next time she may get hurt by some burly guy, or shot. Dumb dumb dumb.
The best part of the story is.......................I know where she lives:confuse

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[deadeye72]

Sounds like you handled it just fine. It amazes me how stupid some people can be when behind the wheel of a car. They have the mindset that the road belongs to them and everyone else is a nuisance. Glad it worked out for you.

[ppkheat]

People tend to be pretty testy these days. I'd avoid any kind of "WTH hand signals", it sounds like you may have escalated the situation by doing so. Everyone makes a mistake driving every now and then, it's best to just let it pass. It's not worth it for anyone to make a "point" in the road.

Forget about getting into a fight, pulling your pistol out, or pointing it at her.....the outcome of any of that is not going to be good for anyone, including yourself. Just drive around her, or backup, and leave the scene.

Forget about the incident and forget about where she lives. Time to drop it, chalk it up as experience, and move along.

[AirForceShooter]

She got out of her car?
Drive right past her.
Don't get into arguments with idiots.

AFS

[rmarcustrucker]

sounds like some I've heard of. Moved into a busy area and then complained when the busy area grew and got busier. Buy a house by an airport and expect to hear planes. Buy near a bar and expect drunks.
Just remember that over 1% of our fellow citizens walking around out there are mentally ill. Some not all the time, but from time to time you see them. These "wack jobs" are the real thing.
Great job at not getting out of the car.
Some day she may push a crazy guys buttons and realize that her mouth can only back up what someone is willing to put up with.

[bandit383]

She got out of her car?
Drive right past her.
Don't get into arguments with idiots.

AFS

That was my thought as well...I would also reported a crazy woman driving on X said street, appears to be DUI. LEOs love to catch DUIs.

Rick

[wmhawth]

Feeding into possible road rage incidents by use of gestures or hand signals is unwise. This is especially true if you are armed. Too many nut cases out there. Too many chances for a nothing incident to balloon into something crazy and tragic for nothing.

[rocky]

Best to leave if possible. While some crazy lady screaming at you probably deserves a good beating, we as concealed carriers need to de escalate and avoid unneeded confrontations.
If you did need react to her actions with any kind of force and had the opportunity to drive off it would look bad for a jury.
Sounds as if you did well, stay safe out there.

[Chevy-SS]

As I was driving out of my subdivision a lady backed out of her driveway right in front of me, making me slam on my brakes. I proceeded to let her finish backing and in the midst did the what?? hand signal....NOT THE BIRD mind you.......

I'm careful to make no "WTH" gestures while driving and CCW'ing. It's way too easy for someone to misinterpret any gesture, and thus the offender (or a witness) may blame me for starting the whole incident. If it escalates into something ugly, well, it won't be good outcome for me. JMHO..................

-

[PocketRocket]

She got out of her car?
Drive right past her.
Don't get into arguments with idiots.

AFS

My thoughts as well. Plus NO hand gestures. You'r packing
and you can't do the things you used to do.

[Cuda66]

1. Stop using WTH--or, for that matter, any hand signals--even if you don't think they're offensive, they may be taken that way. Even a friendly wave may tick somebody off more. Just let it go.

2. When she kept hitting the brakes, you should have simply pulled over, waited a few minutes, and let her go on. Or made the first turn off possible. You could have called the police, reporting her as an agressive driver; but, since you made the hand signal...you kinda initiated it.

3. When she got out, drive past her, put it in reverse, whatever...but AVOID THE INCIDENT. Definitely call the police at this point, reporting it from your point of view first.

Really--it was your hand gesture that escalated this from a simple traffic close call with an idiot into a situation where you felt it necessary to draw your weapon. It could have gotten MUCH worse than it did...think about that.

[bluez4u]

My thoughts as well. Plus NO hand gestures. You'r packing
and you can't do the things you used to do.

Agreed, I was just talking about that yesterday with my wife.
Unless I'm in real perceived danger of serious harm, I calculate the situation in terms of the best way to avoid the conflict. I'm not a LEO and have no intention of thinking I'm any type of extention of that community. There alot of morons out there (hot heads, would be thugs...etc..), who are impolite, even though, they have no idea that you are carrying or who they are dealing with. The best way to help those folks is not to be like them, but if it's me or them, and my life or family is threatened with the worst.....they will be going down pronto....
I hope I didn't run on too much there....

[Scot Van]

People tend to be pretty testy these days. I'd avoid any kind of "WTH hand signals", it sounds like you may have escalated the situation by doing so. Everyone makes a mistake driving every now and then, it's best to just let it pass. It's not worth it for anyone to make a "point" in the road.

Forget about getting into a fight, pulling your pistol out, or pointing it at her.....the outcome of any of that is not going to be good for anyone, including yourself. Just drive around her, or backup, and leave the scene.

Forget about the incident and forget about where she lives. Time to drop it, chalk it up as experience, and move along.

Excellent advice, none other is needed. Very well put.

[atctimmy]

All of the above are correct. Let it go and move on. As I write this though I am daydreaming about the flaming bag of dog poo gag on her porch.

[nn]

The first slam on the brakes should have beem the signal to back off.