So I was driving out to a doctor’s appointment this AM and approached an area where the left lane ends and needs to merge with the right. I was in the right lane with no-one ahead of me, and there was a car in the left lane maybe 5-7s ahead of me. Plenty of time to merge. The driver failed to merge in front of me so I passed him. Never even gave it a second thought. Went through the roundabout and continued on to my appointment. I’m sitting at a red light daydreaming about lunch when suddenly there’s someone pounding on my window and yelling. I roll down, and this guy is screaming at me about how I cut him off and how he’s going to report me to the police. Then he hauls off and punches me! Well if someone wants to hit me they certainly aren’t going to do it while I’m seatbelted in and facing 90degrees, so I yelled - “Holy Shit! You just assaulted me!” Then I got out of the car. As I stood up to face him he ran backwards yelling “No I didn’t! No I didn’t! I’m going to report you to the police”. So I looked at his license plate and repeated it back to him. The I got back in my car and drove away. Driving to my appointment it dawned on me that it actually escalated past simple assault to battery once he hit me. Not that I care - my 6yr old goddaughter hits me harder when we’re playing karate. But I figured I ought to file a report anyway, just in case he does. CYA and all that.
Finished up w/ the doc and got to work where I filed the police report and the lady told me that someone would be following up with me - since I was assaulted. Another officer called me within 20min and took the report again, and asked for more details (did I remember what he was wearing, any identifying remarks, etc). I have a shit memory so when it went down I was just trying to make sure that I didn’t forget his license plate. As such, I didn’t remember much about the guy other than a general description (est height, weight, hair colour, & length). The officer asked if I wanted to press charges, and I don’t really - that’s just going to be a pain in my ass. The cop was a pretty cool guy though, and said that he’d definitely be tracking him down to have a chat about his behaviour. He then asked if I wanted to talk to a victim’s counselor (I guess they have to ask). No, thanks man. I’m just fine.
Seriously though - that dude must have serious angry management issues if the perception of being cut off in traffic elicits that kind of a reaction… He’s just lucky I’m such a nice guy.
OK, so I still think R10C hacked your account and is posting this … until I read the rest. I think he would have reacted a bit differently
Life is about 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it - or so I’m told …
Glad you are OK! Didn’t know that you canucks (laid back NW ones at that) have road rage issues as well. Now, driving in L.A. or D.C. or Boston is another experience entirely.
The guy is a pretty paralyzed driver if he can’t merge with that much lead on you.
He’s the one that deserved anger…coming to a stop in the roadway like that.
You should consider pressing charges because it’s justice. Assholes don’t just come in to being in a vacuum one day. He’s been one all his life and gotten away with that kind of behavior hundreds of times by now.
I’m pretty accustomed to horribly incompetent drivers - they’re a plague around these parts.
As for pressing charges, nah. I doubt that it would have any impact save perhaps pissing the guy off even more. *Which would kind of be funny… *I do see your point, but my primary reason for filing the report was just to cover my ass in case he filed a report against me. I could have taught him a lesson on anger management by feeding him his teeth, but that wouldn’t have done any good (and would have landed me in some hot water). If a little visit from the heat doesn’t make him think a little bit, one day he’ll learn his lesson from someone who doesn’t think quite as calmly and rationally under pressure.
Ah, good times. I miss Vancouver when I read this post. Some very important person was in a hurry to get to the red light ahead of you and you denied him that opportunity. I had a few days like that where Grandview Highway merges onto the Number 1 going east. I’d have guys honking at me and challenging me to fights because I’d always let people in ahead of me in the merge while I was busy listening to Rafe Mair. I actually had two dudes get out and flog me on Granville and 10th because I didn’t get off the crosswalk fast enough. One guy was coverec in ink and appeared to be on some sort of size enhancing drugs. I also called the VPD. I turns out that one of the guys was a striker for the HA and the other a doorman at the Drake. I didn’t press charges, needless to say.
Where exactly did your moment of fun occur?
I was in the left lane, waiting to turn when this car passed me. No big deal, but when I looked over I didn’t see a driver, just what appeared to be an ice cream cone in the driver’s seat that was about seven scoops tall! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so at the stop light I got out and approached the car. Sure enough, I saw an ice cream cone with multiple scoops. Man, did that look good! I reached in to get me some ice cream when I hear this voice screaming…something about salt but I couln’t really tell. Next thing you know, the door opens up and this short guy gets out and starts yelling at me. At first I thought it was a little kid who took mom’s car while she was paying for the ice cream. Well, I look in the back seat and I see A FRICKIN RUSSIAN RIFLE!!! I was shocked! What the hell is this kid with ice cream doing with a Russian rifle in his car??? I got the hell out of there and told him I was reporting him to the police.
Ummmmm…not too sure what dteed has been smoking, but glad you’re OK Khai. This person is pretty lucky that you reacted the way you did. Not all of us would have handled it that way. Next time, maybe just roll your window down a crack, slightly smaller than the average fist?
The initial incident (that pissed him off) occurred on W16th heading Eastbound from Marine Drive, just before the (new) roundabout to Westbrook Mall (UBC campus). The follow up at the red light would have been around Thunderbird - it was just before the hospital.
Wow! Totally random! Good thing you are so mellow. Good for you fior reporting him. You never know, he could have a history of this.
He might, one never knows. What confounds me in retrospect is that he struck me but had absolutely nothing to back it up - as soon as I got out of the car he ran away. Violence, I understand. Anger, I understand. But really - if you’re going to hit someone, be prepared to finish the job. If he was mad enough to hit me through an open window (that he requested I open) he ought to have been mad enough to put me down. I’m glad that he wasn’t, as that would have turned what ended up as an amusing story into an ugly incident - with at least one of us facing charges, likely me. But I don’t understand the mentality…
I guess I’m happy that he didn’t have anything to back it up…
I was in the left lane, waiting to turn when this car passed me. No big deal, but when I looked over I didn’t see a driver, just what appeared to be an ice cream cone in the driver’s seat that was about seven scoops tall! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so at the stop light I got out and approached the car. Sure enough, I saw an ice cream cone with multiple scoops. Man, did that look good! I reached in to get me some ice cream when I hear this voice screaming…something about salt but I couln’t really tell. Next thing you know, the door opens up and this short guy gets out and starts yelling at me. At first I thought it was a little kid who took mom’s car while she was paying for the ice cream. Well, I look in the back seat and I see A FRICKIN RUSSIAN RIFLE!!! I was shocked! What the hell is this kid with ice cream doing with a Russian rifle in his car??? I got the hell out of there and told him I was reporting him to the police.
Sheeite! The West Side is gettin’ all gangsta now. It could have been a Sociology prof from campus. Those guys can be scary!
I love the part in the episode in which he runs away. I believe he fits the ‘douchebag’ description.
If Karma is real, he’ll likely end up punching some poor kid who has recently been cut from the Canucks or Giants.
Good job on keeping your cool and laughing it off, because it just isn’t worth your time.
