Calgary drivers, Other Drivers, and Road Rage!

[MatsNaslund]

Hi guys,
so far we've heard of road rage stories. I got one for you at a Tim Horton's drive thru from not so long ago. It was around 2pm at the Tim Hortons on 32 Ave and 12 st N.E. The drive through entrance is on the south side of the building. So there's a big lineup. Then there's a gap and one SUV park a bit aways along the fence near that bank and the lady inside looked like she wasn't going to the drive through. She was busy on a phone call. So all the cars moved. I gave her a chance to move. She didn't. I was coming from the other side and entered the drive through line. Whne I did, holy . All hell broke lose. I was already ordering and she kept honking at me and then got out with one of those security clubs in her hand and showed me a knife too. Started yelling and swearing so much that I couldn't even finish my order. She starting saying that she was going to slash my tires etc. I told the order lady that I'd finish the order at the window. There was a few cars ahead of me at this point. I was a little pissed off at this point because I gave her the chance to go ahead of me but she was far from the line up and didn't seem interested and to act the way she did was totally uncalled for. Is she going to die if she has her double double and donuts 5 minutes later? After I finished talking to the order lady, I got out & I just happened to have a golf club in the the trunk from my golfing over the weekend prior. I took it out and went up to her face, made a motion with the golf club that Tiger Woods might use and told her very slowly but loudly to "make my day". She sped off faster than a speeding bullet. She didn't even bother to stop or check for traffic coming the other way.

[tete]

I'll share my road rage story from last fall.

I'm travelling down 12th Ave SW towards Crowchild one morning, before 8:30, and go through the school zone - the zone where you are to slow down to 30km/h after 8:30. So I go through it at 45km/h because it's before 8:30. Somewhere near the turn in the road, I see a black SUV speeding up towards me. He tails me, then passes me and gets on my left side. When we get stopped at the red light at the Crowchild/Bow Trail ramp, he proceeds to roll down his window and scream and scream and scream at me, saying that I was supposed to slow down. I, as calmly as I could, said, no, it wasn't 8:30 yet, but he was just freaking out, going "IT DOESN"T MATTER!" Um.... okay, buddy - if it didn't matter, they'd just do a 24 h. zone. What seemed to escape him was that he had to speed to catch up to me and scream his head off at me.

I started going to work a new way after that - I really dind't want to experience that kind of stuff again.

[Superflyer]

I feel better now that the worst that I got was the finger and some yells as they drove off.
I cannot stand most drivers in Calgary, from the ones that think that they can merge in from a lane that ends with lots of notice, to the ones that cut accross 4 lanes on Deerfoot at the last second becasue they could not get over earlier.

[HOZ]

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[HOZ]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I don't care if people want to merge in front of me. I'm just trying to get where I'm going, just like they are.

It is always nice and safer if pepole are considerate of others.

[Eddie Bronze]

You guys should have seen the recent Fifth Estate special on road rage. Some very scary stuff going on on the roads here in North America.

I have no personal experiences of road rage where I was the one experiencing the rage. Some of the stories on here are very foreign to me, and I do drive in the city every day. I never had someone give me the finger, never gave anyone the finger. I never had someone get out of their car, nor never got out myself. I never had someone yell at me, never yelled at anyone. I've been cut-off plenty of times and may have done it a couple times myself, never on purpose though. The Number 2 highway scares the living s*** out of me but I never experienced road rage, just pure terror.

I did have an experience where a girl wanted into the lane I was in but there never was a blinker for me to know this. Once I realized it I let her in and clearly she was road raged at me. But if her blinker isn't working or she's too dumb to put it on, you may want to direct your rage at someone else.

I had another guy cut me off on Crowchild. I had a clearly open lane to merge into and he went across three lanes in one motion to cut me off. I saw him glaring at me as he went up the exit for Shaganappi but I'll never know what his problem was. Good thing I have good brakes I guess.

I've been cut-off plenty of times and may have done it a couple times myself, never on purpose though. The Number 2 highway scares the living s*** out of me but I never experienced road rage, just pure terror. I did have a young group of guys wait for me to challenge me to race their beater, "Race me!!!!!!!!" they yelled over and over as they got in their car, but they (wisely) bailed.

My biggest gripe is probably people who don't merge properly. You come out onto the Number One or Crowchild going 60 into a 80 or 90 zone? That has accident written all over it. I really don't know what to do there. You're stuck behind them. Should I blow my horn at them? People are either way too scared behind the wheel or way too assertive. I see the mistakes and try hard not to make the same ones myself. I think a lot of people just simply do not understand the rules of the road and/or need to start paying way better attention to what they are doing. I just try to avoid them by doing what I feel is safest in any given situation.

[SpitFire40]

I don't get mad at other drivers, nobody is perfect on the road... but if someone fingers me, cusses me out or whatever I rip back into them.

Alot of the time, the a-holes who flip you the bird, or yell at you are suprised to get a reaction and cower and stop.

At least they do when I rip back at them... if they don't hey. Feel free to tail me, all the way to the nearest cop shop.

[SaskaBushFire]

One thing I liked about Calgary, slower traffic stayed in the right lane. In Saskatoon people can't seem to grasp this. You have morons doing 70 or 80 in a 90 zone in the left lane, driving RIGHT beside a guy in the right line blocking it all up. This is when the horn comes into play, making me look like a road rager when its the other guys fault.

[Jayems]

haha, some ###### bag failed to yeild for me by the Timmy's in west hills cause he was talking on his phone. You know how there are those two yeild signs, but one is put at a weird angle, and no one ever knows who yeilds to who... anyway, As I raised my hand, I realized it was my buddy. hahah

Good times.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Yeah, that argument has come up before (I think 4x4 always says that in these threads).

I think the difference is that in Europe it is expected that things like that will happen, so when things like being cut off or splitting lanes happens it isn't a surprise.

Yea, though my contention is that people here seem to think that they own a portion of the road and that other people aren't allowed in front of them.

For example, just now I was driving south on deerfoot in the right lane, passing southland. My intention was to stay in the land and take bow bottom.

A dickfaced little punk in a silver cadillac with his rearview mirror hanging from the power cord cuts me off pretty badly, but I just slowed down (water off a duck's back after a year in Rome).

But this guy's antics have yet to cease. A guy comes off the ramp from southland and tries to enter the lane to take the very same bow bottom. He's got the right speed, and flips on his signal light.
Said punk speeds up to keep the guy from getting in front of him. Guy slows down, punk slows down. Guy slows way down and I slow down to let him in.

Now, the little twerp speeds up and keeps pace with the guy in the left lane (we are now on bow bottom) to keep anyone from passing.

Crap like that is just un-called for.

Why are people not allowed in front of other people in this city? What is with the sense of entitlement?







On another note, I've been lambasted for my belief that you should use a lane to the end and that that's where the criss-crossing should take place. I stand by that assertion. Use the roads, people! We paid for it to be paved.

To toss in my token europe rant, over there (well, in Italy at least), they'll use as much space as is available at a light. If five cars can all have pole position, five cars will be there. Plus, all the motos and motorcycles will weave their way to the front. Nobody minds because the two wheelers are almost always faster than the cars (acceleration, anyway).

While cruising, lanes are not recognized and people don't signal. They just gently start moving over and the car next to them will slow down or speed up. No problems, nobody takes it personally.
If someone wants to go faster, the guy in front will almost always move over enough to let speedy gonzales by.
It really is a sight to behold. If I wasn't in the hostel business, I'd have been a courier. I absolutely loved driving the streets of Rome. Calgary drives me nuts.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by fotze

Too funny. I have to admit that if the guy is an asian, black or biker looking I always let them in.

Oh man, I had an awesome experience the other day.

I was going north on 11st and intending to turn west on 12ave. As I was coming up to the light in the right lane, a bigger suv started to pull a roman lane change on me, so I slowed wayyyy down and honked to let him know I was there.

He pretty much stomped the brakes and started to roll down his passenger window. I was a little apprehensive, but pulled up to pass him. As I did, I figured he was going to tell me to F.O. or something and was a little more apprehensive when I saw he was one of those giant korean types.
I have no intention of fooling around like that, so I just kept rolling, but was goiing slow enough for him to yell "sorry man, my fault". I gave him a 'no prob' thumbs up and made the turn.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Why are people not allowed in front of other people in this city? What is with the sense of entitlement?

Is it a sense of entitlement, or is it people just trying to get to where they are going faster? I really don't know myself. A lot of people seem to think if one or two more cars get in front of them, they will end up hitting that next red light and be a couple minutes longer in getting to where they are headed. God forbid they get there alive, it's more important to get there 3 minutes faster and risk people's lives doing it.

[Ford Prefect]

A really good friend of mine was killed due to a road rage incident. My friend was a passenger in a vehicle that was being tailgated by a guy with his brights on who refused to pass them. Not sure why ... the story as I know it was pieced together by witnesses. The driver of my buddy's car eventually pulled over onto the shoulder and stopped ... it was a rural highway, at night. Rather than go by my friend and his buddy, the tailgater stops in the driving lane next to the vehicle my friend was in. The tailgater steps out of his vehicle, the driver of my friend's vehicle steps out and a fight ensues. The tailgater knocks the driver of my friend's vehicle out cold. So Danny goes to pick his buddy up off the centre of the highway and drag him back to their car, when they're both struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed instantly. My friend and his buddy were 19 at the time, which was over 20 years ago now. That tailgater was in his 30s at the time. Forgive me, but I hope he's had a miserable life.

I think of Danny whenever I run into road rage incidents, and try to stay calm. Please don't feed these trolls by playing games with them. It's not worth it.

Another sad part of this incident was that the person who struck and killed Danny and his friend had been involved in another fatal accident not long before, and was going through counciling to deal with the trauma of the first fatal accident. Neither of the accidents were his fault. In my friend's case, he approached the accident scene from the opposite direction and had two sets of headlights therefore staring him in the face. There was no way he would have been able to see Danny and the other kid in time. He was probably confused and trying to figure out why there were two sets of headlights pointed his way, but not moving. Still, he was a wreck because of it.

The poster above who cautioned not to get out of your vehicle in these situtations is correct. The tailgater was not charged with anything because the fight was considered consentual. His actions lead to the death of two kids and rendered a third person emotionally traumatized, but he wasn't guilty of anything. He wasn't even remorseful.

[Iggy Snipe]

Wow some pretty interesting stories. I think road rage is stupid, but when people drive like idiots, people's lives on the line, it is hard to stay calm. With this being said, raging only makes it worse.

Wouldn't like be better if everyone still got around by horses??

[4X4]

People are so effing stupid. This thread reminds me of:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=14126

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Iggy Snipe

Wow some pretty interesting stories. I think road rage is stupid, but when people drive like idiots, people's lives on the line, it is hard to stay calm. With this being said, raging only makes it worse.

Wouldn't like be better if everyone still got around by horses??

In many ways, yes. My dad was born in the pre-automobile era, and he told me when he was young he'd go out for a night of drinking, and pass out in the saddle on the way home. No problem ... the horse knew the way. Dad would just wake up later sitting on the horse in front of the barn. He claimed he never fell out of the saddle either, but I have some doubts about that.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

In many ways, yes. My dad was born in the pre-automobile era, and he told me when he was young he'd go out for a night of drinking, and pass out in the saddle on the way home. No problem ... the horse knew the way. Dad would just wake up later sitting on the horse in front of the barn. He claimed he never fell out of the saddle either, but I have some doubts about that.

I was drunk one night and I couldn't find a taxi. This inspired me to call the police (no, I didn't dial 911) and ask if horses were allowed on city streets. The amused officer told me that she didn't know, but she thought that riding a horse to avoid a DUI was some pretty "creative thinking".

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

A really good friend of mine was killed due to a road rage incident. My friend was a passenger in a vehicle that was being tailgated by a guy with his brights on who refused to pass them. Not sure why ... the story as I know it was pieced together by witnesses. The driver of my buddy's car eventually pulled over onto the shoulder and stopped ... it was a rural highway, at night. Rather than go by my friend and his buddy, the tailgater stops in the driving lane next to the vehicle my friend was in. The tailgater steps out of his vehicle, the driver of my friend's vehicle steps out and a fight ensues. The tailgater knocks the driver of my friend's vehicle out cold. So Danny goes to pick his buddy up off the centre of the highway and drag him back to their car, when they're both struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed instantly. My friend and his buddy were 19 at the time, which was over 20 years ago now. That tailgater was in his 30s at the time. Forgive me, but I hope he's had a miserable life.

I think of Danny whenever I run into road rage incidents, and try to stay calm. Please don't feed these trolls by playing games with them. It's not worth it.

Another sad part of this incident was that the person who struck and killed Danny and his friend had been involved in another fatal accident not long before, and was going through counciling to deal with the trauma of the first fatal accident. Neither of the accidents were his fault. In my friend's case, he approached the accident scene from the opposite direction and had two sets of headlights therefore staring him in the face. There was no way he would have been able to see Danny and the other kid in time. He was probably confused and trying to figure out why there were two sets of headlights pointed his way, but not moving. Still, he was a wreck because of it.

The poster above who cautioned not to get out of your vehicle in these situtations is correct. The tailgater was not charged with anything because the fight was considered consentual. His actions lead to the death of two kids and rendered a third person emotionally traumatized, but he wasn't guilty of anything. He wasn't even remorseful.

Thanks for posting that.

It just isn't worth it getting angry on the road. I too get mad though when drivers do stupid things, or when they push their way into my lane...etc. But I keep cool because I have no desire to get into a road rage incident these days. I don't trust anyone out there to not have a knife or a baseball bat.