Road rage in Houston on Dash cam. Your thoughts?

[Childs Play]

So this happened to me today driving home from work.

I had to get over because of construction/a utility vehicle. The first person cut me off so I honked at her. Second person tried to cut me off from getting over as well. I was annoyed so being me I took off somewhat angrily.

The guy in the F250 who didn't let me over basically tried to run me off the road a few moments later when he caught back up to me. You can hear him punch it right before he pulls into my lane.

I'm somewhat regretting not letting him just hit me. I hate my Versa anyway. I could have just owned his truck and gotten rid of my Versa in one swoop... However, I also like being in one piece as well, so there's that.

But in all seriousness...

I'm not saying I was 100% in the right here because I was pissed he didn't let me over and then after he ran me off the road I was even more angry so I punched it. In a Versa that's not impressive though. He then proceeded to break check me and all the traffic behind him.

Don't give in to road rage people. It's not worth almost killing someone over. (I include myself in that statement..)

I'd really like to hear unbiased feedback on whether you feel I was in the wrong here at any point as we all tend to assume we are right most of the time.

Also yes that is Hannity in the background talking about flowers. Leave that out of the discussion. :P

And please note that there is some NSFW language in the video as I was rather angry. You've been warned.

Basically I'm trying to start a discussion on road rage as it has probably affected us all at some point in one way or another.

The road being blocked by a truck where we had to get over starts at around 0:55

[PalmerGA]

My take is this: You may have cut the guy/gal in the Honda off a bit short. Yes, you had your turn signal on but they may not have had time to slow down and let you over. Impossible to tell.

The real issue is the guy in the truck. He was a dumb ass and either wasn't paying attention or was just being an a$$hole - or maybe drunk based on his difficulty staying in his lane. He drifted over the middle line several times after passing you. Ohhhh to be a cop in that situation...

I don't think you did anything wrong. I'm sure you were pissed, but you didn't let it turn ugly.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by PalmerGA

My take is this: You may have cut the guy/gal in the Honda off a bit short. Yes, you had your turn signal on but they may not have had time to slow down and let you over. Impossible to tell.

The real issue is the guy in the truck. He was a dumb ass and either wasn't paying attention or was just being an a$$hole - or maybe drunk based on his difficulty staying in his lane. He drifted over the middle line several times after passing you. Ohhhh to be a cop in that situation...

I don't think you did anything wrong. I'm sure you were pissed, but you didn't let it turn ugly.

and being from the Houston area myself.....typical Houston drivers.....and regardless of the reason....the guy in the truck was just being a DICK.

[Iron Lung Jimmy]

The lady in the Honda had already let the vehicle ahead of you in so it was presumptuous of you to expect to follow it. I hate it when I let somebody in line then a second car tries to squeeze in as well. You were that guy. Wait your turn.

So the Honda did not cut you off and you should not have blown your horn at her.

Then, possibly the guy driving the pickup saw you make what could be considered a dickish move and decided, because of that, you could wait even longer... but then you cut him off.

Honestly now, how badly did you cut off the pickup?

So now he sees you pull an arguably dickish move on the Honda and cut him off so he mildly flips out and we see the result.

My conclusion: From what I can tell, and as explained above, you have to take some ownership for this incident. Not excusing the pickup by any means but you contributed.

[snarky]

I think a drivers license is no longer earned.

[sherob]

Just from personal experience... I always hated driving on Clay Rd because of all the asses that thought they owned the road.

Even w/ the DPS/Constable station their, it was always a zoo.

[Childs Play]

Originally Posted by Iron Lung Jimmy

The lady in the Honda had already let the vehicle ahead of you in so it was presumptuous of you to expect to follow it. I hate it when I let somebody in line then a second car tries to squeeze in as well. You were that guy. Wait your turn.

So the Honda did not cut you off and you should not have blown your horn at her.

Then, possibly the guy driving the pickup saw you make what could be considered a dickish move and decided, because of that, you could wait even longer... but then you cut him off.

Honestly now, how badly did you cut off the pickup?

So now he sees you pull an arguably dickish move on the Honda and cut him off so he mildly flips out and we see the result.

My conclusion: From what I can tell, and as explained above, you have to take some ownership for this incident. Not excusing the pickup by any means but you contributed.

I won't disagree that I probably played some roll in the wrong. However I will argue that the Honda was actually at least a car length behind me when I first started getting over and if I would have just swerved over I could have easily fit as much as the guy in front of me could have gotten over in front of the red SUV. Although that would have cemented the douche bag award for me perhaps.

The truck behind her also had plenty of a gap but he gassed it when I started getting over.

Maybe I need a second cam recording behind me, because you could easily assume I'm making that up and cut off two people which could be realistic in this situation.

I can't prove my side with what happened behind me.

[GMTool]

To me that's just normal everyday driving crap. Nothing out of the ordinary. The guy in the pick up should have let you in. He didn't and you cut in front of him, he gets mad and pulls a real dick move. I let things like that bother me sometimes and I dwell on the situation, play it over and over in my head and wish I could go back in time and do it over. Best to just learn from it, be glad nothing happened, think about what you could have done different and let it go. Because it's going to happen again. Be ready.

[Childs Play]

Originally Posted by GMTool

To me that's just normal everyday driving crap. Nothing out of the ordinary. The guy in the pick up should have let you in. He didn't and you cut in front of him, he gets mad and pulls a real dick move. I let things like that bother me sometimes and I dwell on the situation, play it over and over in my head and wish I could go back in time and do it over. Best to just learn from it, be glad nothing happened, think about what you could have done different and let it go. Because it's going to happen again. Be ready.

Oh I'm sure many people can attest to this being pretty much a normal day in Houston (or any other city for that matter). Haha.

[Bizaro]

I would have followed him to his destination waited till he stepped out and ran him over several times.

[CamaroSkooter]

Here's my take:

The Jeep in front of you at the beginning is an idiot because he/she should have seen the construction vehicle up ahead and moved over in front of the Red Kia. Which should've put you behind the Kia and in front of the Honda, in a perfect world. So there's that.

Then, once the Jeep got behind the Kia, then you should have waited for the Honda to go by and got in behind the Honda like you did, but without the horn honk. You know, zipper merge.

As far as the truck driver's actions, he's just a douche. Chalk all of his actions up to having to overcompensate for other areas of his personal life. I've found that it's much easier in life to just let them go on about their day thinking they're tough sh!t because nothing you can do behind the wheel of your car is going to change their minds of that.

You have his license plate number, feel free to report his actions to the police, but I doubt anything will come of it. It's more of a hassle than it's worth to take the video down to your local station and spend all your time showing the police some reckless driving. In Houston, they have more than enough of that to deal with. On the flip side, if you don't then the police have no record of this guy's reckless driving and so the next time he does this he might be able to lie his way out of an accident without any record popping up that he's been reported before as reckless.

So, while the police probably can't do anything for you specifically, especially since no property damage was done, you might feel better about it in the long run knowing you at least tried to do the right thing.

My suggestion to you in the future: Increase following distance and always leave yourself an "out" in case of situations like this. I hate driving in traffic where I have to be moving with traffic the same speed as a car immediately adjacent to me, especially if there's a curb on the opposite side. I know this isn't always possible, but when I'm driving I'm constantly thinking of scenarios where I might need to bail left or right suddenly and whether or not I'd be screwed.

[Bizaro]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

You have his license plate number, feel free to report his actions to the police, but I doubt anything will come of it. It's more of a hassle than it's worth to take the video down to your local station and spend all your time showing the police some reckless driving. In Houston, they have more than enough of that to deal with. On the flip side, if you don't then the police have no record of this guy's reckless driving and so the next time he does this he might be able to lie his way out of an accident without any record popping up that he's been reported before as reckless.

this.

[Taco Time]

So I watched it with no sound. All I can see is the driving. Watching it that way, the only thing I see is a D-Bag guy driving the truck.

What dash camera do you have? The picture quality looked good.

[trashmanssd]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

Here's my take:

As far as the truck driver's actions, he's just a douche. Chalk all of his actions up to having to overcompensate for other areas of his personal life. I've found that it's much easier in life to just let them go on about their day thinking they're tough sh!t because nothing you can do behind the wheel of your car is going to change their minds of that.