Confrontation with reckless driver

sunshine1980

Thanks for the replies. No I wasn't driving 40 in a 60 zone or indicating left! There were cars on either side and it was a normal residential road so neither car had right of way, I just slowed down, not stopped when over car flashed. I wasnt indicating and I was a bit further out from the other cars.

I only approached the driver as it was an RAC van I wouldn't normally done this. However I shouldnt have shouted I should just have asked why he did what he did (yes in hindsight I should not have said anything!) although I think he might have still threatened Police as he only did this when I said I was reporting it to RAC. He certainly was not intimidated as he was smirking before I said this and I didn't bang loudly on his window although yes this still was not acceptable.

Yes in hindsight I should have just let it go like I have done in past. However I had no idea that this could be a public order offence! I thought if the Police came I would just be given a warning/caution at most. I did not try to physically assault him, swear or threaten him or purposely try to intimidate/scare him. I was just shaken up. What do you think could happen in the circumstances?

forgotmyname

If a car flashed you to give way why did you pull over? What are you like when driving?

Confident driver or a nervous one? Big mistake getting out of the vehicle and confronting them. Especially banging on their window.
It makes it appear that your the one with road rage.

Swear at them and move on. Bound to be plenty more like that and not worth bothering about.

10 seconds after someone cuts me up or pulls out ive forgotten about the incident.


Maybe a few lessons on a defensive drivign course? Worth trying.

Iceweasel

Sunshine1980: having had a second read of your post I can agree that it clearly was indeed a grade 1 rant, as you said at the beginning.

It shows a whole load of errors and mis-conceptions.

There is no such offence in the UK as 'Reckless Driving' - and before someone says "Oh but you know what I mean." - I don't - I only know the meaning of the words that are used.

In the UK we have careless driving, the more severe dangerous driving, as well as driving without due care and attention, and driving without reasonable consideration, etc etc.

In the absence of any collision all we have here is conjecture.

It's like someone saying "He missed me by inches" - no problem there - he didn't collide with you.

We also have mis-interpretation of another user's use of flashing headlights. Doing so does NOT mean come on I'll wait for you - check the Highway Code.

Then incorrect use of the horn - using the horn after an event has no purpose other than to show dissatisfaction or anger with another's actions - that is NOT what the horn is for.

The child in the rear is irrelevant to what the other driver did.

Then we come to what you did after the non-event.

As for not being illegal to bang on someone's window - I disagree.

How can anyone - even a small person - bang and shout without being seen as aggressive?

Being 5ft 2" and 7 stone, shouting and banging, sounds to me like being very intimidating and I'm 6ft 3"

So far from reporting the RAC van driver to the police (lord alone knows what for, of course) you actually need to hope and pray that the van driver doesn't report the incident for what it was - Road Rage.

I believe that one of the prime characteristics of Road Rage is that the person who commits it is completely oblivious of the implications of what they are doing - having in effect, lost control.

That is when you need to think of the safety of the child in the back.

Next time - and there will be many next times - just stop, take a few deep breaths, and then continue on your way.

Have a quiet think later as to how your actions contributed to the incident.

JustAnotherSaver

My god i can't believe some of the replies in here.

Not to single anyone out but i'll select post #11 as an example - don't use your horn to tell anyone off.

Seriously. How many of you (especially if you've been driving some time) have NOT used your horn to 'tell someone off'? My guess is that each & every one of you has beeped your horn in anger at someone. So don't be taking that stance when it's almost certain you'll all do it yourselves.
OR........are you the only people in the country who don't do it & you just all so happen to be registered on the same internet forum? Coincidence!

Also this talk of public order offence. Yes OP shouldn't have approached the van, but ATEOTD unless there's a camera on board it's going to be one persons word against another - therefore it didn't happen so i wouldn't worry about it.

I do agree with these posters though that you shouldn't have approached the guy. These days you don't know who you're approaching. Could've been some idiot with a gun/knife/ a rapist. Who knows. Unlikely perhaps, but in this day & age dare you take your chances? I guess you do but i wouldn't. A lad i know did this to a car in Manchester. When he got to the window it was full of rastafarians smoking weed & looking like you don't want to be anywhere near them if you know what i mean. He made a sharp return to his car.




I may have got this wrong but my understanding is you were flashed through & the RAC van just overtook you & went through? If this is correct then i'm not sure why people aren't jumping on that. As i know people in this line of work i know what the basic attitude is - F this, it's not my F'ing vehicle, i'm going to drive like a d*ck & i want to be first. The end.



Personally i would report it, yes. I work for a company which has a fleet of vehicles. When a complaint comes in they instantly believe the one complaining & the driver gets a telling. So if it makes you feel better, complain.

But then move on & don't be getting out of your car again to repeat this.



It's all fantastic when we're on the MSE forum talking about how easy life is & what should be done, but in the heat of the moment things are often very different.

force_ten

I am not saying that you should not have questioned his actions, it is just the way you went about it was wrong

using words like confrontation, I shouted what the hell was he doing, I used my hand to bang on his window gives the impression that you were out of control

there was obviously some sort of misunderstanding that caused the original incident but as i wasnt there i cant comment on that, but next time something like this happens just try and deal with it in a more calm and controlled way

sunshine1980

forgotmyname wrote: »

If a car flashed you to give way why did you pull over? What are you like when driving?

Confident driver or a nervous one? Big mistake getting out of the vehicle and confronting them. Especially banging on their window.
It makes it appear that your the one with road rage.

Swear at them and move on. Bound to be plenty more like that and not worth bothering about.

10 seconds after someone cuts me up or pulls out ive forgotten about the incident.


Maybe a few lessons on a defensive drivign course? Worth trying.

I didnt pull over I just slowed down as there was only room for one car to get past. Sorry maybe I am not explaining myself very well!


I am aware I was in the wrong to get out of my car and do what I did. I've never done anything like that before in my life and never will again.

Does anybody know what might happen next? I expect the Police will pay a visit and I will be honest with what happened.

DUTR

sunshine1980 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. No I wasn't driving 40 in a 60 zone or indicating left! There were cars on either side and it was a normal residential road so neither car had right of way, I just slowed down, not stopped when over car flashed. I wasnt indicating and I was a bit further out from the other cars.

I only approached the driver as it was an RAC van I wouldn't normally done this. However I shouldnt have shouted I should just have asked why he did what he did (yes in hindsight I should not have said anything!) although I think he might have still threatened Police as he only did this when I said I was reporting it to RAC. He certainly was not intimidated as he was smirking before I said this and I didn't bang loudly on his window although yes this still was not acceptable.

Yes in hindsight I should have just let it go like I have done in past. However I had no idea that this could be a public order offence! I thought if the Police came I would just be given a warning/caution at most. I did not try to physically assault him, swear or threaten him or purposely try to intimidate/scare him. I was just shaken up. What do you think could happen in the circumstances?

Trouble is, it is not what you think he may have felt, it is what he had felt, a caution stays on record also, hopefully he will put it behind him, however be wary especially in this age of equality, that a woman can be just as guilty as a man of violent and other crimes .
None of us can change the past, just remember in future, you have no right to be telling anyone other than your children and probably partner off.

sunshine1980

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

My god i can't believe some of the replies in here.

Not to single anyone out but i'll select post #11 as an example - don't use your horn to tell anyone off.

Seriously. How many of you (especially if you've been driving some time) have NOT used your horn to 'tell someone off'? My guess is that each & every one of you has beeped your horn in anger at someone. So don't be taking that stance when it's almost certain you'll all do it yourselves.
OR........are you the only people in the country who don't do it & you just all so happen to be registered on the same internet forum? Coincidence!

Also this talk of public order offence. Yes OP shouldn't have approached the van, but ATEOTD unless there's a camera on board it's going to be one persons word against another - therefore it didn't happen so i wouldn't worry about it.

I do agree with these posters though that you shouldn't have approached the guy. These days you don't know who you're approaching. Could've been some idiot with a gun/knife/ a rapist. Who knows. Unlikely perhaps, but in this day & age dare you take your chances? I guess you do but i wouldn't. A lad i know did this to a car in Manchester. When he got to the window it was full of rastafarians smoking weed & looking like you don't want to be anywhere near them if you know what i mean. He made a sharp return to his car.




I may have got this wrong but my understanding is you were flashed through & the RAC van just overtook you & went through? If this is correct then i'm not sure why people aren't jumping on that. As i know people in this line of work i know what the basic attitude is - F this, it's not my F'ing vehicle, i'm going to drive like a d*ck & i want to be first. The end.



Personally i would report it, yes. I work for a company which has a fleet of vehicles. When a complaint comes in they instantly believe the one complaining & the driver gets a telling. So if it makes you feel better, complain.

But then move on & don't be getting out of your car again to repeat this.



It's all fantastic when we're on the MSE forum talking about how easy life is & what should be done, but in the heat of the moment things are often very different.

Thank you for your reply it has made me feel better! Yes I was flashed through and the RAC van overtook me and went through. I only slowed down slightly not stopped. I am not sure if the van had dash cam as the driver got out afterwards to take picture of my car so not sure if he would have done this with dash cam?

Also when I said I told the driver I was going to report him I mean to the RAC not the Police.

Be assured I will put this down to experience and never ever do anything like this again. Like I said I am just now very nervous the driver will have contacted the Police but am hoping he only said he would do this as I said I was going to report him to RAC.

DUTR

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

My god i can't believe some of the replies in here.

Not to single anyone out but i'll select post #11 as an example - don't use your horn to tell anyone off.

Seriously. How many of you (especially if you've been driving some time) have NOT used your horn to 'tell someone off'? My guess is that each & every one of you has beeped your horn in anger at someone. So don't be taking that stance when it's almost certain you'll all do it yourselves.
OR........are you the only people in the country who don't do it & you just all so happen to be registered on the same internet forum? Coincidence!

Also this talk of public order offence. Yes OP shouldn't have approached the van, but ATEOTD unless there's a camera on board it's going to be one persons word against another - therefore it didn't happen so i wouldn't worry about it.

I do agree with these posters though that you shouldn't have approached the guy. These days you don't know who you're approaching. Could've been some idiot with a gun/knife/ a rapist. Who knows. Unlikely perhaps, but in this day & age dare you take your chances? I guess you do but i wouldn't. A lad i know did this to a car in Manchester. When he got to the window it was full of rastafarians smoking weed & looking like you don't want to be anywhere near them if you know what i mean. He made a sharp return to his car.




I may have got this wrong but my understanding is you were flashed through & the RAC van just overtook you & went through? If this is correct then i'm not sure why people aren't jumping on that. As i know people in this line of work i know what the basic attitude is - F this, it's not my F'ing vehicle, i'm going to drive like a d*ck & i want to be first. The end.



Personally i would report it, yes. I work for a company which has a fleet of vehicles. When a complaint comes in they instantly believe the one complaining & the driver gets a telling. So if it makes you feel better, complain.

But then move on & don't be getting out of your car again to repeat this.



It's all fantastic when we're on the MSE forum talking about how easy life is & what should be done, but in the heat of the moment things are often very different.

When we were young and stupid we may have done that, but many of us have matured to know we actually don't own the roads

I'm not sure on your comments on Rasta's they are different from dreads, and tbh can be seen as holding some sort of prejudice.

It was many years ago since I got out of a car to someone (I had a 1976 Triumph dolomite at the time) when I approaced the van the guy had an axe on his lap, after running back to my car and shaking so much I could barely get the key in.

Nowadays I'd rather read about it than be part of it.

---lee---

This was probably just water off a ducks back for the RAC patrol. This will not be his first or last encounter with road rage, which I suspect is why you got the response you did from him. I doubt he will take it any further.

A courier used to come to my house twice a day to deliver and collect goods. One morning when he pulled up a woman stopped behind him, got out of her car and ran to the front of the van. She was banging on his window and screaming for him to open the door. He was totally calm and just ignored her as he sat and filled in his paperwork.

After she left, he got out and was not the least bit bothered about it. He said it happens pretty much daily. Oh, and his 'offence' was apparently indicating too late and stopping too sharply.