Road rage…

Yesterday, I got out my car, for the first time EVER, as a result of road rage.
A TT driver was my antagonist; you know the type; pressed ‘casual’ shirt tucked into his stretched chino waistband, sunglasses on top of his flushed, greasy forehead. The kind of TT driver that doesn’t fully appreciate the car he has.

Proof of this? His car had broken down and was about to be towed.

There 2 types of performance-car driver: the type that saves up over years to have that one, dream car, look after it, test it, and push it to the limits so they can enjoy every inch of it, and the type that use it at about 10% of its potential; in order to pull women and brag loudly in bars about its horsepower. This man was the latter. Until you can heeltoe downshift it on a corner at EXACTLY your tyres friction limits, all those years of engineering and the hundreds of men who built and serviced your car to perfection have acted in vain.

Anyway back to my rage:
I did my best not to adknowledge this guy, as I made my way across the car park; I know if MY car broke down (which it wouldn’t, I look after it) I wouldn’t want to see that ‘Sucks-to-be-you’ face on every other driver that passed, so I kept it, smugly, to myself and got in my car.

It was a tight carpark, so I’d have to reverse towards his car in order to get out.

*Start the car: TT driver looks up
*Engage reverse: TT driver stops what he’s doing and watches as I begin to back out
*15 feet from the TT: driver walks to the side of his car to watch my manouvre - I’m already pretty offended…
*10 feet from the TT: ‘WOAH! WOAH!’ Driver screans and waves as though I’m bumper to bumper with him.

Knowing that I’m a healthy carlength away I keep reversing…..

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

Hearing the bangs I slam on the brakes, 6 feet away from the TT, hit neutral and check around to see what’s happening.

There is a TT driver…

Hitting…

The top of my car.

You might have seen the picture of me in my first post, that was taken 2 years ago. I’m now a lot bigger, stronger, a stone heavier and a bald-tattoo-headed engineer. Frankly, scarier. This guy must have expecting the OLD me…

I step out of the car.

I show him the amount of space behind my car.

I insult the driver, his car, his background and his level of neglect for his own vehicle.

I get my apology.

I drive on.

I shouldn’t be proud of what I did, it should never happen, but it made me realise a few things that you should bare in mind when you see other drivers around you. (I’m as guilty of forgetting these as the TT driver).

1. Another car, no matter how much shitter it is than yours, has no intention of driving into you.

2. You do not know know more about another man’s ability to control his own car than he does. Leave him to it.

3. You should never enforce you own driving opions onto another driver, be that deliberately blocking them from overtaking, or flashing at them for driving slowly.

4. In the words of John Travolta: ‘you should NEVER fuck with another man’s automobile’

Here endeth the rage.