What drives people to act like this?

[Anonymous 1]

I went to grab lunch at a local supermarket. When I was coming out of the parking lot, the traffic was bumper to bumper before the light. The oncoming traffic stopped and made room so that I could exit the parking lot. There are four lanes of traffic- two going straight (these were the lines that were backed up), one for left turns only, and one for u-turns only.

I was turning right but then merged into the far left lane so I could make a u-turn under the freeway. At the same moment, there was a lady in a car in one of the lanes going straight who, I guess, wanted to try to go around the traffic so she darted out into the left hand turning lane. She didn't have a blinker on. She almost darted out in front of me but she saw me just in the nick of time and stopped. It was raining so I was driving slow- so I KNOW that it wasn't me doing anything wrong, she had to have not been paying attention. In the screenshot below, the red line is the route my car took, the blue circle is her car.

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She gave me an ugly look and started honking. I went to the u-turn and she followed behind me. In order to get back to my job, I had to do another u-turn (so, two u-turns total) and she also made a second u-turn. Then, to pull into my office complex, you have to merge into a turn-only lane. It comes up super fast after the u-turn but I was driving a little fast at this point because I was certain this lady was following me. If you don't know the turn is coming, you will miss it. So, she missed the turn but I looked back and I saw her slam on her brakes and turn into the next parking lot which connects to a street you can take to get into my office complex parking lot. I hurried to my office, went inside, and locked the door. By this time, I was panting, shaking, and out of breath. The lady was definitely following me. Hopefully she just wanted to tell me off, even though I didn't do anything wrong. I feel so paranoid now and I keep looking out the window for her little black car.

I just can't believe how crazy people are. Really, you're going to follow someone because of how you perceive what they did? We didn't wreck, no one got hurt, nothing even happened! I'm so glad I was in my regular car and not my work car or else she could have found me super easily!

[Heyteacher]

Maybe she didn’t see you, or thought since you were driving slowly that you were letting her out-even without the signal. Who knows. Frustration sounds most logical since there was traffic and weather. I wouldn’t give it another thought.

[Anonymous 1]

Maybe she didn’t see you, or thought since you were driving slowly that you were letting her out-even without the signal. Who knows. Frustration sounds most logical since there was traffic and weather. I wouldn’t give it another thought.

True, I wouldn't have thought twice about it except that she followed me. After the second u-turn, it was pretty obvious that this is what she was doing. And with the level of crazy going on in the world, I think you'd have to be crazy to not worry about what someone might do if they're angry enough to follow you, whether it's your fault or not. It had me pretty shaken up!

[LiveWhatULove]

So at least 4% of the driving population has ADHD. And 1 in 5 adults have some type of mental illness.

So the chance that drivers will encounter another driver with poor impulse control AND emotional dysregulation is pretty high. (Not saying all people with these type of neuro-psych disorders act like this BUT it is a classic symptom in many patients).

But that is so ways pretty scary. I am glad you made it safely back.

[mrsjules79]

I went to grab lunch at a local supermarket. When I was coming out of the parking lot, the traffic was bumper to bumper before the light. The oncoming traffic stopped and made room so that I could exit the parking lot. There are four lanes of traffic- two going straight (these were the lines that were backed up), one for left turns only, and one for u-turns only.

I was turning right but then merged into the far left lane so I could make a u-turn under the freeway. At the same moment, there was a lady in a car in one of the lanes going straight who, I guess, wanted to try to go around the traffic so she darted out into the left hand turning lane. She didn't have a blinker on. She almost darted out in front of me but she saw me just in the nick of time and stopped. It was raining so I was driving slow- so I KNOW that it wasn't me doing anything wrong, she had to have not been paying attention. In the screenshot below, the red line is the route my car took, the blue circle is her car.

[/img]

She gave me an ugly look and started honking. I went to the u-turn and she followed behind me. In order to get back to my job, I had to do another u-turn (so, two u-turns total) and she also made a second u-turn. Then, to pull into my office complex, you have to merge into a turn-only lane. It comes up super fast after the u-turn but I was driving a little fast at this point because I was certain this lady was following me. If you don't know the turn is coming, you will miss it. So, she missed the turn but I looked back and I saw her slam on her brakes and turn into the next parking lot which connects to a street you can take to get into my office complex parking lot. I hurried to my office, went inside, and locked the door. By this time, I was panting, shaking, and out of breath. The lady was definitely following me. Hopefully she just wanted to tell me off, even though I didn't do anything wrong. I feel so paranoid now and I keep looking out the window for her little black car.

I just can't believe how crazy people are. Really, you're going to follow someone because of how you perceive what they did? We didn't wreck, no one got hurt, nothing even happened! I'm so glad I was in my regular car and not my work car or else she could have found me super easily!

Hi neighbor! As soon as you mentioned the feeder road setup and the rain yesterday I figured you were from Houston. With the pic, I know about where you are as I am not far from there myself. Sorry you had to deal with a crazy like that. It does seem people are getting more unhinged behind the wheel lately.

[Traci_Momof2]

I know this is not the point of your post but I've learned that whenever traffic is backed up and people try to be nice and leave an opening - NEVER take that opening that they leave. It is actually quite dangerous and honestly illegal in many places as ordinary citizens do not have the authority to 'direct traffic' in that way. When you are pulling out onto a road in that way, especially when getting all the way over like you were, you are supposed to wait until ALL traffic is clear and it is safe for you to pull out. If it's busy and traffic is never clear then just pull into the nearest lane and go around the block or something.

I have seen many dashcam videos of people pulling into an opening left by drivers and then they don't see other oncoming traffic or cross traffic and a crash happens. I have waived people on from leaving an opening for me because I refuse to go if I can't verify that all traffic has stopped for me. Just because one or two lanes have, doesn't mean everyone else will stop for you, as proven by the lady in your story. She probably didn't see you because she was looking further back in that u-turn lane, not looking for someone coming from the far right parking lot.

Yeah, she was wrong to follow you the way she did, but you also did make a move that was technically wrong and dangerous. Next time wait for traffic to clear or go a different way. No one HAS TO go the most direct route. And just because other drivers leave an opening for you doesn't mean it's ok for you to go.

[Deleted User 1977]

So many people seem to have gone cookadoodledoo these days, and especially on the roads when driving.

While I don't have the factual percentage, here in the Valley (Phoenix and surrounding cities), there are many instances of road rage which have resulted in deaths due to guns being drawn and a literal shoot out taking place.

It's insane.

[Anonymous 2]

Rage

[Anonymous 1]

I know this is not the point of your post but I've learned that whenever traffic is backed up and people try to be nice and leave an opening - NEVER take that opening that they leave. It is actually quite dangerous and honestly illegal in many places as ordinary citizens do not have the authority to 'direct traffic' in that way. When you are pulling out onto a road in that way, especially when getting all the way over like you were, you are supposed to wait until ALL traffic is clear and it is safe for you to pull out. If it's busy and traffic is never clear then just pull into the nearest lane and go around the block or something.

I have seen many dashcam videos of people pulling into an opening left by drivers and then they don't see other oncoming traffic or cross traffic and a crash happens. I have waived people on from leaving an opening for me because I refuse to go if I can't verify that all traffic has stopped for me. Just because one or two lanes have, doesn't mean everyone else will stop for you, as proven by the lady in your story. She probably didn't see you because she was looking further back in that u-turn lane, not looking for someone coming from the far right parking lot.

Yeah, she was wrong to follow you the way she did, but you also did make a move that was technically wrong and dangerous. Next time wait for traffic to clear or go a different way. No one HAS TO go the most direct route. And just because other drivers leave an opening for you doesn't mean it's ok for you to go.

It's not wrong or illegal here. I was directly behind her, perpendicular to her car. She could not have looked in her rear view mirror without seeing me, given that my car towers over hers. I'm confused by the part underlined. I was easily able to verify that there was no one coming from the left, I had a clear field of vision because my car is big and because the parking lot is elevated.