This happened a few days ago while I was driving on the highway. There was a car behind me that was driving like crazy. weaving through traffic, speeding up and slowing down to cut over lanes. Eventually they swerved into my lane, cut me off hard, then immediately darted into the lane next to me again. At that point I was annoyed and honestly pretty pissed off. I flipped the guy off. Just a quick “dude, seriously?” gesture.
After that the driver slammed on the gas crosses the solid white line at the off-ramp then cuts me off again this time stopping dead in front of me on the off-ramp. They parked their car in the lane then they get out of their car and start yelling at me like crazy.
I was not about to get into a roadside screaming match with some unhinged stranger so I stayed calm brushed it off and quickly got around them and then just turned at the next light and kept going I didn’t yell at them or anything.
Now a friend I told this story to says I “provoked” the situation by giving the finger and that if I hadn’t done that, the guy wouldn’t have stopped and tried to start a fight. They say I escalated it.
From my perspective this person was already driving like dangerously and while flipping someone off probably wasn’t the right choice I don’t think it justifies blocking traffic, leaving your vehicle, and attempting to confront someone on an off-ramp.
**AITA for flipping them off and then just driving away when they tried to confront me?**
ESH
I have had to tell my husband numerous times that it’s totally stupid to think it’s gonna go well if you flip someone off that’s driving like a maniac.
He doesn’t see how dangerous it can be to make a gesture like that but a person with that behavior on the road is showing how reckless they are.
It’s not smart to risk pissing a person like that off. Just get out of their way and move on. What does flipping him off do? Do you actually think he would realize he’s being dangerous on the road and stop driving like that?
Of course not. You giving the bird just adds fuel to the fire. Is it worth risking your safety or the safety of others just to get one second of vindication of giving the finger?
I honestly totally agree, and I have never been in a road engagement like this. In the future though I will definitely avoid doing something like this.
NTA. Actually smart to drive away. That driver clearly is a dangerous person. I would not have engaged either. And getting flipped off is not a big deal. I’m 64 years old and have flipped off crazy drivers and been flipped off myself. No need for a roadside conversation about it!
NTA: Your friend is wrong. How did you “provoke” this situation, lmfao? Also, who would not react this way, had they had someone swerve and drive like a f\*\*\*ing idiot into their lane or almost crash into their car?
How insecure do you have to be to start going out of your car and confront someone in a road rage?
This dude clearly is miserable in his life and insecure, and had to take out his anger and waste his time confronting you instead of just going about his day as you did… Forget about it, shit happens. Also, stop taking advice from this “friend,” lmfao.
In America I would things twice. It seems the disregard for human life there is about the same as israel. And if i did flip them off after they stopped in the middle of the road i would call the popo and give them the dashcam footage telling them my life felt threatened 🤣 get that fckr off the road and into a cell
Seen one to many US dashcam vids of people genuinely shooting at another car because of road rage even ignoring other things like purposely crashing into them or throwing things etc. It just ain’t worth the smoke
NTA but if something similar happens again use the thumbs down or waggle your finger instead of the middle finger. It’s more condescending
The finger waggle is golden
Give a “Hi!” wave like you know them. Instant mortification. They think they’ve just been spotted by a coworker or friend of their mom. They will spend hours trying to figure out who you were.
I’m using both of these from now on lol
I once gave someone a sarcastic round of applause and they did not react positively to it.
Your friend is correct; if you hadn’t given the guy the finger, he wouldn’t have stopped. I think that’s obvious. It’s like if you’re out on town and see an angry drunk, and you go talk to them and they direct that anger at you, yeah, that happened because you made them aware of your presence. This is just basic cause and effect.
But that’s a separate issue from being an asshole. You’re NTA. This guy was obviously reckless and unpredictable; he was the asshole, and you reacted to him being an asshole. It’s not the most polite thing, but it’s also not that big a deal. Except this guy was volatile and possibly dangerous, and he reacted to it in an unreasonable way. He was looking to escalate things further. Obviously, he was in the wrong, and he was being an asshole.
But your friend does have a point. You see somebody acting crazy, you have to make a decision: do I attract the crazy person’s attention? This obviously wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t given him the finger. That’s not a moral judgment, I’m not saying you’re a bad person for doing it. Just, y’know, if you don’t want things like this to happen, don’t do stuff to provoke obviously unstable people.
Regardless, you weren’t the asshole here.
NTA
If they noticed a finger, they would have noticed the proper thing to do, which would be to honk. That would have caused the same reaction. Crazy angry people are going to be crazy and angry no matter what.
I hope you or someone else has their driving on dash cam and reports them
I won’t say YTA/NTA but use this situation as a an example to learn from.
You never know what someone has inside their car or in their person.
You can easily turn a measly flip of the bird into manslaughter.