Road Rage

Merging off of 495 onto 95 North, I saw an opening in the far right access lane. My lane had slowed. I noticed a car creeping up to the right, but figured I had plenty of time to move over, so I put my turn signal on.

Once I entered the lane, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a hand waving, as if claiming I cut off the driver it belonged to. I thought I had had plenty of space to make the lane change andit was a case of this person speeding up on me. In Maryland, if you put on your turn signal, it's like flaunting a red towel in front of a bull, people will speed up on you. So, I waved my hand back.

I also put my right turn signal on. Of course, at this point, going right meant off to the side of the road. My intention was to show that I had my signal on and this driver sped up on me. I realized afterwards, it could have been a sign to pull over and start a confrontation.

In any event, this driver was tailgating me and, for some reason, people go really slowly when exiting onto 95 North, so there wasn't anywhere for me to go. I found an opening back in the left lane and this person followed me. Before hitting the road work for the new ICC (I thought we voted against everyone who supported it!), everyone slows down. So I slowed down, which infuriated this tailgater. The person sped up right next to me on the left (and off the road). I greeted the tinted windows of the white car (including painted flames!) with the old middle finger salute.

For the next ten miles, the white car stayed within distance of me. I drove normally, not running, but kept my eye on this vehicle. At one point, I got caught in a slow-moving left lane and the white car pulled up next to me on the right. Inside, with the window rolled down, was a large ugly bald white man. He held a sneer for me (unless it was just a case of bell's palsy) and shook his head pathetically at me.

I stared back, never releasing my gaze. He was the first to flinch, looking forward as he passed me. He then looked back, startled to see me still stoicly eying him. As he passed, he disgustedly threw down a piece of garbage, which I believe was intended on being a protest at my actions, but instead looked like a bit of passive aggressiveness. My experience has been that big guys, who look mean and ugly, don't like to be stood up to.

After any encounter like that, I always evaluate my actions. There are things I did to ignite the situation further. Ultimately, I don't think Gandhi would be very pleased with my response. Sorry G.