Former AGF Member Dies After a Road Rage
 

While driving back home with his family after playing a soccer game, this member was in a two lane road in the slow lane when a pickup truck in the passing lane sped up to get in front of him. However, the pickup truck went too slowly so the member switched lanes and got in front of him. I believe this is when the driver of the pickup truck got ticked off. When both came to a stop light, the driver in the pickup truck said some things to the member before making a right turn. The member snapped and followed the pick up truck.

They both pulled into a neighborhood and when the member got of his car to approach the pickup truck the driver fired off some shots striking the member and he died at the scene. He is survived by his wife and his 7 month-old son.

The part in red didn't happen because the member, me, had a wake up call and stopped following this pickup truck. I was doing so well on the road not letting anyone bother me but not sure why such an insignificant move made me snap. Maybe playing soccer for 90 minutes?

Glad you came to your senses. It's easy to become incensed by inconsiderate people, thereby causing you turn into one yourself.

It was such a stupid and selfish thing to do with the wife and the baby in the car. I came to my senses when I realized that I am a father and shouldn't put myself, my wife, and my son in danger. This was such a stupid thing to do.

Friend, I hereby absolve you of your guilt. You made a mistake, corrected it, and took responsibility. All is well.

Cheers!

Hey, you realized it. That's the important part.

I had a situation, almost came to blows with a guy and a leashless pitbull that scared the crap out of my kids and dog as I was taking a walk with them in my neighborhood.

I let him know what I thought of him, in so many words, but backed off a bit when I realized, "What am I gonna do, fight this guy in front of my kids?" Ridiculous. How stupid of me.

This, and the fact I haven't thrown a punch in about 20 years snapped me out of it.:D

"the pickup truck went too slowly so the member switched lanes and got in front of him."

So a couple of thought's

The impulse to switch lanes and get in front of him (initially) has as much to do with competitiveness (as opposed to anger) as anything. Which is instinctual but at drastically different levels and about different things in different people .

And maintaining a competitive edge is not automatically a bad thing in life.
The trick and the wisdom is a continuous life long process of understanding when and where is is wise to do so.

The way to avoid switching lanes (or any other problematic reaction) in the first place is to try to understand or first ask yourself "Am I in a hurry and if so Why"?

I used to also be very competitive while driving one thing that actually got me really objectively asking myself Why ? Was interestingly enough this song by the hit country group Alabama. When ever I would feel myself start to get competitive while driving I would start singing this song

LOL! I came to the same conclusion. It is not worth putting yourself in danger. The worst thing that can happen is you getting shot and you dying. I have an undefeated record in street fighting because I have never fought anyone in my thirty plus years as a man so my odds of beating someone is slim. But what if I do beat the other guy, what is the point?

If a 6 ft and some 180 lbs was coming at you, I don't think anyone would be intimidated...unless I had a Huss & Dalton with me. Then it would be 3 vs 1...bad joke?

I had ONE question in my head as I saw the pickup truck in front of me. "Why did you get in front of me if you're going to go this slowly?" That's what really irritated me. Why speed up and get in front of me only to impede my speed? Why didn't you just get behind me?

First: that "Why" is not important, and more importantly it is nothing over which you have any control nor will any reaction on your part actually effect any meaningful change. You did not "teach him" anything you simply made him angry. That is not education that"s revenge.
But that is not the point, the point is reaction on your part is almost always futile for accomplishing anything but more discord . And is not fun
Where wise action can actually accomplish something and by example may educate
Had you simply pulled into the fast lane stayed there and ignored him as you went by you would be staying positive and have a chance having fun
Trust me the most important message in that song is
"rush and rush until life's no fun"

So the question to ask yourself would you rather get even or have fun ?

While driving fast can be fun ... being in a hurry never is .......

I just want to clarify something here. I was not driving fast in the slow lane. I have been on good behavior until this pickup truck. Revenge is what I wanted as I wanted to inflict upon him what he inflicted upon me. I realize his intention was not this but I over reacted. Maybe the competitiveness should have been left off on the field.

Glad you came to your senses. It's not worth it and you have no idea how the other person will react, i.e. shoot you.

Also, given how easy it is to capture video now, chances are you'll be caught showing your road rage.

This usually keeps my road rage at slower drivers in check

http://personal.denison.edu/~silveira/speeding.html

You really aren't saving much time

Please note that I was not trying to go fast, I was going about the speed limit but the pickup truck slowed me down by about 10 mph on a 45 mph speed limit zone. I snapped because of that. I wasn't trying to go fast. The best thing to do would have been to switch lanes and move on instead of getting in front of him.

No I wasn't suggesting you were driving fast ,sorry for the confusion .

I was actually relating something about my change in perspective and perception.
I was and still am to some extent what is often is referred to as an adrenaline junky or thrill seeker .
I have always loved fast.
But I now usually only go fast when there is no other traffic .
or I sometimes when am trying to navigate traffic I may speed up but not because I am in a hurry . For example say there is a block of cars tightly packed in the slow lane rather than staying behind them and make the bunch up bigger I may get in fast lane and speed up (if possible) to get well past them so as to not contribute to the problem. If that's not possible then I follow at a safe distance and refuse to bunch up. Even though I know full well somebody may pull in front of from the fast lane. If they do I just readjust to the same distance as opposed to tailgate to get even.

My apologies, I misread and misunderstood your post in my initial read.

I'm still stuck on this phrase. Where you live they have two lane roads, with both a slow lane and a fast one? Is the "fast lane" normally reserved for oncoming traffic?

I lived for a long time in Metro Atlanta, where the traffic, even today after they reopened the stretch of I-85 that had burned to the ground, is generally horrendous. People going slower than I am are idiots, and those going faster are maniacs, and I am the only one of thousands who is paying attention to their driving. One thing I learned in driving in all that traffic: my goal is to arrive safe and sound without incident. "On time" is entirely secondary.

cotten