Men and road rage

[glovely]

I was driving my car today. Lights went green so I proceeded across the junction. In the road ahead a car reversed out of a parallel park space on the side of the road, so me and a couple of cars behind me ended up blocking the junction. It wasn't a big deal and probably caused a delay of about 20 seconds max. I happened to be the one whose window was close to the car coming from the other side of the junction. Nowhere I could move. Instead of just waiting, the man in the car rolled his window down and shouted 'what the fuck are you doing you stupid fucking bitch!'. Literally, gobsmacked that he was so angry about being delayed by approx 20 seconds, and spoke so violently towards me. Like, he was literally spitting. I wound my window down and looked at him and he refused to even look at me (likely because I made things incredibly awkward by winding my window down when he probably expected me to be scared and ignore him). What I wanted to do was turn my engine off and block the junction completely until he apologised but I have not got ovaries that big! I do not understand what it is with men in cars who have so much anger. It happens semi regularly (not always towards me but I see regular road rage and it's always the same type of person). Just, horrid!

I can see the temptation but I'm a bit reluctant now after my bad experiences.

I disagree, the angriest men I see are 50s - 70s, usually overweight and probably have very high blood pressure.

There’s a similar thread from a couple of weeks ago with some cracking karma stories.

Oh yes, come to think of it, based on my anecdata, I would argue that your age group is prime age for road rage.

Some of the stories I see about them being unable to control their rage.

They can control their rage. If the person in the car in all of these examples had been a large man or a group of men instead of a woman, or if a police car had been in sight, they almost certainly would not have acted in the same way. I am willing to bet that all these angry men can somehow control their rage at work, in the gym, at family gatherings. It is entirely a choice to be aggressive towards women.

This is interesting because i haven't had incidents like the ones described in this thread and thinking about it now i might well look like a man through a car window or two because i am tall and have short hair and usually wear gender neutral clothing.

It's one of the reasons I left my ex

I live quite close to the Phoenix Park in Dublin.

The park has a 30km/hr limit everywhere because it’s full of roaming deer and they do run out unexpectedly.

Every single time I end up with a man driving up my arse, flashing, beeping and then overtaking aggressively all because I’m sticking to the speed limit.

Speaking to DD driving instructor, she told me that it's nearly always men -99% of the time. She's had anger from women so infrequently she can count on one hand after years and years in the job.
DD is currently learning to drive and is test level. She's very good, not hesitant or slow, very rarely makes a minor mistake. When I've been out with her we've had a few men (always men) weaving around behind her far too close, doing dangerous over takes or once beeping their horn and boggling angrily because DD didn't run down the family standing in the middle of the road. Never had a problem with a women 🤷‍♀️apparently women are the emotional ones though.

Last year, I was driving through a tunnel with two lanes. Car A cut Car B up. Car B then accelerated past Car A, blocked both lanes... and the two drivers got out of the car and had a physical fight in the middle of the road. Fortunately behind me was a HGV whose driver also got out, pulled them apart and sent them on their way. The whole thing wS over in a few minutes... but still.

There is some shit driving around currently but road rage solves nothing.

This Sunday morning I was taking DD to an early swim class. Mini roundabout, my right of way - nothing to my right and nothing currently on the roundabout. I was already on the roundabout, turning right when a car flew out from the junction I was about to pass and I had to slam on quickly otherwise I would hit it. I hit the horn as if to say "WTF" and the driver - a man in his 50's - had the audacity to give me the V's - as if I was in the wrong. He almost lost control of his car doing so, he was going that fast. There was also what I assume was his wife and two small grandkids in the back. I always take that roundabout at a careful speed as its happened before.

Just this morning I was at a traffic lighted T Junction waiting to turn right. So many cars and vans jumped the red lights on the main road so that no fewer than 4 vehicles, all male drivers, were coming through and turning when my light was clearly on green. The man in the white van had the cheek to stick the middle finger up at me as well. I don't know what he got out of that.

I've also had, again male, drivers scream and gesticulate at me because I have stopped at an amber to red light and not raced through it and they've had to emergency stop. The amount of selfish drivers that think traffic lights don't apply to them is worrying.

I live on a road with a primary school on the end. Plenty of women also get road rage during drop off/pick up - we have had physical fights in this road with them.

Awful, whoever does it.

I often have to parallel park on the side of the road, so indicate, slow down, stop and perform the manoeuvre. Roughly 25% of the time there is an idiot up my chuff who beeps and gesticulates as they go around me. Genuinely don't understand what's going through their mind. Should I keep driving until they reach their destination so that I don't inconvenience them?

Yup!

I have to drive down a single carriageway by a school every day. There is a turning lane in the middle for cars needing to turn right into the school.

I drive at 30mph despite it being a 60mph because earlier this year a man pulled out from the school entrance turning right, but due to traffic in the middle lane waiting I had no visibility of him doing this and it was only by the grace of God I managed to swerve and not get hit. He did at least flash his hazards to apologise.

Anyway, last week, same again but its even busier as its raining heavily. In the turning lane is an HGV for the Aldi store next to the school.

I'm driving slowly, aware that the lorry means those waiting to come out the school may not see me and I won't see anyone who pushes their way out.

Lo and behold a BMW suddenly appears on my right having pulled out from the school and almost t-bones me. I slam my brakes on, as does he. I then move forwards to continue my journey but clearly he is annoyed and proceeds to drive up my arse, flashing his lights, beeping and making all kinds of rude gestures.

Annoyingly I have it on dashcam but when I removed the memory card to download it I dropped it in the car and its disappeared!! So frustrating as I intended to pass it to the police.

But this is just one incident in a line of incidents. Another a berk in a Merc tried to cut me up on a roundabout. I wasn't expecting it but am always prepared for it, so luckily swerved and then proceeded up the road. I assume he was annoyed that he didn't manage to get in front of me so he proceeded to drive up my arse and flash me. My husband actually went looking for him as it was awful, never found him.

I do a lot of motorway driving and the aggressive drivers are ALWAYS men. Usually in the 25-45 age bracket.

Men really need to learn to control their emotions better.

True. I probably wouldn’t do it in the states as someone could just pull a gun out.

My teen daughter is a (relatively) new driver and even with P plates (which she says she’s absolutely keeping!) is experiencing hideous abuse some days on the road. She’s got no flipping choice but to stick to the speed limit, she has a black box for insurance! She’s an incredibly careful and sensible driver but others want to get there quicker so she gets beeped very regularly. It’s so off putting and it’s nearly always men.