Discussion
Hi guys
Had a real nasty experience yesterday where I was the victim of a potential road rage attack. I need to get it off my chest and you guys are cheaper than a shrink!
Leaving for work, 6.45AM, driving the Bighorn Ozone Slayer. Two turning lanes from my village onto two lane SH1 controlled by lights. I'm coming up to the lights, left hand lane, slowing, but still at about 40kph when the lights change to green. This allows me to keep my speed round into the left hand lane of SH1, but "undertaking" a car that was pulling away from stationary in the right hand lane.
Two lanes merge after about 50 metres. Just getting to the merge point and I'm in left hand lane, now right behind another 4x4. The car I had undertaken, now catches up with me, to my right. It cannot now get ahead of me, so is adjacent and trying to force me to yield by pulling onto me. Look over, and passenger is giving me the finger, quite aggressively and mouthing what I imagine were obscenities.
We continue for several seconds door to door, but are now on one lane and I'm drifting onto a rapidly narrowing hard shoulder. Passenger is still gesticulating and is now winding down his window. Sod it this is ridiculous – I think and brake and drop in behind him at a safe distance. No horn, no flashed lights, no gesticulation from me. We're now in a 100kph zone.
So I'm now following them, and 5-10 seconds later they dab on the brakes. I think, great, this guys just going to just try and piss me off now. Then I realise he's braking hard to a stop. I brake hard, and then cadence as I need to steer to the side otherwise I'm likely to shunt them. I end up almost stationary, angled into the shoulder with my nose slightly in front of their rear bumper - so odds on I would have hit them.
I see the passenger door opening, and I think the drivers as well, but I'm on the passenger side. They are moving to get out. They have stopped at the narrowest point on the road with banks on either side. They have waited 10 seconds after the initial confrontation, so there’s something premeditate going on. Somehow I think they're not stopping to ask me to pop round on Sunday for a game of canasta with their gran.
My immediate thought is to get out of there. Reversing and driving to their right is probably not an option as it's narrow and it's a blind bend, so I'd be driving into oncoming 100kph traffic. My best chance would be to continue round on the hard shoulder and undertake them while they were getting out the car and try and get to the police station in the next town whilst phoning 111.
So I boot it and get round to the left and almost past them. As I do, they appear to move forward and my right rear bumper clips their front bumper - lots of crunching and mangling sounds. I can see my rear bumper hanging off and it feels like my rear wheel’s grating against something. Anyway – I don’t want to stop. If they were looking for trouble when they forced me to stop in the first place, it wasn’t going to get any prettier.
I drive straight to the police station, shaking like a leaf. Phone 111 and report the incident as the station looks closed. Copper comes out and takes me in for a statement. Other driver has phoned me in for trying to undertake them and failing to stop at the scene. I make a full and frank statement that I was basically shit scared for my personal safety. Other driver has made no mention of the fact he was stationary when I “undertook” him or the prior jostling at the merge point.
Not sure where it goes from here. There is a witness, but I don’t know what they saw – probably not much as they must have been some way behind me. The police now need to reinterview the other driver and see what he has to say. The other driver lives around here and can easily work out where I live if they took my plate. Wouldn’t put it passed them to try and extract some form of revenge. Anyone behaving like this at 6.45AM is clearly not rational!
Also left wondering what I did to provoke it. Yep - in hindsight should have probably just backed off straight away and let them past, especially with the aggressive behavior of the passanger. Should I have sat tight and locked my doors and waited to see what they wanted? Don't think so...should I have done anything differently?
Cheers for listening…
Had a real nasty experience yesterday where I was the victim of a potential road rage attack. I need to get it off my chest and you guys are cheaper than a shrink!
Leaving for work, 6.45AM, driving the Bighorn Ozone Slayer. Two turning lanes from my village onto two lane SH1 controlled by lights. I'm coming up to the lights, left hand lane, slowing, but still at about 40kph when the lights change to green. This allows me to keep my speed round into the left hand lane of SH1, but "undertaking" a car that was pulling away from stationary in the right hand lane.
Two lanes merge after about 50 metres. Just getting to the merge point and I'm in left hand lane, now right behind another 4x4. The car I had undertaken, now catches up with me, to my right. It cannot now get ahead of me, so is adjacent and trying to force me to yield by pulling onto me. Look over, and passenger is giving me the finger, quite aggressively and mouthing what I imagine were obscenities.
We continue for several seconds door to door, but are now on one lane and I'm drifting onto a rapidly narrowing hard shoulder. Passenger is still gesticulating and is now winding down his window. Sod it this is ridiculous – I think and brake and drop in behind him at a safe distance. No horn, no flashed lights, no gesticulation from me. We're now in a 100kph zone.
So I'm now following them, and 5-10 seconds later they dab on the brakes. I think, great, this guys just going to just try and piss me off now. Then I realise he's braking hard to a stop. I brake hard, and then cadence as I need to steer to the side otherwise I'm likely to shunt them. I end up almost stationary, angled into the shoulder with my nose slightly in front of their rear bumper - so odds on I would have hit them.
I see the passenger door opening, and I think the drivers as well, but I'm on the passenger side. They are moving to get out. They have stopped at the narrowest point on the road with banks on either side. They have waited 10 seconds after the initial confrontation, so there’s something premeditate going on. Somehow I think they're not stopping to ask me to pop round on Sunday for a game of canasta with their gran.
My immediate thought is to get out of there. Reversing and driving to their right is probably not an option as it's narrow and it's a blind bend, so I'd be driving into oncoming 100kph traffic. My best chance would be to continue round on the hard shoulder and undertake them while they were getting out the car and try and get to the police station in the next town whilst phoning 111.
So I boot it and get round to the left and almost past them. As I do, they appear to move forward and my right rear bumper clips their front bumper - lots of crunching and mangling sounds. I can see my rear bumper hanging off and it feels like my rear wheel’s grating against something. Anyway – I don’t want to stop. If they were looking for trouble when they forced me to stop in the first place, it wasn’t going to get any prettier.
I drive straight to the police station, shaking like a leaf. Phone 111 and report the incident as the station looks closed. Copper comes out and takes me in for a statement. Other driver has phoned me in for trying to undertake them and failing to stop at the scene. I make a full and frank statement that I was basically shit scared for my personal safety. Other driver has made no mention of the fact he was stationary when I “undertook” him or the prior jostling at the merge point.
Not sure where it goes from here. There is a witness, but I don’t know what they saw – probably not much as they must have been some way behind me. The police now need to reinterview the other driver and see what he has to say. The other driver lives around here and can easily work out where I live if they took my plate. Wouldn’t put it passed them to try and extract some form of revenge. Anyone behaving like this at 6.45AM is clearly not rational!
Also left wondering what I did to provoke it. Yep - in hindsight should have probably just backed off straight away and let them past, especially with the aggressive behavior of the passanger. Should I have sat tight and locked my doors and waited to see what they wanted? Don't think so...should I have done anything differently?
Cheers for listening…
TBH Richard (it is Richard isn't it?) I thinky uo did the right thing.... all of what's happened can be sorted out eventually.... if you had stopped and they'd taken it out on you with a wheelbrace or a knife then you may have been writing this from a hospital bed, or worse.
Sounds liek you did little to instigate this and you behaved within the letter of the law (no rule agains undertaking in NZ) and you were trying to merge like a zip (letting one go in front and one go behind... you're in the right. You saw better of it and you yielded, you tried to avoid the confrontation.
Now, they stopped in the middle of SH1, with an emergency stop and no good reason. In the accident report file EXACTLY where this happened... then if it gets to court they will have to answer WHY they stopped in the first place, something they will have no answer for... at that point the advantage is in your court as they were clearly looking for confrontation.
Look at it this way mate, you're still in one piece and the damage to your vehicle will be covered by THEIR insurance (and also your insurance will too) and the costs will be recovered from them/their insurance when it's found that they were instigating it.
There was an incident in Auckland recently where a man was run over while trying to flag a motorist down... the motorist ran him over as he thought the guy was coming to try to assault/carjack him .... IIRC, no charges were laid against the motorist as it was an honest misunderstanding.
Sounds liek you did little to instigate this and you behaved within the letter of the law (no rule agains undertaking in NZ) and you were trying to merge like a zip (letting one go in front and one go behind... you're in the right. You saw better of it and you yielded, you tried to avoid the confrontation.
Now, they stopped in the middle of SH1, with an emergency stop and no good reason. In the accident report file EXACTLY where this happened... then if it gets to court they will have to answer WHY they stopped in the first place, something they will have no answer for... at that point the advantage is in your court as they were clearly looking for confrontation.
Look at it this way mate, you're still in one piece and the damage to your vehicle will be covered by THEIR insurance (and also your insurance will too) and the costs will be recovered from them/their insurance when it's found that they were instigating it.
There was an incident in Auckland recently where a man was run over while trying to flag a motorist down... the motorist ran him over as he thought the guy was coming to try to assault/carjack him .... IIRC, no charges were laid against the motorist as it was an honest misunderstanding.
I wouldn't hang around. 
should hopefully be able to establish which is the more credible story. Cheers guys,
Hi George, yes it is Richard.
Yes, I think I'm very lucky especially after reading about the 65 yo who got bashed for overtaking a car that was crawling at 20kph and then accelerated, over took him forcing him to a halt and then bashing the poor guy, for nothing. (Dom Post 2 days ago).
Damage to my car - new rear bumper and mud guard and all fixings at least. No panels by the looks of it, but I am concerned about the rear axle. When I pulled away it felt like like something was rubbing the wheel, causing friction, but there's nothing visible. I could also hear a vague, but high pitched squeal which I hadn't noticed before. Off to get quotes this afternoon.
As for blame, my insurance company said that if the witness is not specific about fault, it's my word against the other driver. They felt the Police will probably not prosecute and therefore will not lay blame against either party. My insurance then has to pay and I get stung for the $ 250 excess (protected no claims). I don't know if the other car is even insured as I didn't hang around to swap business cards, although the police have said they will find out when they reinterview the other drive this weekend.
Cheers
Hi George, yes it is Richard.
Yes, I think I'm very lucky especially after reading about the 65 yo who got bashed for overtaking a car that was crawling at 20kph and then accelerated, over took him forcing him to a halt and then bashing the poor guy, for nothing. (Dom Post 2 days ago).
Damage to my car - new rear bumper and mud guard and all fixings at least. No panels by the looks of it, but I am concerned about the rear axle. When I pulled away it felt like like something was rubbing the wheel, causing friction, but there's nothing visible. I could also hear a vague, but high pitched squeal which I hadn't noticed before. Off to get quotes this afternoon.
As for blame, my insurance company said that if the witness is not specific about fault, it's my word against the other driver. They felt the Police will probably not prosecute and therefore will not lay blame against either party. My insurance then has to pay and I get stung for the $ 250 excess (protected no claims). I don't know if the other car is even insured as I didn't hang around to swap business cards, although the police have said they will find out when they reinterview the other drive this weekend.
Cheers
The little @rsholes!!! Theres so many scrotes on the roads out there just looking for fights and esp more and more since P has become an epidemic. I think you did the right thing by doing a runner to the cops as soon as you could. I hope your insurance comes to the party too. 
Good luck
Good luck 
Actually yesterday morning must have been a day for it.
I was in the LH lane on SH1 just south of Silverdale heading for the motorway. Just as I came past Smalls Road (the one heading to Snow Planet) a refridgerated fish truck (which was in the RH land) merged right on top of me. Had to hit the picks hard and almost got rear-ended. The dumbest thing is that the RH lane goes to a roundabout that also goes on the motorway anyway
I was in the LH lane on SH1 just south of Silverdale heading for the motorway. Just as I came past Smalls Road (the one heading to Snow Planet) a refridgerated fish truck (which was in the RH land) merged right on top of me. Had to hit the picks hard and almost got rear-ended. The dumbest thing is that the RH lane goes to a roundabout that also goes on the motorway anyway
Kiwi XTR2 said:
Actually yesterday morning must have been a day for it.
we almost got taken out twice going over the Rimutakas on thursday by idiots flying up the inside lanes around the tight corners and forcing their way into non-existent gaps where the lanes merged on the corner exit. dunno if they were drunk or just plain bloody morons. The truly scary thing is that you have to remember that a lot of people have no ability to make logical rational decisions and can't reflect on there actions. I was being driven by my flat mate over the Tapu Corraglen Rd many years ago in her Skoda Octavia (Christ that dates me) and she was cutting the corners. Right hand blind bend, we are well over the centerline on the right. A car coming the other way had to go violently to their right as they rounded the corner, how they missed us no idea, good car control as it was a gravel road, much horn from them. In less then 2 minutes she (flatmate) had gone from shock, then what happened, to yes it was their fault!! THEY PASSED US PASSENGER DOOR TO PASSENGER DOOR. Yep their fault, of course, silly me. I was so stunned shocked etc I didn't say a word. I found another flat and moved out about a month later. That stupid cow worked, in fact may still work, in the medical field and 10 years ago when she last tracked me down to go out for a "drink" (I couldn't go, I had to wash my hair) was proudly relating she had just completed her PhD in imaging technology.
As I said the ability to judge situations and act rationally is for a suprising number of the population, included the suposed well educated, an alien concept.
Cheers
Mark Stacey
As I said the ability to judge situations and act rationally is for a suprising number of the population, included the suposed well educated, an alien concept.
Cheers
Mark Stacey
Hi Richard
You have my sympathy, I hope it gets sorted OK and you don't have repairs to pay for. I think my most frightening experience was 20 years ago, being a passenger while a nutter driving a Capri got upset that my Dad wanted to overtake him on a dual carriageway - we were in a little Metro turbo. He was waving a pick-axe handle out of the window and taking swings at our car, pointing at a dent in his door - maybe caused by a Metro but it wasn't us.
Dad backed off so he brake tested us, forcing us to drive at about 5mph behind him. There was no chance of a u-turn with other traffic flying past us, wondering what we were crawling along for. After several failed attempts to get past and not be forced off the road, he threw the handle at us, missed, stopped to collect it and we sped past and turned off the next exit.
There followed an exciting race to the police station 3 miles away, Capri-nutter on our tail, pitting his 3 litre against the mighty 1275cc A-series. We daren't stop at junctions, we were just lucky it was clear. We did pull away from him round some roundabouts and corners and shortly before the police station he gave up the chase and disappeared.
We gave the description and reg number to the police, they checked and said he was well known to them so they would pop round later for a chat. It's the only time I have shouted and sworn at a cop. I was just a kid and terrified but he wasn't concerned at all. If only we had been run off the road and injured they might have been interested.
Dan
You have my sympathy, I hope it gets sorted OK and you don't have repairs to pay for. I think my most frightening experience was 20 years ago, being a passenger while a nutter driving a Capri got upset that my Dad wanted to overtake him on a dual carriageway - we were in a little Metro turbo. He was waving a pick-axe handle out of the window and taking swings at our car, pointing at a dent in his door - maybe caused by a Metro but it wasn't us.
Dad backed off so he brake tested us, forcing us to drive at about 5mph behind him. There was no chance of a u-turn with other traffic flying past us, wondering what we were crawling along for. After several failed attempts to get past and not be forced off the road, he threw the handle at us, missed, stopped to collect it and we sped past and turned off the next exit.
There followed an exciting race to the police station 3 miles away, Capri-nutter on our tail, pitting his 3 litre against the mighty 1275cc A-series. We daren't stop at junctions, we were just lucky it was clear. We did pull away from him round some roundabouts and corners and shortly before the police station he gave up the chase and disappeared.
We gave the description and reg number to the police, they checked and said he was well known to them so they would pop round later for a chat. It's the only time I have shouted and sworn at a cop. I was just a kid and terrified but he wasn't concerned at all. If only we had been run off the road and injured they might have been interested.
Dan
Yippeee.
Just got home from a 3 week trip to Sarf Afrika where I saw the rarest of rarest beasts - yes, a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh, to find a summons waiting for me.
Both me and the other driver are being charged with "careless driving". The third party witness statement almost agrees with my statement, although he suggests I was tailgating the other driver, but corroborates that the other car stoppped in the road, passanger door opened, and when I tried to undertake, attempted to box me in. The other guys statement is just so full of holes I could use it to drain pasta. I now need to decide whether to plead not guilty and fight it, or to plead guilty with some humble pie and just walk away from it all with a probably suspended fine and a blemish on my record.
I'm in two minds about it all.
Zaphod.
Just got home from a 3 week trip to Sarf Afrika where I saw the rarest of rarest beasts - yes, a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh, to find a summons waiting for me.
Both me and the other driver are being charged with "careless driving". The third party witness statement almost agrees with my statement, although he suggests I was tailgating the other driver, but corroborates that the other car stoppped in the road, passanger door opened, and when I tried to undertake, attempted to box me in. The other guys statement is just so full of holes I could use it to drain pasta. I now need to decide whether to plead not guilty and fight it, or to plead guilty with some humble pie and just walk away from it all with a probably suspended fine and a blemish on my record.
I'm in two minds about it all.
Zaphod.
Edited by zaphod on Saturday 12th May 21:59
zaphod said:
Yippeee.
Just got home from a 3 week trip to Sarf Afrika where I saw the rarest of rarest beasts - yes, a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh, to find a summons waiting for me.
Both me and the other driver are being charged with "careless driving". The third party witness statement almost agrees with my statement, although he suggests I was tailgating the other driver, but corroborates that the other car stoppped in the road, passanger door opened, and when I tried to undertake, attempted to box me in. The other guys statement is just so full of holes I could use it to drain pasta, but at the end of the day we both contributed to a road rage incident and I did hit his car, regardless of the circumstances. I now need to decide whether to plead not guilty and fight it, or to plead guilty with some humble pie and just walk away from it all with a probably suspended fine and a blemish on my record.
I'm in two minds about it all.
Zaphod.
Just got home from a 3 week trip to Sarf Afrika where I saw the rarest of rarest beasts - yes, a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh, to find a summons waiting for me.
Both me and the other driver are being charged with "careless driving". The third party witness statement almost agrees with my statement, although he suggests I was tailgating the other driver, but corroborates that the other car stoppped in the road, passanger door opened, and when I tried to undertake, attempted to box me in. The other guys statement is just so full of holes I could use it to drain pasta, but at the end of the day we both contributed to a road rage incident and I did hit his car, regardless of the circumstances. I now need to decide whether to plead not guilty and fight it, or to plead guilty with some humble pie and just walk away from it all with a probably suspended fine and a blemish on my record.
I'm in two minds about it all.
Zaphod.
Can you see if the Police are prepared to discuss the matter prior to the hearing.
Explain that you are prepared to admit to certain facts (possibly the original travelling too close) but are unsure whether, in relation to the the whole of the charge (depending on the exact nature of the charge), you should plead guilty or not.
If you hit his car, while in genuine and reasonable fear for your personal safety, then for that part of the charge I would plead not guilty.
I think it's a good idea to write down the whole thing, and re-draft, and re-draft, until it tells the story as clearly as possible.
Also if the summons is a bit stale I'd ring the police on Monday and explain that you just got back from 3 weeks overseas and will be happy to assist in whatever way you can.
I agree with the above but would seriously recommend consulting a lawyer. I have a friend that is a defence lawyer who I see every Wednesday. I will ask him what he thinks if I here's there.
I had to appear in court on speeding charges about 7 years ago. I was guilty of speeding (192kmph) and was charged with exceeding 100k and dangerous driving. Cut a long story short the Policeman had charged me twice for the one offence, which was wrong. Had I not used a lawyer I would have got severly dealt to as I was going to plead guilty to both charges.
I had to appear in court on speeding charges about 7 years ago. I was guilty of speeding (192kmph) and was charged with exceeding 100k and dangerous driving. Cut a long story short the Policeman had charged me twice for the one offence, which was wrong. Had I not used a lawyer I would have got severly dealt to as I was going to plead guilty to both charges.
How the devil are ya? 
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