# Braking to teach a tailgater a "lesson" ends in two deaths. I pit everyone involved.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [April 12, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813 "2007-04-12T16:02:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/1 "2007-04-12T16:02:01Z")
This story answers a question posed in a recent thread - [Why is braking to teach a tailgater a “lesson” a bad idea?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=415182):
[2 Die in Road-Rage Crash on I-270](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100787.html)
From the Post:
> [@](#):
>
> The two male drivers got into a spat, police said, “exchanging obscene gestures” as they whizzed south on Interstate 270 during the thick of rush hour.
>
> Near the Urbana exit, in an apparent attempt to have the last word, police said, the pickup driver slammed on his brakes when the Chrysler Sebring convertible was on the truck’s tail, prompting the convertible’s driver to swerve right. The convertible slammed against the guardrail, flipped over and barreled into an embankment shortly after 8 a.m.
>
> The driver, Christian M. Luciano, 28, and his girlfriend, Lindsay L. Bender, 25, both of Harrisburg, Pa., were ejected from the car and died almost instantly, police said.
>
> The driver of the pickup sped away. Police are searching for him.
>
> Corbin said Luciano and Bender were not wearing seat belts.
I pit everyone involved for being dumbasses.
I pit the truck driver for braking apparently to teach the other drive a lesson about tailgating, and then leaving the scene.
I also pit the driver of the convertible for tailgating.
Lastly, I pit the couple in the convertible for not wearing seat belts, especially in a convertible whilst participating in this road rage incident. In this day in age, how stupid do you have to be NOT to wear your seat belt?
---
### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/2 "2007-04-12T16:44:53Z")
If the driver is found, is there anything he can legally be cited for, other than the earlier spat?
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/3 "2007-04-12T16:50:16Z")
I agree that all involve here deserve a thorough pitting, although sadly, two people have been punished enough already, even if through their own stupidity.
Since the prior thread was referenced, it is worth pointing out that there is, in my mind, a difference between braking to encourage a tailgater to go around you (a practice I don’t agree with or engage in, but I can understand the thought process involved) and braking as a deliberate act of road rage (which was the case in this story).
**Wee Bairn** , I certainly hope the other driver can be held accountable for manslaughter since his actions were directly responsible for the “accident.” One wonders if it wasn’t actually his intent to cause an accident, frankly.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/4 "2007-04-12T16:54:56Z")
Reckless driving?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/5 "2007-04-12T17:00:07Z")
I note that the two who were (very sadly) killed were not wearing seatbelts, were tailgating, and were participating in the to-and-fro of a road-rage incident. Without any one of these factors, they would probably still be alive.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/6 "2007-04-12T17:01:53Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
If the driver is found, is there anything he can legally be cited for, other than the earlier spat?
[/QUOTE]
Leaving the scene of an accident, I presume.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/7 "2007-04-12T17:06:42Z")
A tragedy, but how do you “whiz” during the “height of rush hour?” Just curious.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/8 "2007-04-12T17:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
A tragedy, but how do you “whiz” during the “height of rush hour?” Just curious.
[/QUOTE]
Well I usually pull off onto the shoulder and look for some bushes to hide behind.
😃
CMC fnord!
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### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/9 "2007-04-12T17:15:27Z")
So some jackass in an expensive convertible combines two incredibly stupid and rather antisocial things: driving like a fucktard and not wearing a seatbelt. His cunning plan of “be a dick without consequences” backfires and he dies a death that he himself could have very easily presented.
We have sympathy for him…why? I have sympathy for his passenger, yes, though minimal because she also wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
And the driver of the pickup was also a jerk - there’s a hell of a difference between “tapping your brakes to scare the guy off your bumper” and “slamming on your brakes so he crashes” - but it’s not his fault.
If you don’t leave yourself enough room to stop in an emergency, it’s your fault. If you don’t wear a seatbelt and get killed, it’s your fault.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/10 "2007-04-12T17:55:07Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick]
If you don’t leave yourself enough room to stop in an emergency, it’s your fault. If you don’t wear a seatbelt and get killed, it’s your fault.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, and if you purposely slam on your brakes in order to create a hazardous situation, it’s also your fault. There’s no one party completely at fault here.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/11 "2007-04-12T18:12:00Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick]
So some jackass in an expensive convertible combines two incredibly stupid and rather antisocial things: driving like a fucktard and not wearing a seatbelt. His cunning plan of “be a dick without consequences” backfires and he dies a death that he himself could have very easily presented.
We have sympathy for him…why? I have sympathy for his passenger, yes, though minimal because she also wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
And the driver of the pickup was also a jerk - there’s a hell of a difference between “tapping your brakes to scare the guy off your bumper” and “slamming on your brakes so he crashes” - but it’s not his fault.
If you don’t leave yourself enough room to stop in an emergency, it’s your fault. If you don’t wear a seatbelt and get killed, it’s your fault.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with everything you said except two key points:
Who expressed sympathy for the idiot driver of the Sebring Convertible that tailgated and failed to wear a seatbelt and thusly got his girlfriend killed? If he lived and she died, he should have been found guilty of killing her.
All that said, there is never a good excuse to tap your brakes just to teach a lesson. The tailgaters were wrong, but the pickup truck driver is also an idiot and helped cause the two deaths. He had no real reason to do so except anger.
Jim
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### Author:  [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/12 "2007-04-12T18:23:07Z")
It sounds like there’s more than enough dumbness to go around in this story.
As to what the driver of the truck could be charged with:
Leaving the scene of the accident, at the very least.
Around these parts, assuming there were witnesses (and it sounds like there were), he could probably also be charged with undo care and attention, stunting, and dangerous driving causing death for starters. I have no idea if those particular charges even exist where this happened, but I imagine there are similar things.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/13 "2007-04-12T18:54:08Z")
I don’t know if the person in the convertable was tailgating, at least not from what I’ve heard. Some of the other news stories say the truck swerved in front of the car and then slamed on the brakes. They have been looking for the truck for the last two days and it’s been all over the news, I’m sure he’ll be caught.
I still don’t see how they could have been going that fast on that part of the highway. I-270 at 8am is slow, slow, slow. As in 20mph slow, so I don’t know how they were going fast enough to get killed like that.
Idiots all around this place though, enough that I like taking the train to work.
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/14 "2007-04-12T18:59:13Z")
“Golly officer, I just saw a ball bouncing towards the road and I didn’t want to hit any small child that might be chasing after it. Sure is a shame about that feller wrecking his car, but I don’t know nothing about it.”
Of course, being an asshole leading up to the event really kills much chance he has of B.S.ing his way out of it. Around these parts I believe road rage is a ticketable violation but the guy following too close gets the ticket for the accident (if he survived). I’m not a cop or lawyer, just an oldtime street racer.
Stay off my fucking ass and you won’t die seems like good advice, but this was a road rage thing and not a “tapping on your brakes to teach a tailgater a lesson” thing, IMHO
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/15 "2007-04-12T19:00:23Z")
Why on earth wouldn’t the driver of the truck be criminally responsible for the two deaths, as in, manslaughter of some sort? According to the story, it seems clear that the truck driver was deliberate in his effort to create a hazardous situation – “in an apparent effort to have the last word.” He may not have been fully culpable in initiating the hazardous situation, but it sounds like he intentionally escalated it, resulting in two deaths. IANAL, but that sounds like something that ought to be covered by manslaughter. At the very, very least, his jamming on the brakes was reckless, and as I understand it, deaths from a reckless act are the definition of involuntary manslaughter.
I would generally maintain that jamming the brakes in order to scare a tailgater (as opposed to braking to allow the tailgater to pass) is a reckless act that ought to have legal consequences.
This is all in no way to excuse the actions of the driver of the convertible.
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### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/16 "2007-04-12T19:01:21Z")
My first thought? GREAT! It’s always some slick-haired yuppie hotshot driving a convertible that tailgates, swerves in and out of traffic even though it’s rush hour, goes 90 even though it’s pouring rain or snow. And you know what? It’s always some frosted bimbo riding shotgun, enabling by the bastard by being his girlfriend and stoking his ego. Time to die!
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### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/17 "2007-04-12T19:06:38Z")
Regardless of anything, I just CANNOT COMPREHEND how/why they people were not wearing seat belts. Can anyone shed some light on why people would be so stupid as to not wear seat belts???
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/18 "2007-04-12T19:17:57Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3]
My first thought? GREAT! It’s always some slick-haired yuppie hotshot driving a convertible that tailgates, swerves in and out of traffic even though it’s rush hour, goes 90 even though it’s pouring rain or snow. And you know what? It’s always some frosted bimbo riding shotgun, enabling by the bastard by being his girlfriend and stoking his ego. Time to die!
[/QUOTE]
You left out “expensive” convertible. Apparently the value of your car is inversely proportional to the value of your life, according to **NinjaChick**.
And since when is a Chrysler Sebring expensive?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/19 "2007-04-12T19:20:26Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat]
You left out “expensive” convertible. Apparently the value of your car is inversely proportional to the value of your life, according to **NinjaChick**.
And since when is a Chrysler Sebring expensive?
[/QUOTE]
That last part is probably relative.
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braking-to-teach-a-tailgater-a-lesson-ends-in-two-deaths-i-pit-everyone-involved/399813/20 "2007-04-12T19:20:32Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat]
And since when is a Chrysler Sebring expensive?
[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly what I was going to say. Criminy. A Sebring being expensive. :: snort ::
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