Four-Way Stops and Road Rage

The BBQ Pit
1

The other morning, I’m setting out at 5:30 am to my job across the DC Beltway. At the entrance to my subdivision is a 4-way stop. The roads leading from it go WNW, SSW, ESE, and due north. The last two are the thru street; i.e., they have the same name and most of the traffic goes on those two branches. My subdivision comes from the SSW branch.

Anyways…

As I’m approaching my stop sign, I see someone approaching the stop from the ESE. They’re going to stop first, so I prepare to enter the intersection after we both stop and he goes. So, he stops, I stop, he goes, I go, then I come to a fucking screeching halt as the car behind the ESE car continues to follow him through without coming within 5 mph of stopping!

I immediately honk and flash my lights just to let the asshole know that he cut me off. He continues north, then pulls over. I figure he feels sorry and is going to let me ahead. I pass him and continue north at about 45-50 mph (speed limit 40).

But wait, that’s not why he pulled over. I guess he wanted to discuss his stop. So he pulls out and tail-gates me down the road! About 1/2 mile from the 4-way the road widens to form a right turn lane into an industrial complex. He starts to pass me on the right! I’m thinking, What the hell is this idiot going to do? I’m not sure if he’s going to try to sideswipe me or what!

The road narrows back to a 2-lane road with unnavigable shoulders. I continue towards a stop light. After stopping, asshole pulls up to my right side on the fucking shoulder! I think he going to get out and do something untoward. I’m freaking because I can’t pull out to the left to get away from him (oncoming traffic), so I just make sure that my doors are locked.

He rolls down his window and starts yelling at me. I roll down my passenger window (just enough to hear him), and start yelling back at him. (It seems as though he thought he came to a full stop.) Then he says, “This is not worth getting worked up about!”

WTF!!??

You’re the jerk that drove recklessly (tail-gating, passing on the right, driving on soft shoulder) just to yell at me about how you came to a complete stop even though you didn’t you ignorant fuck! And all the while scaring the crap out of me that the next time I might see my wife and daughter is from a hospital bed because some Virginia yahoo road-raged me there.

2

Good rant. Happens all the time to me. People pull out in front of me on a regular basis, often forcing me to swerve or brake hard. I fucking hate it. When you honk and flash they normally look at you like it was your fault. I feel ya pain.

3

Well, technically, he was right, albeit hypocritical about it.

4

How was he right? The OP said the person never came to anything remotely resembling a full and complete stop, as is required at any stop sign, four-way or not.

5

Because it’s not worth getting worked up about.

6

Ah. Gotcha. Well, like you said, hypocritical. Moron.

7

Yeah, just had someone drive through after someone went through the opposite stop sign from me. He was on his cell phone. He also cut off traffic trying to pull all the way over into the left lane when he could have been in the left lane at the stop sign he blew through, but, you know, he’s the most important person in the world, after all… :rolleyes:

Esprix

8

:slight_smile:

9

Well, that was stupid.

10

AWB, I seriously believe there is a special place in hell for these people.

My stepdad was driving to work one day, and as he was driving to get on the freeway, some jerk came out of nowhere and cut him off. He nearly had an accident trying to avoid the asshat. Angry, my stepfather catches up to the guy and gets in front of him again, albeit carefully with plenty of room. The other driver, apparently devoid of any logic or regard for human life, goes apeshit over this apparent one-upmanship and pulls up next to my stepdad on his right side to yell at him. At this point they are approaching the traffic light immediately before the freeway entrance. My stepdad’s car is in the left-turn lane. The other guy rolls down his window and screams, “what the fuck do you think you are doing?!” My stepdad just looks at the guy and points forward. BAM the other guy rear-ends a car that was stopped at the light. The left turn light was green and completely clear, and my stepdad drove to work without incident.

11

People like that are the reason I’ve seriously considered posting instructions about what to do at the 4 way stop down the street (i.e. it is NOT okay to just follow the person in front of you through the intersection as if your car is part of their car). Jerkoffs.

12

Oh god, Samarm. I about pissed myself over that link. :slight_smile:

Yeah, people (correction, other people) are fucking idiots when they get behind the wheel. I have a looooooong list of driver pet peeves…

  • people talking on cell phones while driving (yes, even with handsfree. It’s not having to hold the phone that causes a 400% increase in accident rates, it’s paying more fucking attention to a phone call than the two-ton urban assault vehicle you’re riding in, you fucktard). The more I see this one, the more it pisses me off. How about a 400% insurance rate increase if you get pulled over and you’re using a cell phone?

  • people not using turn signals, even for a left turn. Where in the fuck on your car order did it say “Turn signals (optional)”? I’m way more observant (not top mention smarter) than you, yes, but you slammed on the brakes so fast that not even Miss Cleo had a clue

  • people who pull really fucking stupid manuevers behind the wheel, resulting in a near-miss of a mother pushing a baby stroller, a busload of nuns, and you, and have the audacity to look pissed at you when you honk your horn

  • people whose only defense when driving along a narrow road is to take up more and more of your lane, edging you into oncoming traffic

  • college professors, sorority girls and soccer moms driving urban assault vehicles for the dual purpose of image and slightly increasing their odds of surviving a fender-bender while both drastically incrsing their likelihood of causing one, and also drastically reducing your survival rate in one. If you don’t take it off-road, buy a mini-van, you shallow, thimble-witted dunder-cunt. (can I say that here?)

  • male teenage idiots who spend $3,000 decking-out a $2,500 car

  • The creep fiends who feel it’s their calling in life to slow to 3 miles per hour, 80 feet from the cars stopped infront of them, and slowly, oh so slowly let the car idling pull them up to a respectable stopping distance over the next 2 minutes

  • bumper stickers that tell me I need to believe what the person in front of me believes

  • people who, instead of pulling over and asking for directions during rush hour, decide to creep by every intersection to see if MAYBE it’s the right one

  • people who leave their 14-billion candlepower halogen headlights flipped to their brights all the damn time, because their ability to see is so much more important than the rest ours…

  • parents who buy their idiot asshole 16 year-old sons $50k sports cars… what, are you fucking HIGH? Oh noooo, THEY’RE not going to speed or be a menace on the streets…

13

Oh, and please stop at the intersection even if you’re turning right. I was nearly taken out by a monster Suburban who nearly turned into me as I was going through the intersection. Fortunately I got on the brakes in time, otherwise I would have been T-boned. Last time I checked you’re still supposed to give way to people who are half way through the intersection when you roll to the stop sign. Maybe people on their cell phones are exempted from this rule (and just about every other traffic law out there).

14

I had some dickhead do something like the OP to me. I was at a 4 way, I went, I’m guessing that he didn’t like something about me going about 5 above the speed limit. He passes me on the right on a one lane road at 15+ over, yanks over in front of me then slams on his brakes for the stop light. He then gets out of his car! His wife started yelling at him so he never came all the way back.

15

That’s the big problem with the intersection in the OP. The road that’s formed by the N and ESE branches meet at a 135[sup]o[/sup] angle, so it actually seems more like a bend in the road rather than an intersection. But the stop signs are very clear and obvious from all directions.

16

Yes, indeed, it was! As I started yelling, I though, What the fuck are you doing? You were scared he was going to get out and assault you, and now you might be provoking him!

Fortunately, the light turned green soon, and I was away. But boy did this give me a lot to think about for the 45 minutes to work.

17

How about people who creep over the line next to you when you are stopped to make a right, so you can’t see past them? Hey - you are looking to make a left - that’s great! But I can go more easily than you - into one lane of traffic instead of crossing two - so how about being courteous and letting me see if there are people coming?

Susan

18

My own mini rant:

When you come upon a traffic signal that is not working, it then should be treated as a four-way stop. Not as an opportunity to plow through the intersection without glancing in either direction.

I cannot understand the lack of common courtesy or the refusal to arrive at your destination 5 minutes later than planned.

/end mini rant

19

Thats why you need teh junker car and keep the nice one for excursions… Thats what I do, but I guess when i go out on an excursion in the nice car is when everyone wants to hit me… Avoided 3 sideswipes in one week, and no i didnt cause it… People just cant drive well… If i was in the junker I would let you hit me and ill take the $$

20

Not that it wasn’t deserved, but honking and flashing your lights at the offending driver is also a form of road rage, though minor compared to following someone and pulling up alongside them on the shoulder.