This really needs to be emphasized. Some here expressed a belief that the odds of having an interaction with someone like that are so small as to not be worthy of considering, yet many of us have shared episodes that have occurred to ourselves or our loved ones.
These people are a given. They are out there on the roads as a known hazard whether we are think they all deserve the death penalty or not. Saying that they should not be there is like saying there should be no potholes: both are nevertheless a fact.
I try to avoid running into potholes. I know that I can still run into one anyway, maybe have nothing bad happen usually but still maybe blow out a tire doing so, maybe even get into an accident as a result. But if I see one I will try to avoid it as best I safely can. If I see it and I intentionally drive into it is it all the pothole’s “fault” that a flat results, or that I got into an accident and someone got hurt?
“Fuck you!”/“the finger” may seem “mild” to some here, but I can state with absolute confidence that many people receive that as a hostile challenge, as having a fight picked with them, and some are looking for a fight, looking for a target for their anger and frustration. I honestly think very few people receive a “Fuck you!” without experiencing anger (or increased anger) as a response, without at some level experiencing it as a verbal shove, and experiencing a desire to shove back harder. (There may be words that you hear as very offensive that others think are mild, that you rightfully expect others to not use.)
Best case is that the other driver is not very angry to begin with and they go along fairly unaffected. More commonly the result is that an angry driver driving aggressively has been made more angry. Maybe that only results in a higher chance of them causing an accident with someone else. Or maybe they were already far enough along that they use their car as weapon, or in a more extreme case, a handy weapon as a weapon.
Not your fault that they were provoked. You are NOT part of the problem. You have every right to swear at anyone who you want in any way you want with whatever words you want, and the consequences, be they experienced by you or to someone else down the road, are not on your head.
Avoiding conflict with other drivers is a basic part of driving defensively, and driving defensively saves lives. Intentionally engaging in conflict involving vehicles OTOH …?
I hope I am not quoting you unfairly this time.
From my perspective the time after a catastrophic outcome is exactly the time to do a root cause analysis of it. It is part of what we do as the best possible way to actually work towards our all altering our group behaviors to minimize the risks of future should be never events.
The OP was an obvious troll who threw sexist misogynistic chum into the water of The Pit and got to enjoy the predictable churn of posters (which apparently is me blaming the victims that the posters who take the bait are?). Fine, you enjoy your recreational outrage. I’ve made my victim-blaming rape-enabling shit-picking, points, that was outside of the circle knee-jerk that had been in progress, at least as well as I can. I had no intention to provoke such anger in response.