I read this story at least 3, if not 4+ decades ago, I’m sure. I may even have the damn thing in my library, in some short story collection. But I’ve not been able to find it. No idea of the author. (I am embarrassed to say I may have asked this question here before, but if so, I can’t find the thread)
Setting: Near future in the USA
Scenario: The supreme court has ruled that the government cannot regulate the use of weaponry on freeways (? limited to interstates) nor prosecute anyone for the results of the use of such weaponry.
Social outcome: Commuting to work, going on road trips, commercial trucking etc has become very challenging. Modern vehicles come with weapons options, armor options, etc. Merging often involves weapons fire, as do other usual traffic encounters.
Plot: An older male commuter reflects on his daily drive, as he cruises in his very well armored and armed vehicle. He keeps a wary eye out for a few regular “aggressive” drivers he knows, he gives a “gentle” lesson in road manners to a young female driver in a sporty but inadequately armored/weaponized vehicle, and he ends up in an extended rolling shootout with a longtime foe. Just another day on the road.
Yes, I do believe that’s it. I also believe I own that book collection. I will have to do some serious rooting around to find it; it may have gotten tossed a few years back when we had a terrible mold infestation requiring me to sacrifice a lot of old paperbacks.
WHY JOHNNY CAN’T SPEED – A father could teach his son a lot of important things, but combat on the freeways wasn’t one of them…not when the kit was eighteen and too full of himself to survive. But revenge did have it’s compensations!
10 minutes from question to answer! thanks so much!
Damn, that sounds like it too, and it’s likely I would have read that also, given my fascination with Ellison as a teen.
In a near future, freeway drivers on the 101 Pacific Coast Highway challenge one another to mortal duels under official supervision. Family man George upgraded his family car and can’t resist a provocation from a punk cutting him on a cruise with his wife. The road rage and ritual duel turns to a deadly battle using futuristic enhancements.
I may even be conflating the two stories in my head
The Harlan Ellison story ended with the protagonist having successfully beaten, if I recall correctly, the 12th best road warrior on the United States roads at that moment. At the very end of it, he was being told that all the other warriors were coming to join him in battle.
I recognized the descriptions of both the Foster and Ellison stories, primarily as they were cited by game designer Steve Jackson as inspirations for his post-apocalyptic auto combat game, Car Wars.
I believe that’s also the plot to the video game Interstate 76, where after an oil production crash the only people left on the roadways are people driving around in heavily armored cars who steal oil from other heavily armored cars.
It’s not the right answer, but the OP’s description reminds me of “A Nice Morning Drive” by Richard Foster, which was the inspiration for Rush’s song Red Barchetta. That story’s sort of the inverse of the story OP is looking for; it’s a future where modern cars have become gas-guzzling behemoths that can survive a crash at almost any speed, and the protagonist, who owns a vintage sports car, has to be wary of drivers who hunt cars like his for sport because they can run them off the road at no risk to themselves.
That was the one where the family man won by dropping his crash helmet out the window, fatally disrupting the antagonist’s hover cushion. And then he discovers that he just killed the most infamous duelist on the freeway and now everyone wants a piece of him.
