First off, there is no reason for someone to get that outraged at a fender bump. If I recall correctly, damage was limited to the paint at best. Definitely no reason to get that angry.
Secondly, I used to have to drive through that intersection about once a week. It is accident central. Cars there accelerate to move across the intersection on the green and then have to stop suddenly when some idiot decides to run the shoulder to make a right turn. It doesn’t help that by the time the cars crossing in front of you have been able to clear the intersection on your green, you’ve got maybe ten seconds to get across before your light turns red as well. All in all, a horrible intersection.
Oh, and it is now worse, since they are doing a lot of construction to one of the two roads (87) and as such the cross isn’t as straight as it used to be.
I do tend to agree with Blunt’s last sentiment. People do commit far worse crimes than this one. However, this man’s amount of anger for such a minor incident is scary… He could easily unleash that anger upon anyone else and not just a dog. While it may seem that some people look upon this case too heavily, others look upon it far too lightly.
If someone reached his/her hand into my car, even after I completely totaled his/her car, to exact revenge by throwing anything of mine (even a cushion or something), I’d be seeing red. I really do feel for the lady.
And I still think it’s interesting how similar their last names are.
Gah! I wanted the boldness to end after “Blunt”. Damn me and not clicking on “Preview Reply” first.
There’s one problem with your runaway imagination, which is, if HE pulls out and cuts HER off, then whose fault is it? Not hers. I realize that almost all cases where someone is rear ended, the person who hits the person in front of them is considered at fault, however, there are exceptions, as I have noted (although some lying would be able to transfer the blame pretty quickly). And given that, the woman most likely was the one at fault.
Blunt, I might agree with you if the man had immediately realized what he had done (as you hypothesized) and was willing to be penalized (i.e., apologizes and gives all the necessary information for “reimbursement” right away), but instead, he just runs off, wtf? Yeah, what a remorseful guy. Oh yeah, and given that, it’s still fine, since it’s probably his first recorded instance of violence anyways. I think what it boils down to is this: How would you feel if it happened to you?