# Road Rage—I pit the guy who smashed my window on the highway **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426 "2011-07-09T17:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/21 "2011-07-11T14:46:46Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I’m actually impressed he was able to hit your window accurately and hard enough to break it while driving 60 on the freeway He’d probably been practicing. I can easily imagine an angry sicko with a desire to inflict random mayhem _provoking_ a situation like you describe and feeling a real rush afterwards. After all, by returning the finger, _you gave consent._ It’s on baby! ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/22 "2011-07-11T14:54:42Z")
Am I the only one whose first thought was “Well, thank all the gods that nobody was sitting in the backseat! A child could have been _killed_!” Yeah? Well, I’ll be the one to think of the children for all of us. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/23 "2011-07-11T15:49:55Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Lesson number one: never issue, nor return _the finger_ while driving. Some people are morons, and it’s not worth the hassle. > > Glad you lived to tell us about it. While it’s not practice I engage in, I will defend your right to give the finger unto death (though preferably yours rather than mine). It seem a first amendment right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/24 "2011-07-11T15:53:48Z")
I’m not sure how the First Amendment is all that relevant to avoiding highway mishaps. There’s a lot of expression that’s best repressed while you’re in a moving vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/25 "2011-07-11T16:11:58Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Am I the only one whose first thought was “Well, thank all the gods that nobody was sitting in the backseat! A child could have been _killed_!” > > Yeah? Well, I’ll be the one to think of the children for all of us. Well, the saying goes, ‘won’t _somebody_ think of the children’, not ‘won’t _everybody_ think of the children’. We do appreciate you being designated children-thinker-of. Gives the rest of us a much needed break. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/26 "2011-07-11T16:20:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Lesson number one: never issue, nor return _the finger_ while driving. Some people are morons, and it’s not worth the hassle. > > Glad you lived to tell us about it. If I remember correctly, you’re Canadian (Toronto Maple Leafs for your name, right)? That would explain your attitude. You guys are just too damn nice, even when you are raging mad. In my neck of the woods, normal driving posture is with finger always extended and then only retracted if the situation calls for it. Thank you, **Nzinga**. I was having difficulties formulating a proper response to the “Won’t somebody think of the (potential) children” post, though rolleyes would have been just the start. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/27 "2011-07-11T16:41:20Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I’m actually impressed he was able to hit your window accurately and hard enough to break it while driving 60 on the freeway. If I had to guess, I’d say MrRage is probably pissed he missed the windshield he was aiming for. Was there anyone else in MrRage’s truck? I’m glad you’re ok, **dasmoocher** , and even more glad you didn’t have any passengers. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/28 "2011-07-13T15:08:07Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Lesson number one: never issue, nor return _the finger_ while driving. Some people are morons, and it’s not worth the hassle. > > Glad you lived to tell us about it. Hindsight is 20/20. I’ve probably flipped off 20 drivers in the 6ish years I’ve been driving–I reserve it for really egregious, intentional acts of road stupidity. I’ve been flipped off (that I saw) twice. Neither me nor my victims have chucked a goddamn metal tool through each other’s windows. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/29 "2011-07-13T15:15:16Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Well, the saying goes, ‘won’t _somebody_ think of the children’, not ‘won’t _everybody_ think of the children’. > > We do appreciate you being designated children-thinker-of. Gives the rest of us a much needed break. Thank you. I don’t mind takin’ one for the team once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/30 "2011-07-13T17:18:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Even without the license plate number, I should think it wouldn’t have been that hard for the highway patrol to track down a guy in a truck towing jet skis on the freeway. There can’t have been that many of them. You’d be surprised – Delaware has very few roads (two or three possible routes) heading south to the Delaware and Maryland beaches, and of those few choices, Rt 1 is the fastest with no traffic lights and only a couple of toll stops. On summer and summer holiday weekends, it’s packed with nothing but cars and trucks hauling campers and beach gear on that road. So even if the OP had called it in and described the guy as driving a truck hauling jetskis, it unfortunately might not be enough to go on. If the guy dropped off and disappeared down one of the exits (north to Dover I’m guessing he probably fled at one of the two Smyrna exits), he could have easily disappeared very quickly. It’s a nutty road – virtually deserted when it’s not beach time or NASCAR at Dover Downs; a parking lot when it is. Looking at my calendar, I was coming up from Dover on 5 July, too (I’m not missing a rachet, though 🙂 ) and northbound was pretty heavy even into the late afternoon when I was coming home. The problem is, the official speed limit is 65, which obviously in heavier traffic conditions one cannot do. When it’s a ‘non-beach day’ the unofficial limit seems to be between 80 and 110 – very little exaggeration there; even the police cruise along at lift-off speed. Unless you stay to the right, you’ll get run over by the maniacs. The problems come in when the speed demons want to do 90 mph no matter what, and if there is a lot of traffic, chaos results. Summertime = a lot of stories of people flying off the road, overturning their cars, motorcycle wrecks, all along that route. There are a lot of unmarked police cars up and down 1, but you rarely see anyone pulled over unless they are egregiously weaving in and out of traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/31 "2011-07-13T17:54:54Z")
That’s what you get for bucking the system, McMurphy! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/32 "2011-07-13T18:30:00Z")
Instead of giving / receiving the finger while I driving I prefer the slow, head-nodding-no-I’m-disappointed-in-you move. It’s surprisingly more effective. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/33 "2011-07-13T22:25:42Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Instead of giving / receiving the finger while I driving I prefer the slow, head-nodding-no-I’m-disappointed-in-you move. It’s surprisingly more effective. And is surely not ever mistaken for the nodding of a tired or stoned driver. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/34 "2011-07-13T22:50:01Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > And is surely not ever mistaken for the nodding of a tired or stoned driver. Who slowly shakes their head “no” when they’re tired or stoned? Maybe vigorously…but slowly? ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/35 "2011-07-13T23:06:19Z")
What a nutball. You’re lucky to walk away from that one. If I’d been nearby I would’ve chased him down and chucked a newspaper through his (hopefully still open) window. A _Sunday_ paper. With coupons removed. THAT’d show him! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/36 "2011-07-14T12:47:18Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Am I the only one whose first thought was “Well, thank all the gods that nobody was sitting in the backseat! A child could have been _killed_!” > > Yeah? Well, I’ll be the one to think of the children for all of us. Yeah, seriously. This brings up one of my most horrifying memories. When my youngest child was only a year old, some delinquent by the roadside threw a 10-lb. rock at my car from the side of the highway. Completely random, senseless violence. It smashed through the back side window where my infant son was sitting. It just missed him by inches. What was even more chilling was to get home and find where the rock impacted inside the car. It made a hole in the back of the seat. Because my son was so small at the time, his carseat was rear-facing, and the rock impacted right in front of his face. But if he’d been a little older, in a forward-facing carseat, his head would have been exactly at ground zero. The memory still gives me nightmares… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/37 "2011-07-15T22:57:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Lesson number one: never issue, nor return _the finger_ while driving. Some people are morons, and it’s not worth the hassle. > > Glad you lived to tell us about it. If you feel like you really _ **must** _, return the gesture, I recommend looking directly at them and smiling broadly, while “waving” at them. Only instead of an “open hand” wave, wave with just the one finger! (You know, the “hand straight up, flex side to side at the wrist, sort of wave.”) That seems to piss 'em off _ **way more** _, than if you simply, flipped 'em the “bird” without looking at them. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/38 "2011-07-15T23:21:51Z")
If its a snap on ratchet ill give you 40 for 1/4, 50 for 3/8 and 60 for 1/2 to help defray your deductible ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/39 "2011-07-16T02:03:08Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I signaled and saw him in my mirrors and over my shoulder and he was a few car lengths behind me so I don’t think I cut him off. But… > > He switches to and speeds up in the right lane and then starts swerving into the left lane, repeatedly coming with inches of my car like he wanted to force me off the road. I didn’t get a ratchet through the window, but a similar incident happened to me today. Sir, I checked my mirror and signaled my intentions. I thought I had more than enough room to change lanes in front of you. Your response is to come up next to me on my left and swerve into my lane to try to get me to what? Swerve into the third lane of traffic on my right? Your response to an error is to try to\* cause \*an accident involving a third car? And with children in your backseat? Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426/40 "2011-07-16T04:55:15Z")
Were you able to note the vehicle make and model? I swear if I had the money I’d hire a private investigator and offer rewards in appropriate places for any info leading to the douche’s arrest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/road-rage-i-pit-the-guy-who-smashed-my-window-on-the-highway/588426.md?page=3)