So, last night, I'm on the way home from the dojo. Tired and sweaty, still wearing my gi pants and a hoodie. I'm driving my car down a side-street (there's no direct route to my house from the dojo) and I approach a train crossing and I can see that there is a train stopped on the tracks, not moving.
I have some experience with this crossing. There is a switch nearby, and sometimes the crossing will be blocked for hours while they pull apart cars. Very frustrating. There's a nearby road that has an overpass for the train tracks, so the best solution is to turn around, backtrack a mile or so, cut over a half mile, and go down the road with the trestle overpass for the train.
So, I see the car in front of me has the same idea. With no oncoming traffic (since the train prevents it), we both start to turn around in the street. My car is very small and his is larger, so I get turned around in one go, he has to back up and turn twice to complete his U-turn. But in any case, I'm well away from him and do not block him in any way.
But he comes from behind, runs up on my bumper, and passes me on the left, honking and flipping me off. He rockets down the road, clearly headed the same way I am going. I let him go.
Eventually, though, due to traffic signals and whatnot, I catch up to him. We're side-by-side on a larger street, two lanes of traffic each way, and he's stuck in the slow lane behind another car, which he's tailgating. I pass him and glance over, and he's cursing and flipping me off. Looks like a big fat guy, he does not look particularly threatening to me; except that if a guy that size gets a punch in, it can sure hurt. From how high he's sitting in his seat, I'd guess he's well over six feet tall.
I ignore him and pass, and he immediately pulls out to the left, tailgates me, starts flashing his lights and honking. I pass the slower car on my right, signal, move over to the slow lane, and this jerkwad shoots past me on the left again, swerves in front of me, and hammers his brakes. I knew he was going to do that, though, so I had already started slowing down. When he sees I didn't have to cram on my brakes to avoid hitting him, he nails the gas and speeds off.
We get to another traffic light and we're both turning right, and there's a 'no right turn on red' sign, so we're stuck. He looks back at me over his shoulder and I can see he's running his mouth, really angry. I start thinking about self-defense responses if he gets out of his car.
Fact 1: We're in Pontiac. Lots of guns and crime and violence in Pontiac. People found dead laying in the street all the time. Not far from where we are now, a young women was found executed with a bullet to the back of the head right in the middle of the street, middle of the day, no witnesses. It's not a nice area.
Fact 2: Anyone can have a gun with them. If this guy gets out of his car and starts back towards me, I will have no idea if he's armed or not until he gets to my car. If he's armed and decides to shoot me, I'm a sitting duck.
Fact 3: I look in the rear view mirror, there is no one behind me.
So I decide that if he gets out of his car, I'm going to put my car in reverse and back up as quickly as I can, while watching him. If I see a gun before I can get distance, I'm going to put it in drive and run him over. If not, I'm going to do a bootleg turn and head out of there the other way as fast as I can.
I am NOT going to get out of my car and confront him one-on-one. That's just not an option in this area, with an unknown person of unknown intent who is obviously enraged at me. If I get out of the car, there's going to be a fight. Assuming he is not armed, I might or might not win. And I will definitely have a problem either way. I'm just not going to do it.
But he does not get out of his car. He just keeps running his mouth. The light changes, we both turn right. He shoots off at a high rate of speed.
The next light, he's turning left and I'm going straight. We're side by side. I have to keep my eyes on him in case he brings up a gun all of a sudden, but he's just running his face. I keep my face impassive, I am not encouraging him, not swearing back at him, not flipping him off. I am just carefully watching. The guy is going berserk, slamming his hands on the steering wheel and he's obviously starting to sweat.
The light changes and he peels out. I drive home.
The moral of the story? A bullet trumps a fat old Marine veteran and current karate student every time. I don't know if he has a bullet or not, therefore, I am not going to fight him unless I have absolutely no choice. My ego, my sense of self-worth, my manhood, are not in jeopardy, but my butt is. I let common sense do the thinking in this case. Self-defense 101.
Here endeth the lesson.
I have some experience with this crossing. There is a switch nearby, and sometimes the crossing will be blocked for hours while they pull apart cars. Very frustrating. There's a nearby road that has an overpass for the train tracks, so the best solution is to turn around, backtrack a mile or so, cut over a half mile, and go down the road with the trestle overpass for the train.
So, I see the car in front of me has the same idea. With no oncoming traffic (since the train prevents it), we both start to turn around in the street. My car is very small and his is larger, so I get turned around in one go, he has to back up and turn twice to complete his U-turn. But in any case, I'm well away from him and do not block him in any way.
But he comes from behind, runs up on my bumper, and passes me on the left, honking and flipping me off. He rockets down the road, clearly headed the same way I am going. I let him go.
Eventually, though, due to traffic signals and whatnot, I catch up to him. We're side-by-side on a larger street, two lanes of traffic each way, and he's stuck in the slow lane behind another car, which he's tailgating. I pass him and glance over, and he's cursing and flipping me off. Looks like a big fat guy, he does not look particularly threatening to me; except that if a guy that size gets a punch in, it can sure hurt. From how high he's sitting in his seat, I'd guess he's well over six feet tall.
I ignore him and pass, and he immediately pulls out to the left, tailgates me, starts flashing his lights and honking. I pass the slower car on my right, signal, move over to the slow lane, and this jerkwad shoots past me on the left again, swerves in front of me, and hammers his brakes. I knew he was going to do that, though, so I had already started slowing down. When he sees I didn't have to cram on my brakes to avoid hitting him, he nails the gas and speeds off.
We get to another traffic light and we're both turning right, and there's a 'no right turn on red' sign, so we're stuck. He looks back at me over his shoulder and I can see he's running his mouth, really angry. I start thinking about self-defense responses if he gets out of his car.
Fact 1: We're in Pontiac. Lots of guns and crime and violence in Pontiac. People found dead laying in the street all the time. Not far from where we are now, a young women was found executed with a bullet to the back of the head right in the middle of the street, middle of the day, no witnesses. It's not a nice area.
Fact 2: Anyone can have a gun with them. If this guy gets out of his car and starts back towards me, I will have no idea if he's armed or not until he gets to my car. If he's armed and decides to shoot me, I'm a sitting duck.
Fact 3: I look in the rear view mirror, there is no one behind me.
So I decide that if he gets out of his car, I'm going to put my car in reverse and back up as quickly as I can, while watching him. If I see a gun before I can get distance, I'm going to put it in drive and run him over. If not, I'm going to do a bootleg turn and head out of there the other way as fast as I can.
I am NOT going to get out of my car and confront him one-on-one. That's just not an option in this area, with an unknown person of unknown intent who is obviously enraged at me. If I get out of the car, there's going to be a fight. Assuming he is not armed, I might or might not win. And I will definitely have a problem either way. I'm just not going to do it.
But he does not get out of his car. He just keeps running his mouth. The light changes, we both turn right. He shoots off at a high rate of speed.
The next light, he's turning left and I'm going straight. We're side by side. I have to keep my eyes on him in case he brings up a gun all of a sudden, but he's just running his face. I keep my face impassive, I am not encouraging him, not swearing back at him, not flipping him off. I am just carefully watching. The guy is going berserk, slamming his hands on the steering wheel and he's obviously starting to sweat.
The light changes and he peels out. I drive home.
The moral of the story? A bullet trumps a fat old Marine veteran and current karate student every time. I don't know if he has a bullet or not, therefore, I am not going to fight him unless I have absolutely no choice. My ego, my sense of self-worth, my manhood, are not in jeopardy, but my butt is. I let common sense do the thinking in this case. Self-defense 101.
Here endeth the lesson.
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