The world is a crazy place. I’ve been a witness to many wild and potentially dangerous altercations but I’ve never seen something like the following story happen, not even when I was married to my crazy ex-husband who had the ultimate road rage.
Kristin shared her story in our community, and it really struck a chord. It was during Thanksgiving time and she was driving from her mom’s house in Plano, Texas to her now ex-boyfriends house 3 hours away. She was using her phone’s GPS to get her to the destination, but like I’m sure most of you have experienced before, the GPS was taking her an odd way. She was taken down “weird back roads, very country, lots of trees, windy hills, you get the picture”. Although it seems picturesque, for Kristin’s story, it is definitely not in her benefit to be out on the quiet back roads.
Only an hour had passed, she was upset and just wanted to get to her boyfriend’s house. It seems like whenever we are in a rush or want a journey to be over, something has to come up and get in the way. Just then a huge pickup truck pulls out in front of her. Not only was it putting her behind schedule driving behind another person on the roads, but they were driving 10-15 miles under the speed limit and riding the breaks like it was their job. She almost ran into him numerous times because of his abrupt stops and his break lights “were not the best”.
She drove behind him for about 15 minutes with this same slow driving, braking behavior. His driving down the winding roads was almost even more dangerous, like a grandma riding the brake. But from the looks of him, he was definitely no grandma.
Kristin recounts the exchange and that her reactions were totally out of character. Although I totally understand the sense of urgency of wanting to get to her final destination, and that the guy was holding her up.
“Looking back I think he might have been lost or trying to figure out where to turn into. He pulls into a large side area parking lot to a big pasture. I drive past him he’s out of his vehicle, walking toward the pasture. In a total change of character for me, I flip him the bird. He saw it and everything. Never ever had done that, and my hand was in my car. Suddenly, I see him walk back to his vehicle and I just throw my hands up in the air in a questioning non-obtrusive way, and keep on going. I drive and drive just awaiting to get to my exes.”
Kristin had made it another 45 minutes on the back roads, while a huge truck was trailing behind her. The truck was riding on top her, almost hitting her a few times from not keeping the proper distance. She starts worrying that maybe this truck behind her was the guy from before and that he’s been following her since the minor altercation.
“I keep driving and I lose the truck eventually in just the muck of people joining our shared route. I start panicking, full on freaking out and then convincing myself it wasn’t him, rinse and repeat. I start to GPS police stations and was going to drive to one. Also tried calling my ex to meet us at the police station or I was going to just drive to his house and for him to meet me in the driveway. But also of course with the area I’m losing signal majority of the time. Yo girl is scared. Another 15 minutes go by and the truck is back behind me for another 30 minutes all in backroads not around any major cities. Through the weird country road we meet at a 4 way stop.”
And that’s when things really get scary….
The encounter was like a scene from a scary movie where things could go very badly, very quickly.
The truck pulls out into the middle of the 4-way stop blocking her car from being able to move forward. Illegal driving behavior, mind you. The guy gets out of the car, and he definitely wasn’t a little old grandma. The driver gets out of the car and slammed the door with rage. He is a burly huge guy, well over 6 feet and easily mid 30s in age.
He’s screaming repeatedly for her to pull over so they can talk… Um.. what would you do? Nobody in their right mind would and I don’t blame her for one second! She is a young girl, around 22 years old, alone and driving backroads in the middle of nowhere. He was yelling “how dare I flip him off, pull over right now we need to talk.” He was a broken record and Kristin tried to stay calm.
“I rolled my window down a bit. Told him I was sorry, and that I’d like to continue on my way. He kept at it, I kept calmly repeating I’m sorry, please let me keep on my way, I’m not pulling over.” The same dialogue persisted for about 10 minutes. It’s amazing she didn’t take matters into her own hands and run into his car, not that that particular move would make the situation better, but I’m sure it would have crossed some peoples’ minds.
What would you be thinking about? Would you be afraid? Like anyone else, she had so many things flooding her brain. She was painfully aware that she was alone. She didn’t have a concealed gun license or a weapon of any kind. She felt extremely unsafe, which was elevated when she looked at him and noticed he had a prominent tick that looked like he could have a psychotic break at any moment.
“I was thinking if he lunges at me, or pulls a gun, I may just run him over (just genuinely scared and in flight or fight mode). Finally, someone else pulled up to the 4-way stop and he angrily stomped back to his truck. He yelled some more and then drove away.”
She cried her eyes out all the way to her boyfriends’ home. She realized how unsafe she was, especially because Mr Road-Rage followed her for over an hour and a half. He clearly wanted to get violent and physical and was relentless to say the least. Luckily, the other driver had come along and saved the day. Although the situation was traumatic, she is safe which is the most important thing of all.
“P.S. I know I shouldn’t have flipped him off I’ve learned my lesson”
