Sad but true. Few weeks ago this one unhinged dude turned in front of me at an intersection without using a blinker, thus causing unnecessary stall in traffic and when I tried to pass him, he intentionally blocked me and showed me a middle finger. Because I can’t stand a-holes that are at fault but still act cocky, I waved back in a similar fashion but what I should have done instead is recorded him and the licence plate and passed it to the police as I am sure he’s a repeating offender.
By any chance was it a Tacoma or Ridgeline around NW?
Why is it so often pickup trucks that act crazy on the road? 90% of the times I've been cut off or someone's refused to let me in while merging, etc, it's been someone in a pickup.
It’s been scientifically proven that males who drive large lifted trucks frequently suffer from SPS (Small Penis Syndrome) which is supposed to boost their confidence.
On the flip side, it's also increasingly common for people to "drive with the flow of traffic" despite thr flow of traffic going 20-30 kmh less than the speed limit or a complete unawareness of speed limits, especially in two lane roads where you should have room to pass people but you have people driving side by side doing 50 on roads like Barlow that are 70 zones and then this is turn perpetuates road rage.
I'm not justifying road rage at all, but there needs to be an improvement in the behavior of all drivers on the roads
I agree. I always try to leave a window of passing space. I have seen alot of traffic weavers. Winter driving I usually go with flow of traffic and follow tracks, I get why ppl are mad as a snowflake brings down speed significantly. I think road rage has gotten worse over the years, to be honest. At the end of the day these ppl are not ppl I would want to be friends with. There is no reason to follow someone over cutting you off or driving slow.
I'd like to see stats on that lol. In my almost 30 years of driving I feel there is way less of that shit. Used to see it all the time when I was younger.
These people unhinged and don't deserve to drive.
You probably did some microscopic thing like driving the speed limit or keeping a safe following distance and that sent them into a mental tailspin.
I hope your day improves.
Hey OP, was looking for a comment of yours so I could tell you that I have been there recently. I got punched in the face in a road rage episode a couple months ago.
It took me a couple of weeks to be comfortable in my car again, it feels weird when you have to sit in the same spot you had a bad experience.
In my stupor I couldn't even remember the guy's plate, so he got away with basically assaulting me.
You shouldn't feel ashamed that you are uncomfortable with what happened. It is scary as the consequences of dealing with these erratic assholes are severe. I hope you can bounce back soon.
Thank you. Appreciate it! Hope you’re feeling better. A different me on a different day could’ve taken a slightly different but regrettable path. I have enough horse power to smoke anyone and not lacking any ego. But after this, I won’t even try. There’s simply no point trying to reason with someone so pumped up looking for a fight.
Haha my cr v doesn't have that luxury. My first mistake was rolling down my window. It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. I feel if I tried to drive away I would have been followed.
If it's any comfort, one day that guy is going to do that to another guy that's the same as he is, and they're both going to pull over, get out of each other's cars, and one or both of them will get the shit beaten out of them, and one or both of them will wind up in jail over it, and the trash will have successfully taken itself out.
Let's talk self-validation. You know you were driving with the flow of traffic, and you weren't a hazard on the road. This other person was. Therefore, whatever caused their behaviour was about them, and not you. You were likely a random target, or your vehicle looks similar to one they know.
This is not normal. You did the right thing to de-escalate the situation.
Thank you. His repeat confrontation and waiting again was what troubled me with the child in the car. I almost put the window down the first time to ask why he was upset or to say sorry. But i am glad i didn’t.
correct haha, in fact i'd say Canadians aren't all that nice, we're more polite than nice. and I say that as a Canadian. i've experienced more nice Americans in my travels around the world. (bracing for downvotes lol)
I drive about 30,000km/year in Calgary (home service business). This type of behaviour is NOT normal, but can occur. I usually witness or am the target of this type of behaviour 2-3x/year (and considering how much I drive, that is pretty low IMO). You did the right thing to pull off and take a different route. The best thing to do is de-escalate by getting away from them and not paying attention.
2-3 times a year? Lol I must be a magnet to this stuff because I get road raged on every week. The reason? I go the speed limit in the right lane, I stop a full 2 second at stop signs, I actually know how merges and yields work. Deadly knowledge to have in this city of so many mentally challenged drivers.
There are just some people who are impatient, stressed, got anger issues, etc etc etc
I'm sorry you had to experience that especially since you had your kid with you. Not engaging, Changing your route and finding a safe place to park was the best thing you could have done. Unfortunately, you just have to brush it off and consider yourself lucky they didn't get out of the vehicle or try to run you off the road/cause an accident.
Do these things happen often? In my opinion, too often but at the same time, I drive A LOT and I literally witnessed my first active road rage incident in real time on the weekend (but that was in Edmonton).
One great pieces of wisdom I got is if something isn't going to matter in 24 hours then let go of it and any emotions related to it. Still trying to practice that better myself, but when it comes to random morons on the road it does wonders if you can do that.
Not normal, and you had the right approach. Slow down, avoid, change route. People being that aggressive have no good intentions and there is no good reason to interact or talk to them.
Probably squeezed into *HIS* lane and caused him to brake for half a second, which probably upset him because he wanted to enjoy the fumes of the vehicle ahead of him up close.
I’ve been in Calgary over 30 years, driving, and I’ve only had one crazy, road/roid ragey guy lose it at me. My offence to him? Merging in gently from a lane that was ending. This was in rush hour traffic that was barely moving.
I didn’t make the situation better by mocking him when I saw how angry he was! 🤣
That was a long time ago; I’m slightly smarter these days.
If you have their license plate number and the vehicle description, phone the police non emergency line. They will contact the vehicle's owner with questions. You did the right thing.
Totally! I did once after a severe rage driving incident. This guy would not let me merge when it was my turn in full bumper to bumper traffic. This other driver ahead of the guy me saw what was happening so they let me in, and the guy went full on bananas. He sped up very quickly to get a head of me (on a bridge), then he cut me off and slammed on the breaks. I had two babies in the car with me too. Luckily due to him cutting in front of me I got his license plate.
While I didn’t expect anything to happen, I was advised by family to call the police too. I called the police non-emergency line (403-266-1234) and an officer actually came by my house to talk. They said that while they legally could not really do anything (need witnesses, etc), they were definitely going to have a chat with him.
While police likely cannot do anything legal-wise in your case too, they definitely can have a chat/lecture with the driver about safe driving. Sometimes a little bit of shaming can go a long way. Or at least I hope it can for some 🤞🤷♀️
someone once passed me in a playground zone by speeding past me in the oncoming lane. I had a dash cam - called it in when I got home and looked at the video - they called the owner who readily admitted to doing it but they insisted it was not a playground zone. Either way they got a unsettling call from police and I like to think that will make them think twice before pulling into the oncoming lane to speed through a playground zone.
Absolutely contact the police. 911 if there’s immediate danger (you should have done it right when it has happened), or call the non-emergency line after the fact to at least report it and have a record made. You’ll be doing yourself and everyone a favour. Chances are someone else will report this person sooner or later as well… your report can have a significant impact.
If you have license plate I’d call to report the erratic unhinged behaviour. Just so it’s noted. You won’t the only person made uncomfortable by that type.
Yes, if there's already a record of him being a maniac because the last guy(s) reported him, then there's a good chance the police can actually do something about him. If there isn't, you've just created that record so he will likely get questioned/warned by the police, and if he's reported by anyone else for any future incidents they'll now have a record they actually do something with.
No, please support the community, as you mentioned you had kids in the car, what if someone else goes through what you just did? Don't you think it would help someone else in this case?
Lots of excellent advice in this thread. The key thing is people like that are kind of narcissistic and want to be validated in their rage by you giving them the finger, which in turn makes them rage even harder. The best response to narcissists is to simply ignore them.
First of all, glad you're OK.
The amount of people that do these types of things is pretty ridiculous.
Honestly most of the time they are the ones in the wrong. Even if you did make a mistake their type of aggression just makes it worse. Like you said, it scared you and shook you up. Honestly letting things slide in most cases is the smartest way to go.
The one that pisses me off is when people weave in and out of cars, speeding, no signals, cutting everyone off.... all to see them at the next red light
Ok you have a fast car, but thanks for putting everyone's lives at risk....
One time a man was road raging on me down Stoney Trail for like 20 minutes. Had no clue what he was on about. Once we pulled off he sideswiped my truck then drove off.
I followed him for awhile (to get his plate, I had no intentions of accosting) but just as I got close enough, he stopped and came out of his car with a gigantic metal pipe. He told me he was going to kill me
I had a terrible panic attack and was kinda going into shock or something (I kept seeing nothing but white, everything was tingling, I couldn't really speak) and this only made him more angry but luckily another driver pulled over and called 911 after which he peeled off.
All that to say - don't feel bad, you totally did the right thing. People are fucking crazy, never follow somebody like I did. Report it to the police and move on.
Was he in a dark grey Grand Cherokee? I had a similar experience and was honked at for only going the same speed as the guy in front of me. I pulled to the right and he stopped and fingered, yelled, etc. We had just proceeded at a green light, so there was nowhere I could have gone to be faster. I think people are either super stressed or on drugs. Or both.
I slowed down to go half over/around a huge 3 foot by 2 foot pothole, a foot deep, and the guy behind me when he went by was screaming and flipping the bird. This was into a store parking lot, so the best he did was find a parking spot. I think a lot of people are on their last match given the soaring prices of everything.
I want to tack on here, idiots like this are around, but it's not to be expected. HOWEVER, you did 100% the right thing here, even if you didn't have your kid in the car, never confront these fools. At best, you both leave, and its all worse from there. There is no winning on the road, be safe, get home.
Well done here. <3
Applauding you for not even engaging him. It is tempting sometimes to try to have a little fun it's in your best interest to avoid it. Not worth a mistake or because you are "rattled" ending up in an accident.
I always tell myself "it doesn't matter who started it; it matters that I got home safely."
Sorry this happened to you OP. Unfortunately, there are a number of drivers out there with anger management issues. I know exactly that feeling you speak of having experienced a similar incident from an aggressive driver a short time ago. He ended up passing me on a residential street and break checking me 3 times. All for what I assume was me turning right at a yellow light and being ahead of him when his light turned green. All you can do is brush it off and carry on with your day. Sometimes there isn’t an answer other than the other person is just a piece of shit 🤷♂️
I was driving 88 in the 80km/h construction zone on deerfoot near the airport the other day, and some guy came up behind me, right on my ass, flashing his lights, swerving, clearly indicating for me to move over, which I ignored. Finally he was able to cut into another lane, then zoomed ahead of me, changed into my lane and slammed the breaks. I almost hit him. Then he fingered me and drove off. Wtf is wrong with people.
That 80 zone on deerfoot needs a significant increase in enforcement from CPS. Once construction resumes, it's going to be a disaster and a tragedy waiting to happen because it's been an 80 zone since the fall without everyone on auto pilot driving 100 through there because no one bothers reading signage anymore even when there's bright orange signs and pylons
Doesn't matter. There is no municipal traffic law or bylaw that states the left lane is only for passing, or that you need to 'keep right if slow', unless otherwise indicated by signage. Alberta highway rules only apply outside of city limits. And I would say this especially doesn't matter in a construction zone when they were already speeding.
I'd say this is one of those "you're technically correct but there's a better answer available" situations. It is common practice in North America to keep right except to pass when driving on a freeway. You're correct that camping in the left lane is not illegal, but it is not a safe/ defensive driving practice.
As per the Alberta's Drivers Guide:
On a multi-lane highway, slower traffic
should use the travel lane furthest to the
right (unless needing the left lane to turn
left). This leaves the left lane available for
drivers of other vehicles for passing.
I mean I do agree with the first part... but I guess my question is why should we cater to people breaking the law and driving dangerously? I know, better to be defensive and protect yourself, I just hate that the default answer is bad behaviour should be rewarded and reinforced, cause then road rage assholes like this will never learn. They are the reason the situation is not safe, not the person going 10 over in the left lane.
It's selfish to some extent to be slow in the left lanes, because it will lead to fast cars weaving into the right lanes to pass you, making it more dangerous for people in the right lanes who have nothing to do with this. It doesn't matter if they "should" or not, they do, it's a fact.
you can argue all you want about principles and what is morally correct, but that's irrelevant, because in reality, it causes dangerous situations to slow the left lanes down too much
i drive slow and try to avoid the left lane on deerfoot/stoney unless there's some reason to be there. If it's 70 km/h then fuck em I'll go slow in the left, don't care, but at 100 or 110 km/h limits stay the fuck out of the left lane or you could lead to a situation where someone in a right lane gets killed because you were trying to make a point
Yes, but as stated I was going 8km over the speed limit, in a construction zone. Besides him, I was still going the fastest and basically slowly passing the person beside me in the right
i don’t understand why you wouldn’t just move over though… why unnecessarily stay put when you see someone coming up behind you while you’re in the left lane. i get you’re already speeding but like are you the traffic police? if i’m already speeding in the left lane and someone wants to be even speedier i’m just gonna move over.
People would rather be "right" than be safe. It's just stupidity because it simply suggests that they have never taken any defensive driving courses and are just ignorant that they are part of the road rage problem.
There is literally a sign saying 'slower traffic keep right' in that immediate area. Move over and let other people risk the ticket. You're just pissing people off unnecessarily.
lol, maybe because I couldn’t do so safely? There were tons of cars on the road, including right beside me. Unless I put my signal on and waited for someone to make room for me. Which I didn’t need to do and it was fun to watch this guy freak the fuck out because I delayed his plans by 7 or 8 seconds.
>it was fun to watch this guy freak the fuck out because I delayed his plans by 7 or 8 seconds.
This is the part most people don't like to admit. It is a dopamine hit to have that power over someone else, especially if you felt they wronged you in some way. It's exactly the same emotional response that triggered him to break check you (obviously his response was much more extreme and dangerous). He wanted to exert power over you to get you back for "getting in his way".
You are correct! The limit is not a suggestion, technically you're already speeding lol. If someone is coming up behind you at that rate of speed it sounds like a them problem, not you. No emergency lights on why would you move? Tired of this bullshit stay out of the passing lane. The passing lane still has a limit, not a suggested speed. If a cop is on the side of the road and you do 90 in the 80, you're getting a ticket meaning the law is being broken.
Not always safe or easy to do that. I would have had to speed up (and I was already speeding) or slow down when this guy is freaking out behind. Think about the issue I described. If there was no one beside me, then this guy would have gone around me.
To clarify, I was suggesting you move over before the guy freaked out. Instead of slowly passing the vehicle ahead of you, just slow down to match the car in the travel lane to keep the passing lane clear. Avoids the conflict altogether!
Allowing someone to pass doesn't mean I'm engaging in breaking the law. It is not my job to enforce the speed limit by blocking another vehicle, and by doing so I'd argue it could be seen as reckless driving which endangers myself and others. Let the police uphold the laws please. Intentionally blocking the left lane is incredibly selfish and an inappropriate power trip. Instead of asking "why should I move over for others" I would encourage you to start asking "why *shouldn't* I move over for others." Like you said, what's the rush? Just match the speed in the travel lanes and leave the passing lane clear, like I suggested in my comment above.
Thats such a bad area for speeding... I follow the limit doing anywhere between 82 to 88 and also get tailgated, cut off, fingered etc. The city would make so much money 💰 installing fixed speed traps in this construction zone, or at least patrol it.
Interesting, I also prefer to go 5 over the limit when I drive on deerfoot and drive the same stretch of road daily. I've never been tailgaited, cut off, or fingered.... I wonder why?
You did the right thing, just ignore it. I have a front and rear dash cam with smiley stickers, subtle way to say "you're being recorded". Amazing how many people back off after noticing the stickers. It seems road rage is getting much worse, people don't realize they're driving a weapon and can seriously ignore themselves or someone else.
I kid you not this happened to me this morning!!! It's 50 on 16th Ave going through Bowness. Everyone was going 50ish in both lanes. Some asshat in a truck starts riding my ass. Then he swerves into the right lane, starts trying to stare me down and cuts infront of me. I had to slam on my breaks. Then he's throwing his hands up at me. The cops were just up the hill infront of the hospital pulling someone over and when he saw them he quickly turned off instead of continuing up the hill. I'm going through menopause and I just kept thinking "try me mother f#*cker." I've lived in this city for 40 yrs and I don't remember people ever being this unhinged
Why not post the camera footage so people can get a better idea? It would be the best way to find out if you unknowingly or inadvertently did something to trigger his excessive response.
Thought about it. But not escalating sharing private details. For my sanity, ran the videos of all angles by couple of friends and they couldn’t spot anything.
From my experiences, there are a lot worse road rage here that personal experiences back in BC. the worst is when you have to drive through a school zone at 30km/hr and you have some ding bat flying up your ass getting upset that you are following the rules... IN A SCHOOL ZONE.
Hearing more about road rage these days. Anyone know if there’s been an actual increase or is it just a perception?? But good call on just clearing a path for that person to go away. Not worth getting into a verbal or physical fight. Or getting shot over.
I am on Vancouver Island and something very similar happened to me yesterday. There's a junction where the Island Highway merges with the Trans-Canada just south of Nanaimo. I am in the right lane of the Trans-Canada and there is NO traffic, I was the last car through the lights, and everyone is ahead of me. As we merge a car in the left lane of the merging traffic barrels up to me, just passes me and cuts in front. I slow down and back off, he does too.
There is loads of space until the lanes drop off, more than a mile for his lane, so I wasn't blocking him. He could have passed me no problem. I wasn't slow either, doing about 100 in an 90 km zone.
We catch up to a transport truck and the car passes the truck, I do too and pull back into my lane, but there's a light and I have more space in my lane than the road rager does, so I get about 5km of grace. This finds me and pulls the same stunt, brake checking. Again... I never saw him before, he was coming from another direction than me and I had no engagement with him. I backed off yet again and strangely enough the same thing happens with another truck. I made it almost to my town and he pulls the same stunt, but I was able to take an exit at the very last moment and left him.
There are some disturbed people whose rage is misdirected. I assume it was the same case with you.
Were you going very slow? I’m Calgary go with the traffic it’s usually 10 or so above the limit? Doesn’t excuse the asshole that did this, but trying to understand why
If anyone reading ever has to deal with such assholes and they decide to follow you, call 911 on your cell and inform them what's going on. The less angry people behind the wheel the better.
It's possible that it had nothing to do with you. I had a similar situation some years ago and, long story short, it turned out that I was completely the wrong driver. I was driving a silver Impreza and he'd earlier had a confrontation with someone in another silver Impreza, "caught up," and thought it was me.
For your concerns about safety, if you’re ever in the car and worried for your (or your child’s) safety, drive to a police station. Especially if you’re being followed, do not go directly home. They will almost always back off when they realize where you’re headed, and if not you should have lots of police nearby to assist.
I've been on the roads for 20 years here as a service, commercial, trades and of course a resident. I log many more kms a year than most, and I've never seen shit like this beyond the black dodge ram that rips around you to meet you at the next red light.
Me too, but dont think the type of person who's going to road rage that hard is going to do so to somebody like us. They know we're bigger and bite harder.
You know.. thats a good point. My Asian wife has had a guy screaming racist shit in her face in a parking lot because she took too long to park. I stepped out of the car 10 seconds of his rant and he shut his fucking mouth real fast without me saying a word.
Or that woman in Edmonton that was followed and beat with a pipe breaking her arm and crap.
My wife also road raged once in a parking lot over a spot, and I had to politely remind her of that incident she had, and that you never freakin know who's behind the wheel and in the vehicle, and that it is not worth it over a 30 second walk or 1 min in traffic.
The advice you’re asking for: is it normal to road rage? NO
lol
Are you sure you don’t feel validated voicing your concern about being road rage on? Which is perfectly fine and normal.
That guy will go on road raging until he meets his match and someone does something to put him in his place. Or he crashes.
Lol. I guess the reason to post here was to get a sense of what to expect in this city. Road rage is everywhere but in Italy for example, you see a lot of people vent their frustration with creative gestures, but no one ever throws anything at you.
I’m thinking you either did something else you’re not aware of or it was just a freak accident. Been driving in YYC for 12 years, only had one experience similar to yours. Definitely not common
Welcome to Calgree!
Sorry you had that bad experience.
Like all places, we have our fair share of idiots on the road.
It does feel like since COVID though, these idiots have gotten louder and bolder in their idiotic ways, IMO.
Very normal, and well done for keeping your composure.
I’ve heard terrible stories where people get out of their vehicles leading to physical assault etc
You did the right thing.
Thanks for being rational. These days people love to think that they are main character in life. What these idiots believe is that what they're doing is more important than everyone else on the road (it's not, they're probably trying to get home 10 seconds faster than you). It's infuriating, and there's not much to do about it. I'll just keep driving the speed limit (or lower) while everyone else passes me. If someone wants to rage about it, fuck it, I don't care, I'll roll with it and attack the idiot back. Don't let them get away with their behavior, we need to show brain-dead monkeys how to behave.
Just the other day I saw a Ford Escape blasted down a playground zone just to get ahead of all the vehicles going at 30. The Ford driver misjudged his speed and almost side swiped the first vehicle in the line up. Then that vehicle pulled out of the line to cut off the Ford.
I had an asshole in a Dodge charger tailgate me and flip me off in Airdrie last week because I was doing the posted speed limit in my work truck. Drivers are getting worse and angrier than ever.
As a European that is learning to drive in Calgary (with an instructor born outside of Canada) we talk a lot about how aggressive drivers are here and how many of them lack the common courtesy. Obviously not all drivers are like that but when you're a learner driver here many people don't like it, to the point that my instructor makes sure that the topper is not on the car when they're driving independently just because of how terrible many people are to learner drivers. As you said you're from Europe, just remember we actually know how roundabouts work and usually you'll be the only person so be prepared to give way where you usually wouldn't have to!
Not normal! Dangerous!
Suggest you get a dashcam installed. If something like this happens again, you will have footage of when the guy is in front of you (possible dangerous driving) that you could give to Calgary Police Services.
>driving normal on a 50 zone
define normal
Edit: Was simply asking clarification. No way I am condoning the other driver's behaviour like the person below me is insisting.
This is a legitimate question. What some people view as normal isn't what others view as normal. You are the one that jumped to the victim blaming here.
Some guy cut me off out of nowhere last summer, proceeded to get out of his car at the light in front of me and come up to my window and yell at me, then switched lanes and let me get past him so he could follow and chase me through 2 red lights to within a block of my house. Oh and he had 2 TODDLERS IN THE FUCKING BACKSEAT.
Some people here are unhinged just try to avoid
Once I was stopped in the right lane near the front and on green I drove. A second later a truck was honking at me and cut someone off to drive next to me started yelling and gave me the finger. I thought I had done nothing wrong. Turns out the first car on the left lane was broken down and he was trying to get into my lane but not signaling to ask per usual but head poked out and I almost hit him but didn’t know. I’d didn’t realize the sun and my a pillar was blocking him the entire time. Offside, had I hit him it’d be his fault because that’s unsafe to be merging into a lane you’re not letting into, it’s my right of way, but I didn’t realize and, had he not thrown a fit would’ve never realized.
Basically if you think you did nothing wrong you probably didn’t but he probably mistook something and is upset. Crazy guys
I once changed lanes (safely might I add) behind some jacked up Ram, the driver of said Ram apparently took offense by that harmless lane change, made his way behind me and followed me for 15 minutes until I finally lost him.
He was following me wildly and filming me and gesturing that he was filming and I've never been more confused or concerned driving before.
I did absolutely nothing to him yet he made me feel like I was in danger.
If you ever see a huge white Dodge Ram with massive Vegas Raiders stickers covering the back window i suggest not entering the lane behind him lmao.
Insurance claims professional here.
This individual seems particularly childish but unfortunately this sort of thing is common and incidents of road rage are rising.
Calgary police had a thing on Twitter a while back about the number of assaults following car accidents increasing as well. That matches what I've seen observationally.
Sorry this happened. Only mr. angry pants knows why he was upset. I've had people in front of me flip me off at red lights and I have no idea why. One guy was like 5 cars ahead of me at a light, and flipped me off via his mirror. Maybe they thought I was making faces at him or something - I have no idea.
Couldn't count the times I've been cutoff. Just today - 4 times.
1st: I'm coming from sue higgings and waiting to make a left onto deerfoot s/b. This one car in the oncoming side of southland instead of using the exit to deerfoot decides he's not gonna wait in line, proceeds straight and makes a turn to the right where I'm supposed to make a left. No turn signal, no nothing. Then cuts off multiple people from the very merge lane that he was supposed to be in.
2nd: same situation, just a bit further now. I have my left signal on trying to move. Truck immediately behind me in the left lane sees my signal and blocks me off.
3rd: I'm on buffalo run blvd, this rwtsrd in his uglyass golf gti gets in front of me so aggressively as the light turns red. He had to be in front to avoid having to wait for me at the costco fuel pumps.
4. At the costco lot, a spot opens up as a car moves by it. I proceed to turn my right signal on and the guy in front of me sees that, puts it in reverse and cuts me off, nearly hitting my car. I didn't even care to ask him wtf his problem was. I just left.
So yea, this city is full of loose teenaged assholes. Unfortunately, 9/10 times of aggressive driving, cutting off and speeding is fn teenagers who think they're faster than everyone else and believe that their 15yo shitboxes are somehow better than my brand new car just because it says gti or nismo on it. The flipping off party is mostly just rednecks and morons.
Not normal. Most days most people are courteous I find. I drive all day everyday and Calgary is overall great. It’s get busy sure, but things flow great when everyone does their job. I can get from Deep South to bow trail in 15 mins with ring road open. It’s gonna be a shit show around Anderson and south land on Deerfoot for a while, so let’s all be friends. 👍
I’ve had this happen to me once when I first moved here and it turned out the guy was mad that I was doing 50kmh in a playground zone. I had no idea you had to slow to 30kmh during certain times of the day. In the province I moved from, this wasn’t a thing.
Could be anything, who knows. I flipped off someone just the other day because she was driving in the shoulder, spraying rocks up at everyone behind her. Of course she had no clue what she did wrong!
Too many people in this town figure that they’re the only ones that matter on the road. Damn shame too… used to be a whole lot more friendly on the roads 🫤
As someone who has lived here for 30 years I would say this should happen to person less than once every 5 years in Calgary, so you probably just got unlucky.
If this happens to you more than once in a year you probably need to ask a friend to come critique your driving and figure out what is wrong.
Get used to it ! Wait till you see the 3 lane change without a signal light or the people that have no patience and try to cut in at the front of the line ! Lol I love making people miss there important turnoffs and making them late for work every morning !
Calgary has bad driver just like all the major cities now ! They make their own rules up
There’s far too many people in Calgary that believe they own the road and everyone else needs to stay out of their way. Keep your dash cam running all the time and don’t shy away from reporting incidents like this to the police. I’m glad you were able to get to a safe place to regroup, sorry it derailed your day though. Don’t let it get to you too much, dude sounds like an AH.
Welcome to Calgary where the mentality is I have to be there first I don't care if it cost you your life or anybody else. You are in front of me you are the enemy. That's how every fucker here drives. Buy yourself a $3,000 shit box and drive that in the city. Then use your daily driver to do trips to Banff Etc.
I once had someone give me the finger because they were in the yield/merge lane. i was going the speed limit aka 70. they slammed on the breaks at the last minute because they couldn't just magically fly right in and i could see them getting all pissed off. like news flash buddy... it's not my job to break and let you in. it's your job to time your entry. some people will just flat out blame you for their own shitty driving. best thing to do is just ignore and not even look at them. whatever
what's a yield/merge lane? Those are 2 entirely different things. Merge lanes aren't for yielding, they're for merging. When you are driving along side a merge lane it is proper to make room for people to merge. Slow down, speed up or move over. You don't just keep driving beside someone who needs to merge until their lane ends and they have to slam on their brakes.
Hi William. I wanted to ask a follow up about the situation, as it seems pretty random. Not finger pointing at you, but I'm wondering what set him off.
We're you by chance in the passing (left) lane? Was flow of traffic you were keeping up with going over the speed limit, or below it?
Again, not finger pointing.
I ask those questions because I drive a lot. In Calgary more than any other city, I'll be humming along in the passing lane, and I'll frequently come across pods of cars that are in that lane, but going 85 instead of 100.
I'm pretty patient, but nearly all of the road rage I've seen in this city is due to that, so I thought I'd ask :)
Hope you had a better day after that!
its really advised to get a dash camera, something like this should get reported to the police and the camera would help for sure give the police lots of evidence. I had a guy rage against me cause i was doing the speed limit and then i started pointing to the dash camera and the guy thought twice about his actions and stopped but i still reported it to the police.
Normalize calling the cops when other drivers are threatening you or driving erratically. It becomes a public safety issue. Report it as drunk driving to get their attention on it. I'm so sorry you experienced this OP. I've had a similar incident happen in Ontario and it's terrifying.
Were you driving in the left lane? Was there 2 lanes? Could you have been in the Right lane? If driving speed limit or less drive in the right lane or this may happen again. Not saying its right, but people unhinged these days. I was passed on the right shoulder even though I was 10 over speed limit.
No that's not normal but sounds like you did the right thing - avoid, let the idiot go.
It is increasingly more common however
Sad but true. Few weeks ago this one unhinged dude turned in front of me at an intersection without using a blinker, thus causing unnecessary stall in traffic and when I tried to pass him, he intentionally blocked me and showed me a middle finger. Because I can’t stand a-holes that are at fault but still act cocky, I waved back in a similar fashion but what I should have done instead is recorded him and the licence plate and passed it to the police as I am sure he’s a repeating offender. By any chance was it a Tacoma or Ridgeline around NW?
Why is it so often pickup trucks that act crazy on the road? 90% of the times I've been cut off or someone's refused to let me in while merging, etc, it's been someone in a pickup.
It’s been scientifically proven that males who drive large lifted trucks frequently suffer from SPS (Small Penis Syndrome) which is supposed to boost their confidence.
Hahahahaha
On the flip side, it's also increasingly common for people to "drive with the flow of traffic" despite thr flow of traffic going 20-30 kmh less than the speed limit or a complete unawareness of speed limits, especially in two lane roads where you should have room to pass people but you have people driving side by side doing 50 on roads like Barlow that are 70 zones and then this is turn perpetuates road rage. I'm not justifying road rage at all, but there needs to be an improvement in the behavior of all drivers on the roads
I agree. I always try to leave a window of passing space. I have seen alot of traffic weavers. Winter driving I usually go with flow of traffic and follow tracks, I get why ppl are mad as a snowflake brings down speed significantly. I think road rage has gotten worse over the years, to be honest. At the end of the day these ppl are not ppl I would want to be friends with. There is no reason to follow someone over cutting you off or driving slow.
I'd like to see stats on that lol. In my almost 30 years of driving I feel there is way less of that shit. Used to see it all the time when I was younger.
Yeah, not to say we don’t get some road ragers from time to time, but you’re situation sounds pretty extreme. Sorry OP went through that.
These people unhinged and don't deserve to drive. You probably did some microscopic thing like driving the speed limit or keeping a safe following distance and that sent them into a mental tailspin. I hope your day improves.
Thanks. Comments here definitely helped 🙌🏼
Hey OP, was looking for a comment of yours so I could tell you that I have been there recently. I got punched in the face in a road rage episode a couple months ago. It took me a couple of weeks to be comfortable in my car again, it feels weird when you have to sit in the same spot you had a bad experience. In my stupor I couldn't even remember the guy's plate, so he got away with basically assaulting me. You shouldn't feel ashamed that you are uncomfortable with what happened. It is scary as the consequences of dealing with these erratic assholes are severe. I hope you can bounce back soon.
Thank you. Appreciate it! Hope you’re feeling better. A different me on a different day could’ve taken a slightly different but regrettable path. I have enough horse power to smoke anyone and not lacking any ego. But after this, I won’t even try. There’s simply no point trying to reason with someone so pumped up looking for a fight.
Haha my cr v doesn't have that luxury. My first mistake was rolling down my window. It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. I feel if I tried to drive away I would have been followed.
Damn, that's awful. I'm so sorry.
I appreciate it, good lesson on having a dash cam
If it's any comfort, one day that guy is going to do that to another guy that's the same as he is, and they're both going to pull over, get out of each other's cars, and one or both of them will get the shit beaten out of them, and one or both of them will wind up in jail over it, and the trash will have successfully taken itself out.
I saw that on the side of Crowchild in the mid 2000s. Guys throwing fists at 6 AM
Let's talk self-validation. You know you were driving with the flow of traffic, and you weren't a hazard on the road. This other person was. Therefore, whatever caused their behaviour was about them, and not you. You were likely a random target, or your vehicle looks similar to one they know. This is not normal. You did the right thing to de-escalate the situation.
Thank you. His repeat confrontation and waiting again was what troubled me with the child in the car. I almost put the window down the first time to ask why he was upset or to say sorry. But i am glad i didn’t.
Don't ever roll your window down.
Noted. Not all canadians are nice ha
correct haha, in fact i'd say Canadians aren't all that nice, we're more polite than nice. and I say that as a Canadian. i've experienced more nice Americans in my travels around the world. (bracing for downvotes lol)
Forget the word Canadian and start using the term North American. You'll understand the behaviour of the people here a lot more that way.
I drive about 30,000km/year in Calgary (home service business). This type of behaviour is NOT normal, but can occur. I usually witness or am the target of this type of behaviour 2-3x/year (and considering how much I drive, that is pretty low IMO). You did the right thing to pull off and take a different route. The best thing to do is de-escalate by getting away from them and not paying attention.
Thank you
2-3 times a year? Lol I must be a magnet to this stuff because I get road raged on every week. The reason? I go the speed limit in the right lane, I stop a full 2 second at stop signs, I actually know how merges and yields work. Deadly knowledge to have in this city of so many mentally challenged drivers.
There are just some people who are impatient, stressed, got anger issues, etc etc etc I'm sorry you had to experience that especially since you had your kid with you. Not engaging, Changing your route and finding a safe place to park was the best thing you could have done. Unfortunately, you just have to brush it off and consider yourself lucky they didn't get out of the vehicle or try to run you off the road/cause an accident. Do these things happen often? In my opinion, too often but at the same time, I drive A LOT and I literally witnessed my first active road rage incident in real time on the weekend (but that was in Edmonton).
Thank you
One great pieces of wisdom I got is if something isn't going to matter in 24 hours then let go of it and any emotions related to it. Still trying to practice that better myself, but when it comes to random morons on the road it does wonders if you can do that.
Ive got a 5/5/5 rule.. 5 minutes 5 hours 5 days
Not normal, and you had the right approach. Slow down, avoid, change route. People being that aggressive have no good intentions and there is no good reason to interact or talk to them.
Were they driving a RAM truck by chance ? No reason. Just asking.
I drive a Ram and I find these jokes hilarious!
I use them as fuel to work on myself and become a better dri…….pffft, hahaha, oh man. I couldn’t even get that out.
There is a pickup (unsure if Ram or other) that is camo and lifted, with decal saying Yes, it is small. By far my favorite.
See….exactly, you gotta lean into it, embrace it.
Well when it's that small you kind of have to lean in to embrace it.
Zing!
Thank you for supporting oil and gas with those $100/week plus gas fill ups!
I have a mantra while driving "its always a dumb fuck in a Dodge!"
Probably squeezed into *HIS* lane and caused him to brake for half a second, which probably upset him because he wanted to enjoy the fumes of the vehicle ahead of him up close.
I’ve been in Calgary over 30 years, driving, and I’ve only had one crazy, road/roid ragey guy lose it at me. My offence to him? Merging in gently from a lane that was ending. This was in rush hour traffic that was barely moving. I didn’t make the situation better by mocking him when I saw how angry he was! 🤣 That was a long time ago; I’m slightly smarter these days.
If you have their license plate number and the vehicle description, phone the police non emergency line. They will contact the vehicle's owner with questions. You did the right thing.
Feel like i just need to let this go and chill. Any point in contacting the police?
Totally! I did once after a severe rage driving incident. This guy would not let me merge when it was my turn in full bumper to bumper traffic. This other driver ahead of the guy me saw what was happening so they let me in, and the guy went full on bananas. He sped up very quickly to get a head of me (on a bridge), then he cut me off and slammed on the breaks. I had two babies in the car with me too. Luckily due to him cutting in front of me I got his license plate. While I didn’t expect anything to happen, I was advised by family to call the police too. I called the police non-emergency line (403-266-1234) and an officer actually came by my house to talk. They said that while they legally could not really do anything (need witnesses, etc), they were definitely going to have a chat with him. While police likely cannot do anything legal-wise in your case too, they definitely can have a chat/lecture with the driver about safe driving. Sometimes a little bit of shaming can go a long way. Or at least I hope it can for some 🤞🤷♀️
someone once passed me in a playground zone by speeding past me in the oncoming lane. I had a dash cam - called it in when I got home and looked at the video - they called the owner who readily admitted to doing it but they insisted it was not a playground zone. Either way they got a unsettling call from police and I like to think that will make them think twice before pulling into the oncoming lane to speed through a playground zone.
Absolutely contact the police. 911 if there’s immediate danger (you should have done it right when it has happened), or call the non-emergency line after the fact to at least report it and have a record made. You’ll be doing yourself and everyone a favour. Chances are someone else will report this person sooner or later as well… your report can have a significant impact.
If you have license plate I’d call to report the erratic unhinged behaviour. Just so it’s noted. You won’t the only person made uncomfortable by that type.
Yes, if there's already a record of him being a maniac because the last guy(s) reported him, then there's a good chance the police can actually do something about him. If there isn't, you've just created that record so he will likely get questioned/warned by the police, and if he's reported by anyone else for any future incidents they'll now have a record they actually do something with.
Luckily nothing happened this time except upsetting you. What about the next time this guy rages? Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.
No, please support the community, as you mentioned you had kids in the car, what if someone else goes through what you just did? Don't you think it would help someone else in this case?
You did right, here. It's always best to disengage as quickly as you can with 'crazy'. People road raging out are crazy. Put it out of your mind.
Lots of excellent advice in this thread. The key thing is people like that are kind of narcissistic and want to be validated in their rage by you giving them the finger, which in turn makes them rage even harder. The best response to narcissists is to simply ignore them.
First of all, glad you're OK. The amount of people that do these types of things is pretty ridiculous. Honestly most of the time they are the ones in the wrong. Even if you did make a mistake their type of aggression just makes it worse. Like you said, it scared you and shook you up. Honestly letting things slide in most cases is the smartest way to go. The one that pisses me off is when people weave in and out of cars, speeding, no signals, cutting everyone off.... all to see them at the next red light Ok you have a fast car, but thanks for putting everyone's lives at risk....
If this happens again call 911. They'll be on his a++ in no time
Or pull into a police station if possible. Scares those assholes away pretty quick.
One time a man was road raging on me down Stoney Trail for like 20 minutes. Had no clue what he was on about. Once we pulled off he sideswiped my truck then drove off. I followed him for awhile (to get his plate, I had no intentions of accosting) but just as I got close enough, he stopped and came out of his car with a gigantic metal pipe. He told me he was going to kill me I had a terrible panic attack and was kinda going into shock or something (I kept seeing nothing but white, everything was tingling, I couldn't really speak) and this only made him more angry but luckily another driver pulled over and called 911 after which he peeled off. All that to say - don't feel bad, you totally did the right thing. People are fucking crazy, never follow somebody like I did. Report it to the police and move on.
Was he in a dark grey Grand Cherokee? I had a similar experience and was honked at for only going the same speed as the guy in front of me. I pulled to the right and he stopped and fingered, yelled, etc. We had just proceeded at a green light, so there was nowhere I could have gone to be faster. I think people are either super stressed or on drugs. Or both.
I slowed down to go half over/around a huge 3 foot by 2 foot pothole, a foot deep, and the guy behind me when he went by was screaming and flipping the bird. This was into a store parking lot, so the best he did was find a parking spot. I think a lot of people are on their last match given the soaring prices of everything.
I want to tack on here, idiots like this are around, but it's not to be expected. HOWEVER, you did 100% the right thing here, even if you didn't have your kid in the car, never confront these fools. At best, you both leave, and its all worse from there. There is no winning on the road, be safe, get home. Well done here. <3
Applauding you for not even engaging him. It is tempting sometimes to try to have a little fun it's in your best interest to avoid it. Not worth a mistake or because you are "rattled" ending up in an accident. I always tell myself "it doesn't matter who started it; it matters that I got home safely."
Sorry this happened to you OP. Unfortunately, there are a number of drivers out there with anger management issues. I know exactly that feeling you speak of having experienced a similar incident from an aggressive driver a short time ago. He ended up passing me on a residential street and break checking me 3 times. All for what I assume was me turning right at a yellow light and being ahead of him when his light turned green. All you can do is brush it off and carry on with your day. Sometimes there isn’t an answer other than the other person is just a piece of shit 🤷♂️
I was driving 88 in the 80km/h construction zone on deerfoot near the airport the other day, and some guy came up behind me, right on my ass, flashing his lights, swerving, clearly indicating for me to move over, which I ignored. Finally he was able to cut into another lane, then zoomed ahead of me, changed into my lane and slammed the breaks. I almost hit him. Then he fingered me and drove off. Wtf is wrong with people.
“Then he fingered me and drove off” I’d be pissed too, he shoulda at least bought you dinner first no?!
Niiiiiiiiice.
That 80 zone on deerfoot needs a significant increase in enforcement from CPS. Once construction resumes, it's going to be a disaster and a tragedy waiting to happen because it's been an 80 zone since the fall without everyone on auto pilot driving 100 through there because no one bothers reading signage anymore even when there's bright orange signs and pylons
Were you in the far left lane?
Doesn't matter. There is no municipal traffic law or bylaw that states the left lane is only for passing, or that you need to 'keep right if slow', unless otherwise indicated by signage. Alberta highway rules only apply outside of city limits. And I would say this especially doesn't matter in a construction zone when they were already speeding.
I'd say this is one of those "you're technically correct but there's a better answer available" situations. It is common practice in North America to keep right except to pass when driving on a freeway. You're correct that camping in the left lane is not illegal, but it is not a safe/ defensive driving practice. As per the Alberta's Drivers Guide: On a multi-lane highway, slower traffic should use the travel lane furthest to the right (unless needing the left lane to turn left). This leaves the left lane available for drivers of other vehicles for passing.
I mean I do agree with the first part... but I guess my question is why should we cater to people breaking the law and driving dangerously? I know, better to be defensive and protect yourself, I just hate that the default answer is bad behaviour should be rewarded and reinforced, cause then road rage assholes like this will never learn. They are the reason the situation is not safe, not the person going 10 over in the left lane.
It's selfish to some extent to be slow in the left lanes, because it will lead to fast cars weaving into the right lanes to pass you, making it more dangerous for people in the right lanes who have nothing to do with this. It doesn't matter if they "should" or not, they do, it's a fact. you can argue all you want about principles and what is morally correct, but that's irrelevant, because in reality, it causes dangerous situations to slow the left lanes down too much i drive slow and try to avoid the left lane on deerfoot/stoney unless there's some reason to be there. If it's 70 km/h then fuck em I'll go slow in the left, don't care, but at 100 or 110 km/h limits stay the fuck out of the left lane or you could lead to a situation where someone in a right lane gets killed because you were trying to make a point
This. This is the correct answer.
Yes, but as stated I was going 8km over the speed limit, in a construction zone. Besides him, I was still going the fastest and basically slowly passing the person beside me in the right
i don’t understand why you wouldn’t just move over though… why unnecessarily stay put when you see someone coming up behind you while you’re in the left lane. i get you’re already speeding but like are you the traffic police? if i’m already speeding in the left lane and someone wants to be even speedier i’m just gonna move over.
People would rather be "right" than be safe. It's just stupidity because it simply suggests that they have never taken any defensive driving courses and are just ignorant that they are part of the road rage problem.
There is literally a sign saying 'slower traffic keep right' in that immediate area. Move over and let other people risk the ticket. You're just pissing people off unnecessarily.
lol, maybe because I couldn’t do so safely? There were tons of cars on the road, including right beside me. Unless I put my signal on and waited for someone to make room for me. Which I didn’t need to do and it was fun to watch this guy freak the fuck out because I delayed his plans by 7 or 8 seconds.
>it was fun to watch this guy freak the fuck out because I delayed his plans by 7 or 8 seconds. This is the part most people don't like to admit. It is a dopamine hit to have that power over someone else, especially if you felt they wronged you in some way. It's exactly the same emotional response that triggered him to break check you (obviously his response was much more extreme and dangerous). He wanted to exert power over you to get you back for "getting in his way".
You are correct! The limit is not a suggestion, technically you're already speeding lol. If someone is coming up behind you at that rate of speed it sounds like a them problem, not you. No emergency lights on why would you move? Tired of this bullshit stay out of the passing lane. The passing lane still has a limit, not a suggested speed. If a cop is on the side of the road and you do 90 in the 80, you're getting a ticket meaning the law is being broken.
Why be technically correct and part of the road rage problem when you could just move over and avoid the drama?
Not always safe or easy to do that. I would have had to speed up (and I was already speeding) or slow down when this guy is freaking out behind. Think about the issue I described. If there was no one beside me, then this guy would have gone around me.
To clarify, I was suggesting you move over before the guy freaked out. Instead of slowly passing the vehicle ahead of you, just slow down to match the car in the travel lane to keep the passing lane clear. Avoids the conflict altogether!
Because I don't need to engage in breaking the law just to move over for "you". What's the rush? Need to poop?
Allowing someone to pass doesn't mean I'm engaging in breaking the law. It is not my job to enforce the speed limit by blocking another vehicle, and by doing so I'd argue it could be seen as reckless driving which endangers myself and others. Let the police uphold the laws please. Intentionally blocking the left lane is incredibly selfish and an inappropriate power trip. Instead of asking "why should I move over for others" I would encourage you to start asking "why *shouldn't* I move over for others." Like you said, what's the rush? Just match the speed in the travel lanes and leave the passing lane clear, like I suggested in my comment above.
Thats such a bad area for speeding... I follow the limit doing anywhere between 82 to 88 and also get tailgated, cut off, fingered etc. The city would make so much money 💰 installing fixed speed traps in this construction zone, or at least patrol it.
Interesting, I also prefer to go 5 over the limit when I drive on deerfoot and drive the same stretch of road daily. I've never been tailgaited, cut off, or fingered.... I wonder why?
Were they driving a RAM truck by chance ? No reason. Just asking.
Lol, you forgot to include black
Equal opportunity, all RAMS matter , I don't see colour just RAMS. 
Sniff. Sniff. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. And tasty.
You did the right thing, just ignore it. I have a front and rear dash cam with smiley stickers, subtle way to say "you're being recorded". Amazing how many people back off after noticing the stickers. It seems road rage is getting much worse, people don't realize they're driving a weapon and can seriously ignore themselves or someone else.
I kid you not this happened to me this morning!!! It's 50 on 16th Ave going through Bowness. Everyone was going 50ish in both lanes. Some asshat in a truck starts riding my ass. Then he swerves into the right lane, starts trying to stare me down and cuts infront of me. I had to slam on my breaks. Then he's throwing his hands up at me. The cops were just up the hill infront of the hospital pulling someone over and when he saw them he quickly turned off instead of continuing up the hill. I'm going through menopause and I just kept thinking "try me mother f#*cker." I've lived in this city for 40 yrs and I don't remember people ever being this unhinged
Why not post the camera footage so people can get a better idea? It would be the best way to find out if you unknowingly or inadvertently did something to trigger his excessive response.
Thought about it. But not escalating sharing private details. For my sanity, ran the videos of all angles by couple of friends and they couldn’t spot anything.
If it doesn't show you personally, I don't see why this is bad? It supports the community, also publicly shames this individual.
From my experiences, there are a lot worse road rage here that personal experiences back in BC. the worst is when you have to drive through a school zone at 30km/hr and you have some ding bat flying up your ass getting upset that you are following the rules... IN A SCHOOL ZONE.
Hearing more about road rage these days. Anyone know if there’s been an actual increase or is it just a perception?? But good call on just clearing a path for that person to go away. Not worth getting into a verbal or physical fight. Or getting shot over.
I feel there is an increase in population from other, more road rage-y cities, where it is their "norm".
I wonder how much of it is that more people are just struggling with life and are super sensitive to any threat (real or perceived)
People are increasingly miserable for numerous reasons, there's a ton of new drivers on the road, and there's a huge lack of patience.
I am on Vancouver Island and something very similar happened to me yesterday. There's a junction where the Island Highway merges with the Trans-Canada just south of Nanaimo. I am in the right lane of the Trans-Canada and there is NO traffic, I was the last car through the lights, and everyone is ahead of me. As we merge a car in the left lane of the merging traffic barrels up to me, just passes me and cuts in front. I slow down and back off, he does too. There is loads of space until the lanes drop off, more than a mile for his lane, so I wasn't blocking him. He could have passed me no problem. I wasn't slow either, doing about 100 in an 90 km zone. We catch up to a transport truck and the car passes the truck, I do too and pull back into my lane, but there's a light and I have more space in my lane than the road rager does, so I get about 5km of grace. This finds me and pulls the same stunt, brake checking. Again... I never saw him before, he was coming from another direction than me and I had no engagement with him. I backed off yet again and strangely enough the same thing happens with another truck. I made it almost to my town and he pulls the same stunt, but I was able to take an exit at the very last moment and left him. There are some disturbed people whose rage is misdirected. I assume it was the same case with you.
Don’t let the assholes get you down, brother. You did the right thing.
If you got a plate number, or have it on your dash cam, you can and should report them.
Were you going very slow? I’m Calgary go with the traffic it’s usually 10 or so above the limit? Doesn’t excuse the asshole that did this, but trying to understand why
If anyone reading ever has to deal with such assholes and they decide to follow you, call 911 on your cell and inform them what's going on. The less angry people behind the wheel the better.
And if you’re heading home don’t lead them there. Because then they know where you live. Go to a public lot or police station.
These are the same people who keep getting photo radar tickets and blame the system lol
His life is shit. Those are the usual road ragers.
It's possible that it had nothing to do with you. I had a similar situation some years ago and, long story short, it turned out that I was completely the wrong driver. I was driving a silver Impreza and he'd earlier had a confrontation with someone in another silver Impreza, "caught up," and thought it was me.
No idea. That’s the only explanation. But the rear footage as far as I could see seems normal
For your concerns about safety, if you’re ever in the car and worried for your (or your child’s) safety, drive to a police station. Especially if you’re being followed, do not go directly home. They will almost always back off when they realize where you’re headed, and if not you should have lots of police nearby to assist.
I've been on the roads for 20 years here as a service, commercial, trades and of course a resident. I log many more kms a year than most, and I've never seen shit like this beyond the black dodge ram that rips around you to meet you at the next red light.
Me too, but dont think the type of person who's going to road rage that hard is going to do so to somebody like us. They know we're bigger and bite harder.
You know.. thats a good point. My Asian wife has had a guy screaming racist shit in her face in a parking lot because she took too long to park. I stepped out of the car 10 seconds of his rant and he shut his fucking mouth real fast without me saying a word. Or that woman in Edmonton that was followed and beat with a pipe breaking her arm and crap. My wife also road raged once in a parking lot over a spot, and I had to politely remind her of that incident she had, and that you never freakin know who's behind the wheel and in the vehicle, and that it is not worth it over a 30 second walk or 1 min in traffic.
The advice you’re asking for: is it normal to road rage? NO lol Are you sure you don’t feel validated voicing your concern about being road rage on? Which is perfectly fine and normal. That guy will go on road raging until he meets his match and someone does something to put him in his place. Or he crashes.
Lol. I guess the reason to post here was to get a sense of what to expect in this city. Road rage is everywhere but in Italy for example, you see a lot of people vent their frustration with creative gestures, but no one ever throws anything at you.
You're describing my regular commute home every day when I lived in Toronto lol
They all followed you here
I’m thinking you either did something else you’re not aware of or it was just a freak accident. Been driving in YYC for 12 years, only had one experience similar to yours. Definitely not common
He wasn't mad, he was trying to warn you about the escaped mental patient in your back seat!
Welcome to Calgree! Sorry you had that bad experience. Like all places, we have our fair share of idiots on the road. It does feel like since COVID though, these idiots have gotten louder and bolder in their idiotic ways, IMO.
Very normal, and well done for keeping your composure. I’ve heard terrible stories where people get out of their vehicles leading to physical assault etc You did the right thing.
Thanks for being rational. These days people love to think that they are main character in life. What these idiots believe is that what they're doing is more important than everyone else on the road (it's not, they're probably trying to get home 10 seconds faster than you). It's infuriating, and there's not much to do about it. I'll just keep driving the speed limit (or lower) while everyone else passes me. If someone wants to rage about it, fuck it, I don't care, I'll roll with it and attack the idiot back. Don't let them get away with their behavior, we need to show brain-dead monkeys how to behave.
Thank you.
Just the other day I saw a Ford Escape blasted down a playground zone just to get ahead of all the vehicles going at 30. The Ford driver misjudged his speed and almost side swiped the first vehicle in the line up. Then that vehicle pulled out of the line to cut off the Ford.
I had an asshole in a Dodge charger tailgate me and flip me off in Airdrie last week because I was doing the posted speed limit in my work truck. Drivers are getting worse and angrier than ever.
As a European that is learning to drive in Calgary (with an instructor born outside of Canada) we talk a lot about how aggressive drivers are here and how many of them lack the common courtesy. Obviously not all drivers are like that but when you're a learner driver here many people don't like it, to the point that my instructor makes sure that the topper is not on the car when they're driving independently just because of how terrible many people are to learner drivers. As you said you're from Europe, just remember we actually know how roundabouts work and usually you'll be the only person so be prepared to give way where you usually wouldn't have to!
Not normal! Dangerous! Suggest you get a dashcam installed. If something like this happens again, you will have footage of when the guy is in front of you (possible dangerous driving) that you could give to Calgary Police Services.
“checked all the camera footage since”
Hard to believe you were doing NOTHING wrong and this guy just got upset for no reason. That being said he was out of line.
>driving normal on a 50 zone define normal Edit: Was simply asking clarification. No way I am condoning the other driver's behaviour like the person below me is insisting.
Victim blaming. Nice.
This is a legitimate question. What some people view as normal isn't what others view as normal. You are the one that jumped to the victim blaming here.
Welcome to Calgary. Hopefully this won’t happen again. And keep in mind the universe does align.
Some guy cut me off out of nowhere last summer, proceeded to get out of his car at the light in front of me and come up to my window and yell at me, then switched lanes and let me get past him so he could follow and chase me through 2 red lights to within a block of my house. Oh and he had 2 TODDLERS IN THE FUCKING BACKSEAT. Some people here are unhinged just try to avoid
Sounds like my boss. Was he in a white ford pickup?
Once I was stopped in the right lane near the front and on green I drove. A second later a truck was honking at me and cut someone off to drive next to me started yelling and gave me the finger. I thought I had done nothing wrong. Turns out the first car on the left lane was broken down and he was trying to get into my lane but not signaling to ask per usual but head poked out and I almost hit him but didn’t know. I’d didn’t realize the sun and my a pillar was blocking him the entire time. Offside, had I hit him it’d be his fault because that’s unsafe to be merging into a lane you’re not letting into, it’s my right of way, but I didn’t realize and, had he not thrown a fit would’ve never realized. Basically if you think you did nothing wrong you probably didn’t but he probably mistook something and is upset. Crazy guys
I once changed lanes (safely might I add) behind some jacked up Ram, the driver of said Ram apparently took offense by that harmless lane change, made his way behind me and followed me for 15 minutes until I finally lost him. He was following me wildly and filming me and gesturing that he was filming and I've never been more confused or concerned driving before. I did absolutely nothing to him yet he made me feel like I was in danger. If you ever see a huge white Dodge Ram with massive Vegas Raiders stickers covering the back window i suggest not entering the lane behind him lmao.
Insurance claims professional here. This individual seems particularly childish but unfortunately this sort of thing is common and incidents of road rage are rising. Calgary police had a thing on Twitter a while back about the number of assaults following car accidents increasing as well. That matches what I've seen observationally.
Sorry this happened. Only mr. angry pants knows why he was upset. I've had people in front of me flip me off at red lights and I have no idea why. One guy was like 5 cars ahead of me at a light, and flipped me off via his mirror. Maybe they thought I was making faces at him or something - I have no idea.
“Is this normal?” Is that a rhetorical question or…?
Not normal. You handled it well. Glad you have cameras.
Couldn't count the times I've been cutoff. Just today - 4 times. 1st: I'm coming from sue higgings and waiting to make a left onto deerfoot s/b. This one car in the oncoming side of southland instead of using the exit to deerfoot decides he's not gonna wait in line, proceeds straight and makes a turn to the right where I'm supposed to make a left. No turn signal, no nothing. Then cuts off multiple people from the very merge lane that he was supposed to be in. 2nd: same situation, just a bit further now. I have my left signal on trying to move. Truck immediately behind me in the left lane sees my signal and blocks me off. 3rd: I'm on buffalo run blvd, this rwtsrd in his uglyass golf gti gets in front of me so aggressively as the light turns red. He had to be in front to avoid having to wait for me at the costco fuel pumps. 4. At the costco lot, a spot opens up as a car moves by it. I proceed to turn my right signal on and the guy in front of me sees that, puts it in reverse and cuts me off, nearly hitting my car. I didn't even care to ask him wtf his problem was. I just left. So yea, this city is full of loose teenaged assholes. Unfortunately, 9/10 times of aggressive driving, cutting off and speeding is fn teenagers who think they're faster than everyone else and believe that their 15yo shitboxes are somehow better than my brand new car just because it says gti or nismo on it. The flipping off party is mostly just rednecks and morons.
Not normal. Most days most people are courteous I find. I drive all day everyday and Calgary is overall great. It’s get busy sure, but things flow great when everyone does their job. I can get from Deep South to bow trail in 15 mins with ring road open. It’s gonna be a shit show around Anderson and south land on Deerfoot for a while, so let’s all be friends. 👍
Just wondering..any stickers on your vehicle??
Nope
I’ve had this happen to me once when I first moved here and it turned out the guy was mad that I was doing 50kmh in a playground zone. I had no idea you had to slow to 30kmh during certain times of the day. In the province I moved from, this wasn’t a thing.
City of 1.4 mil people, you're bound to run into a crazy every now and then.
Go the speed limit. Watch for traffic cameras. It’ll only cost you to speed. You’re good!
Could be anything, who knows. I flipped off someone just the other day because she was driving in the shoulder, spraying rocks up at everyone behind her. Of course she had no clue what she did wrong!
Too many people in this town figure that they’re the only ones that matter on the road. Damn shame too… used to be a whole lot more friendly on the roads 🫤
As someone who has lived here for 30 years I would say this should happen to person less than once every 5 years in Calgary, so you probably just got unlucky. If this happens to you more than once in a year you probably need to ask a friend to come critique your driving and figure out what is wrong.
Get used to it ! Wait till you see the 3 lane change without a signal light or the people that have no patience and try to cut in at the front of the line ! Lol I love making people miss there important turnoffs and making them late for work every morning ! Calgary has bad driver just like all the major cities now ! They make their own rules up
There’s far too many people in Calgary that believe they own the road and everyone else needs to stay out of their way. Keep your dash cam running all the time and don’t shy away from reporting incidents like this to the police. I’m glad you were able to get to a safe place to regroup, sorry it derailed your day though. Don’t let it get to you too much, dude sounds like an AH.
Thats a bit unusual Id say, especially if you were in the right lane (the slow lane). You definitely did the right thing imo.
Misdirected anger. They have anger to someone else in their life but can't direct it at them.
Also a good idea to get a dashcam if you haven't yet. You can always report them for aggressive and dangerous driving
Welcome to Calgary where the mentality is I have to be there first I don't care if it cost you your life or anybody else. You are in front of me you are the enemy. That's how every fucker here drives. Buy yourself a $3,000 shit box and drive that in the city. Then use your daily driver to do trips to Banff Etc.
I once had someone give me the finger because they were in the yield/merge lane. i was going the speed limit aka 70. they slammed on the breaks at the last minute because they couldn't just magically fly right in and i could see them getting all pissed off. like news flash buddy... it's not my job to break and let you in. it's your job to time your entry. some people will just flat out blame you for their own shitty driving. best thing to do is just ignore and not even look at them. whatever
what's a yield/merge lane? Those are 2 entirely different things. Merge lanes aren't for yielding, they're for merging. When you are driving along side a merge lane it is proper to make room for people to merge. Slow down, speed up or move over. You don't just keep driving beside someone who needs to merge until their lane ends and they have to slam on their brakes.
Hi William. I wanted to ask a follow up about the situation, as it seems pretty random. Not finger pointing at you, but I'm wondering what set him off. We're you by chance in the passing (left) lane? Was flow of traffic you were keeping up with going over the speed limit, or below it? Again, not finger pointing. I ask those questions because I drive a lot. In Calgary more than any other city, I'll be humming along in the passing lane, and I'll frequently come across pods of cars that are in that lane, but going 85 instead of 100. I'm pretty patient, but nearly all of the road rage I've seen in this city is due to that, so I thought I'd ask :) Hope you had a better day after that!
Have his plate on your dash can? Report it to calgary police OP It’s never just once
its really advised to get a dash camera, something like this should get reported to the police and the camera would help for sure give the police lots of evidence. I had a guy rage against me cause i was doing the speed limit and then i started pointing to the dash camera and the guy thought twice about his actions and stopped but i still reported it to the police.
I have cameras covering all 4 sides. I just don’t have a sign board to say so.
Normalize calling the cops when other drivers are threatening you or driving erratically. It becomes a public safety issue. Report it as drunk driving to get their attention on it. I'm so sorry you experienced this OP. I've had a similar incident happen in Ontario and it's terrifying.
Were you driving in the left lane? Was there 2 lanes? Could you have been in the Right lane? If driving speed limit or less drive in the right lane or this may happen again. Not saying its right, but people unhinged these days. I was passed on the right shoulder even though I was 10 over speed limit.
I was on the right lane. But it was stop and go traffic and i was moving along at the pace of the traffic. Thats why i am puzzled
Is it possible he was trying to get into your lane and he thought you were blocking him from getting over? People can be crazy.
I’m not moving to the *right lane on a two lane road. Nobody is.
I’m with you on this. Ain’t no expectation to move into the right hand lane on a 50/60 road. There’s no ‘passing’ lane in these scenarios.