11.06.2008

Road rage, Swiss style

So, I'm driving Olivia to speech therapy at UT tonight and as I'm getting ready to pull out of my neighborhood, I notice a silver VW across the road, preparing to turn out of another neighborhood.

I have the right-of-way and with turn indicator blinking, I turn right. Said person in silver VW whips out behind me and proceeds to ride my ass all the way up McCord road. As we get to the intersection at McCord and Sylvania, he whips around me and then cuts me off, slamming on his brakes at the red light.

And this is where it gets a bit crazy.

Lunatic driver gets OUT OF HIS CAR and walks/runs to my car and proceeds to POUND ON the driver's side window while trying to open my car door. And did I mention that he's yelling at me too? Yeah, things like "you don't know how to drive!", "are you driving or making a phone call?", etc. [For the record, I was on my cell phone...with my sister who was a cellular witness to this entire insane spectacle].

Crazed guy finally walks back to his car and I'm literally shaking and crying. I mean really...who does that? I was waiting for him to either break my window with his fist or pull a gun or something.

So, I did what any mother would do. I call 911. I told the dispatcher what happened, gave her the guy's license plate (he was still driving in front of me). I heard the sirens from the cop car behind me and then....the cop drove PAST the lunatic. And then the lunatic switched lanes and drove on.

I ended up going to the Sylvania Twp. police to file a police report. And was told that I had to talk to the City of Sylvania cops. So an officer from the city showed up and said "well, it's really disorderly conduct" and "there's always several sides to a story" (to which I replied: "Do you really think he's going to be able to spin this in his favor?")

Cop says he'll go talk to the crazy guy and "chew his ass out" and then will call me and let me know what happened.

Here's what he told me:
- crazy guy is from Switzerland and he feels really bad because he's not a fighter, but that's how they do things in Switzerland. [Funny, I thought the Swiss were the neutral, peaceful people].
- crazy guy says that I was 'driving and braking erratically' and that I flipped him 'the bird' [OK, really...I was driving the speed limit with a lunatic on my bumper and my child in the car, and so yeah, I probably did flip him off. He deserved it. Get over it asshole].
- and my favorite: crazy guy would like to apologize to me because he's really remorseful. I told the cop NO, I would not accept the crazy Swiss man's apology.

I mean really....who in their right mind goes totally ape shit at a red light and bangs on someone's car window while trying to open the driver's side door? Apparently, rage-filled little Swiss men, that's who.

12 comments:

  1. Wow. I, too, thought the Swiss tended to be pacifists.

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  2. Years ago, I turned in front of someone on a side street on the way to work. I didn't see them coming, probably because they were going 55 in a 25mph, so he came out of freakin nowhere.

    Anyway, we came to a stop sign and the same thing happened to me (minus the pounding on the window) It was insane.

    I thought, "Man, if you have that much rage at 7am, I can't imagine your life buddy."

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  3. I LOVE that you contacted the police by the way. It'll teach him!

    (oh, and can I say that last night after the Brown's game, the drivers were cra-zy! Road rage at its max. I guess b/c they lost??? :) )

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  4. Oh my goodness, what the heck dude?! Not cool. I hope your daughter wasn't too scared. And trying to open your door....good reason to keep your doors locked!

    Good for you for calling the police.

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  5. Oh my God! Honestly, that's scary. I cannot BELIEVE he got out of his car and actually confronted you. That's just insane.

    I am glad you called the cops. You handled the situation really well. If someone road-raged me like that and got out of the car, you bet your ass I would have rammed his car and sped off for fear of him having a gun.

    Glad you are ok.

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  6. Yikes!

    There are probably better ways to start the day.

    I agree with the above comments. Way to bust him!

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  7. I still can't believe this Euro-trash! What an a-hole!

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  8. Yeah. This is pretty much when I would be applying for my Concealed Carry permit.

    But, I can also tell you that when this sort of thing happens, our local cops handle it the same way (get both sides) UNLESS one of the parties causes a collision (or worse) as the result of his horrible behavior.

    It should be noted that you seem to have a disproportionately high number of negative incidents while in your car. I think it's time to hire a driver. :-)

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  9. really...do i have that many negative driving incidents? i haven't noticed...haha.

    i'll hire a driver...right after i win the lottery. :)

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  10. I'm thinking of the cop that pulled you over for a rolling stop, then berated you for no reason (because you didn't get a citation). That happened, right? The last "incident" I had in my car was a few years ago when I pulled out of the garage, hit Kurt's car, then just pulled right back in. You get all the good stories.

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  11. Oh my gosh I don't even know what I would do if someone started acting like that and I had Athena in the car. Actually, yeah I do... ram him with my frickin car, get his license number, and then send my dad to his house to kick his ass.

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  12. yikes! this is insane. i am very glad that you and Olivia were okay.

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