Dangerous People And Dangerous Driving

by Anonymous
(Alexandria, VA)

I was driving on a road with a dedicated right lane for taking an off ramp. The dedicated lane begins and runs for about 1/2 mile before it turns into an off ramp. I was driving in that lane, no one in front of me or behind me, and I see a girl driving to the left of me and appearing to jockey for position to get into my lane.


I notice that she appears to give up and then we come upon separating pylons in the road (which separate the dedicated right lane and lane she was in, which is not for exiting). These pylons were put there in the first place because people were cutting each other off so often that the city had to intervene (before they had a full time cop there preventing it from happening).
These pylons provide a boundary for the two lanes for about 200 feet. After this boundary ends, there is about 75 feet worth of no boundary before the dedicated lane exits.

So once we came upon the pylons, I figured she must have changed her mind and decided not to get into my lane. So, as soon as we passed the pylons, she turns into my car and just nearly causes an accident with me. It was only because of my awareness of her and my driving skill that an accident was avoided. I was as livid as could be.

At any point along 1/2 mile she could have gotten into my lane without any problem, but the time she decides to get into my lane is the absolute most dangerous point and just nearly crashes into me. She was clearly aware that I was in that lane because I saw her looking over at me before we came upon the pylons.

After nearly getting into an accident I laid my horn on her and flipped her off as I got in front of her. I could see that she was just smiling back and flipping me off in return. Once we got onto the next highway, I slowed down so she could pass me on the left, but by the time my next exit came up she didn't try.

It was unbelievable. This was about 5 months ago and I'm still not over it.

Response from Dr. DeFoore

Hello, and thanks for telling your story here. I'm glad you came out of that unscathed. You probably are not over it because it was such a close call, and because it almost seemed personal, what she did to you.

If I were in your shoes, I think I would just journal about the experience until I could let it go. You'll find some guidelines for journaling on this page. You have a lot to be grateful for. I also suggest that you focus on that, and try these positive journaling exerrcises.

Thank you for your detailed and well written story.

My very best to you,

Dr. DeFoore

P.S. If you found this to be helpful, please consider making a donation to this site to support our mission to help you become your own best anger management resource.

P.P.S. If you got something of value here, we would also greatly appreciate it if you would provide a written testimonial and/or click the "Like" button at the top left of the home page.