Road Rage - How it starts

I don't think for one minute that not one soul out there has any idea what I am talking about here when I say, "Road Rage is an epidemic".


It is most likely one of the leading contributors to accidents on the road. I was hauling 62,000 lbs of pop down a long steep grade on day. I had my tractor trailer moving at about 55 to 60 km/hr at the top of the hill as I made the decent. By time I reached the 3/4 point near the bottom, I was moving at 80 to 90km.


The very bottom of the hill also takes a long left turn, very comfortable at 100km/hr. There's also a logging road that cuts across the highway. This road is visible from the top of the hill and from the other end of the turn at the bottom. From that logging road, what ever is coming from each hill is also visible.


As I approached the bottom, I could clearly see an old model pickup truck stopped at his stop sign.


Should I dare myself to "have" to tell you what the driver of that pick up truck did next?.......
He engaged his signal light for my direction and slowly began to move out onto the highway. By now I switched religions about 3 times and said some words you won't find in a bible. Make no mistake, this guy had a death wish or he had just escaped from a mental institution. He wasn't stopping and I couldn't stop in time, not with that weight and momentum.


I was under the speed limit, I had my flashers on because I was heavy, it was raining and the area was spooky because of this very scenario. It was like I seen it coming. There is nothing a single soul could tell me, to convince me I was in the wrong. This moron was not going to wait 10 more seconds.


At 90km/hr with 62,000 lbs of liquid, I missed that elderly man by a hair, and I mean a hair. He drove for about another 100 ft in his direction and stopped on the shoulder of the hill from where I came. I had slowed down enough to see him through my window and my mirror for a short time. When I looked back, he had pulled over and took an axe and a kit bag (rucksack) out of the back of his pick up. He was going in the woods trapping....


After a safety-minded professional driver goes through this several times, it brings on road rage. I would like to know what constructive ways aside from personal roadside altercations and ramming through the guy could a driver take upon himself to change the situation. Something is wrong with the system here.



I'm not at it anymore, but I worry about those who are.