Not many things make us as angry as an aggressive driver doing stupid things. It can make us feel helpless, or worse, tempt us to act as stupid.
On my way to pick up my daughter at school, a car approached me from behind at a fairly high rate of speed, far more than that 30mph zone we were in. Then, to my amazement, I realized that they were going to attempt to squeeze past me on my right, inbetween my car and the parked cars on the street.
Two things went through my head. Cross over into the oncoming traffic lane to give the idiot a big opening, or nudge to the right to discourage them from doing something stupid.
I nudged to the right, and they accelerated, blew past me and, made a hand gesture as they passed.
Here's the thing, three blocks further up is another light, a very very long light, and I knew I was going to be right behind this person in a few seconds.
As I pulled up behind them, my heart was racing and my temper was up, I just wanted to get out and kick their car or some other kind of act to release the adrenaline.
Instead, I pulled out my iPhone.
The woman in the car ahead was watching me very carefully in her rear view mirror. She was waiting for the light to turn green so she could turn left. I knew the light wasn't going to change for a very long time, so I carefully undid my seat belt and opened my car door.
This got her attention. She was watching me carefully. I then pulled out my iPhone and clearly and delibertly took a picture of the back of her car. Then, to make sure she knew what I was doing, I very carefully took a picture of her license plate.
My every move was being watched and I was very careful not to make any kind of gesture or action that would threaten her. After all, I was being the crazy person now.
I could tell that she was now agitated. Head was bobbing, body shaking.
Suddenly, instead of continuing to wait for the light to turn green so she could make a left turn, she did a right turn across lanes and raced away down the street in the opposite direction she had initially wanted to go.
Not sure what happened to this woman, but I do know that I felt a lot better. All she could see was me taking very careful pictures of her license plate. It was enough to rattle her.
Thanks to my iPhone and my little camera.
