Yesterday I found myself on the receiving end of someone else's road rage. There were some traffic issues in Los Angeles yesterday (go figure). Two major ways of getting from point A to point B were closed. For those familiar with the area, Sepulveda from West LA to the Valley had a four-car pileup and Coldwater Canyon was closed due to a fallen tree. Everyone was funnelling into the Valley through Beverly Glen, which caused somewhat of a bottleneck, but not too bad all things considered. I had gotten to the bottom of the hill just before Ventura Blvd. I was on the phone, but I was maintaining a safe distance from the car in front of me, which was a brand new Toyota sedan that had a right turn signal flashing. All of a sudden the driver passes the street she was about to turn onto and slams on her brakes in the middle of the intersection. She starts screaming and I realize it's directed at me. She claims she missed her turn because I was on the phone. Just a reminder that she was in front of me. I screamed back, asking why she didn't just turn, and again she said that it was my fault because I was on the phone and that I knew it. I screamed back that I don't know ****. She pulls up to the next light (at Ventura) and continues to scream at me through her window. Mind you there is a gap wide enough for a Hummer to get through to make that turn and she is still sitting there spewing her hate, going on and on about how I made her miss her turn. I never actually saw her face, I just saw a mass of blonde hair shaking as she continued to scream at me. After she called me a c*cksucker I asked her how she figured that out :twisted: (for those who don't know... yes I am gay). When the light turned green and she finally made the turn she could have made while the light was still red I held my hands up off the steering wheel and didn't lift my foot off the brake until she was safely on her angry little way.
The punchline is it was my birthday. I'd had my license for 21 years to the day, and I have never had an accident, either with the phone or without. I'm still perplexed as to how someone behind her can prevent her from making a turn. There were no stop signs, nobody was turning in front of her, she had the road to herself except for me behind her. I'm just glad I was able to maintain my sense of humor and not lose my temper as well. That could have gotten really ugly. As much as I wanted to get out of my car and have a face to face discussion with her, it probably would have made matters worst and it was much more amusing to see her hair shaking as she screamed. Happy birthday to me.
The punchline is it was my birthday. I'd had my license for 21 years to the day, and I have never had an accident, either with the phone or without. I'm still perplexed as to how someone behind her can prevent her from making a turn. There were no stop signs, nobody was turning in front of her, she had the road to herself except for me behind her. I'm just glad I was able to maintain my sense of humor and not lose my temper as well. That could have gotten really ugly. As much as I wanted to get out of my car and have a face to face discussion with her, it probably would have made matters worst and it was much more amusing to see her hair shaking as she screamed. Happy birthday to me.
