Getting ran off the road, what would you have done?

Hello Everyone,

As all of you can tell I'm new here. I have been doing lots of reading and decided to sign up and become part of this great community and cause. The wife and I just got our carry permits in TN on 8/13 -14/12 (her's got her before mine). I have been reading lots of posts here and at the NRA site about carry laws because I don't want to hurt my right to carry.

So no onto the question. The wife and I were on our way home from doing some shopping. We are driving down a two lane road and it starts to merge at the top of a hill. I'm driving, so I merge from the right lane in behind a car in the left lane. All is going great until this huge Taho comes up running from the back of the line. It's all ready to late for him to merge with anyone so he looks at us and then turns his Tahoe into our lane anyway forcing us to start moving over. As we are being pushed out of our lane (Because I don't want my SUV damaged) I am checking the car behind me and the on coming traffic in the other lane. The wife is focused on him and how close he was to us and feeding me updates. Thankfully the other cars noticed what was going on and gave me room to get out of his way and the on coming traffic had already stopped as well.

Some of our friends that we told the story to said that it would have been a time to pull a weapon because the driver was putting us in danger. This happened two days before my permit came in the mail. I think that this wouldn't have been a time to pull a weapon because I had a way out of the issue. I also used OnStar to report him and his plates but that was worthless because a cop passed right by us (after the 911 report) and didn't do jack. The driver did go a different way so he was no longer on the same course as us anymore.

What are your thoughts and comments? I think I did the right thing right?

First off, welcome to the forums!

That is certainly NOT a situation to pull your firearm. I think that you'll find that to be a no-brainer answer from most folks here. I would like to strongly suggest that you look into taking some sort of defensive firearms course. A good course should thoroughly cover when use of deadly force is appropriate based on the laws of your state. In addition, do some research yourself. Visit the Tennessee portion of the boards. They can direct you to the actual laws of your state and likely suggest reputable trainers in your area.

Welcome to the forums!

And I agree, that situation was not one to pull your firearm.

Had he ran you off the road, made your SUV immobile, and then kept coming after you, then it may have been.

But that's an entirely different scenario.

As Lanearas suggested, you and your wife should take some defensive firearms classes, and read up on what constitutes deadly force, and the legal use of it.

Glad everything turned out OK.

HB

You did the right thing. Always remember this, even if it would have been legal to shoot that jackass, do you think you could have done so safely? Can you get a cantelope sized target traveling at 60mphs with 40mph cross winds and several barriers between you and the target?

If you can manage to pull off such a shot, what would the resulting effect be on yourself and those behind you? If you shot him, his SUV would careen out of control, endangering the lives of everyone around you. You have effectively just fired a 6' tall, 10' long 2 ton bullet and you have no idea where it's going or when it'll stop.

Welcome to OCDO.

Aggressive driving is not an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury if you can take some sort of evasive action to prevent an accident. While your state may have some sort of "stand your ground" law that does not mean you must stand your ground.

I echo everyone else's suggestion that you attend some sort of training that covers the laws on the use of deadly force.

Kudos on making the report via OnStar. It's often difficult to know if the cop who drove past had been dispatched to your situation or not - there is often a several-minute delay between when the OnStar operator contacts the local 9-1-1 center and the dispatcher assigns the call. You might spend some time practicing your legal research skills by looking up how your state handles aggressive driving - some have a means of dealing with reported incidents via mail to the offending driver (notice of a complaint received = warning or possibly demerits on record, or even a requirement to attend driver improvement in order to avoid suspension/loss of license).

In answer to your question about if you did the right thing - nobody got hurt and your vehicle was not damaged. That pretty much sounds like the outcome you desired.

As for your friends who encouraged you to shoot the guy - you may want to either educate them about the actual self defense laws (both statute and case law) or reconsider keeping them as friends. Not only waas their advice bad, dangerous and legally wrong, it suggests they may have some self-control issues that need to be resolved. Just because you have a handgun does not mean you need to use it to solve every problem you become involved in.

stay safe.

Welcome. I also agree with everyone that of course that is not a time to use your firearm. Your firearm is there to use if you feel like it's the only way to stop someone from killing you.

IMHO when you have two lanes merging together without having a yield sign then your best bet is to be the bigger man and slow down and let the jackass move in front of you. It might piss you off but the likely outcome of butt-heads over who gets to be first is a "no fault" accident report with each persons insurance covering their own damage.

Hard to tell someone what to do, or if they did the right thing by not being there. Shooting from a moving vehicle probably would not have been a good thing. I don't think I have ever been run off the road, so can't give much advice there either. I always slow down when someone gets pushy, they either pass or back off. But then I drive a very big truck. I have been in similar situations but they may not have been the same. If traffic is moving slowly I hold my ground, because it will encourage other pinheads. If the traffic is moving at a good pace slowing down lets them get ahead and get out my driving space. But again I wasn't there.

skidmark said:

In answer to your question about if you did the right thing - nobody got hurt and your vehicle was not damaged. That pretty much sounds like the outcome you desired.

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This should be repeated often on this board. The only reason to carry a firearm is to protect yourself and others. A firearm is not a tool of destruction when it is used properly.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. So I wanted to now tell the 2nd part to this story. When everything was happening, pulling a gun didn't even cross my mind. I was worried about the safety of me and others. The friends that said pull a gun don't own guns and have not done any classes at all, so they really don't understand the importance of being a permit holder. I also talked to my lawyer about the issue and she told me that it would have been viewed by the police as road rage and I would have lost in court.

Also thanks to everyone here I was able to email some friends a link to this post so that they could become better educated and see that we all need to do our part to help protect our right to carry. Also I have the idea that I will most likely die of old age before I will ever pull my weapon on anyone trying to kill me. I say this because I try to stay away from bad situations as much as possible. But we all know that someday our trusted and loyal sidekick just may need to be put into action to help protect us.

For now the wife and I are busy every weekend killing the crap out of the evil paper man. I must say that double tapping with a .45 is no small task when trying to stay in a small grouping on the target. We also have our class instructor that we plan to go back to and take more classes on defense.

Jeff T, you and I both know the answer to your question. We both had to take the class, and I'm sure we both got the long and hard on where and when to draw.

Sounds like this relative of yours was blowing smoke, and it looks like you already know he doesn't know what he's talking about. That said, if you ever find yourself in a SD situation, I hope someone like him is in your jury

As others have said, you have an out when you're in a vehicle. Also, inside a moving vehicle is not the time and place to be shooting at another moving vehicle, since the potential for doing more harm than good is so extreme-especially in the middle of traffic.

Jeff T said:

Thanks everyone for the welcome. So I wanted to now tell the 2nd part to this story. When everything was happening, pulling a gun didn't even cross my mind. I was worried about the safety of me and others. The friends that said pull a gun don't own guns and have not done any classes at all, so they really don't understand the importance of being a permit holder. I also talked to my lawyer about the issue and she told me that it would have been viewed by the police as road rage and I would have lost in court.

Also thanks to everyone here I was able to email some friends a link to this post so that they could become better educated and see that we all need to do our part to help protect our right to carry. Also I have the idea that I will most likely die of old age before I will ever pull my weapon on anyone trying to kill me. I say this because I try to stay away from bad situations as much as possible. But we all know that someday our trusted and loyal sidekick just may need to be put into action to help protect us.

For now the wife and I are busy every weekend killing the crap out of the evil paper man. I must say that double tapping with a .45 is no small task when trying to stay in a small grouping on the target. We also have our class instructor that we plan to go back to and take more classes on defense.

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What your non-gun owning friends seem to be engaged in is pretty much what people do when they forget they are supposed to keep their foot firmly on the break pedal of their emotions. "I'm pissed at someone 'disrespecting'[SUP]1[/SUP] me and they must pay for that!" Pretty much a standard response of someone who feels that some limit of tolerance has been reached. Once we start carrying a firearm around for self defense purposes we seem to realize that there are a whole lot of slings and arrows that must be endured without hauling out the blaster and blowing away folks who probably both deserve to be blown away and who would improve society by being blown away. I honestly do not think it is just some fear of being arrested, tried, convicted and jailed that holds us gun owners back. Some folks say that carrying a firearm is the ultimate expression of taking responsibility for one's own life. That responsibility seems to also include realizing that the limit of our tolerance really extends far beyond where many others seem to called it quits.

stay safe.

[SUP]1[/SUP] - is that really grammatically correct? When did "disrespect" become a verb? Somehow I still cling to the notion that if we sent this word to the trashcan where it belongs, thus forcing people to go back to identifying the specific action/behavior they considered to be disrespectful, a whole lot of chest-puffing and chest-thumping might be avoided.

Jeff T said:

Thanks everyone for the welcome. So I wanted to now tell the 2nd part to this story. When everything was happening, pulling a gun didn't even cross my mind. I was worried about the safety of me and others. The friends that said pull a gun don't own guns and have not done any classes at all, so they really don't understand the importance of being a permit holder. I also talked to my lawyer about the issue and she told me that it would have been viewed by the police as road rage and I would have lost in court.

Also thanks to everyone here I was able to email some friends a link to this post so that they could become better educated and see that we all need to do our part to help protect our right to carry. Also I have the idea that I will most likely die of old age before I will ever pull my weapon on anyone trying to kill me. I say this because I try to stay away from bad situations as much as possible. But we all know that someday our trusted and loyal sidekick just may need to be put into action to help protect us.

For now the wife and I are busy every weekend killing the crap out of the evil paper man. I must say that double tapping with a .45 is no small task when trying to stay in a small grouping on the target. We also have our class instructor that we plan to go back to and take more classes on defense.

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No, not a situation to pull the pistolas-UNLESS, thier vehicle had struck you/yours,AND proceeded to perhaps get out and attempt some sort of attack. But- I do understand the concept of "what-iffing" it, after the fact, as you go over it in the mind.


As to the .45-depending on what sidearm you are using in .45, it can and will get easier. It's actually (IMO and experience) one of the easier ones to do it with. Like anything else, practice, practice,practice. Start slow-(from the draw when/where possible) and build up the speed OVER TIME. And, get some snap-caps, and practice doing it dry-fire mode as often as you can as well.

I don't care about my car so much, dents and dings from this would not bother me.

I have refused to move a few times.

Like tailgaters they tailgate me because they want to go slower.

had one guy tailgate me one night I was in a 1968 beetle he was in a black SUV, I would slow down he would flash his lights, I would slow down more. He would back off I would get back up to speed. Repeat a few times. He passes me, I think it's over, he stops in the middle of the road and starts backing up at me.

I had stopped far enough back he didn't want to back up that far.

Then he pulled off on to the shoulder as I was passing him he tried to smash my car. I was prepared for that and so I had come in slow and floored it to get around him and he still came close.

Freedom1Man said:

I don't care about my car so much, dents and dings from this would not bother me.

I have refused to move a few times.

Like tailgaters they tailgate me because they want to go slower.

had one guy tailgate me one night I was in a 1968 beetle he was in a black SUV, I would slow down he would flash his lights, I would slow down more. He would back off I would get back up to speed. Repeat a few times. He passes me, I think it's over, he stops in the middle of the road and starts backing up at me.

I had stopped far enough back he didn't want to back up that far.

Then he pulled off on to the shoulder as I was passing him he tried to smash my car. I was prepared for that and so I had come in slow and floored it to get around him and he still came close.

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Man, people an their road rage our insane!