What do you do if a guy is following you?

[Bandit]

guys

off topic a bit...tonite i was coming home, and i overtook this guy in a brand mercedes 500Sl i think (it was dark)...

after which he horned, and flashed constantly...and commenced following me...

i sensed this ..and continued driving as i was near home...so not wanting to show my hoome...i drove around other areas and he followed until i finally turned into a shopping complex...after which he immediately raced away...

now im :mad: :mad: :mad:

cos i don't appreciate being followed and am wondering why these idiots on the road try to pick a fight...without knowing what type of person they are dealing with it...

wondering if you guys have experienced similar to this and your thoughts on how to combat this....

im still quite :mad:

thanks...

[Corky]

thats a tad bit freaky

none of that happens in wagga! :p

[spiv]

Drive straight to the nearest police station :(

[VX SS]

Drive straight to the nearest police station :(

Best thing to do.

[Wazz_ChevLS1]

Get yourself a crowd controller (Baseball bat) keep it in the boot with a glove and ball to make it seem like you play the game. Bring the crowd controller out to play on special occasions like this when idiots decide they need to be the tough guy.
Or pull over and if they stop behind you wait til they get out then drive off perferably to or past a Police station as suggested.
You also can take his number plate and report the incident to Police.

[bouka]

Do not do anything else (it is often the case that you can't figure out what you did in the first place) to make the person(s) more hostile.

Always stay on a main road (when and where possible) in heavily populated areas.

If you have a mobile phone handy make a call to the police (000) and give them a real time account of the events (ie. as they are happening). At this stage do not worry about hands free, unless you think the offender may attemp to run you off the road in any way.

If they have displayed signs that they might do something stupid ie. they have swerved towards you, then have both hands on the wheel and prepare yourself for anything. Make sure to reduce speed and put the phone in your lap and keep talking to police with your location.

Drive to the nearest police station, one you know will be open if it is late at night.

Try and get a rego (easier said than done).

Don't panic (even easier to say than do).

[Bandit]

thanks guys for the responses...everyone of you were good

even the baseball bat :)

nevertheless it is rather annoying...why ppl can't just mind their own business and carry on there is enough problems in the world to stoop soo low...

but i do think the guy was attempting to bully me...cos when the cars were stuck at shopping centre he ran away rather than continue his harrassment...

....

personally a coward way for someone to conduct themselves...

[bouka]

Get yourself a crowd controller (Baseball bat) keep it in the boot with a glove and ball to make it seem like you play the game. Bring the crowd controller out to play on special occasions like this when idiots decide they need to be the tough guy.
Or pull over and if they stop behind you wait til they get out then drive off perferably to or past a Police station as suggested.
You also can take his number plate and report the incident to Police.

Fair point Wazz but reading into it a little more this may not be the best response.

High end (very expensive) Merc's are usually owned by executives, Drs etc. The type that do not usually exhibit such hostility (not for that long a period anyway).

Such cars may also be owned by person's who may have come accross their wealth in less socially accepted professions. If it is the latter then asking for a game of catch may prove costly (and painful),

While we would all love to kick the shite out these f***heads, playing it safe may be the better option.

[Lani]

A couple years back i was in a car with two other females, and a car with 3 male passengers followed us, we were driving around for 10min until we decided to drive to the nearest police station, we indicated and pulled over out the front of the station, and when they realised we were stopping they just left us alone.

One other time i was alone, and a car with 5 male passengers were yelling really scary things out the window. In that situation i put the foot down and thankfully got away :D

On that note :lol: Always drive by a Police Station, and if need be, park the car and walk inside. :)

[Red CV8 R]

Seeing as you live in Sydney ignore Baseball bat advice as to many people carry loaded guns now. And a few high end drug dealers drive nice new Mercedes to. These days you just dont know who your screwing with.

I know of guys who have done the high speed run thing and been caught and convicted for speeding to.

Going to a Crowded Shopping centre like you did or to a Police staion as suggested are your best bets if it really seems like a bad situation.

[keshan]

hi
ALways call the cops (000) ( everyone got a mobile phone these days anyway)
Never get out of your car /stop the car , keep driving.
Trying to get the rego.

Don't keep any baseball bat etc in your car. You are better off without them.
( you will regreat using them) :)

Be happy nothing happened to you this time. :)

safe drving man
keshan

[Ryzz]

Seeing as you live in Sydney ignore Baseball bat advice as to many people carry loaded guns now. And a few high end drug dealers drive nice new Mercedes to. These days you just dont know who your screwing with.

I know of guys who have done the high speed run thing and been caught and convicted for speeding to.

Going to a Crowded Shopping centre like you did or to a Police staion as suggested are your best bets if it really seems like a bad situation.

Baseball bat is a no go, a friend gave me a good word of advice. Keep some Windex (or window cleaner spray) and if the come up to you and hit the window, or abuse u through a open window, one spary in the eyes and they will not be able to do a lot as it will cause imense pain, reduce vision, preocupy them, etc.

Also i dont think this is going to be considered assult by cops if the followed it up.

Dont know if it leaves any perm damage though!!

[ecka]

Don't ya just love the opportunity for war stories? :)

I've only ever experienced this once, many years ago when I lived in Sydney. It happened as I drove through Mt Druit (Sydney's west) pretty late at night. I didn't have a friggin' clue where the local Police station was, I just knew the route in to the place I'd visited and was trying to retrace my way out.

I won't go into details but it ended well. Let's just say that I was a member of Blacktown Pistol Club, had been at a twilight shoot, stopped the car, and my "rowdy friends" went looking for a late night undergarment shop.

[DaveHAT]

Seeing as you live in Sydney ignore Baseball bat advice as to many people carry loaded guns now. And a few high end drug dealers drive nice new Mercedes to. These days you just dont know who your screwing with.

I know of guys who have done the high speed run thing and been caught and convicted for speeding to.

Going to a Crowded Shopping centre like you did or to a Police staion as suggested are your best bets if it really seems like a bad situation.

Dambed good advice here. Sydney has some seriously issue laden people unfortunatley these days. Give ass-clowns :booty: like the one you encoutered a wide berth & stay in well crowded areas as suggested.
You'll never achieve anything if you try & get into a biff with a moron anyway!

[ecka]

I should clarify that what I did was wrong. I got lucky - that's the folly of youth. Full of vinegar and percieved indestructibility. The above advice to keep away and seek help is the best option.

Upon reflection, if they were "loaded"? Mother of God! :(

[spank]

two years ago we were driving from summernats to melb , me and my mate in one car and two girls in another (one was my mates gf), this car pulls up beside the girls and starts giving them sh*t for no apparent reason and when the girls told them where to go they pulled out a baseball bat and started swinging , we were not amused by this and overtook both cars and got a bit up the road (the hume - middle off nowhere) and parked our car F350 truck across the hume taking up both lanes . the girls drove up to us and parked in front of the F350 . these two heros in thier car thought the better of it when they pulled up as i was standing there with a trolley jack handle and my mate was holding a nice piece of 2by4 , anyway when we started walking toward them just to politely discuss this obvios missunderstanding they hit reverse and drove backwards up the hume to get away , apparantly they no longer wanted to play . i now think my self lucky that they did back away because i really do think we would have bashed them to death and i would probly be curling up next to bubba in a nice cell right now on a murder or manslaughter charge :(

[VYSSBlack]

I had a little incident recently too, I was cruizin in the SS when some guy in a vn started driving erratically. He kept speeding up , getting in front of my car then slowing down. Then he wouldnt let me pass. Eventually I got past him at a set of lights and went sideways to the left down another road, he gave up. The next night i saw on the news that the vn had been car jacked earlier and was found burnt out around the corner from where we saw it. Glad i have a gen3 getaway car or I might have been his next victim.

And yup your best going to a cop shop, you dont wanna end up in prison cause you beet some low life oxygen thief to death

[cutter bob]

i'ld drive straight to the closes police station and if he was still behind me when i was passing the cop shop i would hit the brakes so fuc!ken hard, hes nice new merc would slam into the back of mine and ( hopfully ) be writen off!!!!!!


but this is coming from a person that drives an astra that i really dont give a sh!t about and would like an easy way to get rid of it!!!! :D

[Bravo Brad]

Had a similar thing a few weeks back on the open road. (out of mobile range.)

Overtook a bloke in a ef falcon, as I went past i thought that car sounds all wrong, but didnt think about it till i pulled back in and next thing he was tailgating me with the lights and horn. the goose was at full throtle as i went past (he obviouslly needed a bigger engine), i just slowed like i was going to stop, and he shot off, so i sat behind him, when he shot off I let him go, but the goose would pull up and when i came up he would pull back on in front of me, so i just didnt play the game, when we hit the next town i just turned up the first side street (with no notice) and into it. by the time he had twiged what had happened i was so far gone he couldnt have caught me if he had tried. Whilst it wasnt the most mucho thing that could have been done, when you have a 6 yr old and a 50+ yr old lady in the car, they are more important than thumping some goose in the side of the road because he is a loser.

[VYBerlinaV8]

If you can get a rego number I believe the cops can charge the other person with something called 'menacing driving'. Apparently this charge can carry fairly serious penalties, but the idea is to scare the sh1t out of the (usually) young fella in dad's car so they wise up.

[6LtrLimo]

Are you all forgetting that dialling 000 from a mobile phone doesnt work. 000 is only from landlines. Try dialing 112 in case of an emergency from a mobile phone.

[ROGUE]

112 is the emergency number to call from a mobile, they can get a location on you that way, calling 000 from a mobile won't allow them to get a location on you.

and as for baseball bats in cars, well mine has probably saved my life twice now, thats all i have to say about that... :rolleyes:

[HRTSEN]

Hi

If someone chases me.....I play!

regards,

Richard
CLUBVX

[KeenGolfer]

About 10 years ago in Sydney I was driving across the harbour bridge with a mate about 8am Sat morning. This taxi overtakes us in the next lane on drivers side. There's this guy hanging out the window hurling abuse - didn't even acknowledge him - had no idea who he was. Turned off just after the bridge to North Sydney, sitting at some lights waiting to go green, and the taxi pulls up beside. Then this tool gets out and kicks in the passenger window - that was the first I knew when I heard the glass breaking. Then he proceeds to kick in the LHR door. So I get out while my mate goes to ring cops and confront him. Asked him why he did it and he says "because you did it to my car first". The guy was pissed or stoned or something. Anyway, it was on. Punchup in the middle of a 3 lane road with traffic trying to go around us. I had him pinned on the ground until the cops arrived and they arrested him. We went to the station too to give our story etc. Cops ask me if I'm ok, I say yeah, sure, and they say "but you're covered in blood". Went to the toilets, and I sure was, but it was his, not mine :) We went to court 3 times over the next 12 months, then I moved to Canberra, and never actually found out what happened to him. Never got my money back for damage to my car, clothes etc.

I was driving a Datsun 1600 with camaflague paint, roll cage etc. Maybe I deserved it :lol:

[keen]

Driveing that, it doeserved to be your own blood. :lol:

[CarlFST60L]

I had a wanker walk out infront of me while i was doing like 30Km/h, i slowed down, he slowed down, he turned and he actually hit my car with his elbo! He then chased me down in his five litre VN, or somthing, with his company name all over the back which i will not mention, at this point i didnt know he was chasing me, he cut me off and pully up so i couldnt go foward down the one way street infront of the Maquarie Arms Hotel, my soon to be wife managed to pull up behind me and box me in, n e way, this guy gets out comes over and starts telling me he's going to kill me coz i tried to run him over, he was punching my window and yelling and carring on like the biggest wanker i have ever seen, i wasnt in the mood for trying to fight a guy acting like a pitbull in heat...

The cop shop's accross the road so i told him to meet me over there, he agreed at first then i think deep down he realised he was being a dick, i convinced him to leave me alone, and i wasnt trying to run him over, if i was the guy would be on his way to the morgue...

the guy is a holden man, and from an automive engineering company around windsor/richmond area... I could have easily paid him a visit, or his car, or his house... But, I would prefer to have a beer and a laugh about it!

[team illucid]

Some tosser in a white VK did this to my wife on Commonwealth AV in Canberra recently ... she managed to keep her head, got his rego when he swerved in front of her (making out he was going to ram the car) and rang the cops ... whether or not they did anything is unknown although they said they would ...

we still have the rego # :-)

[Phido]

Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.

Sun Tzu was a firm beliver in picking your battles wisely. And its true. Just because someone is comming towards you don't let him decide the attack is now because it most likely suits him. Why get into a fight when he may be carrying a weapon and you nothing! To what purpose do you fight? Where is your advantage and their weakness!

95% of the time it is best not to esclate a conflict, simply avoid or out flank it and then victory is yours because you live another day without even a scratch, yet you gain some knowledge of your enemy, becoming wiser. If you see him again you can make a choice then when you have the advantage.

Road rage people act as if they are drunk or in some way intoxicated, sometimes they are. In such situations the person may be looking for some kind of punishment and will gladly take it to damage something. These are fights that have hollow victories and possibly heavy losses, thus are best avoided.


in war one cannot make certain of conquering

My family particularly has a history of getting involved in road fist fights, growing up I must have seen 20 or 30 such incidents, and you would not belive how some of them started, truely idiotic. Many of a morning on the way to school, my father would try and chase down some idiot, often succeeding, then attempting to punch the window in with his fist or prising it down with his fingers, all while wearing a suit and tie with his kids in his car.

Its also interesting to see how they developed, and how easily they can be solved. For most people, admitting your a idiot (or a forigner) who made a mistake and your sorry solves many minor incidents which could escalate into something more serious. This is a favourite technique of mine, I usually don't even have to get out of the car. Generally you also don't get them or a passenger of them writing down your details. But you generally can take their details down at at your leasiure and forward them onto the police or keep them for refrence. They will go off beliving a lie, complaining about some forigner who doesn't exist, and if it ever goes to court, they will have some crazy story about some forign scandinavian who spoke little english, they will most likely change the discription to match the nationality to advised them of. Perfect!


All warfare is based on deception

If your trapped in, then assess the situation and make your moves carefully. If you don't think you can intimdate them out, don't even try, if you can distract them try that then hit with the most leathal force you can muster with what ever is handy and the strongest or best armed person comming towards you. Baseball bats, chublocks, golf clubs, hockey sticks etc are very popular today. Beware of thrown objects as passengers often use them to make the first strike. Also if this happens see if you can get a call out before you leave your car to a friend etc so if things don't go your way someone will come looking immediately or can report the incident to the police if needed.

If something like this happens and you have no idea where the local police station is or if its open, drive to a petrol station. Many petrol stations are 24hr, they also readily attract customers even at odd hours. Petrol stations usually have CCTV and holdup alarms. They have someone with his finger almost just above it and who knows how to use it and knows its operational. They are acted at the highest priority by security companies and will be followed up by police. Even in canberra or victoria where police generally won't attend many incidents, they will for a Holdup because it will usually atleast involve a large amount of cash, possibly a assult or death.

Holdup alarms draw the police extremely quickly usually, because there aren't many false alarms, they are high profile targets, they know exactly where the premise is (petrol stations are usually easy to find and cops won't even have to look it up) and they have a reasonable chance of getting someone for a serious offence. Also petrol station attendants are usually on the ball, can give reasonable discritptions, know the time date to the minute. Some of them are also armed with something. Could be anything from a bat/broom to a pistol. But its better than nothing at the very least someone can call for help or identify who killed you.

This advice goes doubly for women who are generally quite vunerable. I used to work at a petrol station on late shifts, and you would be suprised how often this happend and in a state of panic they drove in and explained the incident. Best thing they could do, many residental police stations are closed are night thesedays, and trying to find the next one can take ages.

[ROGUE]

nice post grasshopper... oops, i mean phido :lol:

it's amazing how the theories and philosophies of sun tzu are hundreds of years old, yet still have perfect viability in today's world...

:cheers:

[SteveK]

My last road rage incident is as follows:

I was at the lights coming out of northland shopping center, turning right. I get the green arrow so pull out. Out of the corner of my eye, I see an old beat up magna stationwagon coming from the opposite direction turning left in the little 'turn left with care' lane. Problem is, he was flying and whilst on the mobile phone. So he ends up in the left lane, heading towards Albert Rd whilst I'm in the lane to the right of him, 2 car lengths in front.

His lane is about to end, so he decides to speed up and undertake me, still on the mobile phone. There is no way he's going to make it through and you guessed it, he hits my car, back quarter panel. I stop the car and get out, start walking to his car and the guy, still on the mobile, hand to phone to side of head, non-handsfree, and he begins reversing to drive off.

I scream out, "Hey, where do you think you're going". He's still talking on the phone ignoring me, girlfriend in the passanger seat. This just made me furious so I smack him in the face. Now, I've never punched someone in the face before, never had the need to, never been so frustrated to do so but this just got to me and I never thought one simple punch would draw so much blood running from his nose. Guess I didn't know my own strength.

In a panic, I just get back into my car and drive off but about a kilometer down the road guilt overcomes me and I call the police and explain "I just got into a car accident and punched the other guy in the face, what do I do now?". They told me to come into the police station so I drive over there. As I walk in the door, there's this guy, bloody faced, with his girlfriend, at the counter, making a complaint "That's the guy, he punched me". So another officer takes me outside for questioning, it was a nice day you see.

He asked me what happened, so I told him exactly what happened. "Oh, he never told us about a mobile phone" says the officer in regards to the other guys account of events.

But here's the kicker:

This other guys friend turns up to the police station, walks in and says "I'm a witness, I heard everything that happened over the mobile phone". The 2 officers looked at me and said "You can go now".

I'm glad idiots get their just desserts sometimes, but I was ashamed of what I had done and haven't done that since, been 6 years and it's still a great story that my friends love to hear.

Cheers,
Steve

[Lani]

This other guys friend turns up to the police station, walks in and says "I'm a witness, I heard everything that happened over the mobile phone". Cheers,
Steve

*rolling on the floor laughing her ar$e off*

That is THE funniest! ahaha :lol:

I'm not too far away from Northland and I know what section you are talking about, seeing it’s an 'open' road, people tend to fly through that left turn.
It’s terrible when people use violence, but I have to say, if it happened to me I’d probably would have done the same thing!

[vh-holden]

simple solution for me - use the 6 cylinder smoke machine. i accelerate and blow a heap of smoke out the exhaust pipe. very james bond style i reckon.

[dvx]

get youtself a mag-lite and swing it out the window, and pretend your really angry, usually it freaks them out. Would you take on some crazy bogan in a commodore with a mag-lite?

[Ron]

I had 2 in one week. One day I was driving home from the shops when this idiot on a pushie decides he is going to ride in the middle of the road. I had to slow down , I blew my horn and wished him a HAPPY HONNIKER and went around him . As I went up the drive way of the units I was living in I haerd this voice abusing me. It was the peanut on the pushie, he seen where I had pulled in and thought he would follow. I got peeved off he had followed me home so I went up to him and said what point does he want to prove. He starts abusing me again and I lost it and said if he wants to make something of it to get off his bike. He wouldn`t and started on me again .I let out a few chioce words and invented a few and told him to poq or I`ll call the cops.He took off and then I went up to each individual unit and appologised for the language they would of heard. In hindsight I should have just threatened to call the cops in the first place.


The 2nd incedent happened 2days later. I had a car follow me home and decided he was going to follow me up the driveway. I got out of my car walked up to him and told him if he didn`t poq I would call the cops. It turned out he had a VL Calais turbo like mine and wanted to know if I had the original wheels as I had mags on mine . I appologised for being irate with him and explained what had happened to me a couple of days before. He didn`t blame me for my reaction.

In hindsight it`s best to always call the cops or go to the nearest cop shop with the idiot following you , pull up outside and sit on the horn until they come out

[skully]

A word of warning if you plan on flooring it, you never know who's behind you. I had a red sports car (can't remember what) pull in behind me as I went through an intersection in a suburban area late at night, it tailgated me through some twisty streets at 50kph for a few ks then I turned off onto a straight, wide road that dropped downhill. I gave it a squirt to put some distance between us, they appeared to back off (as did I) then next thing I know 400m down the street they come flying up behind me with high beams on and just as they were closing the blue & red lights start flashing :rolleyes:

21yo hwp copper gets out and gives me the ticket with a smirk on his face, no discussion. 83ks in a 50 zone, 3 months walking. yes it was my own fault and I should have known better so I copped it sweet, but it riles me the way it was done. even the officer who lives next door thought it was rather harsh, but said 'thats hwp for you'.
:doh:

[onezero]

This is what was told to me when I was in hospital a few weeks ago:

I was taking my lil' bro home from volleyball, and some bloke was tailgating me for apparently quite a while. I ended up doing a very stupid thing - I pulled over and got out.

My brother said the guy was about 30-40 and was of large build, he "looked like a clean shaven bikie". After a bit of shoving I was king hit in the side of the head... the guy was wearing large rings (or knuckle dusters), I was KO'ed, and when I fell, hit the other side of my head on the road. I spent the night in hospital, was slipping in and out of consciousness, and the nurse had to write down what happened/important facts, etc as I had no short term memory.

For the next 2-3 days I was pretty scattered... and I still have absolutely no memory of the said day, or much of the next, and had trouble doing simple tasks. I copped a few stitches where I was hit, and aside from a bit of a headache/dizzy-spells/confusion for a little bit, recovered completely.

My father has always told me to stay the fark in my car, but I literally don't know what I was thinking, as I can’t remember.

You live and learn, I suppose.

[rodp]

Back many years ago when I used to own a GT I had to be very careful the last couple of kays because I'd often have a car following me (probably waiting to see where I park it so they can knock it off).

This was at the back of Croydon with lots of small side streets and I'd always run a maze so I'd lose anyone following me before I'd garage it. A few times I'd have to fang it through a dozen back streets to shake off someone chasing me down (for what real purpose I still don't know) but always managed to make it to the underground garage follower free.. :D

[TWIG#15]

yeah, just last week i was coming home from work on the GV highway and got ran off the road by a car load of drugF..kd loosers from geelong. i was by myself so i dint want to stir them up to much so i called ahead and got a car load of mates to pull out infront of them and slow him down a bit. then they witnessed firsthand this car actually hitting my driver door and pushing me off the road again. id just about had enuff of this crap so my mates called the cops and we followed the car 100kms down the hume fw where the police finally pulled him up. i just wanted to drop these wankers but clearly wasnt able to. i had to give statments etc and the driver is summends to go to court.

all good fun hay. NOT!