🚦 Clean up on Isle 4: My One and Only Road Rage Experience

All I wanted was a quiet trip to the grocery store with my wife. That’s it. A loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, maybe some bananas. Instead, I got a front-row seat to America’s rage epidemic.

Part of the From the Archives collection — pull up a chair and revisit the television, music, technology, and cultural moments that shaped earlier generations.

We’re at a four-way stoplight, one car in front of us. Light turns green. The guy doesn’t move — he’s glued to his phone, texting away. I give him the most polite little tap of the horn you can imagine. Not a blast. Not a “move it, buddy.” Just a courtesy reminder.

He looks up, flips me the bird, and takes off like a bat out of hell. Me and the wife just shake our heads. One of those guys.

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Brake-Checking Mayhem

We drive on, thinking it’s over, but here he comes again — out of nowhere — cutting us off and slamming his brakes. Brake-checking me like he’s daring me to hit him so he can say it’s my fault.

I stop in time. Then he stops dead and boxes me in. Out comes this big dude, storming up to my door, cursing and threatening.

Now, I don’t carry weapons. Haven’t since Vietnam, 1970. But I’ve had enough. Big or not, this clown is going to pay if he lays a hand on me. I open my door, ready to unleash some never forgotten marine training:

Suddenly his wife (or girlfriend, hard to tell) jumps out, runs up to the passenger side, and starts cursing out my wife. Am I being pranked? This isn’t normal behavior — this is street theater.

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Enter the Law

Instant Karma at its finest:

Right then, a police car rolls up. I think: thank God, sanity arrives.

Except the big guy makes a beeline to the officer, yelling wild tales of what I supposedly did to “anger” him. Dash cam? Nope. Just my calm demeanor and a USMC logo on my ball cap. The officer takes one look at me, and instantly makes his decision, shoots me a wink, and says to the big oaf: “Sir, turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

Thank you for your service!

And just for fun here are some great examples of road rage karma which are very satisfying to watch the dipwads get what they deserve:

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Sovereign Citizen Special

That’s when the guy goes full “sovereign citizen.” You know the routine: “You can’t do this! I know my rights! I demand a supervisor!” Then he starts resisting, big mistake. Backup is called. His wife tries to interfere, and pretty soon they’re both in cuffs, stuffed into the back of a squad car on their way to jail wondering what the hell just happened.

My quick grocery run turned into a circus sideshow: brake-checks, threats, sovereign citizen theatrics, and two arrests. Is this a great country or what?

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What’s Driving All This Rage?

Here’s the real question: what is it about being behind the wheel that turns ordinary people into lunatics?

• Is it the steel cocoon that makes them feel untouchable?
• Is it the dopamine crash from staring at their phones?
• Or is it just the ugly truth: a lot of people are looking for a fight, and the highway is their arena?

Rage behind the wheel often starts before anything happens on the road. You get in the car already loaded—argument with a spouse, money stress, a snub at work. Driving shifts to autopilot while your mind chews on grievances. Then a minor slight—a merge without a signal, a brake tap—feels like a personal attack. The outburst isn’t about that moment; it’s the pressure valve popping on everything you brought into the car.

I don’t have the answer. But I do know this — courtesy on the road is on life support in the USA. A polite horn tap can escalate into full-blown felony arrests. Here in the Philippines a honked horn is considered a courtesy, a proximity warning if you will, “just letting you know I’m here pards” It’s necessary when you have a thousand kinds of vehicles moving in controlled chaos, Jeepneys, motorcycles, trikes, private vehicles, Tuk Tuks and pedestrians, all moving about with focus and intent and not a single instance of road rage anywhere. Now that’s what I call civilized!

Update: November 15, 2025 – Two Lives Lost in Two Days

Chatrodamus is outraged and heartbroken at the news of two people losing their lives to road rage in just the last two days: one, a 49-year-old father of nine in California, and the other an 11-year-old boy in Nevada on his way to school.

This type of behavior is reprehensible. Whether you’re “in the right” or “in the wrong,” the punishment should never be death. Loss of life over a traffic slight is intolerable.

Idiots are driving around with guns, just waiting to justify shooting someone. Is it worth your life to chase them down, beat your chest, and blow things out of proportion just to soothe your anger?

Enter the “Ragealyzer”

Chatrodamus believes it may be time for a new device: the Ragealyzer — a mandatory wrist-band monitor that detects high stress and anger levels while you’re driving. Think of it as an emotional cousin to the car breathalyzer.

A breathalyzer (or ignition interlock device, IID) is a compact electronic tool wired into your vehicle’s ignition. Judges order them for repeat DUI offenders. You blow into the device before the car will start, and sometimes again at random intervals while driving, to prove you’re still sober.

Now imagine something similar for rage:

• Had an argument with your wife or husband? Better calm down before driving or the Ragealyzer won’t let you start the car.
• Some clown cuts you off and you’re ready to go full caveman? Instead of tailgating, brake-checking, or speeding up to scream at them, the Ragealyzer senses the spike, shuts you down, and gently steers you to the curb to cool off.

States have already shown that IIDs can keep drunks from getting behind the wheel. A Ragealyzer could do the same thing for rage, and maybe — just maybe — keep a stupid fender-bender from turning into a homicide scene.

Murdered Over Ice Cream and a Morning Commute

Why should a 49-year-old father of nine, taking his family out for ice cream, have his life snuffed out over a simple traffic issue?

He was killed in an apparent road-rage confrontation in California while his wife and young children were in the car. Family members said Elola, his wife Gabrielle, and their two youngest daughters were on their way home from an 18th-birthday celebration for one of his sons when they decided to stop for ice cream at Loard’s Ice Cream in Castro Valley. He never made it home.

In another case, an 11-year-old boy in Nevada was killed on the way to school when two drivers got locked into a road-rage pissing contest. One driver allegedly fired into the other vehicle, hitting the child. The boy’s driver then rammed the suspect’s car, and both vehicles ended up stopped in the middle of the freeway.

Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader said:

“I just want to remind everybody that we lost a life today that we didn’t have to lose… I need everybody to be patient on our roadways. We have an obligation to look out for each other.”

Sorry, Chief, but that sounds like Casper Milquetoast to Joe Everyman. Two people are dead in two days — murdered over traffic nonsense — and that’s the best we can do?

What We Should Have Heard

Here’s what Chatrodamus wishes we’d heard at that podium:

“Listen up, you moron drivers out there. Instead of all this rage that might end your life — or someone else’s — how about calming the fuck down and dialing back the anger?

If you’re pissed off about something, don’t get in a car and take it out on a stranger who might have accidentally cut you off or done something stupid. Just let it go. Then, when you get home, you can bitch about it all you want. At least you’ll live to buy more ice cream for your kids.

We’re supposed to be looking out for one another. We all know there are idiots out there who don’t have a clue about driving etiquette. So be the bigger person: laugh at their stupidity, turn the other cheek, and live to drive another day.”

That’s the message Joe Everyman is waiting to hear: not just “be patient,” but grow up and grow a brain before someone else’s kid doesn’t make it home from school.

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On Your Question: Is Road Rage an “American Thing”?

You asked:

“Joe Everyman wants to know, is road rage an American thing? Are there any statistics out there that compare our drivers’ incidents of road rage to other countries?”

Based on pre-2024 research and surveys:

• Road rage is not uniquely American. Aggressive driving, tailgating, brake-checking, and fights at the side of the road show up in Europe, Australia, Asia — pretty much anywhere there are cars and stressed-out humans.
• What is different in the U.S. is guns.
  • In many other countries, a road-rage incident is more likely to end in shouting, maybe a fistfight, or property damage.
  • In the U.S., a certain percentage of these encounters escalate into armed confrontations because so many drivers are armed, and some are itching for an excuse to “stand their ground” like a movie hero.
• Comparing numbers country to country is messy. Different nations track “aggressive driving,” “assaults,” and “firearm incidents” under different labels. But the overall pattern is pretty clear:
  • Americans report a lot of anger behind the wheel in surveys.
  • And we have a tragically high number of cases where that anger plus a firearm equals a body bag.

So no, we don’t own road rage worldwide — but we do seem to specialize in turning stupid, everyday driving disputes into funerals.