How would you have handled this situation?

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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on December 13, 2013 at 12:22am

I must've watched your video at least two dozen times. I think that driver was f@cking with you. There were plenty of parking spaces available on both sides of the street. Your headlight was very bright and it's reflection was clearly visible in the passenger side rear view mirror. You made a few tactical errors by not shining your headlight directly into the vehicle's center rear view mirror and the license plate was not readable (although you couldn't have known that at the time). Your speed was moderately high for the conditions and I'm guessing the driver decided to have some fun with a weird looking biker who freaked him out a little. The smart move would have been to come to a dead stop behind the driver, shine your light directly into his center rear view mirror and make certain you have the vehicle's plate number recorded. Then call the cops before getting any closer to the vehicle. (I'm assuming you have a cell phone.) He might be intoxicated and he might be packing heat. He put you at grave risk and is a jackass and should be made painfully aware of both those facts. I wouldn't have been so charitable.

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Permalink Reply by T.K. 3.5 mi on December 13, 2013 at 12:38am

Joe, please read and contemplate Hanlon's razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

You only have control over your actions. (This kind of applies all of the time) Not the drivers. Make no assumptions about their motivations, and do what keeps you safe. Also please consider that if your hypothesis that the driver was 'f@cking' with you turns out to be wrong, then your actions of shining a light in their face and calling the cops makes YOU the f@cker. 

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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on December 13, 2013 at 1:34am

No, I didn't say in his face, I said in his center rear view mirror. Jose has hard evidence that he was put at grave risk. Getting a hole drivers off the street is a public service effort, my friend.

Also consider Occam's razor, which for the purpose of this discussion would mean that we really can't make any assumptions about the driver intentions. However, the driver is responsible for his behavior, which is clearly unsafe here. Now maybe the driver was stupid or maybe he was drunk or maybe he was distracted or maybe he just wanted to f@ck with Jose. Regardless, the driver could benefit from a little safety reminder and I'd leave it up to Chicago's finest. In any given situation, I tend to assume the worst. I don't really like razors anyway. Facial hair has its benefits, particularly in the winter.

T.K. 8.4 mi said:

Joe, please read and contemplate Hanlon's razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

You only have control over your actions. (This kind of applies all of the time) Not the drivers. Make no assumptions about their motivations, and do what keeps you safe. Also please consider that if your hypothesis that the driver was 'f@cking' with you turns out to be wrong, then your actions of shining a light in their face and calling the cops makes YOU the f@cker. 

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Permalink Reply by T.K. 3.5 mi on December 13, 2013 at 10:46am

I agree with you, facial hair is very beneficial in the winter. 

I fundamentally approach all of these situations differently though. "How can I keep myself safe?" Teaching the driver a lesson is a lesser priority, and I'm not convinced that bringing cops into everyone of these situations is a good use of their time or an effective way to curb minor incidents of poor driving. 

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