"Deliberate" Road Rage?

I was travelling home last night and something happened, which I can only describe as "Deliberate" road rage.

Now you might say that all road rage is deliberate, however this was especially noticeable beacuse of its avoidability.

I was turning right through a traffic light controlled junction. As I came to the junction I crossed the line on amber. It was unsafe for me to stop as there was a vehicle directly behind me, so I carried on through before the light changed to red.

However, due to the sequence of the lights, as ours go from Green to Amber, the set opposite go from Red, to Red & Amber. The vehicle that was waiting at the line opposite me floored it, and deliberatley sped off the line and moved their vehicle to the left. They then proceeded to beep and flash and no doubt call me all the names under the sun.

If they had have waited for maybe half a second before moving off the line I would have been well out of the way, and thus not causing anyone any problems!

These days I try and accomodate other drivers accidental mistakes - we've all been in the wrong lane at some point, or accidentally cut someone up without realising, however deliberate attempts at intimidation get my back up.

Has anyone else encountered this type of deliberate intimidation/road rage?

Not sure I follow, you didn't stop at the traffic lights because someone was behind you?

Think the op means the car behind was close expecting his or her car to carry on and stopping may have caused a rear end shunt,the car that sped off the line was indeed trying to cause confrontation a little patience saves a lot of trouble on the roads.

There's also clearly a flaw with the lighting sequence; one set should always go to red before the other set turns from red, for obvious safety reasons.

There's also clearly a flaw with the lighting sequence; one set should always go to red before the other set turns from red, for obvious safety reasons.

ISTR that the minimum timing is 4 seconds green to green. Red / amber might be back to back in some busy junctions, but as we all know, amber means STOP* so we should all be OK.

* wishful thinking. It's time for the return of the Amber Gambler campaign.

Amber means stop if it is safe to do so. If someone's right up your back axle, there is less risk of a collision by going ahead than there is by stopping; or, if you're already very close to the junction, it's safer not to risk slamming on the brakes.

Red-plus-amber means stop. It's a signal to prepare to go, but all too many drivers think it means go.

Playing devils advocate. Could all this be seen as a deliberate act by the OP to beat the lights, rather than having the patience to wait a couple of minutes at most?

Playing devils advocate. Could all this be seen as a deliberate act by the OP to beat the lights, rather than having the patience to wait a couple of minutes at most?

It's quite possible; only the OP knows the truth of it, and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

If I were the OP I wouldn't have chanced it and gone through. It wouldn't be my fault if the car behind ran into me, and I'd rather have them hit me than me hit someone else and lose my no-claims.

I know people who behave like this on purpose to, from what I can make out, 'teach other road users a lesson'. I'm not sure which government agency oppointed poeple like this to do this kind of work, however, it seems ironic that they are the ones making the roads dangerous!

I was travelling home last night and something happened, which I can only describe as "Deliberate" road rage.

 

Now you might say that all road rage is deliberate, however this was especially noticeable beacuse of its avoidability.

 

I was turning right through a traffic light controlled junction. As I came to the junction I crossed the line on amber. It was unsafe for me to stop as there was a vehicle directly behind me, so I carried on through before the light changed to red.

 

However, due to the sequence of the lights, as ours go from Green to Amber, the set opposite go from Red, to Red & Amber. The vehicle that was waiting at the line opposite me floored it, and deliberatley sped off the line and moved their vehicle to the left. They then proceeded to beep and flash and no doubt call me all the names under the sun.

 

If they had have waited for maybe half a second before moving off the line I would have been well out of the way, and thus not causing anyone any problems!

 

These days I try and accomodate other drivers accidental mistakes - we've all been in the wrong lane at some point, or accidentally cut someone up without realising, however deliberate attempts at intimidation get my back up.

 

Has anyone else encountered this type of deliberate intimidation/road rage?