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Having had friends plus loved ones going through this twice in the last 2 years, my advice is to call 911 and immediately begin driving to the nearest police station. If there is a passenger have them start taking cell phone video and try to note the license plate. Tell the 911 dispatcher the things you can observe (type of car, color, license plate if you can, description of drivers/passengers, your location, heading, etc). They may not ask this information but if you tell them the information will be recorded. With your adrenaline rushing, most people won't remember the info. Let the 911 recording be your notepad.
If you live in a subdivision and they follow you, don't turn onto your road and definitely don't lead them to your house. Go back to the highway and head for help.
And yes, you are allowed to use your cell phone while driving to call 911.
In addition to the experiences I noted above, I witnessed road rage while driving on the Kona side. I didn't see what precipitated the rage I just saw somebody being a douche bag. The victim car looked like probably they were tourists. They pulled off the road and the aggressor pulled up behind them. The car in front of me had two big local boys who pulled over to help the victim and I pulled up behind them. Seeing this, the douche bags sped away. Had the tourists not pulled over and continued driving, they would have attracted more help. Don't pull over for a road rage incident unless it makes a lot of sense to do so.
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I know this isn't exactly on topic, but I've noticed a lot of people who putt along in the left lane which I'm sure generates a bit of rage drivers. I thought I'd share this explanation of what happens to traffic patterns if the right lane is used strictly for passing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oqfodY2Lz0
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Wow that's a long video there Eric. Kelena: "In the mere half decade I've been here I've witnessed more impatient driving" Actually I've seen some stats and facts recently that said Hawaii has the highest amount of reported road-rage cases for it's population than anywhere in the USA. That was on the TV news some months ago. With our natural ways of "aloha" here, it's hard to believe that can be a reality. Doesn't seem there's room for so much anger.
quote:
Originally posted by ElysianWort
Wow that's a long video there Eric. Kelena: "In the mere half decade I've been here I've witnessed more impatient driving" Actually I've seen some stats and facts recently that said Hawaii has the highest amount of reported road-rage cases for it's population than anywhere in the USA. That was on the TV news some months ago. With our natural ways of "aloha" here, it's hard to believe that can be a reality. Doesn't seem there's room for so much anger.
People are people, geography notwithstanding. When some dunce ignores driving protocol, it is bound to generate angst, and in some cases, road rage. The solution? Learn how to drive, or stay home.
FWIW, I think "Aloha" is grossly over-rated - more of a marketing angle than anything else, or a repackaging of what exists everywhere, but known by different names.
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"Aloha" ... exists everywhere, but known by different names.
Midwestern values and friendliness?
Southern hospitality?
etc
“We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope,” James Baldwin to Margaret Mead in the book A Rap On Race
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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quote:
Originally posted by ElysianWort
Wow that's a long video there Eric.
3 minutes is long? I've driven in many places around the world from SE Asia to Europe to South America and the drivers here rank pretty low on basic skills. Just taking 3 minutes to learn why they should keep right except to pass is probably too much I guess.
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Aloha definitely exists. I can't even count the times I have experienced unselfish acts of kindness here, being treated like a long lost friend by people I've only met a few times, humility from people who have absolutely no reason to be humble (world class musicians, for example). The example I always use in America is when some young guy opens the door for me at the top of the stairs at the gym and waits patiently for the old guy to get to the top. That would NEVER happen on the mainland. The young man would regard such an act as emasculating (we may open doors for women; we will hold one open for a man but only if he is right behind us). But aloha changes that equation. So, I get doors held open for me. Mahalo. It definitely exists and I'm trying hard to live aloha. In the process, I have to unlearn a few things. As for driving, Honolulu is a friggin' mess and so may skew the stats a bit. Also, we have a huge concentration of visitors who are in a hurry to relax. We also have a lot of imported Southern Californians who practice random acts of rudeness or are navigating a weird traffic circle for the first time, doing it wrong and making everyone mad. I think the difference here is that, if you experience road rage in Dallas, there is a probability that you will be shot. Here, that is a very low probability.
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That would NEVER happen on the mainland.
The mainland is a big, big place.
On a recent visit with my children we all traveled through Chicago to our final destination. I arrived from Hawaii, they started out in New York & Boston. In conversation I mentioned the fast pace and gruff attitude of some folks I encountered at O'Hare, and both my kids looked at me with surprise and said, "what do you mean? compared to the east coast the people in Chicago are sooo nice!"
A few hours later when we arrived in the hinterlands it was all so Prairie Home Companion. Many people were exceptionally friendly, polite, and helpful. There were some insane drivers as well.
“We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope,” James Baldwin to Margaret Mead in the book A Rap On Race
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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"I've driven in many places around the world from SE Asia to Europe to South America and the drivers here rank pretty low on basic skills."
Years ago I posted something similar on this forum that the drivers here were some of the worst I had ever encountered. I hadn't moved here yet so didn't understand the reason why. Now that I've been here a few years, I have a theory.
As far as traffic enforcement goes, the police only enforce the speeding laws. There could be somebody driving 25MPH in the left lane on the highway and the cop will go around them instead of pulling them over. Don't use a turn signal? I think they assume the light is out and it will be fixed within the year so they can get a safety sticker, no reason to pull them over. We have these suicide lanes to get onto the highway from the subdivisions and when somebody doesn't use their blinker getting off the highway the person trying to get on has no idea what they are doing. Headlight out? Tail light out? Nobody ever gets pulled over for that because the safety check will take care of it. On the mainland that's how many of the alcohol/drug/impaired driving busts are made. It's "normal" here for 3-4 people to turn left on a red light. In some intersections (Leilani in Hilo for example) it's 5-6 every time. It's not a secret... if they wanted to give 100 tickets a day, there's a place to do it. Instead they pull people over for driving 6 MPH over the speed limit where's safe to do so. As usual, JMHO.
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I agree with you Eric. It would be better if the left lane was only used for passing then people go back into the right. Just couldn't watch the whole video at the time. That may lessen the road rage. It'll never happen though. The left lane thing.
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