April 1, 2004

Street Talk by Shari Kaplan

What examples of road rage, driver intimidation or related aggressive driving behaviors, have you ever seen or encountered? (Asked at Almaden Center)

“My husband and I were followed by someone for some unknown reason. This person was obviously a nut. I didn’t want him to know where we lived, but my husband was driving and we went home. My husband parked and the guy blocked our driveway and wouldn’t let us back out. He also yelled something incomprehensible at us. Eventually he left. When we realized how potentially unpredictable the situation was, we realized how stupid what we did was. Don’t ever go home if someone is following you! And never get out!”

Elizabeth Phillips, 49
Almaden Valley
Program manager

“One of the first times I drove on my own after getting my license, I was in the slow lane doing the speed limit and this guy came up behind me and started honking. So I started to slow down to annoy him, which I know I shouldn’t have done. Then he dropped back, sped around me, gave me the bird [middle finger] and stared at me the whole time he passed. I was actually pretty amused by the whole thing.”

Gabriel DeVine, 16
Almaden Valley
Disc jockey and actor

“Sometimes I see kids driving and I feel like following them home and asking their parents: ‘Hey, do you know what your kid just did?’ I see them racing really fast, cutting in front of people, blasting music so loud that they couldn’t hear a car horn or a siren—things like that. And then they go on like nothing was wrong. One time someone even used the median strip as a passing lane! I think parents should have more strict rules for their kids, before giving them a car.”

Leann Wilson, 40
Almaden Valley
Nanny

“I’m not a fast driver, so most of the time I drive anywhere, people follow too close, because they’re in a hurry. One time I was coming home from Santa Cruz on Highway 17. There was a guy in a big truck following so close that it was like he wanted to ram me! I could even see him cussing me out. I think he was drunk too. And the really sad thing is that he had a kid with him. I didn’t intend to get off on the downtown Los Gatos exit, but I had to, to get away from him.”

Tony Caravelli, 45
Almaden Valley
Construction worker

“I live and go to college in Santa Cruz and take the bus a lot. One time a little Honda Civic pulled up behind the bus and just kept honking and honking and honking for no reason! I couldn’t believe it; I was thinking ‘You know, you can just go around!’ I remember the bus driver shook his fist out the window at the guy, and all the people on the bus were yelling ‘back up and hit him!’ I think they were kidding, but still, it was weird.”

Kristen McCurley, 18
Santa Cruz (formerly of Almaden Valley)
College student and writer

“I live at the end of Almaden Road at McKean and I was going 40 mph and this guy behind me in a red Mercedes kept getting closer and closer because I wasn’t driving fast enough for him. Then he pulled out in front of me and yelled profanity as he passed. Then he slowed down so much that I almost rear-ended him. I think he wanted me to stop and get out, but I didn’t. I just kept driving. Actually, I sped up to get away. He wasn’t young either—he was old and balding!”

Afshin Bahrami, 20
Almaden Valley
College student