Texters are annoying when they are sleep walking in the crosswalk. Im much more concerned by people driving with their phone up in front of their face. One of my least favorite things is the surprised look I get when some driver looks up from his phone and notices me.
I today watched some cool dude in a convertible cruising with his dog in his lap enjoying life. At some point he leaned his phone out the window and took a selfie. While doing this he veered totally into the oncoming lane. People do dumb things all the time.
The problem with road rage is that if you actually sandwich someone into a parked truck, and flip over your own car, you get arrested, but if you only threaten to do it, it is totally legal. NYPD will refuse to take an incidence rapport if there was no physical contact. Ask me how I know...
So you can run people off the road if you arent too reckless about it.
Christian,
I recognize that unless someone is injured or bleeding pretty much nothing happens.
I like to tell the story of my friend Iron Mike's brother "Brian" (every person I ever met named Brian was a hell raiser when younger, except one who says he wasn't).
Some car did something dumb or dangerous and Brian had a fit of "bike rage" he caught up with the car and sacrificed his bike using it as a weapon to break the windshield and dent panels all over the car basically trashing both the car and his bike.
Pretty much he made his bike into a weapon. Of course the guy stayed in his car. People get scared when aggression at this level is released.
Another New York story involved this guy I knew at Grumman who was mucho muscular because he was a gymnast. He told me a story that involved a girlfriend he had who was mucho hot. Guys would do or say something and it would esculate into a fight.
So this one time he is driving and this hard core biker on a Harley at a stoplight says something to his girl and he says F-U. The light changes and at the next stoplight the biker takes the opportunity to get off his bike and stick his head into my friend's car saying, "What did you say to me?"
My friend pushed the guys helmet against the "A" pillar and the windshield, hit the gas, and blew though the light with the guy in tow. Wound the speedometer up to 55 MPH (80 feet per second) and then let the guy go.
Moral of the story: better to act first rather than talk.
Today I said, "Excuse me," to a bigger younger guy who was texting on his cell phone who was going to walk right into me. I also raised my forearm to brace myself for impact, but we did not collide.
This self involved culture I see in younger generations is not cool. Also because of age and size differences I take this as a serious threat to my safety which means I don't have a problem if I have to take someone out who might injure me.
Saying you're sorry I feel has no meaning. "Oh-well," I say if we are going to be casual about safety and reckless behavior.
Cal