Road rage
Published: Sat, 04/12/14
A couple of years ago I had a Citroen XM estate as my daily
transport. It was a reasonably powerful car and was nice to drive.
On one occasion I was driving to Glastonbury to teach a Stav Class
and on the dual carriage way section of the A303 I went to pass a
Renault Laguna which was in the inside lane. As I did so he
speeded up to around 90 miles an hour staying directly on my
inside. So I dropped back again and pulled into the inside lane
whereupon he dropped his speed back to about 50 miles an hour, I
pulled out to to overtake and again he speeded right up until I
gave up trying to overtake and then forced me to slow right down
again. At the roundabout I took the A37 and the Renault caught up
and over took me and then pulled into a layby and then out again
behind me, obviously following me. A couple of miles down the road
I was going to turn left anyway so I left it to the last minute to
indicate and slow down to take the left turn but still the Renault
kept after me, now he was blowing his horn and flashing his lights.
At that point I decided to stop and see what happened. I
didn't particularly want the driver to know where I was going
and there was a remote possibility that he had a legitimate reason
for wanting me to stop, maybe he had noticed something wrong with
my car and desperately wanted to communicate the details to me.
(not likely I know but I always try to think the best of people).
I pulled into a layby and the Renault pulled along side and the
young man who was driving started shouting at me through the opened
passenger window. Why was I trying to run him off the road? etc.
I asked why he didn't let me overtake on the dual carriage way
and he said it was my fault if my car was so slow it couldn't
get past him. Then he said if he saw me again he would beat me up.
Then he drove off.
I was on my way to teach a martial arts class, I had enough weapons
in the car to fight a small war. For some reason I had my WW2
entrenching tool readily to hand (I must have been using it for
some gardening or something that day.) While I was hearing all
this nonsense I was contemplating getting out, taking out his
lights and windscreen and if he got out of his car destroying his
kneecaps too. It was tempting but I let it go and it was the right
thing to do, it wasn't my job to teach him a lesson. I could
have taken registration number and reported the incident to the
police, maybe I should have done but I really couldn't be
bothered.
So, why share this little story with you? Because it illustrates
some interesting points about self-defence. If there had been more
than one person in the car chasing me I would not have stopped, or
I would have driven into the petrol station at Podimore parked
under a cctv camera in front of witnesses and called the police on
my mobile. One person I reckon I can probably handle but two is
another matter. I didn't get out of the car and if the driver
of the Renault had got out I would have kept doors locked and only
opened window a fraction. I kept the engine running and at the
first sign of real threat I would just have floored the accelerator
and got out of there (tough luck if he had been standing in front
of the car).
Marc McYoung says that violence comes in a tin with instructions on
how to avoid opening it. The driver of the Renault was taking
quite risk on opening the tin marked violence, some people like to
live dangerously, if he pulls tricks like that regularly then I
expect someone has given him a hiding by now, I hope he learns his
lesson from it. In my case it was clear that this person just
wanted to vent some nonsense so I let him get on with it. Saying
or doing anything was just going to escalate the situation and that
didn't need to happen. I was receiving clear instructions that
if I let the other driver have his say then that would be the end
of the matter.
Geoff Thompson talks about defence against the self. We attract
whatever happens to us in some way or another. I am not sure why I
attracted that little episode that evening, I very rarely attract
antagonism from other people and that is partly because I keep my
energy pretty clear (daily practice of the stances helps a lot with
this) and partly because I don't usually go out of my way to
upset people. I did get into a bit of competitive driving on the
A303 and I didn't need to (if I had been in my van, which
really is slow, then I would not have even thought of overtaking)
so I do take a share of responsibility for the situation. The
other defense against self is not being provoked and taking violent
action because the other party 'deserved it', yes the
temptation is there but protecting yourself against the
consequences of acting on that temptation is the most beneficial
thing you can do for yourself.
So, martial arts and self-defence? I always remind my students
that if a situation gets to a stage where you are sorting a problem
out by hitting someone then something has gone seriously wrong. I
could have practiced my finely honed Stav skills that evening but I
am glad I didn't have to or choose to.
Regards
Graham
PS I have a little booklet called Peacock Kung Fu, it is a little
bit whimsical but I think it has some good advice on self-defence.
You can order a copy from http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/lit.html if
you prefer an ebook version then go to
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/elit.html The ebook is quite a bit
less expensive and there is no postage to pay.
If you are a current member of Ice and Fire then please visit the
secure members page and download a copy from there.