It's well known that people can get a little, uh, intense when it comes to driving on the road and trying to get places on time. For whatever reason, operating a vehicle can transform the sanest, kindest person into an absolute monster if they think that another driver has transgressed against them. It's why we have the phenomenon known as "road rage."
Cars do weigh thousands of pounds and move quite fast, so it's understandable that some people are a little on edge while they drive. After all, we are pretty much trusting everyone else on the road to not drive like idiots...yet it seems they do, more often than not. Here are some of Reddit's craziest, most infuriating stories about rude strangers acting foolish on the road. Content edited for clarity.
“This Isn’t My Fault!”

“I was in the car with my grandma on a large four-lane road in town. A car next to us sideswiped us, pretty hard actually, so we pulled over to do the whole information exchange thing. The woman in the other car leapt out and starts screaming at my grandma, saying, ‘You are the rudest person I’ve ever seen! You wouldn’t let me over! I had my blinker on!’
I was completely taken aback because my grandma is the sweetest old lady and had either of us actually SEEN her blinker I know gram would’ve let her over. But there was heavy traffic and her car was directly beside us! I dealt with the beast in the Camry and got her insurance. She ended by saying, ‘This isn’t my fault, that woman should let people over.’
I laughed, which took her aback, and then I said, ‘You’re 100% at fault here, and by the way, a blinker is NOT a yield sign even if we had seen it. Learn how to drive before you hurt or kill someone.’ Then we left. I was pretty happy when my grandma told me the lady’s insurance had accepted liability and the agent told her, ‘Yes, she yells at us too.'”
He Was A Very Territorial Man

“I once parked my car on the street, completely legally, while visiting a friend. Then some guy came running out of his house yelling at me and saying that it was his parking spot. He had a large driveway that could easily park six cars, but there he was, yelling at me for parking on the street I was totally, morally, and legally entitled to park on.
I pointed to the street signs saying it was ok to park, and he yelled, ‘I don’t care what the sign says you punk, move your freaking car or you will regret it!’ I ignored his threat and went to visit my friend.
It was a late night and I came out about 3 am to drive home, only to discover that someone (wonder who?) had let the air out of all my tires. Luckily for me I own an air compressor, so I hooked it up to my car’s 12V plug and pumped the air back into my tires. It was pretty cold out and not the greatest compressor in the world, so it was a miserable 20 minutes or so.
Once I was done, I returned the favor and the air out of all the tires of the four cars in his driveway as well as his boat trailer. I also superglued his mailbox closed. That made me feel better.”
He Literally Should Not Have Been On The Road

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“When I was 21 I got my first ‘big kid’ job so I decided to buy myself a new (used) car since my clunker was awful. I got a beautiful Pontiac G6, and I loved it. Exactly 3 weeks after I bought it, I had to go back to the dealership to sign some paperwork so I could lower my car payment and my mom came with me.
As I was driving back home, going about 35 mph and MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, this old man in a Chevy Avalanche pulled out of a parking lot right in front of me. Had he floored it, I would have barely missed him. However, he STOPPED to make sure nobody was coming from the other direction. I slammed on my brakes, blared my horn, and t-bone his truck.
The front end of my car was barely there with fluids leaking all over, airbags all in my face, and my mom and I both got hurt. Then this jagoff decided to get out of his truck and start screaming at me, asking me why I hit his car, what is wrong with me, etc. I looked like I was all of 16 at the time, so I’m sure he thought he was right in that old brain of his.
He kept physically coming toward me, swearing at me, and screaming, even when the cop came. Finally, after 10 minutes of screaming, he asked if we were ok, and my mother went off on him that we weren’t ok and that he had no right being on the road. We came to find out that he hadn’t had a valid license for a few years, which wasn’t surprising. I still don’t know how he thought I hit him on purpose.”
“It Baffles Me That Someone Could Be So Callous”

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“One summer I was a camp counselor and I was in one of those 15 passenger vans packed with kids. We were coming back from a trip in North Carolina and we were on a curvy mountain road.
A woman in an oversized SUV was coming up the other side of the road and we slowed a little to make sure she could pass. She was obviously angry that we were there and that she couldn’t fit. At that moment, a small portion of the road gave out under one of our tires and our van fell off the side of the hill and rolled twice.
We weren’t going fast and no one was very injured which was good, but everyone was shaken and a little cut up. What topped it off was that the woman in the SUV came back (we thought to help us), rolled down the window, and screamed at us to watch our driving. Then she peeled off. To this day it baffles me that someone could be so callous.”
Some People Just Have A Vendetta Against Cyclists

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“A few years ago, I was riding my road bike with some other cyclists (teammates) on a rural road in Massachusettes. I was drafting, tired, and not paying attention so I ended up touching the rear wheel of the cyclist in front of me with my front wheel. As any cyclist knows, this is bad, equivalent to ‘crossing the beams’. We were doing about 20 mph.
I ended up going over the handlebar like a dolphin jumping a wave (well, if the crest of the wave was a handlebar and the trough was asphalt). Thankfully I flew off the road into the grass. No road rash was good, but I landed solidly on my shoulder and ended up getting a stage II shoulder separation.
As I was on the ground, writhing in pain with my bike lying against a fence (it bounced end on end and came to rest artfully on a fence) and a group of concerned cyclists surrounding me, a driver stopped to honk at us and curse us out for riding on the road. ‘Get off the road! You don’t pay taxes!’ Blah blah blah, what a punk.”
She Could Not Have Been More Oblivious To Her Child

“I was standing at a crosswalk on a fairly busy street one day next to a woman gabbing on a cell phone with her little 3 or 4-year-old son toddling around. The woman wasn’t making any attempt to look at the kid and wasn’t holding his hand.
The kid (probably bored by waiting) toddled right past me, jumped off the curb, and started walking into the street. As soon as I saw him leaping off the curb, I instinctively shouted, ‘OH NO!’ and sprang into action, running for him. I managed to grab him by the back of his shirt and yank him back to the curb before an SUV whizzed by at 40-50mph (obviously they weren’t paying attention, either).
The boy started sobbing, of course, because what little kid wouldn’t? It was scary. I spun around and IMMEDIATELY was met with his mom’s face as she proceeded to flip out, screaming about ‘how DARE I touch her son’ and ‘how DARE I make him cry.’ I tried to argue and tell her that I just saved the kid’s life when he walked out into the road, but even after hearing that, she just kept calling me nasty names and screaming at me.
She may not have noticed me wresting her toddler from his fate of being vaporized into a fine kiddie paste, but, given the circumstances, shouldn’t she have at least given me the benefit of the doubt considering that I was telling the truth?
She wouldn’t stop screaming incoherent garbage at me (while still holding her phone near her face, mind you, heaven forbid she end the call), so eventually, I just shouted back that she should keep a better eye on her son and walked to another crosswalk 2 blocks down.
I wasn’t expecting a grand hero’s parade, but a simple, ‘Thanks for not letting my boy become kinderjelly,’ would have been nice. Coincidentally, this was near where I lived, and I ended up seeing the woman and her boy again about 6 months later as they were walking through the neighborhood. She was still on her phone, but this time the boy was trailing after on a leash. Lesson learned? I guess…”
The Guy Did Not Understand How The Law Works

“Every year there’s a Greek festival here in Richmond, Virginia, and all the people in the neighborhoods around there get a little ticked off about it because of all the people parking. Some people take it farther and actually put out obstructions, like chairs with orange tape between them or cones, to block people from parking in front of their house.
The problem with that is that its public parking, so they’re really just being cry babies. That’s why I like to find some house close to the festival that’s done that, get out of my car, throw the cones into the person’s yard, and park right there. Also, I’m only going to be at the festival for as long as it takes to get food because it’s usually hotter than the surface of the sun.
One time some guy came out screaming at me about how I was breaking the law and he was going to call the cops and have me arrested and my car towed. I just looked at him and said, ‘No, you won’t, because I haven’t broken any laws.’ I got my food all boxed up and was walking back to my car, enjoying one of the 5 gyro’s I bought (1 for now, 1 for later, 1 for later…later, one for my wife, and one for her later) when I saw a cop car blocking me in and the cop standing on the sidewalk with the dude berating him.
The cop had a very tolerant expression on his face, so I just walked up and said, ‘Hey dude…sorry, officer, I got all my food and I’m ready to head out, I’ve got the family waiting for dinner (holding up the bags). Any way you could move the cruiser a few feet and I’ll be on my way, or are you gonna be busy for a while?’ The guy’s eyes widened and he started jabbering about how I was the one, telling the cop to arrest me and impound my car. The cop looked at me, gave me a slight nod, and said, ‘Nope, I’m pretty much done here. How were the lines? I’m kinda hungry and the guys back at the station love gyros.’
I told him the lines were moving pretty fast and the tzatziki was extra tangy that year. The guy was just gaping at us, so the cop said, ‘Sir, if you don’t take care of this trash by the time I’m done moving my cruiser, I’ll have to cite you for littering, and don’t block off the street again,’ and went to move his cruiser
By the time I was done loading up and pulling out (with a wave to officer Cool-As-Heck), the dude was dutifully picking up his cones and orange tape with a stunned expression on his face like reality just came crashing down.”
Talk About Having No Concern For A Fellow Human Being

“Many years ago, I was a cable guy in New Jersey. One day we had a severe hurricane and there was massive flooding everywhere. I was asked by dispatch to come in and help handle downed poles and other emergencies (people will live without power, but not cable TV, believe me).
I hopped in my old ’74 Mustang and drove off to HQ. On the way, the road flooding was horrific. I nearly gave up after several fruitless reroutes. Eventually, I reached an impasse. I had to navigate this one road that was flooded really bad; a BMW was floating by. I looked at the arrangement of cars and decided if I stayed left of car X and right of car Y, I should be able to snake through the lake of water. I was wrong.
My car lifted and began to float. Water poured in from all directions. The dashboard lights all lit up. Abandon ship! So I did. I opened the door, flooding the car, and escaped. I swam in the murky water and came out on someone’s lawn. As I pulled myself up out of the muck, I was head-to-toe in mud. Just then, a door opened and a very large and unpleasant woman screamed at me, ‘Look what you did to my lawn!’
I looked at her lawn. It was a flooded mess, most of it underwater and much of it carried away down the street. Oh, and it had a few divots where my hands and feet were when I pulled myself out of the muck. I couldn’t believe she was upset at a few divots when 30% of her lawn was floating out to sea, but she continued to berate me. I was freezing cold, covered in mud, upset at ruining my car, and in shock that this old bat was actually chastising me.
I watched my car list to port, then sink. Only the roof stood above the waves. It was a total loss, no point in thinking about it. As this horrible woman continued screaming at me and threatening to call the cops, I swam to the far side of the mini-lake to find dry land. As I did, some dude in a Cadillac pulled up and offered me a ride. I explained I was covered in mud, but he didn’t care. He saw the whole thing and just wanted to help out a fellow traveler in trouble. He drove me almost all the way to HQ as I thanked him profusely. I’ll never forget that guy. Once at work, I was one of only five who made it. We spent the next 14 hours fixing downed wires and flooded boxes for $7.24 an hour plus time and a half.”
He Was Genuinely At A Loss For Words

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“When I was in school, about age 16, I was crossing a t-junction at the end of a road and there was a car waiting to turn out of the junction. A long stream of students had crossed in front of it, and the woman driving was obviously getting pretty bored with waiting.
It just so happened that my friend and I were the last people to cross, about half a foot from the hood of her car. While we were midway across, she accelerated forward about two feet, which ended up with me on top of her hood and my mate staggering into the main road. I’m not going to lie, it hurt like heck.
This lady then proceeded to roll down her window and shout, ‘OI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET OFF MY CAR!’ Then she drove off into the distance without checking if either my buddy or I was ok. That’s the only time where I have genuinely been at a loss for words.”
The Car Could’ve Exploded At Any Minute

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“My mom and I were driving home on the turnpike when, as we were approaching the toll booth, the front of the car started smoking really bad. We instantly thought the car was on fire. We got to the toll booth and my mom asked the toll booth operator for a fire extinguisher. Her reply?
‘You need to pay and pull off the road, ma’am.’
My mom yelled at her, ‘Give me a fire extinguisher!’
‘You’re blocking traffic, ma’am, you need to pay and pull off the road.’
Then my mom flipped out, ‘Are you out of your mind?! Do you not see that my car is on fire?! Give me a freaking fire extinguisher!’
‘If you do not pay and pull off the road, I’m going to have to call the police, ma’am.’
My mom got out of the car, fuming angry, and slammed the money on the counter in front of her. ‘You’re lucky I don’t wanna go to jail, witch.’
‘If you’re going to continue to be rude to me, ma’am, I’m going to have to call the police, now please move your car from the toll booth, you are blocking traffic.’
Then the car died, so we had to push this smoking, potentially about to explode car down the highway ramp and managed to get it into a hotel parking lot. We asked to use their phone, called my uncle, and he picked us up while we had the car towed out of there to be repaired. I thought my mom was gonna murder that toll booth lady.”
She Called Him While He Was In The ER, But Not To Apologize

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“I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle in the bike lane on a moderately busy road. The lady had come up beside me and tried to take a right turn into a parking lot. My bike went under her front right wheel, and I went over the handlebars, across her hood, and landed in front of her car in the parking lot entryway.
Luckily she stopped in time to avoid running me over. She proceeded to get out of her car (which was still on top of my bike) and yell at me (still on the ground) for riding my bike on the sidewalk. I wasn’t on the sidewalk, I just landed there after she hit me.
The only response I could get in before witnesses intervened was, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ I wish I could have thought of something more clever. She later called my cell phone while I was in the ER to remind me not to do anything with my bike before her insurance took pictures if it. Not a single word of apology or concern for my well being. Some people…”
She Was Blatantly In The Wrong

“My first car accident was in a Walmart (more proof that Walmart is evil) parking lot. It was a rainy day, and the parking lot was mostly empty. The entrances/exits were in the back of the lot, and I had just pulled in and was driving down the lane disregarding the empty spots because I wanted to get as close as I could to the store.
Then this dumb lady started cutting across the back of the lot as fast as possible. People cut across the back of parking lots all the time, I know, and I don’t care. I slammed on my brakes, hoping she’d find a way around me since she had ample time to do so.
Instead, she plowed right into my front bumper. I had an old truck at the time, and it was like hitting a tank for her. The first thing she did was get out and scream at me, ‘What did you do to my car?!’ not even trying to do the ‘avoid responsibility for insurance purposes’ thing. She was angry and thought it was my fault. I laughed at her, which she did not care for. She also didn’t care for me taking pictures that eventually made her insurance claim laughable.
‘Umm, I’m in the driving lane with the arrow that’s painted to show you which way to go behind me. Your car is over 4 parking spots diagonally and connected to my bumper. Pay up, witch.”
Clearly Her Driving Was Problematic

“One time my friend got hit by a car at an intersection, and the driver was speeding. After my friend literally flew over the car and landed on the pavement, the driver pulled over and started to yell at my friend who got hit. She didn’t even take out her phone to call 911 or anything, she just went on about how ‘this is the second accident this month! Why weren’t you looking? Do you know how much this will cost me?!’
I was thinking, ‘What the heck, lady? You just hit my friend with your car, shut up and help!'”
She Was A Real Headache Of A Person

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“Some lady drove into me right after I backed out of my parking spot (my neighbors even saw it happen). She didn’t hit me that hard but the plastic on the front of her car fell off. She was SCREAMING at me before I even got out of the car about how her car was ‘demolished’ and mine was barely scratched.
After several minutes of her screaming and berating me, I had to yell, ‘What do you want me to do about it?!’ She didn’t want to exchange information because she had just got her car back from the repair shop and didn’t want to have to take it back. She also wanted a tow truck because ‘important’ parts (plastic panel) were broken. She kept screaming about how she was on her way to volunteer somewhere and that I had ruined her day, because clearly that was my intention all along.
Eventually, one of the neighbors came to get her crazy self, gave me her information, and drove her car back to her house. It basically took 2 hours to resolve a small fender bender. When I asked her if she didn’t see me, all she would say was, ‘I had the right of way.’ Such a headache of a person.”