<p>Lots of people in my area drive vehicles that are similar to mine, and only a handful are gang-bangers. I can’t help what I like. Also, I don’t really consider a BMW 5-series to be a gang-type car. As I said, nothing about this dude triggered any alarms at all as I passed him. I didn’t even think “gang-banger” until he started tailing me; I figured he was just another rich kid. </p>
<p>He may have been a gangster, he may have just been messing with me, but I didn’t want to find out. I’ve been thinking about buying a shotgun or something to keep in the car in case the same thing happens again, but so far I don’t think it would be worth the money. From what I gather these things are pretty rare, and I doubt that I’ll ever see this guy again. Still, I guess it never hurts to be prepared? In the past two years I’ve been robbed twice, held at gunpoint twice and was forced to watch as one of my friends was pistol whipped and robbed in front of me. Now this happens and I’m starting to get fed up.</p>
<p>Anyways, I appreciate the input so far. I realize that I may have erred in judgment during the whole ordeal, but I was genuinely in fear and wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. You can judge me all you want, but I did what I thought was necessary at the time.</p>
<p>Please do not buy a gun. It could be used against you and will definitely escalate any situation. So if you were robbed or saw someone being pistol whipped you would pull out your gun and then what? Either you would be shot or would shoot someone else. If you have had all those things happen to you please reexamine your life. Are you in places you shouldn’t be? Do you need to change cars? Do you need to move?
I think the people who were judging didn’t understand the whole isituation. As the posts have gone on a lot more about why you were so concerned comes to light. This isn’t the same as me having something like this happen in my suburban neighborhood where we have a very low crime rate.</p>
<p>"He may have been a gangster, he may have just been messing with me, but I didn’t want to find out. I’ve been thinking about buying a shotgun or something to keep in the car in case the same thing happens again, but so far I don’t think it would be worth the money. "</p>
<p>How would a shotgun have helped you? I can’t think of any ways that it would have helped you. A shotgun also wouldn’t have been right next to you. Who drives around with a shotgun in the passenger’s seat? If he really was a thug, if you’d pulled out a gun, he likely would have killed you. He was behind you, far easier to shoot at you than for you to shoot at him.</p>
<p>Far easier and smarter to use your cell phone and good sense by staying with the rest of the cars instead of pedaling to the metal and allowing the person to tail you. Calling police on your cell phone would have been another smart move.</p>
<p>When I was young, I was in a similar situation that you experienced. A tractor trailor got right on my on my tail and kept blaring his horn. He refused to pass. It was on a curvy road. He must have been trying to amuse himself in a sick way. It was terrifying.</p>
<p>The rate of gun ownership in my area is high, and no one pulls this kind of crap. The OP was targeted by an aggressive coward who believed the OP wouldn’t defend himself. When there’s a high probability that your intended victim could put a slug in your brain, that tends not to happen.</p>
<p>Amen to that. If you’ve had that many awful things happen to you, then you need to examine the choices you are making. For example, how you reacted to this incident. I understand your fear, but your reaction was kind of extreme. It suggests a certain level of familiarity with extreme risk-taking behavior. I’m not blaming or judging you. I don’t know where you live, what you’ve been through, but I do know that if bad things keep happening to you, you are actively attracting that kind of energy to yourself.</p>
<p>When I lived in a western state where lots of people had guns, the standard advice from the police was if you got into a traffic altercation with someone, assume they have a gun and act accordingly. Scared the heck out of me!!!</p>
<p>In a lot of places, having a gun in a vehicle is illegal and can cause YOU legal problems. Don’t see how having a gun would have helped the situation in any case. Do agree that it would be good to re-examine your life to help figure out why these violent situations have been happening to & around you and what you’d like to do about it OTHER than buying a gun and increasing your chances of having a bullet in your body.</p>
<p>Thanks for backing me up guys. I am not saying that crime victims bring it on themselves in any way or are to blame in any way but there is such a thing as being careful and taking normal precautions. If I were the OP I would start wondering what I could change in my life. NOW.</p>
<p>Many, many years ago in the era of NO cellphones, I was a single girl who would drive 6 hours up and down I-5 in CA going to and from home/college. I had truckers on occasion who would have fun trying to ‘block me in’…you could see them laughing, talking on their CB’s and leering in their big mirrors. Ugh! Wish “Thelma and Louise” were around!</p>
<p>However, the scariest time was a guy who tried flirting from his car for about the last hour and half of my drive. Eventually, after trying to ignore him, I got really creeped out. I slowed down, he slowed down. I sped up, he sped up. I realized he was going to try to follow me and my exit was fast approaching. I let him get ahead of me and at the very last moment I exited the freeway. Lucky for me it was an offramp that had a steep incline. He was just past the exit and I could see him slam on his brakes and pull over. I raced through the frontage road to where I knew I could find more traffic. Shaking the whole time, I still had about a 25 minute drive to where I needed to go. I was prepared to drive directly to the local police station, if I saw any sign of the creep. Thankfully, I lost him. It was probably the most frightening thing I ever experienced in college.</p>
<p>Moral of the story, be cautious always when driving alone. Tips: call 911, stick with a pack of other cars (they can also act as witnesses IF there is a confrontation), and NEVER PULL OVER unless you are in a crowded well-lit area, preferably a police station, or a fire station. A hospital also might be a good place to stop…there are often police around (especially if you are in a major metro area). Don’t get out of your car, just lay on the horn. If I were you, I would locate your local police stations and those highway/statetrooper stations along your route for future reference. All you kids out there, stay safe!</p>
<p>I live in a nice neighborhood, home values are all over $500k, went to private school, etc. I’m not involved with drugs, and aside from a couple of drinking tickets that I got in high school I keep my nose clean. I’m not hanging around bad neighborhoods or anything. Unfortunately, criminals know where the money is, and they know who to rob. I was robbed twice due to errors in my own judgment (I gave rides to two different people because I was trying to be nice-they both ended up robbing me), but would like to think that I know better by now.</p>
<p>One of my friends told me about the #77 hotline and said that you can report cars anonymously to the Highway Patrol, and that they’ll come out and look at the situation without you having to file a report or something. I didn’t know that at the time, but looking back that would have been incredibly useful.</p>
<p>The gun comment was made out of frustration, and I don’t think I’ll actually end up buying one. I’m a college student and don’t have an extra $400 lying around to buy one, and I can’t think of what I would have done with it anyways. It just sucks feeling completely defenseless. </p>
<p>Anyways, I think it is a bit much to criticize me for my lifestyle or anything. I’m about as non-confrontational as a person can be-if a restaurant messes up my order, for example, I typically won’t even mention it. If there is a fight, I’ll always turn the other way. I can understand some criticism of my car, but I like it and put a lot of hard-earned money into it, and it hasn’t caused a problem until now (if that was even the reason that this guy followed me). I appreciate the advice that most of you have given me, but am disappointed with some comments on here that seem to imply that my lifestyle is somehow to blame for these things happening to me. As I said earlier, nothing could be further from the truth.</p>
<p>Anyways, my ranting is done. Thanks to everyone for your input.</p>
<p>Some people just get emotional when you pass them. There doesn’t have to be any reason beyond that.</p>
<p>I think I would have driven to the nearest police station. Not speeding and and not creeping along slowly - just deliberately and calmly keep going until you get to the police station. I doubt he would follow you into the police parking lot.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that if you feel you’re being followed, you should proceed to the nearest police station, fire station, or hospital. Of course, this advice only works if you’re in a populated area, and it was given before the advent of cell phones. Come to think of it, I might be a little scared to use my cell in the OP’s situation; it would be so obvious to the other driver what I was doing. I think the best advice is to travel in a pack.</p>
<p>I think the questioning and criticism of Cuse0507 in this thread was really inappropriate. He should be able to drive anywhere, in any kind of vehicle, alone or in a pack, without being accosted. I’d love to see these same people’s reactions if someone started asking a rape victim, “How much makeup were you wearing? What color were your clothes? Why did you run? Did you make eye contact? Since you were dressed like a tart, why are you surprised someone treated you like one?” It’s a sick way of thinking.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I disagree. When someone has multiple robberies in their past in my mind they need to question where they are going and what they are doing. IN this case the OP admits that both times he was robbed he gave someone a ride that he shouldn’t have.
That is all I was saying.<br>
In your example of a rape victim I would say that women do need to be aware of their surroundings, not be walking around after dark in certain neighborhoods, etc.
I did not bring up the type of car he has just the decisions he has been making.</p>