Stop the insanity!
November 9th, 2010
As I’ve posted before, traffic caused by construction in town has been kind of like a canvas to showcase the darker side of people driving styles. They block intersections, cut people off, run red lights etc…
This morning while I was inching down Union Ave and came to a standstill, some guy behind me started beeping and then yelling. Apparently he wanted me to touch the car’s bumper in front of me so he could eek by (and actually thought he’d scrape my car if he did) and take a right. ?????? ??? ??? ????? I didn’t feel comfortable getting that close to the car in front of me, I don’t know if they have standard and might roll back a little before they go or what and I have a little rule where I don’t do something I’m not comfortable with just because someone is laying on their horn. Like when people try to get me to go faster than the speed limit on a road but yet I’d be the one that gets a speeding ticket.
Anyway, apparently this individual had enough of waiting for traffic to move and got out of his car and started banging on my window and screaming at me- all sorts of nice words and calling me all sorts of nice names. I quickly locked my door as I saw him stomping over and grabbed my camera (yes, as a blogger I always have my camera in my bag).
Above is the…person who apparently has a lot of issues going on besides dealing with traffic.
When traffic finally started moving I tried to get a shot of his license plate but all I got was this:
The construction in town is just out of control and making an insanely short commute a total nightmare. People are really turning into animals and I wish they’d switch to just night-time construction. ???? ????????? ?????? I did contact a senior town employee working in the area of planning/construction but they said they don’t do night construction due to residential disruption.
Also, the police probably have bigger fish to fry but I may report this although I really don’t have much information to give them. So unfortunately people can act like total lunatics and get away with it. ???? ???? 2024
It was just a scary terrible way to start the day and unfortunately the stress of driving in Framingham due to construction is becoming a way of life because it’s all over town.
I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be laughing, but as I was reading I never expected to scroll down and see that this ‘tough guy’ d-bag drove a mini-van! So perfect.
This guy looks like a real gem and though I agree with you on the issue of the traffic nightmares, I’m thinking this guy has issues regardless.
Comment by gary November 9, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
Eeeeeek!!! You should definitely call the police to make a n official complaint. Perhaps they could send someone out to that area tomorrow morning to watch for any hostile behavior.
Sunday, as I was walking toward Panera (with a few other couples around me) a middle aged white man in a silver mini van (yes a silver mini van!!) was speeding through the Target/Panera parking lot and was literally three inches from hitting me (as I was walking!) because his head was turned toward his wife in the passenger seat, talking to her. She saw us pedestrians, shouted something to him and pointed, then he turned to us and starting SCREAMING and flipped us off! I have no idea what he said because the windows were rolled up, but it was a bizarre scene. Other people had stopped, looked and gasped. No joke.
I made a mental note of the license plate at the time but have now forgotten it. It could have possibly included the letters and numbers 1, 7, 4, H, Z, L or F…but not in that order.
I really think you should call the police.
Comment by L November 9, 2010 @ 3:31 pm
I was thinking the same thing: Tough guy driving a MINIVAN.
I be that was more of his anger than anything else. Its simpe these days, just take a breath you will get there eventually.
Comment by Rich November 9, 2010 @ 4:04 pm
What a moron that guy is!! Its incredible how people think that leaning on the horn or shouting at the cars in front of you will magically make the traffic move or give other more space to move up! Hope you do report it and the guy gets what’s coming to him!
Comment by Izzybob November 9, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
I love that he was driving a Mini-Van! The framingham road rage has happened to me too. Did the picture taking make him more mad??
Comment by Gina November 9, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
we should pool our money and put that guy and the story on billboards around Framingham saying not to interact or do business with this person. maybe as a community we can take a stand and hopefully he’ll have to leave the community.
Comment by Joe November 9, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
Gina, No. The scariest part was that this guy didn’t even care that I was taking his picture!
Comment by michelle November 9, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
The scariest part is the fact that this guy probably has children he is responsible for driving around…
Comment by s November 9, 2010 @ 4:57 pm
That is scary. You should definitely report it to the police. My guess is there may be an officer or two who recognizes this guy. My experience has been that someone this crazy is usually already known to the police. They may be able to ID him for you.
Were you even able to catch any part of the plate? The PD may be able to track him down cross referencing your photo with RMV database images of people who are partial plate matches.
Looks like it is Toyota Minivan so that will help narrow the search if you did get a partial plate.
Do you have a bigger image of the photo? It looks like there are some distinctive markings directly below the plate.
I think I can make out the last number of the plate as 5 that alone with the make and model of the car might be enough to get an investigation started.
Comment by Dan November 9, 2010 @ 7:27 pm
It’s a ’99-’04 Honda Odyssey
Comment by Peter November 9, 2010 @ 9:01 pm
I had a similar situation this morning also. Was on Hartford St and I pull up behind this white pick up truck and the guy was doing hand gestures out the back window while we were stuck at the light because of all the traffic due to construction and then as we moved onto concord st he pulls out from behind the car in front of him abruptly goes along side in a jerking motion cause he stepped on the gas fast then had to brake fast. Turned into the gas station on the left and hangs out the window and gives me the finger and yells something that I couldnt hear..Now mind you I was only behind this person for about 5 minutes and I didnt do anything to make him do this.. whether he was having a bad day or just aggravated due to the traffic it was uncalled for…But there are people out there that can not controll the road rage…
Comment by Debby November 9, 2010 @ 9:21 pm
I feel your pain. I had someone almost hit me in the Market Basket Plaza in Ashland. as I was walking to the car with my groceries. Flipped out at me and got out of the car and wanted to fight me. People have some serious issues. Glad your OK!
Comment by Scott November 9, 2010 @ 11:26 pm
Hey Michelle, don’t worry about the Henry Rollins wanna be, usually you’ll find that people like that, well, they get theirs.
I just want to say I’m sorry you had to go through that. You would think people would understand, and adjust accordingly because of the work being done on 128 and other roads in Framingham right now.
Comment by Mark November 10, 2010 @ 12:50 am
Tell the cops, Michelle. If he feels no shame then allow him to publicize himself all the way to the FPD. I agree with the other posters: it might not be too hard to finger (no pun intended) this guy. He did it to you, he’ll do it to others.
What a jerk.
Comment by Matt November 10, 2010 @ 2:12 am
He probably feels emasculated by what he’s driving and must make up for it in other ways.
Comment by Ginger November 10, 2010 @ 2:13 am
that’s assault, if you call the police he will be arrested, and he should be
Comment by sull November 10, 2010 @ 10:10 am
Good call Ginger. What a weirdo, careful out there Michele, I understand wanting to be a “blogger” but some people see a camera and act out and if he is willing to get out of his car perhaps he would do something else.
Comment by Julia Werbinski Fitzgerald November 10, 2010 @ 11:29 am
This guy must have SPS ! Small Penis Syndrome.
Comment by FRG November 10, 2010 @ 1:47 pm
I agree with the humorous aspect mentioned in previous posts about this guy driving a mini-van.
Construction is a nightmare. I live about 1 mile from my kids’ school (McAuliffe) and it is unbelieveable how long it can take me to make that round trip on any given morning.
Construction is slated to take a while and, of course, there will be the obligatory delays that push it back even further, not to mention the cost overruns.
For now, though, I urge everyone to be cool and be alert.
This is a very scary thing posted on here today – you never know. We hear too many stories of people just becoming unglued (like this guy).
Please everyone, be careful when you see certain behaviours.
Comment by Joe N November 10, 2010 @ 2:16 pm
I’m glad you got that jerk’s picture. That’s really scary. People are unleashing their insanity on the roads to a degree that if you even give eye contact, they’re ready for a fight. To get that pissed at you for not hitting the bumper of the car in front of you… it’s like people expect you to put yourself in danger so they can save, what, a few seconds of time?
There is NO accountability on the roads anymore, NONE. Someone cuts you off and YOU are the jerk. Here you are in a traffic jam as close to the car in front of you as you can get, and YOU are at fault.
I was on rt 9 a few weeks ago going west at about 45mph. No cars behind me. Someone pulled from rt. 30 on to rt. 9 about 5 car lengths in front of me going about 10mph, like they were just pulling into their driveway. I had to swerve at the last minute into the passing lane (thankfully no one was there) and I laid on the horn. The guy gives ME the finger! If he waited 2 seconds for me to go by, there were no more cars coming.
Remember the days when it was fun to go for a drive? Those days are long gone. Especially with all this painful construction going on. Seems like no matter what backroads you think you can take to bypass a jam, you inadvertantly hit more construction.
Comment by Chris November 10, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
I can’t tell you how much I love this. You rock Michelle. Imagine his friends, family and coworkers seeing his picture on like being the jerk of the year.
I will say, however, that the construction in Framingham is out of hand. I’m sure there’s a reason they have to do 99 projects at one time, but it doesn’t make sense. Do 5, finish them, move on.
Comment by Susie November 10, 2010 @ 3:28 pm
It is because of drivers like you and pedestrians like one of the other commenters in here that there is road rage and traffic jams. You should of moved out of the way to keep the traffic flowing, that would of been the end of the story. Instead, you chose to be ignorant and ignored the guy. Maybe you do not know how to drive or not smart enough to realize to keep the traffice flowing, either way, you are to blame. Pedestrians now a days think they own the streets and parking lots. They feel they have the right to walk out in front of traffic, and if they are almost hit, they feel it is the drivers fault. When I was growing up, I was taught to look both ways down the street or parkiing lot and not to cross until there were no cars coming. Now a days people feel they have the right to walk out in front of a moving vehicle, do’t even get me started on bicyclists.
Comment by Saxonvile November 10, 2010 @ 4:43 pm
so Saxonville, are you saying that what the guy in the van did is normal acceptable behavior? IF, and i’m not making assumptions, you think it is ok to behave like that, then you should go to your house and sit in a chair and think about what acceptable actions are and aren’t, and then come back and tell us that, even though you think the author of this post is a bad driver, the guy giving the finger acted horribly. if you never come to the conclusion that the guy in the van acted inappropriately, then you should just stay in your home and leave society alone.
this is the problem with the world today, people think things are normal that really aren’t.
i think its odd, Saxonville, that after reading this post you think that the person to go after is the writer of the blog, not the crazy guy.
Comment by Joe November 10, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
I think Saxonville may be the man in the picture…. just saying. How are people suppose to move out of the way if there is no way to go??
Comment by Bryn November 10, 2010 @ 6:56 pm
‘It is because of drivers like you and pedestrians like one of the other commenters in here that there is road rage and traffic jams.’
If you become angry and aggressive on the road, it’s your own choice. No, it’s not always easy to keep your cool but nobody else in is control of your temper. Also, people do not cause traffic jams just by crossing the street, no matter where or how they do so.
Comment by Ginger November 12, 2010 @ 4:23 pm
Driving down from my new house on Edgell road this morning, I see tha they have indeed changed the times during which they’ll be doing construction…. to 7am-3:30pm. This is really not helpful, and the traffic backs up enough that I have a hard time getting out of my driveway. Honestly, I’d rather hit more traffic on the way home, when I don’t have to be there at a specific time, instead of traffic making me late to work in the morning.
Comment by Chad November 15, 2010 @ 11:05 am
Michelle – I LOVE that you got this moron’s picture and would chip in to post his face on a billboard!!
Comment by Laura November 15, 2010 @ 10:20 pm
I honestly don’t understand road rage. This guy’s life is so important that he can’t wait the 5 minutes to make the turn. If he gets that upset about driving, I’d hate to see what something REALLY important does to him. Scary!
btw, we just moved to the midwest. I haven’t heard a horn in 4 months. Everyone is so polite. They actually WAIT THEIR TURN at a 4-way stop. I’m amazed!
Comment by Colette November 17, 2010 @ 10:10 pm
I can not believe that he walked up to your window and gave you the finger…awesome that you got a picture of it!!!!!
Comment by Sonya November 17, 2010 @ 11:11 pm
….and really CREEPY that he did that.
Comment by Sonya November 17, 2010 @ 11:15 pm
This is simply phenomenal… to actually have photographic evidence of someone being a complete and total ass to you. I am totally impressed you had the presence of mind to snap this picture and psyched that you have a popular blog to post it on. Well done! 🙂
Comment by Thad November 18, 2010 @ 1:03 am
That shot of the van might actually be enough to identify the person! It’s difficult to do with the resized shot on this web page, but you might be able to apply an unsharp mask to the original to clear it up. But, from just the web image it looks like 25??45
I actually nearly got sideswiped a few times AND was flipped off by an older gentleman a few weeks ago, but that turned out to be a poorly executed funeral procession, so don’t feel bad, it could have been worse!
Comment by John November 20, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
Michelle, I have to say I really enjoy reading your blog. I was born and raised in Framingham and moved to Uxbridge five years ago for this very reason. I’ve had to come into town a few times over the last month and have been feeling nostalgic missing this and that. Reading this has really brought me back to reality, lol! I used to get really angry driving when I lived there but not anymore! Framingham used to be the town I loved, I nevr thought I’d leave but it has changed. I think a huge contributor to the problem are jerks like this guy and way to many illegal drivers who do not know or adhere to the driving laws. I hope you reported this incident!
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