StarDestroyer.Net BBS

This week on TVA news they did a survey to know why new drivers have baseball bats in their car,and most of them get a bat as protection against Road Ragers,even older drivers have something for protection,so my question is.

Do you have something in your car to defend yourself against RR?

My tongue...? No.. I'm usually a very aggressive but careful driver. And I cuss. A lot. But not always at the people in the other cars. But sometimes yes.

[/crypticism]

~ver

During the time I live in the States I always had my crowbar right behind the drivers seat and I had to pull it out twice to deter some overly aggressive male members of the species. Here in Germany I've had zero problems with the local citizens, just with young US military punks who think that being American is an excuse to act like assholes.

A pair of sunglasses. I think the worst road-rage I've seen in the UK (discounting TV shows), has been a pissed off flash of the lights.

Mind you, I do get a certain amount of pleasure by winding up people by driving at the speed limit, especially taxi drivers late at night on 30mph roads.

I always have a knife on me somewhere, and on top of that I have various other things. I have short length of steel rebar and I might even have some bear spray at times.

I keep a Stechkin automatic pistol in my glovebox. I wish.

Nope, I don't carry anything in my truck for protection. Even the stuff that could be used as such I've never really thought about it in that fashion.

Um, I keep some papers and stuff that I haven't bothered taking out of the car, so I can give an attacker some nasty papercuts if I have to.

I've often had something I could have used as a weapon: my Applegate 'covert' combat knife (its not as nasty as it sounds, small blade), which I usually have with me when mountain biking, and often ends up in my car. But, I don't have anything in my car that I've placed there for self-defence... but I've thought about it.

The problem in Canada: if police find a baseball bat in your car you're going to need a really good reason to have it there. You'd better be really convincing: "Erm, I play baseball a lot". Specific anti-personnel weapons are illegal (night sticks, ninja stars, most ninja stuff, chains with weighted ends, blowguns, stun guns, mace, switchblades, mini-crossbows, etc, etc). Its the reason pepper spray is sold as "bear repellent"

*But*, its illegal in Canada to carry *anything* for anti-personnel purposes. If you have a baseball bat in your car, and you tell the police "its in case I'm car-jacked"... you're going to be screwed. You might want to include the ball and glove: Nothing illegal about being prepared for a baseball game, or having a cool looking box-cutter.

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As for knives in Canada: The only illegal knives are switchblades (push-button mechanical opening), butterfly knives ('gang' weapon), and knives that open by simply flicking the wrist.

Its OK to have a knife that opens with one hand, via an opening stud, so my Applegate knife is OK because I have to open it a bit before flicking it (the motion is so smooth that its just as easy as simply flicking, but the its evidently enough to make it legal). Blade size doesn't matter, but if you're carrying a Bowie knife in downtown Montreal its going to be considered a weapon.

Montcalm wrote:Do you have something in your car to defend yourself against RR?

My charming good looks?

jmac wrote:

Montcalm wrote:Do you have something in your car to defend yourself against RR?

My charming good looks?

--That's cheating! Most road ragers are male!

I have a hydraulic jack in my trunk. Not a weapon, but it sure as hell would ruin the day of a guy who got hit with it.

Nova Andromeda wrote:

jmac wrote:My charming good looks?

--That's cheating! Most road ragers are male!

Hey, whatever works! And if my charm isn't enough there's that handy Maglite flashlight we keep in our cars for emergency lighting, but as my BF demonstrated it also makes a pretty mean baton.

Durran Korr wrote:I have a hydraulic jack in my trunk. Not a weapon, but it sure as hell would ruin the day of a guy who got hit with it.

You might as well list your engine. No way are you getting to your jack.

I keep a solid oak Louisville slugger in my truck. It weighs about 4 kg and could crack some heads without difficulty. It's comforting to know it's there, even though I'm fairly confident I'll never need it.

I've considered keeping my Kyoto Boken in the back seat of my Mercedes.

A half empty month-old bottle of Dr. Pepper with which I will shower the person confronting me and using their distraction to rip them a new one.

Pfft given the mess my car is still in(one day I'll find out what I put into) I'm sure to dig out some deadly weapon...if not the Mag Lite I use will whomp em a good one.

Total concentration on driving, insane skill in my vehicle of choice (I kinda damage them a lot the first month or so that I own them tweaking and getting a feel for just what I can and can't do, how fast I can drive etc. For the most part I have little if no problem with Road Ragers and the few cases I have had problems it's amazing to see what happens when one of them is chasing me, and they don't realize I know JUST HOW FAST Ican drive and take a turn, (I actually lost an idiot who was tailgating/rear ending me on purpose by taking a turn at the exact limit my car could and not loose control, the other driver, spun out.

Ok, said incident started from two things.

1. My best friend's girlfriend (now wife) was away at college and was raving about a movie, my Girlfriend had to work, but was also raving about the same movie.

2. My roomate and I knew we were going to have to watch the movie, and would be tested on it. (Yup "chick flick")

3. In order to catch the movie we had to leave right after work, so we arrived at the movie theater, together two guys.

4. We were spotted by a pair of high school students who decided that we were gay based on the fact that we were two men watching a "Chick Flick" together. First they harrassed us in the bathroom, and then chased after us, in their car yelling in the parking lot that they were going to bear the shit out of us.

5. They tried the bullshit, movie style force the guy off the road try and ram them out of control (I can't drive very fast on an incline where they ended up breaking my tail lights.). They were doing about 5 mph faster then I was. On the downhill side I lost them, but driving aboslutly clearly, they lost control on a turn. The annoying part is of course if Me or my friend had defended our selves we would have been arrested (They were minors)

I personally Keep a toolkit in the car with me. Not one of those walmart craptastic kits. I'm talking the BIG one. It's under a towel behind the driver's seat. ( I don't trust my car) if anyone fooks with me, I take out Mr. Breakerbar (For those of you who don't know, a breaker bar is about two to three feet long, used to "Break loose" particularly large/stubborn bolts who don't want you yield to normal amounts of torque) and introduce it to the offender's nose.
Sunglasses help, too. especially reflective ones, that don't show your eyes, it makes you look like some kind of expressionless troll intent on killing everything in sight. Also, you can look in dude's car next to you and gawk at his girlfriend without him knowing. Oh, and YOUR girlfriend doesn't know it either...

Me.


I also have a pair of aluminum baseball bats in my trunk that are supposed to go to my cousin.

The best defense against RR is a heavy right foot. As they call it: SEAR (Survival, Evasion and Rescue). Survive by evading at high speed.

I have my Glock on my person. Having a concealed carry permit is nice.

The hydralic jack in my car is stored disassembled, and one component of it is a steel bar about three feet long with a hook on the end. And then there's yours truely, 300 pounds of kick-ass in a 140 pound bag.