[Blueberrybook]

This post doesn't have much to do with BPD though who knows it might in the aftermath or with my panic disorder.

I took my daughter out this afternoon. My husband is working on a paper he is consulting on with a company he has part ownership in based in India producing carbon nanotubes. The design they used to construct the machine to make the nanotubes is based largely on the design in my husband's Ph.D. thesis. We haven't yet seen much money come out of it, but it's getting there, and they are getting publications and putting his name on them (for consulting, analyzing, and also proofreading since he is the only native English speaker among them). He needed time to work on the paper this afternoon, so I took my daughter out. We had a good time at the mall, got some Starbucks, and I was heading to Target. As I was turning left on a road, a car I never saw was turning right onto the same road (I suspect they were spending and they were coming down a road with a blind curve near the stoplight so if they were going that fast, it's likely I didn't see them behind the curve) blared its horn at me.

There was no accident. Most of the time, after incidents like these, everyone just goes on and that's it. Maybe someone flips the other person off. I don't know, I could have been at fault. Everyone makes driving mistakes sometimes. The thing that really frightened me was then the car started really tailgating me, taking every turn I took, following me into the Target parking lot. I knew they wanted me to park so they could get out of their car to chew me out or worse. Doesn't that turn a minor traffic situation into a criminal issue if one person starts making another feel threatened in that way? My husband seemed to think so. I started driving to the police department. They tailgated me badly awhile but then I guess they lost their patience and probably I was going in a direction they were not planning to go, flipped me off and zoomed away.

I was so scared. I never had anything like that happen to me before. Of course, I've made some driving mistakes in the past, who hasn't, but no one has ever done anything like that to frighten me and make me feel threatened (plus, I had my daughter in the car). Though I guess for my daughter it was a good learning experience taught the hard way when she said I should head home, and I told her, no, that's not what you do in these circumstances. You drive to the nearest police station you know is around.

I am still shaken up by the whole thing, and it's been hours since. I've had a massive headache that won't go away. Anyway, I'm still trying to relax after the situation this afternoon. I wanted to work more on cleaning & de-cluttering my office or composing a new music playlist, but I don't have it in me right now. I think I will try to read instead and hopefully put this incident behind me.

[yellow_fleurs]

That sounds so frightening! It really scares me when people go into aggressive road rage like that. I think it was very smart of you to go to the police station and keep your wits about you enough to think to do that.

[Wild Coyote]

I am sorry you'd had this experience!

Very wise move to head toward the police barracks.

I am glad the other driver went away.


WC

[Blueberrybook]

Thanks for the support. That was an awful experience, and I got a terrible panic attack yesterday evening, I am sure triggered by this event. Thank God I didn’t go into a full blown panic attack while it was happening, but I also had my daughter with me, and that was one of those times when Mama Bear came out, and full panic didn’t set in right away.

[Tucson]

It was smart for you to drive to the local police station. I had this happen once to me. They were young and naive people who were acting out. I was a bit worried when this happened. I finally was able to lose them. They gave up and went about their business.

[Guiness187055]

I had something similar happen thank God he didn't get out of the car. I had a gun with me and it wouldn't have ended well.

[Hobbit House]

Yes, I had the something similar happen to my wife. I wasn’t in the car with her . They followed her around until she got to my work, then he left. Scared my wife so bad she gave up driving unless it was a emergency.

[cashart10]

Possible trigger:

Something similar happened here a few months ago. When the woman pulled over, expecting the irrational guy to keep driving, he followed her in, got out of his car and approached her. She warned him that she had a gun and not to come closer but he didn’t listen. Instead he punched her in the face twice. He was shot and killed!

[Unrigged64072835]

Glad that you and your daughter are safe.