Road Ragin'

Driving into work this morning, I did something kind of dumb. I'm pulling off a right -lane exit ramp onto a road that goes from 4 lanes to 1 over the course of a two-block section. I always try to get into the left lane, since it becomes the oen lane. I pull into the middle lane, don't see anything and start moving into the left lane. That's when I hear a honk and screech, and realize there was a Jeep in my blind spot. I swerve and speed up and the other guy brakes and we somehow avoid a colision.

OK, that wasn't one of my finer driving moves. It's worse than the time I almost launched one of our Groupwise sysadmins thru the windshield by slaming on my brakes (in my defense, I was trying to avoid a $90 red light camera ticket). But I wasn't expecting what came next. The guy pulls around me, and I'm expecting a finger. But no. He stops in the middle lane of the road, gets out and starts banging on my window. And there are cars in front of me, so I had nowhere to go. He yells "Why don't you look before you pull out". I squeak out a "look, I'm sorry man". Luckily, the light turned green then and the guy realized he shoulc probably get back in his truck and did.

I'm not sure what he expected to accomplish by getting out of his car? Yes, I shouldn't have pulled out in front of him. But it's not like I could go back in time. Did he think I was going to get out and fight him in the middle of Cold Spring Lane? And would he have reacted the same way if I was driving, say, a pickup with a gun rack instead of a PT Cruiser?