Day 2; Post 2: So Much for Schadenfreude.

Today on my way home from work, there was a car following closely behind me. Very, very closely. So closely, in fact, that I could not see his headlights behind me -- I'm talking a foot or less was between our moving vehicles.

Having not driven far from work, and it not being the best of neighborhoods, my first thought was that this guy was going to ram my car and then rob me. I could not think of any reason that this car would be tailgating me. There were other lanes where he could go around me and I had not cut him off to make him mad.

Fearing the worst, I made a few turns (he continued to follow behind me). At one point, he had to pause to let a jaywalker by, and I gained a good 1/2 block or so on him. At this point I started to change lanes to make a left turn. That's when he floored it and quickly closed the gap between us.

I was about 2/3 of the way into the lane when he decided to try and squeeze past me -- unfortunately for him, 1/3 of the lane was not enough for his car to pass by me without jumping onto the curb of the grassy median. By the time I swerved to get out of his way, his tire had exploded on the curb and his car spun out.

The sense of poetic justice was fleeting and was quickly replaced by guilt. Despite the fact that I did not hit his car, nor was his reckless driving and tire exploding any fault of mine, it crossed my mind to stop and help. Then I remembered where I was (and when...it was pretty dark) and all my initial fears came flooding back. So I drove on and let him deal with his flat tire on his own -- after all, I would be of very little use to him.

Thing is, I can't shake the feeling like I should have done more. Or more, that I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that I did -- that he was up to no good. So, guy who drives too closely to me, wherever you are: I hope that your tire got fixed and that you got wherever you were going in time. I also hope you learned to drive in a way that didn't make you a big jerk.