Attempted Vehicular Manslaughter: On Friday, 2/26/21, around 11:25AM, I was in the right lane headed Eastbound on 1-30 with a Horizon Plumbing van following close behind, tailgating (the first three license plate characters are "LSF" for your verification.) It would become evident we were both taking the same exit, 21-A to I-820 southbound.
The right lane splits at this exit to divert traffic to either northbound or southbound. There is an ambiguous area as the lane widens and before the striped line begins for the driver to select between the two newer lanes. I chose the right lane and began to veer right. The Horizon Plumbing van was also headed towards the new right lane/Southbound path and began an attempt to speed around my vehicle in the process. They nearly clipped my back passenger taillight, which caused me to swerve/speed up to compensate and avoid a collision as well as enticing me to lay on my horn.
The driver of the van decided to change to the left lane and sped up, the passenger yelled through their window and then the van slowed down to remain just ahead of my vehicle. There was a car in front of me and we didn't have much space due to the compensation from the near-collision a second ago.
At this time, the driver of the Horizon Plumbing van was just beyond my driver's side headlight. They then swerved into the space in front of my vehicle and hit the brakes in an effort to cause a collision. I was lucky enough to have already begun pumping my own breaks as soon as they began their swerve and narrowly avoided another crash.
They then proceeded to go off halfway into the shoulder and stop fully. In order to avoid the oncoming traffic behind us and any possibility of the van swinging out in an effort to hit me, I went into the left lane. As I passed, the driver already had his window down, giving me the finger and an impassioned, "Fuck you!"
As they sat there for a moment and impeded a car approaching cautiously in the right lane, I become worried that the van stopped in order to follow my vehicle. I went ahead and chose to go to the Northbound ramp in hopes they would continue in the opposite direction. Since all oncoming traffic was also headed Southbound, I slowed my vehicle and looked back to make sure the Horizon Plumbing van continued South, which they did. The view of the van looked exactly like the picture of the "Schedule Appointment" button on their website.
While I began heading North on I-820, I ruminated on all that had just happened. I asked myself if I could have done anything to have avoided the whole situation. The answer is no. The inciting incident was their legally reckless attempt to speed around my vehicle, and to a further extent, the tailgating the moments leading up to it.
Their wish to occupy the same space as my vehicle was reason enough in their eyes to attempt to cause harm/death to myself, themselves, and other drivers/passengers in the immediate area.
As I continued driving North and began thinking about how much distance I should put us before turning around, I passed a car driving slowly on the highway. They caught up to my vehicle and began honking. I thought it was my unlucky day, for there was no way I could've done anything to this driver either. They honked again and I looked over. It was a woman with her passenger's side window rolled down. She motioned for me to lower my window, which I did. With how loud the wind was wiping between our vehicles, she had to yell when she said, "Are you okay? I saw what they did!" It turns out heading North was actually lucky because a witness to the entire event made herself known and checked in on me. I don't know if whoever is reading this has had a conversation between two cars while driving up a highway, but you can manage to trade information if you are willing to.
If the employee has not yet notified you, check potential dash cams, gps tracking, or review your records of job sites visited to find that day/time. I can review visuals I have on the driver/passenger to identify them to you. Please contact me ASAP. read more