Caught in a car argument, is that illegal?

[Zhindouki]

Dear CanadaVisa Community, hope this message finds you well.

I wanted to reach out in order to seek advice.

I was driving to a mall, Still learning triffic signs and was not on the right lane, my lane was supposed to be going right and I've continued straight without realizing until someone behind me honked repeatedly.

I've slowed down and let him pass, He did obsene gestures (middle finger) which pissed me off to be quite honest.

I've parked near him about 20 meters from where it happened, Went down from the vehicule and said that his gesture was disrespectfull, i was calm and kept a respefctull distance from the guy and unlike him, did not use any vulgare language.

He said that he got everything on his camera and that he is going to report me.

I don't know exactly what to do or if I should be worry, if he indeed he has a camera and indeed he is going to report me, what kind of risk is on me?

I was angry from his gesture esspecially that I was with my kid, but now i feel stupid and I don't want to risk that my PR will be affected from this.

Please any advice will be more than welcome, and I know, i should not have parked near him I know...

 

[scylla]

Dear CanadaVisa Community, hope this message finds you well.

I wanted to reach out in order to seek advice.

I was driving to a mall, Still learning triffic signs and was not on the right lane, my lane was supposed to be going right and I've continued straight without realizing until someone behind me honked repeatedly.

I've slowed down and let him pass, He did obsene gestures (middle finger) which pissed me off to be quite honest.

I've parked near him about 20 meters from where it happened, Went down from the vehicule and said that his gesture was disrespectfull, i was calm and kept a respefctull distance from the guy and unlike him, did not use any vulgare language.

He said that he got everything on his camera and that he is going to report me.

I don't know exactly what to do or if I should be worry, if he indeed he has a camera and indeed he is going to report me, what kind of risk is on me?

I was angry from his gesture esspecially that I was with my kid, but now i feel stupid and I don't want to risk that my PR will be affected from this.

Please any advice will be more than welcome, and I know, i should not have parked near him I know...

Your PR status is not at risk. There is nothing to be worried about.

In the future, don't purposely park near someone like you did and do not approach them. This can be viewed as a threat and it may appear to the other person that you are escalating the situation. This was not a smart thing to do. You are right - you absolutely should not have parked near him and you absolutely should not have approached him. What he did was certainly wrong - but how you reacted was wrong as well.

 

[Zhindouki]

Hi Scylla, Thank you for your feedback.

I know I overreacted and indeed he probably felt it a an escalating situation and a threat.
In any case I kept my distances and kept my language clean althought I was clearly and obviously pissed off, trying to explain that what he did was offensive.
I'm not pleading my case I was completely wrong to act like that and no one should actually, I just wanted to know what he ment by i'm going to report you.
Can he Charge me of something? Do I need to form myself a complain regarding the finger? I'm confused and now that the event passed it stressed me out

 

[canuck78]

Hi Scylla, Thank you for your feedback.

I know I overreacted and indeed he probably felt it a an escalating situation and a threat.
In any case I kept my distances and kept my language clean althought I was clearly and obviously pissed off, trying to explain that what he did was offensive.
I'm not pleading my case I was completely wrong to act like that and no one should actually, I just wanted to know what he ment by i'm going to report you.
Can he Charge me of something? Do I need to form myself a complain regarding the finger? I'm confused and now that the event passed it stressed me out

You have nothing to report. Giving someone the finger is rude but far from illegal. Following someone to threaten them could be reported. Likely to actually happen. You may get a visit from the police warning you not to follow people and threaten them. As @scylla stated you are lucky that nothing worse happened. You could have put your family at risk. You were the aggressor in the situation.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Dear CanadaVisa Community, hope this message finds you well.

I wanted to reach out in order to seek advice.

I was driving to a mall, Still learning triffic signs and was not on the right lane, my lane was supposed to be going right and I've continued straight without realizing until someone behind me honked repeatedly.

I've slowed down and let him pass, He did obsene gestures (middle finger) which pissed me off to be quite honest.

I've parked near him about 20 meters from where it happened, Went down from the vehicule and said that his gesture was disrespectfull, i was calm and kept a respefctull distance from the guy and unlike him, did not use any vulgare language.

He said that he got everything on his camera and that he is going to report me.

I don't know exactly what to do or if I should be worry, if he indeed he has a camera and indeed he is going to report me, what kind of risk is on me?

I was angry from his gesture esspecially that I was with my kid, but now i feel stupid and I don't want to risk that my PR will be affected from this.

Please any advice will be more than welcome, and I know, i should not have parked near him I know...

You screwed up by cutting him off. Maybe you endangered him. Maybe he had his kids or other people in the car and you endangered them. Maybe you caused him to swerve and almost crash into another vehicle. You were in the wrong and he gave you the finger. Not a big deal. Following him and confronting him (regardless of how polite and calm you thought you were being, it was you confronting him), especially when the traffic issue was your fault, was a big mistake.

If he did record your traffic violation on a dash cam, he can provide that video to the police, who can ticket you for something like driving without due care. If he tells the police that you followed him and confronted him, it could lead to a scolding from police, as it could be classed as road rage.

 

[Buletruck]

I know I overreacted and indeed he probably felt it a an escalating situation and a threat.
In any case I kept my distances and kept my language clean althought I was clearly and obviously pissed off, trying to explain that what he did was offensive.

Flipping someone off, whether disrespectful or not, is something that happens frequently in North America. You should probably assume this won't be the last time it happens. You'll need to grow thicker skin and learn to ignore it. Other than the potential for your encounter resulting to result in a traffic infraction, you also could putting yourself and your family at risk of a serious road rage incident....potentially life threatening. Acting as you did. were it in the US, could potentially get you shot! All for the sake of a gesture. Not worth the effort or the risk for a gesture from someone you'll probably never see again in your life.

 

[Zhindouki]

You have nothing to report. Giving someone the finger is rude but far from illegal. Following someone to threaten them could be reported. Likely to actually happen. You may get a visit from the police warning you not to follow people and threaten them. As @scylla stated you are lucky that nothing worse happened. You could have put your family at risk. You were the aggressor in the situation.

By something to report i was thinking of going to the police station and inform them of the incident, saying that i've screwed up and giving my version of story as i felt it, which was a spontaneous reaction.
It silky to say it but I understand how wrong I have been by doing this.

 

[Zhindouki]

You screwed up by cutting him off. Maybe you endangered him. Maybe he had his kids or other people in the car and you endangered them. Maybe you caused him to swerve and almost crash into another vehicle. You were in the wrong and he gave you the finger. Not a big deal. Following him and confronting him (regardless of how polite and calm you thought you were being, it was you confronting him), especially when the traffic issue was your fault, was a big mistake.

If he did record your traffic violation on a dash cam, he can provide that video to the police, who can ticket you for something like driving without due care. If he tells the police that you followed him and confronted him, it could lead to a scolding from police, as it could be classed as road rage.

Thank you for your feedback, indeed I was in fault, but don't picture it on the highway at 150 km per hour.
I was with my famally driving at 30 km per hour in the parking of a mall and I screwed up as i didn't know that the road was getting narrower, he honked (also at 30 an hour) I stopped.
i feel so stupid for my reaction now that i've put it in writing.
Do you think there is a chance of road rage classification due to the fact that i went talk to him? Do you think I should take legal advice on this?

 

[Bs65]

My personal view just move on and put down to experience as is unlikely that anything will happen and the individual was likely just bluffing given your mistake in confronting them. It was their defence mechanisim given like many people they feel safe in their vehicle but not so once confronted.

As for road rage unless any physical interaction doubtful the police anyway would waste any time.

 

[subodhp]

Dear CanadaVisa Community, hope this message finds you well.

I wanted to reach out in order to seek advice.

I was driving to a mall, Still learning triffic signs and was not on the right lane, my lane was supposed to be going right and I've continued straight without realizing until someone behind me honked repeatedly.

I've slowed down and let him pass, He did obsene gestures (middle finger) which pissed me off to be quite honest.

I've parked near him about 20 meters from where it happened, Went down from the vehicule and said that his gesture was disrespectfull, i was calm and kept a respefctull distance from the guy and unlike him, did not use any vulgare language.

He said that he got everything on his camera and that he is going to report me.

I don't know exactly what to do or if I should be worry, if he indeed he has a camera and indeed he is going to report me, what kind of risk is on me?

I was angry from his gesture esspecially that I was with my kid, but now i feel stupid and I don't want to risk that my PR will be affected from this.

Please any advice will be more than welcome, and I know, i should not have parked near him I know...

What you experienced is road rage. What you did by getting out of car is escalation of road rage. Intent and who to blame is immaterial.

I would be surprised if you hear anything more about it. The person will likely let it be if it was a traffic infraction. On the other hand if he does report, I don't think if police will do anything more than give you a fine for Lane infraction.

Agree with other posts that this escalation could have gone out of hand. The best way to respond to road rage is to avoid all contact (eye, verbal, physical). Change your route momentarily if you need to. It does not matter who was in the right or not.

If anything, work on your understanding of traffic laws and planning your driving beforehand so that you know which lane to be in at a given point. Read up on defensive driving techniques or speak to a local to learn of ways to avoid being in such situation. Google maps or gps provide this info so using them will help.

 

[Zhindouki]

My personal view just move on and put down to experience as is unlikely that anything will happen and the individual was likely just bluffing given your mistake in confronting them. It was their defence mechanisim given like many people they feel safe in their vehicle but not so once confronted.

As for road rage unless any physical interaction doubtful the police anyway would waste any time.

Thank you for your feedback, no physical interaction indeed. And yes it defenetly something I will try not to experience again.

 

[Zhindouki]

What you experienced is road rage. What you did by getting out of car is escalation of road rage. Intent and who to blame is immaterial.

I would be surprised if you hear anything more about it. The person will likely let it be if it was a traffic infraction. On the other hand if he does report, I don't think if police will do anything more than give you a fine for Lane infraction.

Agree with other posts that this escalation could have gone out of hand. The best way to respond to road rage is to avoid all contact (eye, verbal, physical). Change your route momentarily if you need to. It does not matter who was in the right or not.

If anything, work on your understanding of traffic laws and planning your driving beforehand so that you know which lane to be in at a given point. Read up on defensive driving techniques or speak to a local to learn of ways to avoid being in such situation. Google maps or gps provide this info so using them will help.

Thank you for your feedback, i'll dig mire regarding the defensive techmics you spoke about, i was on google map too but still adapting to it as it was not super common to use it in my country

 

[Hurlabrick]

Thank you for your feedback, i'll dig mire regarding the defensive techmics you spoke about, i was on google map too but still adapting to it as it was not super common to use it in my country

Relax I am sure you are fine.

If you are in a turn lane by mistake, just turn anyway and sort jt out from there. I too would have flipped you the finger if you cut me up like you did the other guy. You must obey the road signs and road rules of Canada - yes I know how different they can be, but that is your problem. If you make any return gesture, it should have been an apology - hand up, palm open and dipped head to say 'sorry, my bad'.

 

[Zhindouki]

Relax I am sure you are fine.

If you are in a turn lane by mistake, just turn anyway and sort jt out from there. I too would have flipped you the finger if you cut me up like you did the other guy. You must obey the road signs and road rules of Canada - yes I know how different they can be, but that is your problem. If you make any return gesture, it should have been an apology - hand up, palm open and dipped head to say 'sorry, my bad'.

Thank you for your feedback, i understand and I'll do my best.
The real change to be quite honest is the kaw regarding middle finger, thing like that or insulring out load in my home country is punishable by law, that's why I felt an offensed , but I guess it's part of the culture integration.

I was really suprised when I came home and saw on internet that middle finger is something perfectly legal here.

Anyway lesson learned.

I realize I'm the bad guy of the story and I wanted to thank all of you for your guidance throughout this odd situation I created.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you for your feedback, indeed I was in fault, but don't picture it on the highway at 150 km per hour.
I was with my famally driving at 30 km per hour in the parking of a mall and I screwed up as i didn't know that the road was getting narrower, he honked (also at 30 an hour) I stopped.
i feel so stupid for my reaction now that i've put it in writing.
Do you think there is a chance of road rage classification due to the fact that i went talk to him? Do you think I should take legal advice on this?

It was road rage. However, as there was no damage or physical altercation, if the other driver reports it to police, they may do nothing or may just come talk to you. You don't need legal advice.