About that road rage, fresh from our local paper-- THIS is what the cops are busy responding to, and rightly:
Road rage: could this happen to you? by Gayle Morrow
"I did a couple of things wrong," acknowledged Emma Netterman. "I didn't have my doors locked, and I almost always do. I don't want to have to tell people to do that, but -"
It was the afternoon of Nov. 6 and Netterman was driving south on Route 287 through Morris. She was on her way to pick up her daughter, who lives in Lycoming County. The two were going to Berwick for a viewing.
"I left the house mainly with the idea that I was going to a viewing in Berwick," said Netterman, who lives between Wellsboro and Mansfield. "It was the middle of a Sunday afternoon, and who would think you'd end up encountering something like this."
As she rounded the last bend leaving Morris, she observed a man in a van at the Back Street intersection stopped there, apparently waiting for her to go by. He pulled out behind her, and was tailgating her as they were going up the hill. She said her car is small and doesn't have a lot of power, so she thought she would pull over when she could and let him by, as he seemed to be in a hurry.
She pulled onto the shoulder at the top of the hill and decided to take advantage of the stop to call her daughter.
"I did have my cell phone with me - I've been trying to train myself to take it with me everywhere," Netterman commented.
As her daughter answered the phone, the man in the van pulled in front of her rather than driving by.
"Thinking he was stopping to ask if I needed help, I rolled the window down," she said.
He didn't come to her window, but stood in front of her vehicle yelling.
"He was giving his opinion of my mentality," Netterman related. "He did not approach my vehicle at this time."
He did get back in his van and drive away; she thought then that she ought to get his plate number and, a little further down the road, she was able to do that. She couldn't get a cell phone signal to call 9-1-1, however. The man then "locked his brakes, threw the van into reverse," and tried to back into her vehicle "while I sat in total amazement."
"My worry then was that he'd be jumping out of the van," she said. He did not, and as he continued down the road, she said she "realized this was someone I didn't want to meet." She observed him turning right onto a road by the Idlewood Inn, and said she felt relieved, thinking he was "just going home." Near the Inn 287, she got a cell phone signal and pulled in the parking lot there to call 9-1-1.
"I got a dispatcher right away. I told her the location and reason for the call, gave her the plate number, described the van, and gave her the sequence of events."
As the dispatcher was determining whether it was a Tioga or a Lycoming incident, Netterman saw a van pull into the parking lot. It was different color than the one that had followed her, but she could see it was the same driver.
The man saw her at about the same time. He "sprinted" to her car "even before I could tell the dispatcher he was coming," opened the door, got in and started yelling.
She said she tried to remain calm and told the man to "just get away from me."
"He looked at me sort of amazed, then withdrew and slammed the door and went quickly into the bar. At that point I was quickly locking car doors."
The dispatcher asked if she would stay on scene until state police responded. A few minutes later, while she was still on the phone with the dispatcher, the man came out of the bar, got into the van, and drove it up behind her. Netterman could see that he was putting the bumper up against her car, "and at that point I did scream."
As the man attempted to ram her car into a drainage ditch, she was able to cut the wheels and avoid a sign as well as the roadway.
"The dispatcher asked if I needed an ambulance. I said no, but I really need someone to help me."
Her daughter and son-in-law showed up soon after and stayed with her until the state police arrived on the scene. They, in turn, went to the perpetrator's residence, but he had already left.
Netterman said the experience taught her that some people are very easily provoked and "you shouldn't deal with them lightly."
"When he turned off the main road, I assumed I was out of danger. I'm sure he was surprised to find me in the parking lot. I basically ruined his day.
"People should still have the courage to report this," she continued. "Your wife, your daughter, your granddaughter could have this happen. This has definitely motivated me to consider my own safety 24 hours a day, and I have taken measures to prepare myself for most encounters.
"You definitely want to call for help as soon as possible if you suspect somebody, and always get the plate number of a person who is committing some form of road rage against you. You owe it to your family, friends and neighbors to report this. If there is a record of a pattern (of behavior) it would help a judge make a decision for corrective action.
"I commend the state police for arriving as quickly as possible and doing what they could to apprehend him. It doesn't have to happen at night, in the middle of a city street or in a dark alley. You might not be ready for what's out there, and you need to realize everyday that you need to take measures to protect yourself.