Ok, so I had a bad interaction with a driver tonight (in my car). He dickishly & aggressively passed me using a turn-only lane, only to end up stuck at a red light. He was in a construction company truck with the name and phone number conveniently showing on the tailgate of his pick-up. So I called the number to let the owner know that one of his employees is a real jackass behind the wheel, and is a bad representative for his company. I watched the driver in front of me to see if he made any movements to indicate that he was answering his phone – he didn’t. The guy who answered said ‘hello, name of company’, and I told him that I wanted to tell him about a bad incident I just had with one of his drivers. I explained what happened and he just laughed and started commenting on “your momma” etc. Turns out the owner was driving the vehicle in front of me (he had a hands free phone I guess). He challenged me to “pull over and settle this”, but I decided to hang up & hang a right at the next intersection. I just now did some Googling of the name on the truck and it turned up some interesting tidbits. It seems that the owner of said company had an employee ‘accidentally’ killed while working on a job site in 2009. You guessed it; the owner of the company was at the wheel of a company vehicle when the employee was somehow run over on the job site. No charges were filed.
This has me boiling. I don’t know what happened in 2009. But you would think that a guy involved in causing another person’s death (regardless of the circumstances) would be a better driver than what I just witnessed. And then to start using foul language and “your momma” stuff (seriously? What are you 12?!)
So what do we do about these jerks? This guy has already caused the death of one person; he is still driving & he is still being a complete jackass behind the wheel.
I think a letter to the editor of the local paper is fair game.
I would also write a review for the company on yelp, citysearch, etc.
Also, I'd go so far as to write a polite letter to his mother, since he brought yours into it.
I don't know what it is but I've had more people in this city want to fight with me after they did something dangerous to me than anywhere I've ever been
Some times I think that if I didn't watch reruns of the show "my name is earl" almost every night and keep thinking that jerks like this will get his one day I would just be burning about it constantly
I completely agree Willie. So many will do something completely bone-headed, then STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD/INTERSECTION and want to have an argument about it. I've lived in a lot of places in my life & never seen anything like it.
Marko, if that guy was acting that rude on his company line after a maneuver like that, just be glad he didn't hit you. Imagine dealing with somebody like that face-to-face after a collision. Yikes.
See if you can get one of the local news channels to investigate with their "action" or "target" news stories
Ps- speaking of people stopping and wanting to fight, I had an encounter in my car a few months ago going up one wild place. 25mph. A park. Blind turns. Driver behind me was pissed that I was going 25. I would tell by his body language as I watched him in my rear view that he was gonna suicide pass me. He did it approaching a blind bend. As soon as he started to cross the yellow I layed on my horn to first of all express my displeasure but also to warn someone who might be coming around the bend in the opposite lane that some jackass was in the wrong lane. Douche then stopped right in front of me and was reaching for his door to open it but then I layed on the horn again haha. I think it pissed him off more,
Marko, if you're not comfortable putting out the name of this company publicly, pm me the name. This sounds like a company I want to avoid doing any business with if at all possible.
I was talking about making a blog where we could post vehicle plates and vehicle descriptions to formulate a list of bad drivers. My main focus was on making a written record that would show up when a company was searched about online since most of the time I am endangered by commercial vehicles. .
I don't know what it is but I've had more people in this city want to fight with me after they did something dangerous to me than anywhere I've ever been
Sort of like when an outsider says something bad about the Steelers. Little babies.
To edmonds' point - I think a Google or Yelp review of the company will go a long way.
I am doing a lot of work on my house, and someone who is that disrespectful of other drivers AND who has safety issues is not someone I want working on my house or anywhere near my property.
I think this should be somewhere that a potential customer should see.
Yes Marko, please tell us the company. I really want to do business with a person who resolves conflicts with "your momma" jokes.
@ edmonds, Yea I’m not sure I want to broadcast this jerks name because he now has my name & cell number in his phone if he is smart enough to look at his phone log. I also don’t want him to find his company being discussed on a bicycling website & then have him be aggressive to the next several dozen cyclist he sees. PM sent.
Oh I didn't think of that - you don't want this guy phone stalking you. If you don't mind messaging me, I'd also like to know how to avoid him.
Ok, lets do it this way. The guy owns a concrete company that shares his last name. He is the driver in this article. BTW, he lives less than two miles from me. Nice.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09290/1006377-100.stm
Can we make fun of him via concrete related puns?
I'll start:
I really wish he'd reconsider his aggregated driving
1) I don't agree with what either of them did.
2) I'm not surprised he/they did this. This type of person might actually be thinking, "Well, I got away with it once, who's to say I cannot get away with it again."
3) A friend of mine was riding, had a similar situation and a family pulled over, the dad got out of the car and beat my friend enough to send him to the hospital for a two-night stay - this all while the family watched from the car.
4) some employees of mine were recently at a "local" bar and were speaking critically of the Steelers and a patron and a barmaid both told him that he'd better stop talking that way as it was not appreciated and he would not be further served and could leave if he were to continue talking that way. (clarification - this was at Noon on a workday and during lunch/eating sandwiches)
Trib, 23 Feb 2012
The KKK has been meeting privately in Export for several years, said Chris Barker, imperial wizard for the Loyal White Knights of the KKK. He called Saturday's meeting a "white unity gathering" that will include members from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland.
"(We're not) going out into the street to cause trouble," Barker said. "There's a lot of black-on-white crime in Pennsylvania. A lot of people are calling us left and right, very concerned with what's going on there in Pennsylvania."
KKK membership in the state has spiked in recent years, Barker said, and the Klan is becoming more active across Pennsylvania.
Read more: Ku Klux Klan will gather at or near Export for 'mandatory' meeting - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_783040.html#ixzz1nKyR5Ded
Is SWPA a haven for haters?
Marko, Sent you a PM!
@greasefoot, I dont see anything. try resending it.
An online complaint to OSHA about recklessly driving a construction vehicle will probably generate a nice visit to his company for a safety inspection of all his vehicles. If this person killed someone on a job site OSHA probably investigated the accident and this guy is already on their radar.
You could always contact the victim's family. If it happened in 2009, litigation might still be ongoing. Volunteer your services as a character witness!
^ Both are good points. Although I’m not sure about contacting the family – there was no criminal charges filed as far as I can tell, so any litigation would be strictly civil. The thought that this guy hasn’t changed his ways might not be received well either. I think I’ll look into the OSHA report though.
If someone operates a legitimate construction business in PA you need to be registered and insured. OSHA violations are like speeding tickets for a construction company and their liability insurance skyrockets.
Contacting his victims family might be in bad taste if they were not doing a law suit. Both names with "lawsuit" in a Google search yields nothing.
There is no guarantee that the man who answered the company phone and who was driving is the man who owns the company, or the man who had the accident.
Could be a family business, or some manager with the phone, or any number of things.
Short of picketting the business with signs, there isn't much to be done.
Bummer.
Even the author of the PG article sounds incredulous over the "accident" Captain Concrete was involved in: the victim was killed "when he somehow fell beneath a truck".
Yeah. Somehow.
Still and all, 2009 incidents notwithstanding, if that's the way the guy handles himself with fellow traffic, the next time I need to buy concrete and construction services, I think I can find more than one such supplier in metro Pittsburgh.
We had a thread like this a year or so back concerning a food provisions vendor in the Strip. Gee, seems to be a lot of other places I can get food in the Strip, too. Ditto that car repair shop in Lawrenceville.
Bottom line, if you make an ass of yourself, word gets around pretty well, so conduct yourself as if your livelihood depended on it. As well it might.
