The prevalence of dash-cams and people’s addiction to sharing their lives on social media results in videos such as this one of a road rage incident in Canada.
Fredericton resident Iain MacDonald was driving with his two children on board when, following an earlier traffic dispute, he became the target of a verbal assault from another driver who abruptly pulled in front of him, blocking his way.
The man, who has since been identified as Erik Bohnsack, jumped out of his car and launched a tirade against MacDonald for allegedly cutting him off, all while his son was recording the incident on phone.
Surprisingly, MacDonald not only kept his cool, but he successfully diffused the situation by being extremely polite and intentionally admitting wrongdoing to calm down the other driver.
After Bohnsack left, MacDonald, who happens to work at CBC as a broadcast technologist, uploaded the video on his FaceBook page and it became viral.
CBC tracked down the motorist and asked him to comment on the incident. Bohnsack offered an apology.
“I want to let you know that I realize that my response was out of line, regardless of what actions prompted it,” Bohnsack told CBC News on Monday. “I have been going through a difficult time, but that is no excuse for my actions. I hope this can end quickly, as it has been distressing and hurtful to my family. I regret my actions and assure you that they will never happen again.”
MacDonald told the station that Bohnsack had contacted him on Sunday night to apologize. “He stated on the phone that we will never do this again and that he is voluntarily seeking counselling for his anger issues,” he said.
Below you’ll find McDonald’s original Facebook posting on the incident.
[From Iain MacDonald]
“So this just happened to me…ROAD RAGE ON HANWELL ROAD. Pulled onto hanwell road heading to town with the kids in the car.
Honda Civic pulls up behind me… pulls out to pass (crosses double line) into ONCOMING TRAFFIC, pushing at least 3 cars onto the dirt shoulder of the road. Blocks Hanwell road, gets out of his car, comes running at my car, screaming. I back up a bit, go around him, and keep driving to town. As I drive by him, he slams his fist onto my rear fender – pretty hard. Guys, I drive a Kia. These things ARE NOT designed to withstand pedestrial-attacks!
Other cars have to violently slam on their brakes since he’s still stopped on the highway running around. Anyway, he passes some other cars that get between his Civic and myself on the way into town. Rides my bumper all the way (10 minutes-12km). We hit a red light on Smythe street. He again jumps out of his car at the red light, runs towards my car, slams the back with his fist. Light turns green, I proceed. He runs back to his car, chases towards me again, and follows me onto Priestman Street. He passes me on Priestman (don’t think we can legally pass other cars on Priestman St right?), then proceeds to block any way for me to get by. He makes several attempts to hit my car with his (seen in the video).
So I’ve backed up as far as I can because now there is another car behind me. He approaches the car. I make sure Kaleb is taking a video of this. Here we go! It was a tossup between yelling back a few different things like “You know I work for the CBC…this is probably going to end up on TV somewhere”. Ultimately common sense prevailed, didn’t want him flying off anymore and attacking the kids. Funny enough, we had jokingly discussed a physical attack strategy if he smashed the window or something. Kaleb decided he and Jadon were going to take him down, and then I was going to sit on him and wait for the cavalry to arrive! LOL
Keep it classy GUB 576! My favourite parts are “I was going 90 you were going 0”. Nowhere on hanwell road is the speed limit 90. “You’re endagering your own life, not mine”: Oh really. You’re standing in oncoming traffic yelling…I wouldn’t be so sure!”
Of course, the internet being the internet, someone went and created a song out of the NSFW outburst…