[dakota.potts]

I don't think it's a good idea to think that you're going to be driving 55 miles an hour on a dark rural road and trying to shoot one handed at the same time. It's a nice romantic gesture of self-defense, but how many of us have the driving AND shooting skills to do it?

My mom grew up in an area where road rage was very bad, and although her teaching me to drive was a pain (I hate doing more than 5 over the speed limit) I did learn some things to minimize it. Stay out of the left lane if you're not doing a decent number of the speed limit. If someone comes flying up behind you, just let them over and let them do whatever insane speed they want to be doing. If you're on a two lane road and you see someone behind you driving erratically, in my opinion, it might be the better option to do a few over the speed limit until you can find a place to pull off and let them pass, as usually that will help pacify them if you're like me and like to do exactly as the signs say.

If someone's acting very aggressively for a long time, get on the phone with 911. Some cars, like our Kia, have a system built in that will connect to your phone through bluetooth and allow you to call simply by pressing a button on your steering wheel. This is preferable to a handheld flip phone because it leaves both hands free.

Your car is a weapon. Also, think outside the box. People have a tendency to follow societal rules even in emergencies (Pax at the corneredcat has done a good article on this, and I like to point to the Station Night club fire where people were trampled to death all insisting on exiting the way they came in) but do you have other options? Can you get into the oncoming lane and slam your breaks? Can you cross a median they can't? Does your car have offroad capabilities, and if so, are there any chances for you to leave the main road long enough to escape?

Finally, my gun does ride with me in the car when I go places. It's in its gun case (must be "securely encased" in Florida and it doesn't fit in the center console) and I have it loaded full 16+1 with an extra 15 rounds of 9mm JHP. I don't imagine I'll likely have to shoot it one handed while driving, but there are road rage cases of people being followed home and cornered at stop lights where they're shot or pulled out of their car and beaten.