As a driver, you’ve most likely either witnessed or experienced road rage. It’s a well-documented phenomenon in which drivers behave emotionally and erratically in a way that may endanger themselves and others on the road.
As far as what causes it, studies suggest it could be environmental reasons, such as crowded highways, and psychological ones, including high stress or misdirected anger.
When considering which vehicle you’d least want to encounter in a road rage incident, a large semi-truck would probably be near the top of that list. For one business owner driving a smaller truck, that was his luck of the day.
TikTok creator Anthony D’Alessio (@anthonybuildsbrands_) shared a video of a phone conversation with the “road rager” he labeled as his “comic relief” for the day. The video has garnered over 106,900 views.
What Happened On The Highway That Day?
Sitting in his truck, he explains that he owns the company Vivid Detail Supply and sometimes acts as one of its drivers. When on the road, all calls to the office are transferred to his cell phone, he explains.
He goes on to describe what happened. “I was just driving on the highway and didn’t really do anything wrong,” he says. “But you know how drivers are. They get bent out of shape over the littlest things.”
D’Alessio says a truck driver “flicked him off” as he drove past him, filming his truck so he could get the phone number. “I missed a call, and I’m 90% sure that it’s them,” he says. “So I’m gonna call them back, and we are gonna have some fun.”
The phone rings, and the caller picks up. D’Alessio says he’s calling him back from Vivid Detail Supply.
“A truck driver out here running around Indianapolis on four sixty-five,” the man on the line says. “And I don’t know who you got driving that little box truck of yours. He hurts somebody’s family, they’re gonna own your company.”
He claims the driver “flipped him off,” forced his way in front of him, and “whipped across three lanes.”
What Was His Version Of Events?
D’Alessio then asks the caller to clarify exactly what happened on the road.
“Well, I’m coming up on him in the middle lane, and he’s gonna turn on his left turn signal,” he explains. He says he signaled with his high beams so that the driver would stop what he was doing.
“He was gonna come anyway, and he didn’t have enough room,” he continues. “He had to pull it back over. Just whipped it right back over to the right lane.”
The caller alleges that D’Alessio rolled his window down and gestured offensively toward him not once, but twice. He adds that truck drivers often install dash cameras because of this type of behavior by other drivers.
“Then they get hurt, and because the big truck hit them, because they were doing something stupid,” he says. “Then they wanna sue us, and they wanna own us, and that don’t work no more.”
D’Alessio jokingly says, “I’ll probably just go ahead and let this driver go, because we can’t have stuff like this.”
“Whatever you gotta do,” the man says. “I’m not out here to be the highway police. But when I see something stupid like that, I’ll call and let him know.”
D’Alessio responds, “The guy’s got seven kids, and he’s been with us a long time. But we just can’t have stuff like that.”
Realizing this is probably a disingenuous reaction, the man responds, “Now that’s a nice story right there; you stick with that story,” before hanging up.
D’Alessio clarifies some details in the video’s caption. “Everything this man said was false,” he wrote. “There was no flipping off, there was no cutting off. Be nice, and let people in when they have their turn signal on!”
What Really Happened?
In a follow-up video, D’Alessio shares dashcam footage from his own truck showing what really happened on the road.
In the video, he appears to be driving in the right lane of a three-lane highway. At one point, he turns on his signal to merge into the middle lane.
As he begins to move over, another vehicle enters the middle lane ahead of him. He then appears to slow down and return to the right lane.
Seconds later, a semi-truck, which D’Alessio claims was being driven by the caller, comes into view in the middle lane.
“I notice he’s screaming at me out of his passenger-side window,” D’Alessio says.
He then merges into the middle lane, moves into the left lane, and passes the semi-truck before continuing to drive ahead.
D’Alessio says that although it’s not clearly visible in the footage, the man in the truck had both hands off the wheel while filming and gesturing offensively toward him.
At no point in the footage does D’Alessio’s driving appear overtly rushed or aggressive, as the caller alleged.
How To Handle Road Rage Drivers
According to guidelines by the American Automobile Association (AAA), the best course of action is not to engage with an aggressive or erratic driver.
They advise maintaining distance between yourself and the other vehicle and avoiding responding to aggression with more aggression. While you may use your horn to alert another driver, they do not recommend leaving your vehicle for any reason.
If you feel at risk, the association recommends stopping at a police station, hospital, or fire station, or calling 911.
Commenters Weren’t Kind Toward The Alleged Road Rage Driver
In the comments section, viewers were mostly on D’Alessio’s side.
“He just needed someone to talk to,” one user wrote.
Others wanted to see his dashcam video. “I would have asked if he could send the footage just to get an extra laugh later,” a commenter said.
Not everyone agreed, though. “It sounds like he had every right to call,” a third viewer stated.
@anthonybuildsbrands_ This was a little comic relief for me today. 😅 Everything this man said was false, there was no flipping off, there was no cutting off. Be nice and let people in when they have their turn signal on!
BroBible has reached out to D’Alessio via TikTok and Instagram messages for comment.