When you get a phone call from your husband at work, it might seem like no big deal. Maybe he’s just checking in, or asking what’s for dinner. When I get a phone call from my husband while he’s on duty, my first thought is normally “oh no, what happened?”

It takes a lot of restraint not to answer my phone with that question, but normally I’m able to squeak out “what’s up?”

So when I heard his voice trying to hold back a laugh I was surprised and relieved.

It was the most ridiculous case of road rage I’d ever heard.

“There was icing everywhere!” I caught bits and pieces of the account but had to wait until my husband got home to hear the full story.

A man, let’s call him Joe, called the police after becoming a victim of an extreme case of road rage.

Apparently, Joe had either cut someone off, or had done something else to upset the person behind him. And that person did not take it well. He swerved in front of Joe, and at a red light he reached over and pulled something out from the passenger seat. Then he got out of his car, walked toward Joe, and threw a sheet cake at his windshield. An entire cake. Then drove off.

Joe sat in his car startled, scared, and furious. And he called the police.

When my husband arrived, there was icing and chunks of cake in the road–but mostly all over the car. Trying to get all of the details for the report, my husband asked details about the man–and the cake. Joe was riled up about the situation, but started to calm down as he saw the humor in it.

Curiosity gets the best of me. Was he on the way to a birthday party with the cake? A baby shower? A celebration of some sort? What was written on it? Would he go back to buy another, or go arrive at his destination empty handed? Or was he just going to eat the whole thing by himself? And what flavor was it?

I wonder if he regretted the decision to throw it. Here, some driver got so upset on the road that he threw a perfectly good dessert at the person behind him.

Unfortunately, they never caught the cake-chucker. Even though this road rage situation has a funny twist, I’d never want to encounter anyone like that in real life. A cake today, and who knows what tomorrow.

We see aggressive signs of road raged drivers in Texas a lot. Often they’re guys with big trucks, and they drive around like they are in sports cars, swerving in and out of lanes as if they’re going to get their much sooner.

I didn’t realize this, but half of people who encounter someone with road rage retaliate with their own aggression. Of course, this only makes the situation worse. So even though sometimes people are riding so close to me I’m tempted to slam on my breaks just to teach them a lesson, I resist the urge. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because I’m always a little worried someday I may unknowingly tick off the wrong person.

They could be running late or having a bad day, but it’s no excuse to drive that way. Unfortunately, we can’t control other people, but we can control ourselves.

Here are some great Allstate tips of the do’s and don’ts of dealing with people with road rage:

DO stay away from them and try to stay calm.
DON’T make rude gestures or respond to the other driver’s rude actions.
DO avoid eye contact, the driver of the other vehicle may take your look as a challenge and become even more aggressive.
DO ignore it. The best way to deal with aggressive driving and rude gestures is to simply ignore it.
DON’T  try to out drive the person with road rage.
DO pull over to the side of the road if you feel threatened by the driver. My husband ads that it’s a good idea to pull into a public place if you are really uncomfortable and call the police.
DO report aggressive drivers. Aggressive driving and road rage between drivers is underreported. Motorists are encouraged to call police before incidents escalate.

I’ve never experienced road rage as extreme as someone throwing a cake at me, but I’ve had my fair share of people honking at me flipping me off.

It’s not like I’m a bad driver. I really don’t know what the deal is. I just occasionally seem to make people really angry. I try to just smile and wave while saying “sorry” hoping they’ll realize I didn’t mean to do whatever I did to make them upset.

Have you ever had an experience with someone with road rage? Or are you someone who gets angry while driving? I’d love to hear your story!

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.

Tags: allstate, daddy, driving