In retrospect, the situation turned almost comical, truly stereotypically America. The woman turned to violence, throwing fast food garbage at my car — a brown bag, what looked like a shiny burger wrapper, napkins.

Up until this point I had just wanted to get away, not even registering the other cars around me. I think some of them were honking at the ridiculous driving — a satirical version of Fast and the Furious featuring stupid people.

But, the garbage throwing snapped me out of it. I called 911 (hands free). I described the situation, and was passed on to the Ontario Provincial Police dispatch. I reported the licence plate number, make and model, as the black car lost interest and started tailgating another car, and then another, eventually disappearing ahead.

The dispatcher said police were on the lookout. I hope so. I remain rattled at the entitlement the driver had — like they needed to teach me a lesson, like the road was theirs, not to be shared, like driving was their right, not their privilege. To make a point, or to get somewhere a few minutes faster, they were willing to not only harm me and others, they were willing to harm themselves. That’s terrifying.

And I realized, while an incident this extreme is less common, most of us have displayed some degree of aggressiveness, anger or self-righteousness on the roads. We’ve wanted to bully a driver who was going too slow. We’ve wanted to get their attention and drive, literally, our point home.

I’m now trying to remember it’s best to leave emotions out of it, to simply concentrate on going from Point A to Point B as fast as traffic and speed limits will allow.

I hope the Michigan plate gets the memo.