People in Traffic May Be the Death of Me...Someday...

I swear that I don't want this to happen but, I'm starting to think that my life may end someday while I am driving in traffic.  And, not because of an accident.  No...because someone is going to actively try to kill me.  So, years ago shortly after I first moved to Georgia, I was on the highway headed to work.  I was getting off at my exit and some jerk behind me, on the highway, had been tailgating me so close that I feared that if I had to slow down quickly, he was sure to hit me.  So, I flipped him the bird.  No...I'm not proud of it but, it was, in my opinion, harmless.  In fact, I felt it was well deserved and far less harmless than the aggressive behavior he was showing me by practically giving me a rectal exam with the hood of his car that close to my back bumper.  He did not take my pretty little bird so kindly.  In fact, he decided to show me how much he didn't like my middle finger saluting him by pulling up to my right, as we were exiting the highway, and swerving towards my car with his.  While I would like to say that I have never flipped anyone the bird since then,  I do try to keep it a little more covert by sort of putting my middle finger on my turn signal so, unless they are really looking, they probably won't notice.  That isn't to say that, since than, I haven't actually just tossed them the bird in my rear view mirror but, I usually opt for the more subtle act of gracing my turn signal with my finger instead.
Another thing that I have been known to do is tap my break a little, just to back them off a bit.  No one wants to get into an accident and, perhaps sometimes the offenders don't really know just how dangerously close to me they are.  So, I just gently remind them what kind of scenario they might get into by being too close to the person in front of them.  That usually backs a person off and, no harm, no foul...except for today.
I was on my way back home from running an errand today.  I was in the left lane.  Now, I have to be in the left lane, especially in heavier traffic like today, because my subdivision is on the left hand side of the road.  I don't usually have a choice, and especially not today because the traffic was so heavy.  There was a car in front of me and several cards in the right lane right next to me, in front of and behind that one as well.  And, of course, there was a very important person behind me.  He had to have been, right?  Because, why else would he be in such a hurry that he was so close to the back of my car that I literally could only see half of the hood of his car from my rear view mirror?  So, I got pissed.  And a bit ballsier than normal.  I flipped him the bird.  It was quick and, who knows if he even saw me?  He didn't back off and was still being aggressive.  So, when the car in front of me started to break, I tapped my break...just a little.  Now, if the person behind me wasn't so close to the back of my car, he probably wouldn't have even noticed that I had slowed down but, he did and he had to swerve to avoid hitting me.  Next thing I know, something hits the side of my car.  That impatient, self-important prick of a man threw his giant cup full of ice and beverage at my freaking car!  No shit!  He actually threw something he probably paid a few dollars for, at my car!  Because he was in such a dang hurry!  And, keep in mind...I couldn't have gone any faster and had nowhere to go because there was a car in front of me and too many cars to the right of me to even try to move over so he could tailgate the person in front of me!  And, what would he have done to me if there was an accident because the car in front of me had slammed on their breaks, instead of slowing down, which caused me to tap my breaks, which made him have to slam on his?  If there was an accident...a legitimate accident because we were in rush hour traffic and accidents do happen, and he hit me because of how close he was...would he have gotten out of his car and attacked me?  I sound like I am being dramatic but, I really think the guy had a tool kit full of screws loose to have pulled that shit act of throwing his drink at my car.
So, again I say...people in traffic may be the death of me...someday.  I have now been threatened by 2 men in the 14 years that I have lived in Georgia.  And, we are a state where we have the right to carry concealed weapons in our car.  Am I just going to be shot the next time I piss someone off?  Granted...I probably shouldn't have flipped him the bird but, to be fair, he threatened me first with his potential murder machine so menacingly close to the back of my vehicle in heavy traffic with plenty of cars in front of me that could have caused a chain reaction accident.  I feel justified in flipping him the bird and tapping my breaks.  I didn't hurt him but, he most certainly threatened me.
That being said, I will keep my birds caged and do whatever I can not to even touch my breaks from now on.  Hell, I'll just run into the person in front of me the next time they slow down and hope that I just die so that the person behind me, whose car got messed up when my car let theirs hit mine, won't have to punch me, throw things at me, or just simply shoot me.  Freaking people these days!