Mascara wands can really be deadly in that situation - not as bad as they guy I was once behind when driving to work who was *shaving* with an electric razor with his rearview mirror pointed so he could see himself!

Backfire thingie good idea but I like the hand-gesture sign as well - of course, you have to be ahead of the person for it to do any good: http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3178

Ayup...I've thought about those signs. Then I think about road rage, guns, and Hummers...and stick to writing snarky notes in my blog. :-)

The paintball folks suggest issuing all licensed drivers a single shot paintball gun, and two special colored paintballs each year the driver has a year of driving with no moving violations. The paintballs are flouresent purple or something, and only the DMV is allowed to buy them. The drivers are not allowed to wash off the splats until 90 days after they report themselves to the DMV.
When you see someone doing something that stupid. *splat* It will make the cars of the knucklehead drivers really easy to spot, and the cops will know whom to watch when they see them.

The flaw in that plan is that not being caught in a moving violation doesn't necessarily weed out the morons. For example, last week some idiot honked at me for not turning right on red (and I know it was meant for me, because he gestured--no, that that gesture!--at me to turn right), despite the fact that doing so would have involved running over a pedestrian in the crosswalk. I have no doubt that he would have paintballed me if he could have.

Not to mention the people who will paintball their ex's car just because they can.

That's when you stop your engine, get out of your car, walk to the idiot behind you, and ask what the problem is. (Or offer him the key with "Here, you run her over; I don't have the heart.")

Yeah, well...as tempting as it would be to confront someone who would murder an innocent pedestrian to save 30 seconds of his time (or who arrogantly assumes that it's the other person who's the stupid one), I decided to pass. :)

But an asshole like that would have used his paintballs in the first minute of driving, so you're probably safe.

And cops would look at cars with multiple paintball hits much harder.

That's a good point. And it's also entirely possible that said asshole will end up in the ER having a paintgun surgically removed from his ass. :)