Welcome to traffic on northbound US 301, the primary road for cars heading north from the Bay Bridge where there's little room for error.
But when a pair of vehicles vying for the same lane north of Route 213 came together and exchanged paint, it set the stage for a confrontation.
"The victim in this case, a 20-year-old woman from Delaware who was driving in a car with her 12-year-old brother, pulled off to the shoulder, and then the suspect pulled off on the roadside of the car, got out and then went to assault the victim. Pulled her sweatshirt. Grabbed her keys out of her ignition and then threw it away," said Ron Snyder of the Maryland State Police.
That suspect, 31-year-old John Claude Lowery, wasn't finished just yet.
Police photos capture some of the damage after he went back to his vehicle, retrieved a hammer and began smashing out the windows of the victim's car before driving away.
Witnesses stopped to help and provided troopers with a description of the vehicle and a tag number.
They located Lowery at his home in Centreville and took him into custody, but this time the six-foot-two, 200 pound man didn't throw his size around as he did with the young woman and her brother.
He surrendered without incident.
"He's being charged with first degree assault, second degree assault, malicious destruction of property and theft and he's being held at the Queen Anne's County Detention Center without bond," said Snyder.
While it remains uncertain why Lowery reacted with such violence, a check of court records shows state troopers pulled him over on a different stretch of Route 301 a few weeks ago and gave him a speeding ticket for driving 73 in a 55 miles per hour zone.
