Many years ago when I still lived at home with my Dad, we lived in a very rural area, about 15 miles of country roads. I was coming home one night after dropping a friend off at her house, after I got out of town about 7 miles I noticed a car following me. If I got into the left lane of the 2 lane road to make a left turn, the car behind me did the same. This was a time when no one had a cell phone so I couldn’t call anyone. I was afraid to try to turn around and go back towards the city., all I could think about was getting to my Dad where I would be safe.
I did have my pistol in my glove compartment and when I first noticed him following me, I reached over and pulled the pistol out and put it on the seat beside me.
Our house was a good distance off the road with a circle drive around the house. You had to drive across the dam of our pond to get to our house. I pulled around to the back of the house and just sat there with the car running. I knew if I got out, he would have me when he pulled up. It was just a few seconds until he was right behind me in my driveway. By this time, I had my pistol in my lap and the safety off. I knew if he stepped out of the car to come after me, I was going to have to shoot him. We sat there for what felt like hours but was actually only a few minutes. I was thinking about how I was going to get out of the situation. Luckily I also had a flashlight so I held the gun up and pointed the flashlight at it, hoping that he could see I was armed. He must have been able to see it because he backed out of my driveway around to the front of my house and took off. Luckily I did not have to use it that night but it sure helped me feel safer to have it and know that I could defend myself if needed.
Smart move, shining your flashlight on your gun so the guy could see it. Much better that the attacker leave, than that you have to shoot him. I would hate to have to shoot someone, even if he is attacking me. Also, you might miss, and he will then come after you.
About the only other thing you could have done would have been to keep honking your horn. A good honk pattern would be short-short-short long-long-long short-short-short, in other words, “SOS”. That, or any continuous tapping on the horn, would have alerted your dad or whoever else you passed by that you needed help.