A Detroit motorist has been charged with first-degree murder after a dispute over speeding led to a road-rage fueled shooting. The 32-year-old motorist was driving an SUV and shot the young victim out the window of his vehicle approximately an hour after the victim yelled at him to slow his car down in an area where children were at play.
This incident, reported by CBS Detroit, was one of many violent altercations arising from road rage in 2013. Car accident lawyers in Detroit, MI know that a DOT survey identified road rage as the number one problem on U.S. roads, and that traffic experts agree road rage problems are increasing. Amidst an increasingly violent climate where traffic disputes seem prone to escalation, it is important for every motorist to recognize signs of road rage in himself and to take steps to prevent becoming dangerously angry.
Road Rage Incidents on the Rise
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not separate accidents and deaths caused by road rage in its database of traffic accidents, and many road rage altercations do not lead to car accidents but instead to acts of gun violence or other physical aggression.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, however, reviewed police records of 10,000 reported incidents of road rage that occurred over a seven-year period. During this time, 218 people were murdered and 12,610 injured. A review by Canadian researchers of 5,624 complaints made on a website called RoadRagers also indicated that hostile displays (including displays of guns) occurred in 11.7 percent of reported incidents of driver aggression.
Increased traffic congestion and distracted driving are described as possible causes of road rage incidents, but regardless of why road rage is happening, AOL Autos makes clear that road rage and guns have become a serious public health issue endangering motorists.
Road Rage Incidents
