SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 12, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Road rage incidents have jumped the last three years on Utah highways, a cause for alarm for those who patrol those roads.
The numbers are startling the last three years, after five years of comparative peace, according to the Utah Highway Patrol, with 2022 set to exceed 2021.
Documented road rage incidents where a driver threatened another with a handgun numbered 14 in 2015, 13 in 2016, 15 in 2017, 28 in 2018, and 17 in 2019, or 87 in five years across the state.
That compares to 31 in 2020. 36 in 2021 and 29 so far this year as of the end of October.
The numbers only include incidents where a gun was brandished — not fired, Sgt. Cameron Roden, UHP Public Information Officer, explained.
It’s statistically quirky, he acknowledged, but road rage incidents where a gun was actually fired, such as the driver arrested for shooting out the windows of another motorist Oct. 31 on I-15 in Kaysville, aren’t included in the 29 incidents to date. Since it ended up with charges of aggravated assault instead of brandishing, Roden said.
“And most road rage incidents don’t involve firearms,” he said. Case tracking of the arrests the state’s 600-plus troopers make each year connected to road rage or aggressive driving with shots fired is another statistical treatise yet to be attempted. And a road rage check-off box was only added to crash report forms in 2019.
The numbers are alarming enough for the UHP to wonder at causes. “If I had the answer I’d be able to stop it,” said UHP Major Jeff Nigbur, third in command, assistant superintendent for the northern half of the state. He said most of the incidents come more often during the afternoon rush hour.
Those feeling “somehow wronged” by another driver on the interstate need to make a better choice than take out a gun while traveling at 70 or 80 mph, Nigbur suggested.
“It’s really important people try to calm down. This is not how adults handle problems.”
The doubling numbers the last three years do seem to overlay the corona virus pandemic, the troopers said. “We have to assume that has added another layer of stress for everyone,” Nigbur said.
“I don’t know the exact correlation with the pandemic as to the psychology,” said Sgt. Roden, “But we are also seeing an increase in speeds, impaired driving and other increasingly risky behaviors in the same time frame.”
