Oct 14, 2024
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Road rage is leading to gunshots being fired on local interstates, with Hampton Roads having seen two shootings already this month — the most recent one injured a driver Saturday evening on I-664 in Chesapeake, and, a little more than a week ago, a woman and a child were shot in James City County. Driver injured in road rage shooting incident on I-664 in Chesapeake Man charged after road rage incident leaves two hurt with gunshot wounds in James City County Data from AAA showed that, in 2019, nearly 80% of drivers expressed anger or had road rage. Tailgating, erratically changing lanes, speeding or illegal passing can all trigger it."I think it's definitely getting worse," said Ryan Cason, who is in training to get his commercial driver’s license, "people just not paying attention, cutting each other off." In just the last month, Hampton Roads has seen two road rage incidents that led to shootouts, one resulting in the female driver being struck in the face and her son being hit in the arm. The gunman now faces 24 charges related to the incident."And it seems drivers of vehicles are almost entitled to, where, it's my road, get out of my way instead of just being kind, courteous and polite,” Cason said.George Romulus drove a truck for 30 years and is now a CDL instructor. He said it's getting worse. He teaches his students to take a breath."Make sure they see you," Romulus said. "Leave yourself an out. Get the big picture. Right? Keep your eyes moving." "We train to keep our eyes on the road, watch ahead, at least 12 to 15 seconds ahead on the road," said Rasheem Showers, who is also training to get his CDL. "So that gives us more than enough time to prepare for road-rage incidents. But the way that I actually deal with it, I just let them go. You just let them go. That's the best way for me to avoid an accident." Experts with AAA say the same goes for all drivers."Don't aggravate the situation," said Holly Dalby with AAA Tidewater Virginia. "Don't get into an argument with your vehicles for who's going to be in front of who." They say if someone is driving aggressively, give them space — If they wind up hitting someone, you don't want to be collateral damage. And a reminder — it doesn't pay to drive aggressively. "That aggressive driving is just going to increase the chances that you don't get there safely, or that you are the cause of someone else not getting there safely so that the speeding and the changing lanes aggressively doesn't get you there any faster,” Dalby said. And if you’re ever followed by an aggressive driver, don't drive home [and] don't lead them to your house. Instead, go to a well-populated area and call police. Analysis by the group Everytown states that in 2018, 70 people died from road rage shootings. In 2022, that number doubled to 141 — underscoring the point that it's not worth interacting with an aggressive driver.
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