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Road Rage Injuries, Deaths Are On The Rise Across U.S.

Crime and Justice News

A sniper wounds five motorists on a Kentucky highway. In Colorado, a teenager kills a woman after hurling a rock through her windshield. A family drive through the Navajo Nation near New Mexico turns into a nightmare when a motorist inexplicably pursues the car, guns blazing. The lure of the open road is a quintessential draw, but a drive can easily take a turn for the worse and outbursts of violence on the highway leave indelible images of slain motorists and destruction - and also undermine the feeling of safety on the 48,500 miles of interstate highways where U.S. motorists drive the most, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and state crime reports. A review of data and news stories from around the nation shows that attacks on freeway drivers are not only on the rise in some heavy commuting areas, but that highway assaults are causing increased fear during everyday driving, USA Today reports.


Federal data show that in some states - including Washington and Texas - shootings on highways are up over 50% in the last five years. In a few communities, police are frustrated over trying to thwart the crimes, which are difficult to trace because shooters often are unseen and flee well before police arrive. The numbers for road rage alone, just one segment of the highway violence problem, have also risen exponentially. Using Gun Violence Archive’s database to analyze road rage incidents, Everytown Research & Policy found that the number of road rage injuries and deaths involving guns has increased every year since 2018. In that year, at least 70 road rage shooting deaths occurred in the U.S.; in 2022, the number doubled to 141. Highways along with alleys, streets and sidewalks are the second most likely place for violent crime to happen, after residences, says the FBI's Crime Data Explorer. The number of violent crimes reported on highways, streets, sidewalks and in alleys nearly doubled from 105,000 in 2019 and 135,000 in 2020 to 203,000 in 2022. 

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A daily report co-sponsored by Arizona State University, Criminal Justice Journalists, and the National Criminal Justice Association

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