Armed Road Rage: January 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Road rage shooting sends man to hosptial

Early Friday morning two cars there traveling near the airport in Memphis, Tennessee when they became engaged in a road rage situation. Words were exchanged, the argument escalated and one man pulled a gun and started firing shots and the other car, hitting the driver.
The driver was able to pull into a gas station and call 911. He is in the hospital in non-critical condition.
Police are still looking for the shooter.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Man & Woman Exchange Obscene Gestures, Man Pulls Gun

A Tavares, Florida woman told police she was cut off by another car on U.S. Highway 441. The two drivers began slowing down and speeding up together and exchanged obscene hand gestures. But then the man in the other car pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the woman.
The woman called 911 and gave police the license plate number of the car. When police pulled over 41-year-old Douglas Forster they found a Glock handgun in the car. Forster told them he knew he was being stopped because he had pointed a gun at another driver. He has since recanted the statement.
Forster faces charges of aggravated assault with a firearm.

States have made it easier and easier for motorists to carry loaded guns in their vehicles. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health asked the question, "Are motorists with guns in the car more or less likely to engage in hostile and aggressive behavior? The studies concluded that "riding with a firearm in the vehicle was a marker for aggressive and dangerous driver behavior."

(see Accident Analysis and Prevention, Nov. 2005, issue 38, pgs. 687-695 and 2002, issue 34, pgs. 807-814)

Authors Hemenway, Vriniotis, and Miller write, "Road rage may be most dangerous when an enraged motorists has immediate access to a lethal weapon, such as a gun. Our study finds that motorists who have ridden with firearms in their vehicles are more likely to make obscene gestures at other drivers and to follow other drivers aggressively. They are also more likely to be the victims of these behaviors. Contrary to common claims, it does not appear that 'an armed society is a polite society'."