Armed Road Rage: Utah

Showing posts with label Utah. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Utah woman charged with waving gun, ramming car

A 38-year-old Salt Lake City, Utah woman is accused of threatening a motorist and his passenger with a gun and ramming his car out of road rage. The victims said a car pulled up next to them at an intersection, the driver rolled down the window, complained that they had cut her off then waved a gun and yelled, "I should shoot you right now."
The victims drove away and the woman followed and rammed their car. The woman was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

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'."