Police advise mollifying drivers exhibiting road rage

A woman named Sondra was recently driving west near the Dairy Queen on East Jackson Boulevard in Jackson when the driver behind her began honking her horn and tailgating her. Sondra said the car was so close behind she couldn't see the license plate. She could read the vulgarities on the woman's lips, however.

Sondra kept driving and so did her antagonist, honking her horn and shaking her fist all the way. Sondra finally turned off at the three-way stop north of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse.

Sondra doesn't know what she could have done to provoke this behavior in the other driver. "I guess I was first and she wasn't," she said.

The increase in traffic around holidays means more people are sharing the road and sometimes getting in each other's way. Police say reports of road rage are rare locally, although charges of following too closely or careless and imprudent driving often could be the result of anger behind the wheel.

Sgt. Kevin Orr of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said it's wise to mollify the other person in that situation. "Let them know you weren't trying to do anything to cut them off. Don't do anything to try and infuriate people."

He also advised calling police immediately on your cell phone if another driver is acting threatening toward you. Give police the license number and a description of the vehicle and the driver.

The feeling of anonymity a vehicle can induce is another reason drivers sometimes give in to road rage, police say. "When people are behind the wheel of a car they sometimes take on a different personality," Orr said. "If you are in areas where traffic backs up, there is a tendency to get upset."

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Blaine Adams advises avoiding eye contact with the other driver. "A soon as you can part ways, get away from him," Adams said.

A driver with road rage is an unknown quantity, the 20-year veteran of the patrol said. "You have no idea what you're dealing with. You can't look at what they're driving and how they're dressed and know what kind of person they are."

It's also impossible to tell if the other person is rational, under the influence of alcohol or drugs or carrying a gun, Adams said.

Any driver who feels himself getting angry at another driver should get out of the situation as quickly as possible, Adams said.

Last week, Caruthersville police chief Chris Riggs fought with a truck driver the chief said had road rage. Riggs told Pemiscot County deputies he was going to a family birthday party when he stopped to make a left turn into a driveway on a county road. He said the driver of a tractor-trailer behind him began flashing its brights on and off, got out and approached his vehicle. The two met in front of the semi and had words. After the trucker hit him in the jaw, Riggs said, he identified himself as a police officer and moved toward his vehicle to call for help. The chief said his brother then came down from the porch and the fight ensued.

Deputies arrested the trucker on a charge of third-degree assault. After complaining of dizziness while being booked, he was airlifted to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137