Showing posts with label road rage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road rage. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2016

Arkansas three year old shot to death in road rage incident.

Courtesy of WTHR:  

A 3-year-old child was fatally shot in a road rage incident in Little Rock, Arkansas Saturday after a gunman opened fire into the car because the boy's grandmother "wasn't moving fast enough at a stop sign," police said. 

Police were called to a shopping center at around 6:22 p.m. on a report of a child shot inside a vehicle, and the boy was taken to a hospital where he later died, Little Rock police Lt. Steve McClanahan said. 

A gunman is still being sought. It was the second time in a month that a young child was fatally shot while riding in a car, Police Chief Kenton Buckner told reporters. "This is about as frustrated as you can be," he said.

The man who did the shooting was apparently irritated that the grandmother did get out of his way fast enough so he felt compelled to use his metal penis extender to exercise his dominance.

Just a reminder that elections come and go but the reality of living in the modern day equivalent of the wild west continues as always.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Drivers with guns in the car more likely to drive aggressively. Also more likely to have a violent response to road rage.

Courtesy of CNN:  

According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, 66% of traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving. Over one-third (37%) of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm, according to research for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Research also indicates that aggressive or risky drivers are more likely than safer drivers to: be young and male, have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, have received driving citations (for moving and non-moving violations), score higher on measures of aggression and psychiatric morbidity, use illicit drugs, drive more miles per day, drive in denser traffic more often, abuse alcohol, have higher levels of stress, and be more likely to attribute blame to other drivers. 

They are also more likely to carry firearms in their car. 

Of course, not all gun owners are alike, just as not all drivers are. But if the gun owners who drive with a gun are more likely to drive aggressively than those without a gun in the car (gun owners or not), the risk rises not only that a road rage incident will occur, but that it will become lethal. Many studies have found that where there are more guns, there are more deaths -- not fewer.

I think for many of us this falls into the "no shit Sherlock" category.

However I found this next part a little surprising.  

Ample research also documents that the mere presence of a weapon can intensify aggression. 

One study compared responses to a pickup driver stalled at a light for 12 seconds. When the truck sported a military rifle in the rear window, other drivers honked more quickly and more often at the driver than they did if no firearm was visible. This so-called weapons effect counters the "polite society" argument, showing that weapons provoke visceral responses that increase aggression.

That seems a little counter intuitive. One would think that the presence of a weapon clearly on display might make people a little hesitant to anger the driver. But instead it seems that merely seeing a gun makes even unarmed drivers respond more aggressively.

One of the pieces of advice that I give to young people that I work with that are just starting out as drivers is to always be a polite driver and to not overreact to poor drivers they may come across on the road.

I sometimes add that since this is Alaska it is quite reasonable to assume that the driver of the car that just cut you off in traffic is packing heat and will shoot you during an angry confrontation.

Now I am wondering if that might not have made some of these youngsters even more likely to pull up to them at a stoplight and flip them the bird.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Two men with conceal carry permits shoot each other to death. Perhaps attrition will finally bring an end to the 2nd Amendment fetishists.

Courtesy of WZZM:  

Two drivers are dead after a road rage incident escalated into a shootout. The incident happened around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday on M-66 near Steele Street. 

Witnesses tell WZZM 13 one driver was following another driver too closely. The first driver pulled into the Wonder Wand Car Wash parking lot and the other driver followed him into the lot. 

Witnesses say the driver of the following car fired shots, and the first driver returned fire. Both drivers were shot and killed. Authorities say both men had licenses to carry concealed weapons.

Well so much for the gun training, and background checks, necessary to get a conceal carry permit  ensuring that the recipients will not use their weapons inappropriately.

I have to admit that I am STILL confused as to how having more guns on the street make all of us safer. Perhaps I need to watch another one of those NRA propaganda videos.