TX: Austin Road Rage with Firearms

[oljames3]

Yesterday and today, June 19-20, 2019, Austin media has been reporting on road rage with firearms. 45 incidents of aggravated assault, "most" with firearms, only 9 arrests. Yet another reminder to avoid such incidents.

Most road rage incidents in Austin this year have involved guns, police say
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local ... 7e500add8f

Man accused of pointing loaded gun at pregnant woman in road rage incident
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/man-a ... 52ab701c2e

71-year-old arrested for pulling gun during road rage incident in downtown Austin
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190525 ... own-austin

[03Lightningrocks]

Wow. Just for curiosity sake, I googled Dallas road rage and it is even more. I have calmed my driving down considerably over the past 15 years. I am 58 now and cringe when I think of how aggressively I drove in my 20's.

Makes me wonder. Are the road rage shootings increasing or are we just more likely to hear about them now?

[oljames3]

I admit, I did not read all the news drivel (not in the mood for their stinky poo today).
Did any of the incidents involve LTC holders? How many? If even 1, that would be sad and would give us all a bad name.

My google-fu may be weak this morning. I could not find any reports of license holders involved in road rage this year in Austin. It seems statically likely that such would occur somewhere in the state. It also seems likely that the anti-gunners would proclaim it loudly from the roof tops.

The TDPS publishes conviction stats: https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/LTC/Repor ... rt2018.pdf Road rage is not a crime. According the APD, it is most often charged as Aggravated Assault w/Deadly Weapon.

The 2018 report (latest online) shows AGG ASSLT W/DEADLY WEAPON: 2,169 total convictions in Texas, 6 convictions of CHL/LTC holders, 0.2766% of total conviction.

[flechero]

Makes me wonder. Are the road rage shootings increasing or are we just more likely to hear about them now?

I think the latter. I think they are more often reported than in the past. Used to be you "heard" about them from friends or family because it was yelling, gesturing, etc. but now a days, pulling a gun is something you call the police for and report it. I still see it on the road, but if no one pulls a gun or hits another- you usually just drive away.

[Interblog]

Sidebar comment:

One of the best ways to minimize road rage is to actually build roads, so that people are not so quick to rage on account of the ungodly mess we all find ourselves in.

Yesterday I was the recipient of it myself, and because I had come from the FTZ (foreign trade zone, Port of Houston), I had no defensive weapon in my vehicle.

There was a big cement pumper broken down at the very tippy-top of the BW-8 NB bridge over the Ship Channel, and of course there's no shoulder on that bridge, so we all squeezed over to allow law enforcement to get to the scene.

Well, several ignorant drivers had decided that they wanted to take advantage and backfill behind that law enforcement so that they could fast-track themselves past the snarl at the expense of the rest of us. When we migrated back into our lane of travel following the emergency vehicle's passage, windows got rolled down, the fists came out, obscenities began hurling, and all the rest. I was afraid it would escalate into a brawl.

Houston is a complete basket case right now, with almost every road under construction. I've seen a dramatic rise in rage incidents. This was just the latest example.

[03Lightningrocks]

When we migrated back into our lane of travel following the emergency vehicle's passage, windows got rolled down, the fists came out, obscenities began hurling, and all the rest. I was afraid it would escalate into a brawl.

Houston is a complete basket case right now, with almost every road under construction. I've seen a dramatic rise in rage incidents. This was just the latest example.

I can picture this well. I go to Houston to visit my son and because I am not familiar with the area, have to drive a bit slower to look for exits. I always thought Dallas was the thunder Dome of traffic but it cannot touch the Houston freeways. There are some really crazy people out on those roads.

There is something about being inside the car that makes folks feel invincible. I believe people act in ways when in their vehicles that they would never act in person.