It is an increasingly dangerous problem, aggressive driving that turns into road rage situations. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office warns the number of incidents are on the rise.
“I have been doing this professionally for 30 years now and the first ten-to-fifteen years shootings on the freeway were unheard of,” said Captain Michael Krznarich of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.
But in the last few years, Krznarich says road rage shootings have almost become a regular occurrence. Just since the start of the year there have been 12 road rage incidents in Milwaukee County with three resulting shootings.
“It’s accelerated to the point where we are responding to 2 to 3 freeway shooting a month. So it’s growing,” said Krznarich.
And it isn’t just on the freeways; this weekend, there were two shots fired incidents on roads around the county. In Milwaukee, police say two people were shot following a road rage incident at 48th and Villard. They both are expected to survive. In Cudahy, police say a man died after getting shot in a road rage incident near Packard and Birchwood. Very unexpected to people who regularly drive in the area.
“I have never had any problems with road rage around here,” says Samantha Crump, who works nearby. “It is kind of surprising.”
“For the most part it is pretty quiet,” says Ann Szablewski, who lives nearby. “There are people that are running late or having a bad day.”
But road rage doesn’t just lead to shooting isn’t just shootings, road rage also leads to crashes. Wisconsin ranks 5th in the country according to a new study by Simmrin Law Group for deadly crashes due to road rage.
Milwaukee County says in 2022, there were 208 road rage incidents. In 2022, there were 212. That averages to 17 calls a month just for road rage. Krznarich says if you are in an incident, just get the other driver’s license plate, never try to chase after another car.
“There’s two pedals, you can use the break and slow down,” said Krznarich.
“What’s the point of getting upset? You can’t change anything. You can’t control what someone else does. You can only control what you do. And so I choose not to engage, not to get upset over it and just protect myself,” said Szablewski.
TMJ4 spoke to a psychiatrist about what you should do if you are in a road rage situation and their advice is to disengage and try to act the opposite of the aggressive driver. That means stay calm, let them pass, let them in your lane, even smile and wave or try to apologize. All these things can help de-escalate the situation and keep you safe.
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