UNDATED (WTAQ) – The shocking death of former NFL player Will Smith, who was shot in a suspected road rage incident over the weekend, is making drivers think about how to deal with angry drivers on the road.
“There’s a lot of people that drive angry and they drive aggressively and they put their purpose in front of everyone else’s,” says Appleton Police Department Sgt. David Lund. “Because of that, we do have those conflicts out on the roadway.”
The first thing law enforcement will advise you to do is use common sense. While many may believe that’s becoming highly uncommon these days, try allowing cooler heads to prevail.
“If you cut somebody off and they fly the bird at you, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion so to speak, is that something we need to get in a fight over?” posits Lt. Karl Ackermann with the Green Bay Police Department. “If you made a mistake, acknowledge you made the mistake, then go on your way.”
Remember that with road rage, it takes two to tango, according to Brown County Sheriff’s Capt. Dan Sandberg.
“Remain calm and don’t react aggressively towards that person,” Sandberg says. “Wave at them with all 5 fingers, and then also apologizing. The big thing is with road rage, somebody angers someone else and then they don’t let it go.”
DRIVING ANGRY NOT UNCOMMON
Sandberg, who directs the Patrol Division of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department, says drivers see dumb things while in the car all the time. But now we have mass media and smartphones.
“I think with the advent with technology allowing us to catalog and record it, I think it brings the attention to it more often,” says Sandberg.
Ackermann is a 30-year veteran of the force, and says road rage isn’t a 21st Century problem.
“I remember seeing that stuff 28, 30 years ago, just not perhaps to the point of people pulling out guns and shooting at each other,” Ackermann says.
In Appleton, Lund says there haven’t been any shootings spurred by road rage. However, it can escalate to physical violence.
“We do run into that where we have that kind of incident and for some people that may be the first time that’s ever happened to them,” explains Lund. “There may be things going on that cause them to get very upset. People have called and asked officers to step up their response because people involved in the crash appear to be agitated or are yelling at one another.”
Green Bay, on the other hand, saw something similar to the New Orleans incident. It happened back in late February when a crash on the Mason Street Bridge led to a shooting near W. Mason Street and 13th Avenue.
WHEN TO CALL THE COPS
Once the incident where you get cut off, or you’re the one getting birds tossed your way, it’s not something you can take back. But there are ways to avoid it from becoming worse than it needs to be.
“It’s kind of the old one-upmanship, you know, they throw one bird so you throw two, well who won that one,” Ackermann says. “I’d like to think people in this area are maybe a little bit more level-headed.”
Sandberg believes in three big words — let it go.
“If that person continues to persist, stay in your vehicle, don’t get out of your vehicle because you’re inviting a confrontation,” Sandberg explains. “If they continue to yell at you, follow you, go to your nearest police station or call police.”
Ackermann believes if you do your best to avoid this kind of conflict, and it’s the other person who’s continuing to push it, allow the cops to step in and handle it from there.
