Road rage shootings are on the rise in Virginia
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Road rage shootings increased over the past decade in Virginia, a new report finds.
The big picture: State numbers mirror an increase in highway shooting incidents nationwide — from 83 in 2014 to 456 in 2023, a 450% increase, according to a new analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) by The Trace.
- The findings reflect a broader increase in gun-related violence.
By the numbers: The reported road rage shooting incidents in Virginia increased from zero in 2014 and four in 2015 to six in 2023, per The Trace's findings.
- That's a total of 42 road rage shootings in Virginia between 2014 and 2023, per The Trace.
Caveat: Law enforcement agencies don't share road rage shootings as a specific category of crime.
- Instead, The GVA, whose data The Trace analyzed, uses a range of gun violence estimates based on police reports, government data, news stories and more.
Threat level ... Data shared by Virginia State Police in recent years puts the figures much higher, the Virginia Mercury reported last summer. VSP stats showed:
- 51 shootings on Virginia interstates in 2020.
- 71 in 2021.
- 55 in 2022.
- By the close of last summer, the state had seen 43 interstate shootings with more than half of them happening in Hampton Roads, WAVY reported.
Zoom in: And a separate report out last year from a Forbes survey of 10,000 drivers ranked Virginia fourth for the most controversial drivers in the country.
- Just over half of all Virginia drivers said someone exited their car to yell or fight them.
- Nearly 90% of respondents said they'd been cursed at, threatened or insulted by another driver.
- And the Old Dominion ranked high for drivers that cut off other cars on purpose, flip off other drivers and aggressively honk.
Between the lines: As the number of guns in circulation continues growing and many states relax their gun control laws, it's possible that road rage incidents that otherwise would've been an exchange of middle fingers, colorful language or fists instead turn into shootouts.