SALT LAKE CITY — Sarah Anderson admits she made a mistake while driving near 1300 South in Salt Lake City.
“A car —a van — pulled out. Cut me off,” Anderson said.
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“I probably did have a little road rage,” she added. “I honked and I flipped him off.”
“And he just slams on his brakes. Gets out of the car. Approaches my vehicle.
“When he can’t get in, he starts punching my window. Screaming.
“And I start yelling back, like, ‘I have a child in the car. I’m calling the police.’
“His probably significant other got out of the van and then is begging him to get back in their car.
“While he was a little distracted, I backed up and just got out of there.”
But was any of that a crime? If Anderson had been assaulted or her vehicle damaged, the other driver could have been prosecuted under laws against those offenses.
Utah has no law against what’s commonly called “road rage.” During a hearing last month, state legislators seemed receptive to passing one, but wanted to look at how other states define road rage or what steps they have taken to address it.
“How do we address those more strictly,” asked Col. Mike Rapich, the commander of the Utah Highway Patrol, “when we actually do have the opportunity to intervene in a case and we want to address those driving behaviors that meet a different level and have a different intent and have a different purpose than what just a traffic violation was incurred?”
There’s already a federal definition for road rage that’s used to gather crash statistics. According to a 2022 report by AAA, while Utah and multiple other states have laws addressing aggressive driving, only California targets road rage with a threat of suspending a driver’s license.
In that recent legislative hearing, policy makers discussed defining road rage as using your car to commit offenses against another car or driver. That could be things like chasing, tailgating or stopping short to harass the other motorist.
On a recent hot afternoon commute on Interstate 215, UHP Trooper Chase Stevens saw a pickup truck tailgating another car so it would move out of its way. Stevens pulled the truck over to explain to the driver why that was dangerous.
Stevens said a lot of road rage ignites when a driver makes an honest mistake. The motorist who is cut off or otherwise impacted takes it personally.
“They take it as a challenge against them,” the trooper said.
Anderson didn’t report her interaction with that driver in Salt Lake City to police. She isn’t sure it was a crime. And it’s not clear if even a change in state law would make her scenario a crime.
“That experience changed how I drive,” Anderson said. “And I almost feel like this is an issue that would be better to have prevention versus punitive measures.”
She wants any road rage law to include a requirement that offenders take an education course where they learn the hazards of their actions.
