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The phrase "road rage" entered
the English language around 1994 in London. The Oxford English Dictionary first started
listing "road rage" in 1997. It defines it as "a violent anger caused
by the stress and frustration of driving in heavy traffic."
From the point of view of Driving
Psychology, this definition is not fully accurate. Road rage frustration and
aggression is not caused by traffic, no matter how heavy. Road rage is a learned
cultural habit of retaliation when you feel like retaliating. It's a free choice we
exercise. When we are frustrated in heavy traffic we have a choice of how we're going to
respond. The types of responses available to us include
- venting without retaliating
- venting with retaliating
- not venting, staying cool and objective
- not venting, doing something else
- etc.
It's up to us how we respond and it's up to
us how we train ourselves to respond. Driving
psychology teaches emotional intelligence for drivers.
This is a skill we can learn with some practice behind the wheel. The rewards for learning
this new way are tremendous. You insulate yourself from negative stress on highways.
You build up a positive highway community and you contribute to it. You are safe, happy,
smart. It's well worth it.
We invite all of you to get in touch
with your own DrDriving or driving conscience, and to experience the health and spiritual
benefits of Supportive Driving (=the opposite
of aggressive driving).
| In my view "Road Rage" represents the culmination of an escalating
sequence of punitive behaviors meted out from one driver to another. This Vigilante
behavior has four degrees of escalating retaliation:
First
Degree, a single gesture, curse, or grimace delivered as punishment.
Second Degree, repeated exchanges of the same, together
with diminished awareness of other sensory input, plus impaired
judgment.
Third Degree, harassing the other driver through high
beams, tailgating, retarding the progress of his vehicle, edging him over, or abruptly
stopping in front of him. I call this "Highway Madness".
Fourth Degree, intentionally injuring the other driver's
vehicle or person. This is "Road Rage".
Dr. John
Larson's Testimony to Congress
"Road rage is a habit acquired
in childhood. Children are reared in a car culture that condones irate expressions as part
of the normal wear and tear of driving. Once they enter a car, children notice that all of
a sudden the rules have changed: It's O.K. to be mad, very upset, out of control, and use
bad language that's ordinarily not allowed. By the time they get their driver's license,
adolescents have assimilated years of road rage. The road rage habit can be unlearned, but
it takes more than conventional Driver's Ed. "
Dr. Leon James' Testimony to
Congress |
|
Author: Lance
Deegan
Date: 1999/02/06
Forum: aus.bicycle
Road rage doesn't occur for no
reason. It happens in response to someone doing something silly or even dangerous. For
example, rude or incompetent driver dangerously cuts off another driver. The victim is
angry and abuses the perpetrator. Result: the victim is accused of road rage. People who
commit road rage are providing a valuable service to all of us in letting errant and
dangerous drivers know that their conduct is unacceptable. We should be rewarding people
accused of road rage for this valuable service. Their accusers should forthwith be sent to
driver re-education camps or if the incident was bad enough, charged with dangerous
driving.
This whole hysteria against road rage is a classic case of
punishing the victim. |
July 22, 2007, Sunday By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (NYT)
California highways have been shut down by wildfires, mudslides,
earthquakes and police chases. And now road rage. Drivers
inconvenienced by a road-widening project subjected construction
workers to so much abuse -- death threats, BB gun shootings, a
flying burrito -- that the state shut down California Highway 138
altogether. ...
Associated Press - July 20, 2007 3:13 PM ET
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (AP) - It was known as "Blood Alley" -- an
accident-plagued stretch of Southern California highway.
Now it's becoming known for road rage
-- aimed at construction workers.
State crews began widening the section of California Highway
138 near the town of Wrightwood last summer. It was shut down for
most of the day. During rush hour, though, commuters got a bit of
a break -- with traffic being allowed to flow one direction at a
time behind escort vehicles.
For some, though, the situation proved intolerable. One man
threatened to climb a water tower and shoot highway workers.
Vandals tore down barricades, and construction equipment was
stolen.
A driver was arrested last September and charged with assault
after allegedly clipping a flagman with his vehicle. Construction
workers have also had burritos thrown at them and been shot with
B-Bs.
So, citing the continuing problems and the need to expand the
construction zone, the state shut down the road entirely last
month, until the work is finished.
Respecting road crews can save lives
July 24, 2007
Connie Schultz
Road construction crews are not our enemy.
Granted, they slow us down, order us around like a
toddler's mama, and some think they're way too
lackadaisical from our air-conditioned perches. None of
that, though, justifies what happens when our rage hits
the road.
Too many motorists regard reduced speed limits as
somebody else's problem, which is turning out to be a
problem for everyone.
Road Construction Rage
A slow driver when you're late for work, a construction zone
that never seems to go away - we've all felt that road rage creep
up at one time or another. But on one stretch of California
Highway 138, north of Los Angeles, the outrage has reached a fever
pitch. Drivers are taking it out on the road construction crew.
Some commuters are so angry they're attacking the construction
crews.
"I have actually had someone throw a socket at me, and
actually hit my car," said road worker Robert Bartlett.
Think that's bad? One worker was pelted with a burrito. And a
woman was shot with a bb gun!
(...)
"Well I have been called names that I never knew existed," says
Bartlett.
This highway had nearly 3,000 collisions in the years leading
up to construction. The project was designed to make it safer -
but didn't account for road rage.
"A gentleman came up to the closure and disobeyed the
flagmen at the entrance, proceeded through and ended up running
over one of the workers on scene," says Highway Patrolman Jeff
Perez.
It got so bad, state officials said "forget it!" no more open
lanes. No more escorts through construction.
"They want to get through real bad so we had to close the
road down, because of the road rage," adds Hultquist.
So now commuters have to drive another half-hour around the
construction.
(...)
CNN
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=50568
Road rage killing accused held
Hindu, India -
10 hours ago
Narender honked, but Arvind apparently
did not hear and kept walking on the road. An
angry Narender then got into a fight with him. ...
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Truck driver guilty of road rage
Marlborough
Express, New Zealand - 14 hours ago
Feelings of road rage became so
violent for a Napier truck driver he threatened an
elderly motorist with a baseball bat after getting
frustrated by the ...
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Tot hurt in road-rage attack
Sunday
Times.au, Australia - 18 hours ago
A TWO-year-old child has been
hospitalised after a road-rage attack on
a car in Bellvue - one of two such incidents involving
young children yesterday. ...
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Road rage: man thrashed to death
Times of
India, India - Aug 6, 2007
NEW DELHI: In another brutal case of
road rage in the Capital, a pedestrian was
beaten to death on Monday by a biker angered by the
victim getting in his ...
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Road rage, cop spitter top police
Gladwin County
Record, MI - 17 hours ago
GLADWIN — A Gladwin woman was arrested
and lodged in the Gladwin County Jail Saturday after
deliberately spooking a horse-drawn buggy. ...
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2005 Road Rage Case Ends
WRBL, GA -
18 hours ago
Filing out of court Tuesday morning,
the family of Kenneth Williams tried to hold their
heads high. “It’s just been hard and, you know, I’m
glad for closure ...
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JeffCo driver wounded in road-rage
shooting
St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, United States - Aug 7,
2007
"We're investigating the shooting as a
road-rage shooting," Boyer said at 9:30
am "We don't know exactly what we're going to have
because we are just ...
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Police Respond to Drive-Thru Road Rage
Kitsap Sun
(Subscription), United States - Aug 6,
2007
A drive-through flare-up at a Taco
Bell turned into an assault Sunday evening. A
32-year-old Bremerton woman was sitting in her blue
car with some friends ...
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Road rage victim still fighting to survive
NJ Blog, New
Jersey - Aug 6, 2007
MacGuire, 27, was injured on August 1
in a road-rage incident at Laurel Lake
when she was struck and then run over by another
driver. ...
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Police arrest man in fatal road rage wreck
Boston
Herald, United States - Aug 3, 2007
By Renee Nadeau A Boston man has been
arrested in connection with an early-morning road
rage attack in Dorchester that killed one woman
and injured two ...
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Ex-con charged in road-rage homicide
Boston
Herald, United States - Aug 3, 2007
By O’Ryan Johnson A violent ex-con is
accused of running a carload of women and children off
the road, and causing a crash that killed a
teenager and tossed ...
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Police investigate Macquarie Pass road rage
attack
Illawarra
Mercury, Australia - Aug 5, 2007
By MICHELLE HOCTOR POLICE are
investigating a road rage attack on a father
and his 16-year-old son by a motorcyclist after an
incident on the treacherous ...
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One dead, two injured in road rage rollover
WOOD-TV, MI -
Aug 4, 2007
COVERT TOWNSHIP -- One person has died
and two others were injured when their vehicle rolled
over during a road rage incident. It was around
11 am Wednesday ...
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'Road rage' passenger pulls knife
BBC News, UK -
Jul 31, 2007
Surrey Police said the "road rage"
incident happened at traffic lights in Albert Road,
Bagshot, on Thursday. The articulated lorry nearly
collided with a ...
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Road-rage accused's vile bleating
NEWS.com.au, Australia - Jul 31, 2007
By Rhett Watson HE is accused of a
brutal and cowardly road rage attack on an
87-year-old Digger, but his girlfriend believes "half
the Australian men would ...
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Borneo Bulletin |
Road rage couple detained
Borneo
Bulletin, Brunei Darussalam - Aug 4, 2007
By Azlan Othman A husband and wife
handcuffed and detained for alleged involvement in
road rage. - AZLAN OTHMAN Police arrested a
husband and wife on ...
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Road rage for Gordon means win for Harvick
Long Beach
Press-Telegram, CA - Aug 4, 2007
AP In the end, it was Kevin Harvick
who celebrated the victory in Saturday's inaugural
NASCAR Busch Series race in Canada. It was a
controversial finish ...
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Road rage: Drunk youths attack doctor
Times of
India, India - Jul 30, 2007
PUNE: Road rage took an ugly
turn on Saturday night as three intoxicated medical
students tried to attack cardiologist Manoj Durairaj
with a broken liquor ...
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Rolly: Unseen road rage allowed?
Salt Lake
Tribune, United States - Jul 29, 2007
She called dispatch later with Mr.
Road Rage's license plate. But on traffic
misdemeanors, state law says, with some exceptions, an
officer must witness the ...
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Road rage victim remains in coma
Bridgeton News,
United States - Aug 3, 2007
A 27-year-old Laurel Lake woman, the
victim of an apparent road rage incident
Wednesday, remained in critical condition Friday. Rosa
MacGuire, who was 11 ...
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Road Rage Couple Detained
Bru
Direct, Brunei Darussalam - Aug 3, 2007
By Azlan Othman Bandar Seri Begawan -
Police arrested a husband and wife on Thursday (August
2) who was allegedly involved in a road rage
attack on two ...
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Kiwi in road-rage bashing of veteran, 87
New Zealand
Herald, New Zealand - Jul 29, 2007
SYDNEY - A New Zealander who allegedly
admitted to police that he "was going to kill" an
87-year-old World War II veteran in a road-rage
attack in Sydney ...
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Retired officer took photos of road-rage
scene
Louisville
Courier-Journal, KY - Aug 4, 2007
... when Pickerill and Koenig
got into an altercation at a four-way stop in the
parking lot of the Kroger at Hurstbourne Parkway and
Taylorsville Road. ...
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Stewartstown man sentenced in road rage case
York
Dispatch, PA - Aug 3, 2007
A Stewartstown-area man who committed
road rage by assaulting another driver pleaded
guilty yesterday in an agreement with prosecutors that
forces him to ...
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Road rage suspect took scene photos
Louisville
Courier-Journal, KY - Aug 3, 2007
By Jason Riley After shooting Darren
Pickerill in a road-rage incident June
3, retired police officer Richard Koenig took pictures
of the scene with a ...
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Family in road rage bat attack
ic
SouthLondon.co.uk, United Kingdom - Jul
27, 2007
By Joshua Layton A CRAZED driver
grabbed a cricket bat from his boot and launched a
violent assault on another motorist in a terrifying
road rage attack. ...
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'Music In Cars Causes Road Rage'
Sky News, United
Kingdom - Jul 26, 2007
Certain types of in-car music can lead
to road rage, a new survey has revealed. As
many as 65% of people reckoned music influenced their
behaviour while ...
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New exempt tournaments all the rage
ESPN -
1 hour ago
Florida's 82-80 loss to Kansas in last
year's Las Vegas Invitational was one of the few bumps
in the road to the Gators' second consecutive
national title. ...
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Road Rage Victim Released From Hospital
WCCO, MN -
Aug 3, 2007
(WCCO) A teen injured in a road
rage accident has been released from the hospital
after more than a month's stay. Alexander Schaenzer,
16, was released from ...
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Road-Rage Shooting Victim's Family To
Speak
WLKY, KY -
Aug 3, 2007
It’s been two months since what police
called a “road rage” incident left Louisville
resident Darren Pickerill in critical condition On
Friday afternoon, ...
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Road rage incident leads to arrest
Moorpark Acorn,
USA - Aug 2, 2007
"The incident is probably road rage-related
because the Caltrans truck wasn't going as fast as the
culprit wanted," said Detective Edwin Ilano of the
...
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Kiwi charged in road rage incident
TVNZ, New
Zealand - Jul 28, 2007
A man who allegedly admitted to police
that he "was going to kill" an 87-year-old World War
II veteran in a road rage attack has been
granted bail. ...
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Elderly man bashed in road-rage incident
ABC
Online, Australia - Jul 26, 2007
A 33-year-old man is being questioned
by police over a road rage incident in
south-west Sydney yesterday. About 11:50am (AEST) an
87-year-old man was ...
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Road rage attack on 87-year-old: man arrested
Sydney Morning
Herald, Australia - Jul 26, 2007
Police have arrested a 33-year-old man
over a road rage attack on an 87-year-old man
in Sydney's southwest. Police say the arrested man is
believed to be ...
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Man, 87, bashed in road rage attack
NEWS.com.au, Australia - Jul 26, 2007
AN 87-year-old man was repeatedly
punched in the face by another driver in a road
rage attack on Sydney's western outskirts. ...
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Road-rage suspect’s bail now $500000
Press of
Atlantic City, NJ - Aug 3, 2007
... Township roofer be held on
$500000 cash-only bail for allegedly running over a
pregnant woman in what police described as a grisly
road-rage incident. ...
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Ambo 'spat on in road rage incident'
Melbourne Herald
Sun, Australia - Jul 27, 2007
AN ambulance officer has been spat on
during a road rage attack in Sydney's
inner-west, police say. The New South Wales Ambulance
Service said two officers ...
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Man charged over road rage attack
The
Age, Australia - Jul 26, 2007
A 35-year-old man has been charged
with bashing an 87-year-old man during a road rage
incident in Sydney's south-west. Police allege the man
was the driver ...
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Teenager injured in road rage incident
Norwich Evening
News, UK - Aug 3, 2007
A teenager suffered injuries to his
arm following a road rage incident between the
occupants of two cars. The altercation in Westlegate
happened between ...
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Road rage in Volusia leads to arrest
Orlando
Sentinel, FL - Aug 2, 2007
Because he didn’t, Volusia County
deputy sheriffs said, a man involved in a road-rage
incident Wednesday in the Lake Ashby area north of
Osteen not only was ...
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Road Rage Erupts In Gunfire
Fort Smith Times
Record, AR - Aug 3, 2007
The man said he was driving east on
Rogers when he noticed an older maroon sports utility
vehicle swerving all over the road. ...
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Arrest is made in road-rage shooting
Detroit Free
Press, United States - Jul 26, 2007
BY AMBER HUNT After a month on the
lam, the woman accused of shooting and killing an
innocent bystander in front of his 4-year-old nephew
after a road-rage ...
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Surgeons honored for saving road rage victim
Tucson
Citizen, AZ - Aug 2, 2007
... today because two
University Medical Center surgeons stopped to help him
after the unarmed man was shot in the chest in an
apparent road rage incident. ...
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Man, 87, punched in road rage attack
Sydney Morning
Herald, Australia - Jul 26, 2007
The 87-year-old man was driving his
white Mitsubishi sedan along Appin Road, about
11:50 yesterday morning, when it bumped into another
vehicle near the ...
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Willis man arrested in road-rage
incident
Houston
Chronicle, United States - Jul 23, 2007
CONROE — A Willis man was arrested
Monday on a charge of deadly conduct after he
allegedly shot at a motorist on Interstate 45 in
apparent road rage. ...
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Three injured in road rage rollover
WOOD-TV, MI -
Aug 2, 2007
COVERT TOWNSHIP -- Three people were
injured, one critically, when their vehicle rolled
over during a road rage incident. It was around
11 am Wednesday when ...
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Drivers fear road rage attack more than
accident
Scotsman, United
Kingdom - Jul 22, 2007
DRIVERS are as worried about becoming
a victim of road rage as they are of having a
car accident. Road rage and accidents top the
list of driving phobias in ...
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Disturbing trend appears all the rage
Times
Online, UK - Jul 27, 2007
Type the words “road rage” into
any search engine and the number of cases worldwide is
staggering. It is a social phenomenon that seems to
have left no ...
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Road rage closes California highway
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - Jul 22,
2007
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles A
highway in California has been shut down because of
road rage. Motorists inconvenienced by a road-widening
project ...
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Road rage at Laurel Lake bad
Bridgeton News,
United States - Aug 1, 2007
What started out as a case of road
rage ended in a Laurel Lake woman being struck and
critically injured early Wednesday morning. According
to Sgt. Al Della ...
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Road Work Rage Closes Calif. Highway
ABC News -
Jul 21, 2007
Add one more emergency to the list:
road rage. Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening
project subjected construction workers to so much
abuse _death ...
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Road Rage Erupts In Gunfire
Fort Smith Times
Record, AR - Aug 2, 2007
... looks for shell casings
Wednesday at the Albert Pike entrance to Green Pointe
Shopping Center after a road rage incident
erupted into gunfire. ...
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Road rage deal set
MLive.com, MI -
Jul 23, 2007
By Paul Janczewski A Swartz Creek man
charged with killing a Durand man in a June 2006
road rage incident has pleaded no contest to
reduced charges. ...
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Road Rage Marquess Pleads Guilty
Sky News, United
Kingdom - Aug 6, 2007
The Marquess of Blandford has pleaded
guilty at Oxford Crown Court to a road rage
attack on another driver's car. Social bookmarking
allows users to save ...
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Road rage shuts down Hwy. 138
San Jose Mercury
News, USA - Jul 21, 2007
Add one more hazard to the list:
road rage. Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening
project in a rugged stretch between San Bernardino and
Palmdale ...
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Police: Road Rage Shooting Suspect Wanted
KOLD-TV, AZ -
Aug 1, 2007
What started literally as a bump in
the road nearly turned into murder. That's what
happened when two vehicles ran into each other and one
of the drivers ...
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Road Work Rage Closes Socal Highway
Guardian
Unlimited, UK - Jul 20, 2007
Add one more emergency to the list:
road rage. Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening
project subjected construction workers to so much
abuse - including ...
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HPD: Stabbing the result of robbery, not road rage
Houston
Chronicle, United States - Jul 20, 2007
By KEVIN MORAN What had been reported
as a road-rage stabbing after a car
wreck early today turned out to be an armed robbery
after which the three fleeing ...
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Road Rage?
Southport
Visiter, UK - Aug 2, 2007
by Gary Stewart, Ormskirk Advertiser
THE public are being asked their views over a proposed
£37million Ormskirk bypass – but already angry
opposition is ...
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Choir director won't go to jail for road rage
Detroit Free
Press, United States - Jul 18, 2007
... one year of probation, and
community service but spared jail time for a
misdemeanor assault conviction stemming from a 2006
road rage incident. ...
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'Road rage' incident investigated
Whitehaven
News, UK - Aug 1, 2007
POLICE are appealing for witnesses
after a driver allegedly assaulted another motorist in
a road rage attack after their cars had
crashed. ...
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Alonso and Massa in road rage
News24, South
Africa - Jul 22, 2007
Nurburgring, Germany - Fernando Alonso
and Felipe Massa were involved in a heated exchange
after the Spaniard dramatically won the European Grand
Prix on ...
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Text: Road Rage On The Rise
MyFox Saint
Louis, MO - Jul 30, 2007
Two adult men on Washington Avenue in
a serious case of road rage, caught by Fox 2
cameras. Is construction, congestion, or the heat
causing tempers to ...
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Shot fired in Sydney road rage incident
Sydney Morning
Herald, Australia - Jul 15, 2007
Police are investigating a road
rage incident in Sydney's south-west during which
a shot was fired at a man's car. The gun was allegedly
fired during the ...
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