A man who was riding as a passenger in a vehicle traveling on Ga. 400 was killed this week when another motorist fired gunshots into the vehicle. The incident occurred at about 1:30 on Monday morning. Officers were called to the Buford Highway Connector and Sidney Marcus Boulevard, where they found the victim inside the vehicle with a gunshot wound. The man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Monday morning’s incident marked the 19th shooting to occur on highways in and around Atlanta and the sixth fatal shooting on the same highways this year. Not all of these shootings are believed to be the result of road rage, but many are, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While the terms “road rage” and “aggressive driving” are often used interchangeably, these are actually two very different situations. Aggressive driving is a series of risky driving behaviors such as speeding or improper lane changes that a driver engages in, generally in an attempt to get out of areas of traffic congestion. Road rage, however, is defined as traffic offenses that are committed for the purpose of endangering a person or their property. 37 percent of road rage incidents involve a firearm. Other types of road rage behavior include:
- Honking, shouting, or making obscene gestures at other motorists.
- Getting out of the vehicle to confront another motorist.
- Attempting to bump or ram another motorist in order to force them off the roadway.
- Deliberately tailgating or cutting off another driver in traffic in order to “punish” them for driving too slow or other actions that the road rage driver finds offensive.
If you have been injured in an accident or incident involving road rage, contact the experienced accident attorneys at Cambre & Associates to learn more about the process of obtaining compensation for your injury.