First statistics released after several months of enhanced road rage law
Oct 2, 2024, 8:00 PM | Updated: Oct 3, 2024, 10:16 am
(Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Highway Patrol is getting a look at road rage statistics for the first time since a new road rage enhancement penalty was enforced.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Cam Roden said they’ve had 41 incidents where the enhanced penalty was put to use.
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The new road rage law went into effect in July. It allows officers to increase the severity of a charge if road rage is involved in an incident. The law also created an educational campaign highlighting the consequences of road rage.
The law also allows a judge to revoke a driver’s license on a first road rage offense.
Roden said that he hopes the enhancement will help drivers pause before acting out angrily on Utah roads.
“Keeping control of their emotions and we don’t have any road rage incidents … We would love it if we didn’t have to cite anyone for a road rage enhancement,” he said.
It’s hard to know whether road rage incidents are higher or lower than before the law went into effect Roden said, because they didn’t have the data tracking system in place before July.