Aggressive Driving

Zayid Aziz

Road Rage

Aggressive driving has been a problem on our roadways for a while, and it seems to only be getting worse. Incidents of screaming, rude gestures, and sometimes even violence are reported frequently on roadways. The term Road Rage was created by local news station KTLA in Los Angeles after a string of shootings occurred on several freeways in the city. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines road rage as when a driver "commits moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property; an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger of one motor vehicle on the operator or passengers of another motor vehicle". On July 2nd in Delaware County Pennsylvania, an 28 year old man named David Desper, after turning himself in, was charged with first degree murder in the death of 18 year old Bianca Roberson. The killing took place on West Hogan Road, as a result of road rage. Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said, “Desper became enraged Wednesday afternoon as he and the teen, who had just graduated high school, fought for a position on a two-lane West Goshen road that merges into one lane. This defendant wasn’t happy with the way it was going and pulled out a gun and killed this young woman,” Hogan said. Later that day detectives seized the red Chevy pickup truck that Desper was driving and the gun he used to kill the Roberson. The gun was a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic that Desper had purchased in 2015. Roberson was shot through her driver's side window in the head and died instantly. Her car veered off the road and was later found in a ditch. David Desper fled, driving partly along the shoulder of the highway until exiting the road. Roberson just graduated in June from Bayard Rustin High School in West Chester. She was headed to Jacksonville University in Florida