By RACHEL DAHNEKE
Rachel@newsroom.byu.edu
It's the normal scenario of rush hour traffic: honking, tailgating, obscene gestures. Even outright violence is on the increase in Happy Valley driving.
'For the land of Zion, you'd think people would be nice and wonderful to each other,' said Officer John McCombs of the Orem Police.
It's the drivers in Utah, said Brian Romrell, a former truck driver.
'In the driving I've done, I've traveled the whole western United States. In all of the places I've been I've run into more rude and discourteous drivers here in Utah,' he said.
Incidents of aggressive driving are up 51 percent since 1990, according to the American Automobile Association. In settling those disputes, 65 percent used a firearm or other weapon and the rest used their car.
The AAA defines aggressive driving as angry or impatient drivers trying to injure or kill another in a traffic dispute.
Utah legislation is trying to curb road rage. A reckless driving amendment to be presented this legislature session will help deter road rage, McCombs said.
'Before, the reckless driving law was kind of vague. It just said willful, wantful disregard for public safety and property. Now Utah legislature is in the process of trying to change it to three consecutive moving violations. 'Mainly, they're trying to give us more of an enforcement tool to take action against people,' he said.
Local factors add to the problem, said Jeff Stewart, 23, a junior majoring in exercise science, from Vancouver, Wash.
'I think road rage is pretty bad with the I-15 construction and students bring in a lot of problems. They're coming from everywhere and expect to get where they're going quickly,' he said.
The average household had one car five years ago but today has three to four vehicles said Kim Japperson, State Farm Insurance Agent in Orem.
Rather than congestion, road rage is an attitude problem, said McCombs.
'I think a lot of the problem is an attitude of the people. Everyone's in a hurry. Everyone's in a rush. Everyone wants to get to where they're going. It's more of an attitude of, 'I need to be somewhere now so get out of my way or let me through,'' said McCombs.
Bruce Carpenter, a BYU psychology professor, disagrees and said it's not the end product that defines road rage, but what initiates it.
'Traffic is bad and someone does something (to) take away their right to the road, so they respond aggressively. I think that's when most road rage occurs -- when you feel someone has done something to you intentionally,' he said.
Aggressive driving is not going away until people have a change of heart, McCombs said.
'I don't think it'll ever decrease unless people start being nice to each other. Basically that's all it is. I think it'll be something with us as long as we have cars,' he said.
Ways of dealing with road rage vary. There has been an increase in reports because of cell phones, McCombs said. Web sites offer angry drivers a way to post road rage incidents and license plate numbers. The best remedy is to redirect anger, Carpenter said.
'The response of (aggressive driving) is partly a response of choice, partly a function of habit. So the first line of defense is to teach them they have a choice not to be angry about this situation. Direct the anger towards the fact that there's a lot of traffic or something that is more benign where we're less likely to take it personally,' he said.
Patrolling police and public service announcements are the most used resources to prevent road rage, but Carpenter said aggressive driving will not stop with increased enforcement.
'Road rage isn't because there isn't a policeman around. Its because you chose to respond to an incident with anger,' he said.
BYU students have their own dreams of dealing with road rage.
'My fantasy would be having a James Bond-like car where you have various gadgets like machine guns or missiles or maybe a smoke screen. So, for various offenses people do to me I could debilitate their car,' said Tyler Jones, 26, a senior majoring in marriage and family science, from Farmington.
Stewart has his own goals.
'I would love to be an honorary cop where I could pull people over for doing stupid things like making left-hand turns from the left-hand lane, or running red lights, or going over the median of the road like they were in a SUV, but they're really driving a Civic,' he said.